Ciao Cucina — Restaurant in Wollongong City Council

Ciao Cucina is an Italian style trattoria (with an Italian owner; yes, it matters) on the corner of Corrimal and Market Streets Wollongong. You can usually find some on street parking somewhere along Market Street. I would recommend making a booking, particularly during high demand evenings like Friday and Saturday.

If you want to just grab a meal and be on your way you can do that, but it defeats the purpose of coming to a restaurant like this. To get the most out of it you need to allow yourself time to savour the food, just as you would if you were dining back in Italia itself. The dishes here are not simply served up. Pride is taken not just in the preparation, but also in the ingredients.

An example is the bread that is used in the bruschetta, among other dishes. It is from Altamura, in the province of Bari in the region of Puglia. (The heel of the “boot” in the south of the country.) In the south you find durum wheat, which is protein rich. The production of Pane di Altamura (to give it its Italian name) has been a tradition for so long that it has received "DOP" ("Denominazione di origine protetta") status, meaning that it can only be produced in a certain way, using certain ingredients, in that area. It's a seemingly small, but important detail. If you let each mouthful linger a little you notice the difference in taste and texture between this, and the "frozen pane di Woolworths" bread that might be found at some less discerning eateries. The bread doesn't have a strong flavour in itself, but it serves as an ideal platform for the tang of the tomatoes and seasoning on top. (Also, the toasted Altamura doesn't let the tomato soak into the bread; the dish keeps its integrity to the last bite.)

The other starter that we had was Olive all'Ascolana, which are olives stuffed with meat and which are then crumbed and fried. Unfortunately I haven't spent enough time in Le Marche (from which the dish originated) to be able to find and try the originals yet. Fortunately these were tasty enough that I'm OK with that for the moment. I've tried several variations on this recipe in Australia, and this is the best I've come across. The meat was tasty and perhaps even more importantly the olives weren't overcooked, which meant that the casing was just crisp enough to hold everything together without overwhelming the taste of the meat with the cooking oil. (That has been a problem at some other places I've tried.)

I've had risottos here before, and they've been exceptional. However on this occasion I had the fettuccine. On the menu, this was going to come with a beef cheek ragu. They didn't have that, so instead it was with cinghiale or, if you prefer, wild boar ragu. That may sound like a very strong taste, but it isn't; it's quite mild. It may be a little tastier than beef but there isn't much in it in that respect. I've had cinghiale in Italia but not, as far as I can recall, in Australia. The meat was so well cooked, and was so tender, that it fell apart in my mouth. The absence of the beef cheek thus turned out to be a happy circumstance.

Similarly it was worth savouring the pasta. As I mentioned, the wheat in the south of Italia tends to be from high protein durum wheat. In the north you find soft wheat which lacks protein, so eggs are usually added when pasta is produced. Fettuccine hails from the centre (Le Marche and Emilia Romagna), so the wheat can go either way. However I remember thinking at the time that I could taste egg in the rich, firm strips of pasta. Of course, had I read the menu properly (as I just did) I would have noticed that this was "homemade egg pasta", which explains it. It was cooked to perfection as well.

Last up were the desserts. For me, the homemade Tiramisu, because I've had the Tiramisu there before and there is no way that I wasn't going to have it again. My dining companion had the homemade Bailey's Panna Cotta, and was similarly impressed.

The prices were more than fair for the quality of the food.

Will I go there again? Have done before. Will do...

I’m writing this review not to shun this business but to give an overall review on my personal experience dinning here. We went here for a friends birthday as a large group and because we were greater than 10 people we ordered the, 2 sides . 2 pastas and one meal. Which come out accordingly on 3 seperate dishes. The sides were good and the pastas were basic but we were overall happy with the experience at this point. It’s when the main course was set out and we were given new plates. These new plates had leftover food and grease on them. So I requested a clean plate after showing mine still had food on it which the server reluctantly replace it with another dirty dish, meh not the end of the world. Its when the main course had come out and we had found 3 hairs in our chicken veal, (one shown in the picture) I had finally brought it up to the owner and also mentioned the dirty plates to which he had responded by offering to remake the dish but not before insisting we had put the hair there ourselves. Mind you I had already paid for me and my partner before hand and so had the majority of our table. He claimed everyone in the kitchen wore hair nets, (I looked inside the kitchen and seen no one had been wearing one.) While also dismissing the dirty plate and throwing his hands up asking what he wanted me to do. Now Ciao Cucina is not a cheap place to eat (check the reviews) and seems to orientate itself on being a high-quality Italian Restaurant, all I wanted was the Owner to take responsibility for the poor service and apologise, not a refund. Instead he took that opportunity to deflect all the issues brought before him by repeatedly answering with a simple, hands up 🤷‍♂️. He did approach the individual who booked the dinner and refund one person. $55p, but not after everyone else dinning there had heard the commotion about the foreign article in the food and was visibly disgusted.

10/10 experience if I was an individual who...

This is a traditional Italian restaurant which prides itself on using only the best produce to create the best possible flavours and it achieves everything it set out to do.

The atmosphere is rustic and simple with the changeable menu on blackboards and a vibrant sometimes boisterous (polite) clientele which adds to the atmosphere. So if you are looking for an intimate dinner for two maybe not the right place. If you are looking for a fabulous eating experience this is one restaurant you need to visit.

The staff are amazingly attentive from the manager to our very professional and helpful young waiter. There to assist and explain the menu and attend to your needs with a genuine smile and attention to detail.

The food simply delicious with generous serves and presented to emphasise the amazing produce. There is care and careful thought put into making the various dishes resulting in a delightful meal.

My only suggestion would be to consider a simple printed menu for the night (home computer/paper, as it fits with the rustic atmosphere) for those not facing the menu on the wall. It is somewhat difficult to read what is on offer.

The night was finished off by Chef Perre joining us for a chat at the end of service. Thank you again, this just emphasised how much this crew cares about making your eating experience a great one.

This is a restaurant you need to visit many times so you can explore their...