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Restaurant Review: Pasta Emilia Traditional & Organic
by Deb Carr
I can’t count the times I have walked past “Pasta Emilia Traditional & Organic” and thought that I should go have dinner there one night, especially as it’s just two blocks away from where I live! Last night, I finally walked in rather than walk past. It was a rainy Saturday night and Andrew and I were looking for a place to eat, so we decided we would drop in and see if they had a table. Lucky for us they did! We sat on a table bench looking out the window.
I immediately loved the atmosphere. I especially enjoyed sitting where we could look out the window and watch the rain floating through the street lights. The restaurant was busy; lots of people chatting and obviously enjoying the ambience too. Pasta Emilia also sells lots of yummy preserves, teas, oils etc and pictured here was a pic I took of bottles of cordial lined up next to our table. We felt like we were in a lovely country home in Italy and part of a big family, as Andrew said, “we felt very welcomed”.
I have always had a love for the Italian culture and would have liked to have been born In Italy, I often dream of living in the Italian countryside sipping on beautiful wine and sharing meals with family and friends. Oh well, at least I have found Pasta Emilia right in the heart of Surry Hills so that will have to be my Italy for now!
Our waiter came over and explained the menu. I'll point out here the service is excellent. Important things first! The wine list! We chose Freedom Shiraz 2014 – a full bodied wine with velvety tannins and flavours of dark berry fruit, blackberry and spices with no added sulphites, vegan friendly, organic and preservative free. I love my wine and I can assure you this was a beautiful wine so don’t let being ‘preservative free’ put you off.
We decided to share an antipasto plate for entrée with Gorgonzola, Sliced Pear and Rye. The cheese is creamy, soft and not as sharp as we expected. It was perfect with the pear.
For mains, Andrew chose a Linguini with Swordfish – pictured. He devoured that very quickly I might add! I broke my gluten free rule for the night and decided on Crab & Prawn Tortelli served with Salsa Verde and chopped Rucola. Sensational! What I particularly liked was the size of the servings, perfect portions. I am not a fan of big portions, if anything it overwhelms me, so when my bowl arrived I was very happy. There was nothing left on either of our plates.
When it came to dessert, we shared Torta Cioccolato (flourless organic chocolate cake – gluten free).
Totally enjoyable experience and I am going to be a regular for sure! In fact, I was so impressed I decided to return in the morning for breakfast and had an Apple Polenta Porridge served with Spiced Cinnamon Pears #YUM!
As the name depicts – everything is organic. Notes: Pasta available to buy and take home to cook and pasta cooking classes available. I didn't have my camera with me so all photos taken with iPhone 5s
259 Riley Street, Surry Hills 2010
Phone: 9212 1069
Disclaimer: Sydney Chic was not invited to review this restaurant and no incentive was given. For the two of us this meal came to around $120 with wine.
