‘Dishing up really good pasta’: Top review for suburban Italian gem

Fresh and truly memorable pasta is the focus of a regional Italian restaurant on Brisbane’s northside.

Ricotta and parsley tortelloni with butter and sage at Rustichella Pasta Bar, Nundah. Picture: Liam Kidston

The freshly made tortellini stuffed with ricotta and parsley are silky smooth, plump parcels of perfection. And everything else we eat isn’t half bad either.

So he was right. A colleague had delivered an enthusiastic report of his visit to Rustichella Pasta Bar in Nundah Village on Brisbane’s northside a few weeks ago, on several occasions urging me to get along to try it.

After circumnavigating the block a few times on a busy Thursday night we eventually park and walk to the restaurant in what at first glance appears to be in an unpromising location next to a medical centre and a wall of signage for a skin cancer clinic.

We’re seated outside at bare tables with red plastic chairs and paper napkins, separated from the street by a garden bed, while inside the decor goes up a notch with wooden floors and upholstered chairs, exposed beams, dangling lights and a large bar and open kitchen.

Rustichella Pasta Bar, Nundah. Picture: Liam Kidston

The restaurant, which opened at the end of last year, is devoted to the food of the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna. Chef and co-owner Paolo Camisotti is from Berra, a village about 70km north of Bologna, the region’s capital and the home town of co-owner and manager Roberto Mioli.

The menu sticks to specialities such as tigelle (flatbreads with a floral-style imprint from being made in a special waffle-maker-like press) served here filled with Modena pork pesto; crescentine (traditional fried dough) with
fillings including proscuitto and parmesan or provolone cheese. As well, there’s crostini and ragu bolognese, tomato bruschetta, cheese or salami share platters, salads and fresh pasta to complete the list.

But it’s the pasta – tagliatelle, spaghetti, tortellini and gnocchi – made onsite with organic eggs where required that’s at the heart of the operation.

A handwritten specials list, each item with a suggested wine match, adds variety.

The wine list, which includes a map of Emilia-Romagna and its wine regions, and thorough descriptions, offers many options by glass, as well as some bottles from other parts of Italy. A large blackboard on an inside wall also makes four suggestions of new varieties to try.

Crescentine with mortadella and Parmesan at Rustichella. Picture: Liam Kidston

Our crescentine, light and puffy dough balls, are topped with pink folds of thin-sliced mortadella and a shower of finely grated parmesan (three pieces for $15).

A plain tigelle ($3) is fresh and appealing and would be terrific with a cheese and cured meat platter like that delivered to an adjacent table. The young woman serving us is polite and helpful and is assisted by the two more experienced, personable staff.

The ricotta and parsley tortellini with butter and sage ($29) – it’s also offered with butter and tomato – really is a standout, and its elegant simplicity outshines a special of spinach-infused spaghetti with black mussels, slightly overcooked clams and prawns ($39), although the spaghetti is lithe, slippery and fresh.

Ricotta and Parsley tortellini with butter and sage at Rustichella. Picture: Liam Kidston

The suggested wine, Le Oche verdicchio, (a hefty $24 a glass) is a good minerally match.

Desserts include a hazelnut chocolate pudding; panna cotta with chocolate and almonds or fruit coulis; almond biscuits and vin santo or tiramisu ($15), a fairly standard version served in a tall glass.

Rustichella is a real surprise, firstly because in Brisbane it’s uncommon to find an Italian restaurant with a specific regional focus, and then it’s dishing up really good pasta backed by a reasonably expensive, up-market wine list in a chilled-out location in the suburbs.

Most tables are taken, with several of those who roll up seemingly regulars, given their familar greetings with staff. The whole operation is pretty laid back, just the sort of establishment you wish was up the road from your place.

RUSTICHELLA

2/16A Aspinall St,
Nundah
3189 9036
rustichella.au

Open

Lunch and dinner
Wed-Sun

Must try

Ricotta and parsley tortellini

The verdict

Food 4 stars

Ambience 3 stars

Service 3.5 stars

Value 3.5 stars

Overall 3.5/5 stars

delicious.com.au/eatout