Restaurant review: Borsa

Borsa gives you a taste for hospitality, food culture, wine appreciation, the fun and buzz of a well-run restaurant.

Generous: Borsa brings back fond memories of affordable Italian eateries. Picture: Keturah de Klerk

Spaghetti marinara. Veal scaloppine. Lemon granita. Discovering granita in Bourke Street at 17 was like Bob Marley finding weed in his back yard. For many of my generation, initiation to the adult world of going out was via the affordable Italian places that dominated Melbourne in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Pellegrini’s. Campari. The Waiters Club. University Cafe. Of course, it was about a lot more than food. A bowl of pasta on an oval-shaped plate with a paper napkin was a rite of passage.

I look around the dining room at Borsa. It’s Friday lunch. There are couples. Mates. Tables of ladies. Man-bunned 20-somethings. But the room is dominated by large groups of youngish co-workers. Borsa is playing its part in the continuum – as an affordable Italian treat. A generous bowl of pasta, a glass of wine, some bread and oil and back to the desk for, what, $30? It’s not about a cheap meal; it’s about getting a taste for diversity, hospitality, food culture, wine appreciation, the fun and buzz of a well-run restaurant.

The bonus? Borsa’s food is excellent, and in hindsight I’m not so sure the same could be said of my training-wheel diners. Borsa specialises in fresh pasta made in-house and occupies an intriguing limbo somewhere between Old School and New. It is the only place in Australia I’ve ever had an authentico spaghetti alla carbonara made a table.

So, on the one hand, a by-the-glass wine list is rubbish, the napkins are flimsy tissue and the massive bench-mounted slicer has been chosen for grey aluminium functionality, not red enamel glamour. On the other, the menu tells us pork comes from Barossa-grown Berkshires, specifies the brand of dry pasta used and reveals that 10 fresh styles are made daily.

One young waiter is having more trouble with Italian than me; others clearly jumped out of a rusting Fiat to get on the good ship Aurelia with their parents in the ’60s.

Importantly, the menu is classic, not New World cliché. A special of “bollito misto” is more accurately called “pork soup” by my young waiter; it’s an excellent broth with belly, shoulder and a lovely fatty terrine that disintegrates into the soup, merges with a garlicky salsa verde and creates a wonderful, powerful starter. Naturally, there’s pasta dura bread, oil, pre-grated Parmesan and chilli oil on hand.

Another soup-cum-meal, fresh tortellini are filled with ground veal and share a bowl with small chicken dumplings, shredded chicken meat, diced carrot and a proper chicken broth that may have the little extra zing suggestive of a spoonful of booster. Who cares? It’s delicious.

And spaghetti alla carbonara, possibly the most bastardised Italian classic since Frank Thring played Pontius Pilate. The waiter brings a side table and a solid commercial frypan with al dente spaghetti and delicious, crispish pancetta; beside it, a bowl of whisked egg, black pepper and parmesan. It’s a simple little ritual, combining and serving this stuff (pictured right), but remember, we’re talking about a $22 pasta, not something at Lucio’s or Di Stasio. It’s delicious and, like everything, correctly seasoned. The waiter congratulates me on the feat of completion, and rarely has a digestivo seemed more appropriate, or indeed necessary.

Adelaide has plenty of Italian places that smash it out of the park on value: Andre’s, Pizza e Mozzarella, Enzo’s. Borsa’s another. Memories are made of this stuff.

It’s a simple little ritual, serving spaghetti alla carbonara. Picture: Keturah de Klerk

AT A GLANCE

Address: Shop 1, Plaza Level, Grenfell Centre, 25 Grenfell St, Adelaide

Contact: 08 8211 6572 borsapastacucina.com.au

Hours: Lunch Mon-Fri, dinner Fri, Sat

Typical prices: Starters $14; mains $25; dessert $10

Like this? try… Pellegrini’s, Melbourne

Summary: Remembrance of things pasta