Coccobello Restaurant in Frewville is a stylish new eatery with a great pedigree

Coccobello is hugely attractive — especially, it seems, to women, writes Simon Wilkinson.

Want to know the secret of attracting women? Ask the people behind stylish new Italian eatery Coccobello on Glen Osmond Rd.

It’s prime-time dining on a Thursday evening and the place is close to capacity. The rest of our row of tables is taken up by three large groups, totalling at least 30 diners, and there is not a bloke among them. Another bunch appears from the back. All girls. The gender mix across the whole restaurant, I guesstimate, is split 70:30 in favour of the fairer sex. Federal parliament this isn’t.

Tuna carpaccio (salad) at Coccobello Picture: Keryn Stevens/AAP

Perhaps the night is an anomaly, or this is just the way of things in the eastern ’burbs. Maybe all the men are watching the footy or down the road at the pub.

Deliberate ploy or not, Coccobello’s pastel hues and gentle curves could be described as having a feminine appeal. Shades of dusty pink, mushroom and taupe that might have been selected from a cosmetics brochure flow from walls, to tiles, to pieces of art. The floor is covered in gorgeous terrazzo, while dramatic black accents are provided by window frames, shelving and bentwood chairs. Contemporary round artworks (is that a Tuscan hillside?) and the design on menus and signage all work to a circle theme.

Compared with the cheeky style of North Adelaide upstarts Ruby Red Flamingo and Tony Tomatoes, which share similar ownership, this seems far more careful and considered.

The connections are more obvious when looking at the menu, where elements from both venues are blended into a collection of crowd-pleasing pizzas, pastas and other standards from caprese salad to chicken cotoletta. Little V and GF symbols are scattered all around for those who are so inclined. The cooking is solid, with no wheels reinvented or perceptions challenged.

Tough decisions are required in picking from a menu with so many options. Pizzas are out, though we do start with the pizzetta, a brown paper bag loaded with slices of crisp and lightly charred crust, sprinkled in rosemary and salt. It’s hard to stop at one, so beware filling up.

The same goes for a “small” serve of pork and veal polpette (meatballs) plopped on to a base of whipped polenta that seems so light and cuddly it couldn’t possibly do any harm. Slices of veal are smothered rather than decorated with a classic tonnato (tuna mayonnaise) sauce but, while it might look a little slapdash, the slices of meat once uncovered are excellent and the flavours true.

A substantial sphere of buffalo mozzarella, halved grape tomatoes and basil sprigs make up the white, red and green of a caprese salad, with a splatter of pulverised olive providing an extra fillip to it all.

Buttermilk pana cotta, poached rhubarb, honeycomb, meringue and raspberry coulis at Coccobello Picture: Keryn Stevens/AAP

By now, the volume of share plates, glasses, bottles and personal paraphernalia are proving too much for our small, round table (circles are nice but some of those corner things would have been handy), until co-owner Katherin Stauffer, who is managing the front, intervenes and shifts us smoothly to some larger real estate. A case of looking after the reviewer, perhaps, but her effortless poise and engagement are a real asset through the night.

I’d have happily waded into a bowl of house-made tortellini in brodo (broth) but, as we’re sharing, the consensus vote is for the crab with trofie, little caterpillars of twisted pasta that retain a pleasing chew. The sauce is made in the popular, rich style with tomato, chilli and cream, mixed with the processed blue swimmer that has plenty of crustacean oomph, but not the sweet clarity of freshly picked meat.

Pork rib eye, presented in neat slices with the bone to one side, is tender, lean and moist but not terribly porky. It comes with grilled nectarine, asparagus and toasted crumbs.

A wedge of torta caprese is the pick of the desserts, the almond-based cake enriched with just enough white chocolate and served with diced strawberries and a scoop of lemon sorbet. A buttermilk panna cotta is light and delicate, but doesn’t need all of the assembly including meringue, poached rhubarb, strawberry and honeycomb that is arranged on top.

Worth noting, also, is a list of Italian and Italian-accented local wines at reasonable mark-ups and mostly available both by the glass and in a 500ml pour that’s perfect for two. Now that’s something that should go down well with everyone, regardless of gender.