Adelaide kitchen puts the Midas touch on a bowl of pasta

Hand-rolled noodles, blue swimmer crab, salmon roe and caviar – this is Adelaide’s most luxurious pasta dish. But diners may find the cost hard to swallow.

Would you spend $81 for a bowl of pasta?

People do, says Fugazzi Bar & Dining Room head chef Max Sharrad, who’s serving up what is Adelaide’s most luxurious pasta dish at the Leigh St restaurant.

The hand-rolled pici (a thicker noodle-style pasta) with hand-picked blue swimmer crab, chilli, garlic and salmon roe costs $46, plus $35 for a generous scoop of Osetra caviar.

“I think given the past 24 months and people not being able to go overseas or experience luxury elsewhere, it’s definitely been something people are keen to get around at the restaurant,” Mr Sharrad said.

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Jazz Hriskin enjoys the $81 crab pasta with caviar at Fugazzi in Leigh Street. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Hand-rolled pici, blue swimmer crab, salmon roe and caviar, a dish that costs $81, at Fugazzi in Leigh St. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Caviar, a special kind of cured fish roe, is considered a delicacy. The Osetra currently wholesales for around $1500kg.

But those who want a taste of decadence and still get change from a $50 can forego the salty eggs. An iteration of the crab pasta itself was described by The Advertiser restaurant reviewer Simon Wilkinson as “luxury with a backing of heavy metal rather than a string quartet”.

“(It) has plenty of heat, salt and tang but still allows the pearly clumps of sweet crab meat to shine,” he wrote.

Crab shells are used to make both a stock and a butter to add depth and richness to the dish, Mr Sharrad explained.

“We fry off our housemade fermented chilli and a little bit of garlic in the crab butter, and then we deglaze (the pan) with the crab stock, add the crabmeat, add the pasta, then we add the butter at the end, beautiful herbs and roe on top,” he said.

Diner Jazz Hriskin, 29, said she could justify spending $81 on pasta for a special occasion.

“It’s delicious,” she said. “Come out for dinner and treat yourself!”

Other pricey pastas across Adelaide include a fennel and ricotta cavatelli with prawns, mussels and bisque at Orso in Kensington ($42), and spaghetti nero with blue swimmer crab at Chianti ($38).