La Rosa The Strand | Sydney CBD
The Sydney Festival has now come to an end and with it the number of fun and free activities, as well as the affordable and creative festival feast menu's from fine establishments.
Located at the top of the Strand arcade, La Rosa is nothing but classy. This Victorian-themed shopping mall is a heritage building and being able to run a restaurant inside such a grand building is a great honour and testament to the restaurant itself.
Upon arrival we were provided with a selection of wines to choose from. We opted for the white of course! You can select from the following:
Pinot Grigio - Vigne Nuove - Riverland Langhorne Creek 2015
Syrah (organic) - San Nicola - Trapani Sicilia 2013
Entree
There was quite a large selection to choose from, and we were indecisive for quite some time as well. It literally took us about 30 minutes for the table to decide on a dish. Christie ordered the lasagna to be served as an entree and this might have been the single greatest decision she has ever made because it meant that Matt got to steal from the plate. It was good, like REALLY good, better than mum's homemade recipe good! There was a mixture of both pork and beef mince throughout, and it was rich in flavour from the meaty sauce. The only problem we had was after a couple of bites, we found the dish to be a bit too salty and that was a bit of a trend throughout the table. Matt ordered the bread dumplings in burnt sage butter. It is a serious habit for him to order the smallest dish on the menu, almost like it habitual. Each dumpling was filled with spinach and beautifully coated, cooked then soaked in sage butter. Similar with the lasagna, the first few were mind blowing but the struggle was real to finish. The sage butter was packing flavour, but too overpowering ~ It needed something to mix with, or have alternate bites with and reduce the consecutive consumption of heavily salted dumplings. Again, they were still quite nice, but a little too over seasoned. I think a #saltbae took over subtly.
Alto Adige Style Bread Dumplings
Spinach, Gruyere, Grana Padano and Burnt Sage Butter
Lasagne Al Fondo e Finferli
Pork and white rock's veal lasagne, truffled chantarelle fondo bruno
Fried Spencer Gulf Southern King Prawns
Fried Onion and Sage, Potato and Chickpea Puree, Sicilian Olives and Rocket Cress
Free Range Pork Polpettine
Polenta & Montasio cheese, heirloom tomato, crisp pancetta, olive and chili salsa
Mains
Yet another large selection of dishes to choose from, each seemingly better than the next. We were a little disappointed not to see any pizza on the menu after seeing and smelling the table in front of us receive theirs. Even so, the description of the 'Agnello' a slow cooked lamb loin chop ~ read too well to pass up for Matt. Sitting on a bed of fava bean puree and sicilian orange gremolata, the lamb seemed to be a little overcooked. The lamb wasn't just falling off the bone, it was flaking like cooked tuna and it had a very gamy~lamb taste. The puree however was really tasty and when eaten with the lamb made the dish somewhat pleasant. Christie decided to order the octopus was tender and cooked well however was overly seasoned. Christie resents coriander and any subtle flavour would throw her off. The salad was very strong and unfortunately, she didn't have any. Surprisingly the crunchy garlic bread with octopus filled her up.
Polpo Ubriaco
Drunken Tasmanian octopus, tomato, chili, olive, fennel, caper, italian parsley, grilled house-made pane di casa
Tortino Di Manzo
Beef & Red Wine Tart, roasted pumpkin, thyme, borlotti, crisp pancetta and fontina
Agnello
Slow cooked Barnsley lamb loin chop, fava bean puree, sicilian orange gremolata and pearl onion
The menu is also relatively cheap for the type of food and service you are provided with. What an ideal location for a first date, anniversary or birthday! It's on our list of romantic restaurants for sure. Be sure to check them out, perhaps even give the pizza a try and let us know how it turns out!
