Restaurant review: Cicchetti, Isle of Capri

WHEN it comes to the Italian preoccupation with beauty almost nothing is out of reach ... including ceilings spanning more than two storeys.

Review: Cicchetti, Isle of Capri

WHEN it comes to the Italian preoccupation with beauty almost nothing is out of reach ... including ceilings spanning more than two storeys.

The lofty rafters in the Isle of Capri restaurant space formerly home to Olli & Luca are aglow with 100 individually hung rose-gold spheres. A custom-made chandelier, suspended above the gleaming bar, also rises to the decorating challenge. It’s just the start of the changes since Cicchetti moved in last month, with nothing too much trouble for co-owners Marco De Vincentiis, Luca Giacomin and Enrico Semenzato.

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Famed cinematic photographer Vincent Valitutti’s photos of Venice work to capture the culture’s innate style, while the handmade Australian blackbutt timber tables are at their most fashionable undressed.

Cicchetti co-owners Luca Giacomin, Enrico Semenzato and Marco De Vincentiis.

When we visited for lunch, Luca was serving as the infinitely charming frontman, eager to show a largely uninitiated Gold Coast how the Venetians do tapas. The food is effortlessly elegant and cleanly presented, designed to be placed in the centre of the table and enjoyed by everyone.

Like most elements of the menu, the onion-infused focaccia ($10) is made in-house, to smother in smoked sun-dried tomato dip or dunk in a little pool of extra-virgin olive oil and spiced balsamic reduction.

Scallops in a light horseradish and herb crust are served in a half shell ($21), while salty pops of baccala (creamed cod, $5.50 each) are piled on to grilled polenta. The porchetta ($18) is set to steal the show in summer; the very thinly sliced traditionally marinated Byron Bay pork shoulder roast is served cold with ginger and capsicum jam and grissini.

A salmon dish from Cicchetti at the Isle of Capri.

But it’s the house-made beetroot and ricotta ravioli that makes the prettiest picture on the plate, sprinkled with goat’s cheese curd, candied walnuts and poppy seeds ($30).

It’s rivalled on the flavour front by a carnaroli risotto ($29) with textbook texture, the cubes of roasted local pumpkin swirled with a gorgonzola cream and a generous dose of rosemary. Enter even heartier territory with main-course options that range from roasted Borrowdale pork belly with cannellini cream, honey speck-wrapped white witlof and roasting juices ($34) to chargrilled 1kg Byron Bay hinterland grass-fed Angus yearling OP Rib served with a choice of two side dishes ($95).

The porchetta — Byron Bay pork is served cold with ginger and capsicum jam and grissini.

While endless courses would be better entering into the spirit, I’m too afraid to miss out on dessert and its catalogue of reimagined Italian classics.

The sweetest roasted pineapple adds Queensland character to rose water crumbed custard cream, tropically themed with coconut yoghurt and a strawberry sorbet ($16). When only chocolate will do, there are rich rewards in a striking arrangement of dark chocolate biscuit, orange, Belgian chocolate mousse and mandarin sorbet ($17).

CICCHETTI

Capri on Via Roma, 15 Via Roma, Isle of Capri

Bookings: 5526 8868

Open: Lunch and dinner daily