I was going to do another blog post earlier this week, but you know when you’ve been on holiday and your brain takes longer than a 10 year old computer to boot up? Yeah, it’s a bit like that. Plus I’ve come down with a bad case of stomach upset this week where I wasn’t really able to eat very much without being nauseated (I’m not pregnant, I checked). In any case, it wasn’t the best time to be writing entries on food.
Summary: hi, this is a new entry. Sorry it’s a bit late.
So, where were we? Oh yes. After our lunch at Little Creatures we walked around Freo town to see what else is on offer. We went past Dolce Vita on South Terrace, also known to tourists as the “Cappucino Strip” – I’ve never actually heard a local refer to it as that. A gelato sounds good on a hot day, so we went in.
We weren’t disappointed. I got a Snickers gelato, which I think had a vanilla (or caramel? Idk, can’t remember) gelato base and has generous chunks of chocolate and peanuts.
BusinessClass pronounced it as tasting “just like Snickers”, which I’m taking to be a good thing. She got the cappucino gelato – it was amazing, full of coffee flavour and a generous sprinkle of cocoa powder on top.
The gelato selection. The Snickers one is second from the bottom left.
I can’t find the website or the address for Dolce Vita, unfortunately. It’s right opposite Gino’s Trattoria if that helps.
For dinner we were going to go to Ria in Leederville, but Pimento rang us and said that they’re closed. We went to Leederville anyway and decided to walk down Oxford St until we find a place that smells good. That night, the place was Giardini. The smell of the garlic bread will, to borrow a phrase from Pioneer Woman, make your skirt fly up.
We sat down and peruse the menu. Goddamn but the place is expensive. BC and I exchanged looks and contemplated going elsewhere, but the waitperson came back. Too late. Fortunately, while the mains are stupid expensive, the pasta prices are on the reasonable side of expensive. These were our choices:
Garlic bread, of course. The lady told us that they’re small and come in threes, so we ordered two serves. Turns out they came in serves of four slices! They’re good though. Very buttery, garlicky and uh, bready. These are $6.20. I’m going by the prices on their website by the way so don’t get shitty at me if they’re wrong.
The SO ordered the Chicken Penne. From the website: “Penne tossed with chicken pieces, onion, spinach, roasted pumpkin with a hint of garlic & chilli in a cream sauce. Topped with avocado & diced fresh tomato set on Neapolitana sauce”. There ain’t no Neapolitana sauce on that dish but whatevs. Serving was huge and it was delicious. So it should be for $23.50 though, Christ.
Pimento ordered the Linguine alla Giardini – “pasta tossed in olive oil, garlic, prawns, mushroom, capsicum, onion, bacon and a hint of chilli”. I had a bite and it was fresh tasting, but missing a zingy chilli hit. $24.80.
BusinessClass and I ordered the spaghetti marinara. Oh my gahd this was gooooooood. You know how sometimes you order a marinara, and it comes with a pitiful spoonful of frozen marinara mix? This dish wipes the floor with that business. The dish was very generous on fresh and succulent seafood. At the end of the meal I was just picking bits of seafood off and leaving the pasta, but there was so much fish and squid hiding in between the pasta that I ate too much anyway just from picking bits off. If I have a gripe it would be that the sauce is a bit sweet, but it was still $26.90 well spent.
Giardini
135 Oxford St, Leederville
(08) 9242 2602
