SA Weekend restaurant review – Bambini Cucina, Adelaide
A family with a strong heritage in Italian dining in the city has welcomed a new arrival of its own, writes SIMON WILKINSON
SA Weekend
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There’s a startling statistic on the chalkboard outside newish city Italian Bambini Cucina: “90% of relationship problems is working out where to eat …” This is followed by the less surprising advice that the solution is to be found by dining inside.
Beyond the dodgy number-crunching behind this analysis (surely bathroom renovations and arguments over what to watch on television would rank higher), I’m not sure Bambini is the place to take your squeeze, particularly on a first date.
Not that it’s a bad restaurant. The fundamentals of food and its delivery are mostly sound. It just lacks the sparkle, the va-va-voom, the intoxicating buzz of a happy gathering, that would fill in the gaps and smooth out the wrinkles when two people are trying desperately to get along.
Just look across to the other side of Peel Street, where the eatery of the same name is, as always, rollicking along, or a few metres north where Gondola Gondola is also chockers. They both have the ingredient that Bambini is missing and its owners need to discover soon.
They could start by doing something about the music. A strange mix of Led Zep and other rock dinosaurs played through a muffled speaker, the playlist sounds as if it comes from a mechanics’ workshop next door. It is a particularly strange fit for a room that is splashed with pastel shades of mint and apricots with diamond patterning and condensed typography. Definitely more Human League or Wham!
The mixed bag is perhaps a reflection of the varied contributions of the two generations of the Sorgini family, who welcomed their Bambini (meaning baby or small child) into the world after the first COVID lockdown in the middle of last year.
Father Franco is originally from the mountainous Abruzzo region of central Italy and has worked as a chef for 40 years, most notably at Pagana’s in Hindley Street in the ’80s and ’90s.
His wife Teresa also has a background in hospitality, as does daughter Laura, now the restaurant manager. Five other children have also been involved in some capacity, all helping their dad fulfil a dream of running his own place.
The handsomely moustached Franco is out front of the kitchen when we visit and Teresa directs what traffic there is on the floor. While Bambini’s menu has lost a few of the early talking points – a fish soup, particularly – it still has enough among the short selection of pastas and other plates to distinguish it from the more run-of-the-mill trattorias about town.
Where else, for instance, will you find “crespelle”, a thin, puffy pancake made with chickpea flour that is piled with porcini mushrooms, shredded radicchio, sultanas and pine nuts, a combination with the agrodolce (sweet/sour) quality that is a signature of the cooking of Sicily and elsewhere in the south. Three arancini balls are fried dark and crisp and contain a surprise of shredded duck meat among the mix of rice grains and melted cheese. A sensible use of leftovers, I guess, as a duck dish features among the bigger serves.
So does porchetta sliced from a large roll of meat we can see keeping warm above the pass in the kitchen. Two hefty, crackle-rimmed discs, still have a little visible fat among the concentric layers that finish with a core of herb and garlic stuffing. Steamed broccolini and a large splotch of salsa verde help with the balance.
Bambini’s gnocchi are solid in every sense – as opposed to “OMG … how did they make them so light” – but an adequate vehicle for a straightforward topping of tomato sugo, parmesan and basil.
House-made squid ink taglioni is a step up in class, the jet-black strands with an al dente bite that is as luxurious to feel in its own way as an expensive leather bag, its flavour bolstered by a dusting of bottarga (cured fish roe). The pasta looks like a clump of seaweed that has washed up twisted around delicate curls of fried squid and roasted cherry tomatoes that add a welcome burst of juice.
Nothing kind can be said about a lemon panna cotta that has the texture of your standard rubber thong and tastes, as one of my sons remarks, similar to soap. Stick to the “bigne”, a deep-fried pastry puff filled with chocolate, even if its strawberry sauce seems to have been made from jam.
Bambini is the kind of family restaurant you would welcome moving into your local suburb. Set alongside the serious players in one of the CBD’s most competitive dining strips, however, it needs more presence and polish to become an attractive option. First date or not.
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