For my parents, it was the eve of an eight hour-long boat trip to Tasmania. In light of the recent severe storms that forced the Spirit of Tasmania to do an about turn, my parents were very nervous about their impending voyage to the Apple Isle. Neither my mother nor father were keen on the idea of travelling by sea — both (and particularly my mother) had suffered from sea sickness in the mid seventies when they ventured from their homeland in Germany to Australia. What could I do to ease their stress?
My wife and I decided to take them (and my mother in law) out for dinner, to a place where not only are the surroundings comfortable and homely, but the food is fantastic. Casavini Ristorante seemed to be the natural choice.
We arrived shortly after seven and were warmly welcomed at the door. Our waiter suggested a calming pre-dinner drink to help kickstart the appetite. Selecting from Casavini’s extensive wine list, we chose a delightful bottle of Brown Brother’s Merlot, and decided on some bruschetta (some topped with traditional tomatoes, olive oil and basil, whilst others were topped with roasted eggplant and capsicums) for accompaniment.
After much debate, we finally came up with our choice of entrees. As we all like to sample from each other’s plate, we selected a variety of entrees available including oysters Kilpatrick, a warm lamb salad topped with fetta cheese, some traditional home made pasta simply dressed in aglio e olio, risotto with seafood and finally scallops in cognac served on a bed of creamy risotto. Each was beautifully presented, and generously sized.
After just enough time to let the lingering flavours of our entrees subside and allow the conversation to flow, our mains arrived. My mother ordered the pollo e avocado. Chicken topped with a creamy sauce and avocado, with fresh, crisp vegetables on the side. My father had the spaghetti topped with seafood. Being a spicy man he requested some chilli, which the good people at Casavini promptly delivered, arriving at the table with dried, crushed and fresh varieties. Being an ambitious man, my father proceeded to place a fine layer of chilli over the entire plate. For the rest of the night we laughed and made fun of his red sweaty face, but he loved every second of it.
I had chosen the fillets of veal dressed in a light Napoli sauce and topped with thin strips of high quality mozzarella. I stress the high quality. Sure, you can get prepackaged mozzarella from the supermarket, but it doesn’t compare with the real thing.
My mother in law chose the fish of the day, salmon topped with a beautiful buttery sauce. I gather she liked it a lot as she wouldn’t even let her own daughter sample some. My wife went for the pork in a mustard cream sauce. The pork was cooked to perfection. The sauce too, was a perfect balance of ingredients that complemented the pork rather than overpowering it.
My father and I thought we would pace ourselves a little and have a cognac before dessert. My wife and mother in law joined us with an amaretto. Now I must say I was feeling pretty full by this stage, and I know everyone else was as well, but there was no way my mother was going to pass up on some home made tiramisu. While she was at pains to tell us that "…no I can’t fit another thing in, I’ll explode if I eat any more!", we all knew the truth. As soon as the dessert was placed in front of her she cleaned it up — no one else even got to try it!
While enjoying our coffees I thought it the opportune time to get my mother in law’s opinion on the night’s Italian fare. Knowing so much about Italian cooking she’s a difficult one to impress, but she tilted her head towards me, nodded and said "Bellissimo!" That means bloody good.
For the remainder of the evening we engaged in discussion, avoiding the topic of boats and the sea and basked in the home like environment of Casavini Ristorante. My parents looked relaxed, my mother in law was impressed . . . what more could you ask for?