Little Wolf review, Fleurieu best restaurants | delicious.SA: Regional 50

Little Wolf is the second and more satisfying rendition for the restaurant that occupies Mitolo’s McLaren Vale cellar door.

Octopus, chickpeas, potato at Little Wolf, Mitolo Winery.

141 McMurtrie Rd, McLaren Vale

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mitolowines.com.au

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Gawd that plate is ugly. Even the chef agrees. Lumpy brown mince and diced carrots are splatted over a pile of pasta tubes in a style normally associated with a workers’ canteen.

But while it is never going viral on Instagram, Vincenzo LaMontagna’s paccheri with wild boar is beauty not beast.

The pasta is handmade each morning from the best Australian semolina. The carefully ground shoulder meat is slowly braised with rare saffron. The carrots bring sweetness. A little rendered pork fat adds lip-sticking body to the juices. So simple on the surface, it is a plate underpinned by the experience of a lifetime.

That is the secret of Little Wolf, the second and more satisfying rendition for the restaurant that occupies Mitolo’s McLaren Vale cellar door.

The first plates are inspired by compulsory items on any Italian summer table. “Pomodorini” is an array of tomatoes, of different shapes and colours, some raw, some roasted, some pickled. Underneath is a puree based on the Tuscan bread and tomato soup.

The tempo lifts with a perky salad of octopus tentacle, chickpeas, celery and potato touched with a fishy essence of roasted sardines.

For a single, plain-looking skewered king prawn, the hidden extras include a basting with prawn head butter and a final touch of chive and finger lime.

The bistecca is cooked “al sangue” or rare, just like they do it in Florence.

Finish with a ricotta-filled, Sicilian-style cannoli and the kitchener-like, cream-and-marmalade-filled bun that would traditionally be eaten with an early morning coffee.

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• Hours: L Fri-Sun D Sat 
• Bill: E $12-$26 M $29-$36 D $14-$16
• Wine: Wine list
• Chef: Vincenzo LaMontagna