Restaurant: Maroochydore’s Bottarga winning over locals

Is it carbonara? Or is it arancini? Turns out it’s a little bit of both, which makes it the must-try dish at a new Sunshine Coast diner, writes Alison Walsh.

The Spanner Crab Spaghettini at Bottarga in Maroochydore. Picture Lachie Millard

Now here’s something you don’t see on menus every day – deep-fried spaghetti carbonara.

Handfuls of cured pork, cheese and egg-enhanced pasta are rolled into balls, dipped in breadcrumbs and plunged into a deep fryer. Bite the crunchy, golden exterior and the creamy pasta centre bursts forth and, after batting away thoughts of imminent cardiac arrest, I have to admit it’s delicious, particularly when dipped in the surrounding puddle of fondue sauce.

We’re at Bottarga, a new restaurant in the rapidly emerging, freshly built city centre at Maroochydore on the Sunshine Coast, not far from early adopters in the precinct, the successful Market Bistro and Giddy Geisha.

The Carbonara Arancini at Bottarga is worth every calorie. Picture Lachie Millard

The starter is listed as carbonara “arancini” and replaces the dish’s standard pancetta with guanciale (cured pork jowl), with three of the balls per serve ($16). Apparently the creation is a thing in Rome, the spiritual home of spaghetti carbonara, but are less commonly sighted here.

Along with the “arancini”, Bottarga’s menu starts with house-made focaccia, oysters, aged prosciutto, pork and fennel meatballs and fried zucchini flowers as well as three plump, succulent grilled Mooloolaba prawns in nduja butter ($28) with a thick slice of focaccia on hand for mopping up.

The menu then moves to an array of pizzas forged from 48-hour fermented dough, and four main courses including chargrilled T-bone and milk-braised pork belly, as well as a line-up of pastas, all made in-house and with each dish branching into lesser-seen territory. Spanner crab spaghettini ($36) arrives dotted with chunks of Fraser Isle crabmeat among the twists of al dente pasta flavoured with bottarga (salted mullet roe), and doused in white miso butter, which sounds odd but works a treat.

Other combinations include the massive flavour pile-on of slow-braised beef short ribs with porcini cappellacci (stuffed pasta), foie gras and white truffle crema, or there’s gigli pasta (a flower or cone shaped type) with fennel sausage, the green vegetable cime di rapa and white wine. From the main course list, slow-cooked lamb shoulder presents as chunks of the soft meat pressed into a cylindrical shape and topped with a single, giant semolina gnocchi, surrounded by stewed pepper and tomato, balsamic cipollini onions and rosemary jus. There’s a lot going on but it’s full of flavour.

The spanner crab spaghettini at Bottarga in Maroochydore. Picture: Lachie Millard

Bottarga is the younger sibling to Periwinkle, which has been on the town square at Peregian Beach since 2017, luring patrons with its solid French-focused fare and service.

The owners, chef Frank Boulay and Karin Doeldl, have expanded south and changed cuisines, opting for Italian this time, with Boulay overseeing both kitchens. It’s unusual to be running two restaurants with two different cuisines at the same time but Bourlay sees it as an opportunity to add variety rather than repeat what he’s already doing.

Bottarga seats 110 on comfy banquettes and in upholstered chairs pulled up to bare tables, with a bar up the back and doors flung open to a patio. The 100-bottle wine list runs to plenty of Italian choices as you might expect, but with some French making the grade, a range of beers include a couple from Land and Sea Brewery in Noosa and a decent cocktail line-up.

Bottarga in the emerging Maroochydore city centre can seat 110 diners. Picture: Lachie Millard

Service is friendly and efficient, although varied in experience levels, and despite it being chockers on a Friday night, the floor runs smoothly, overseen by the seemingly unflappable Doeldl.

Dessert plays it safe with chocolate nemesis, creme brulee, cannoli and tiramisu. But the paving stone-size chunk of tiramisu that arrives ($16) is all airy sponge and cream and cocoa dust and is a fine rendition. Despite being a new arrival, experience shows and Bottarga is busily making itself at home, winning over the locals one pasta carbonara ball at a time.

BOTTARGA

1 Mundoo Bvd, Maroochydore

5443 8304

bottargarestaurant

.com.au

Open

Seven days for lunch and dinner

Must-try dish

Carbonara “arancini”

Verdict

Food 3.5 stars

Ambience 3.5 stars

Service 4 stars

Value 4 stars

Overall 4 stars

For more reviews

visit delicious.com.au/eatout