Bibo Bar and Eatery, King William St, Kent Town | SA Weekend restaurant review

A new Italian eatery that has popped up in an unexpected spot on the fringe of the CBD offers home-cooked style at great value.

Bibo Bar and Eatery has popped up in a pretty nondescript part of Kent Town. Picture: Supplied

Cime di rapa is a vegetable made for these times. A ragged leafy green grown in southern Italy, it has a bitter note that should appeal to those whose palate is accustomed to the bracing edge provided by a glass of gin, a radicchio salad, dark chocolate or even marmalade.

More importantly, it is a cornerstone of the Italian cooking philosophy of cucina povera. Need a cheap meal? Look no further.

Bibo Bar and Eatery shows what is possible with these leaves.

Chef Luigia Cappelluti, who is from the harsh but beautiful region of Puglia, fries the stems and leaves gently in plenty of olive oil with garlic and chilli.

The stems are then blitzed with a little pasta water until they disintegrate to a creamy emulsion.

Stirred back through the leaves with a scattering of parmesan, this creates a sauce so rich and effective at coating perfectly al dente casarecce that you would swear it was loaded with gooey cheese, cream or some form of dairy.

A selection of the pasta dishes at at Bibo Bar and Eatery.

Beef tagliata and gorgonzola sauce.

Add the crunch of crumbled taralli, an Italian cracker biscuit, and it is a dish that makes the most out of what is available.

Which pretty much sums up Bibo as a venue.

Nestled among a cluster of light industrial, automotive and IT companies in the confusingly named King William St, Kent Town, this daytime cafe and after-hours ristorante/bar is wedged into the limited ground-floor space at the base of an unremarkable office building.

As locations go, it doesn’t look to hold much upside. However, Bibo’s owner, Manuel Francesconi, is convinced the area will experience a renaissance.

His track record in this is good. When he opened La Moka in Peel St almost 10 years ago, it was the second hospitality venue (just behind Clever Little Tailor) in the now-flourishing laneway.

The minestrone soup is a prime example of the home-style cooking on offer.

Caserecce pasta with cime di rapa.

Bibo has a similar low-fi, lived-in quality to its sibling.

Brick pavers are underfoot while glowing glass spheres hang from the wood-baffled ceiling.

A playlist of upbeat jazz/soul/blues and a glass of nero puts a positive spin on things. Without much of a crowd this night, it feels like kicking back in a friend’s loungeroom.

Francesconi and his kitchen team, that also includes Jari Islas Rios, have stitched together a short and practical menu that is tweaked slightly between lunch and dinner, with soups coming off and more substantial proteins such as steak or fish available for the Friday and Saturday evening sessions.

Pastas are a staple, of course, but so are a pair of tacos – typical of more inclusive modern Italy, Francesconi says.

If you are hoping for humble, home-style cooking, you won’t be disappointed.

The minestrone, for instance, is so nonna-style nutritious it is surprising it doesn’t come with a pinch on the cheek.

A deep bowl is filled with chunky-style pieces of carrot, potato, celery, green beans and zucchini in a light tomato broth that has taken up some of the vegetable flavour, all topped with a light dusting of grated parmesan and parsley.

Bibo’s take on the very fashionable anchovy soldier, meanwhile, is a DIY plate with an opened tin of Ortiz’s finest and wedges of unadorned toasted focaccia. Well, do you like anchovies or not?

Heirloom carrots in shades of orange, yellow and purple look the goods with charred stalks and tips but the main body of the veg is floppy and lacks the intense sweetness that results from a thorough roasting.

It’s a shame because the accompanying whipped lemon ricotta, hazelnuts and brown butter would have worked wonders.

Beef tagliata is a pan-fried piece of scotch fillet – decent meat, cooked medium-rare as requested, well rested – that might not have prestigious branding or chargrill smokiness but, at $36, is excellent value given the prohibitive cost of steak in many other places.

That price also includes rocket salad on the side, as well as a sauce of gorgonzola and smoked brie that has just enough oomph to enhance but not overwhelm the beef slices.

And, finally, to a glass of tiramisu, that has all its parts – sponge, mascarpone, espresso and a hint of Amaretto liqueur – in perfect equilibrium.

Another example of making the most out of what is available.