Vincenzo's Cucina Vera

It is no secret that we adore fine dining and all pork related products. When we read an article in Sumptuous magazine (Dec 2010) about an Adelaide chef who made all his own charcuterie including a Wagyu bresaola that nearly reduced the reviewer to tears of joy we knew we had to visit Vincenzo's Cucina Vera as a matter of urgency. We were also intrigued by the fact that Vincenzo, after a number of years of running a successful local Italian restaurant, had decided to do away with the entire concept of a menu and to cook what he likes. Rather than this being a problem for his customers it has proved incredibly popular.

Lara his charming maitre d', who Vincenzo credits for making the no menu concept work, visits your table early in the evening and asks about any particular likes/dislikes and allergies. Vincenzo claims he has never come across a food intolerance he can't cook for. You can choose how many courses to have or you can give a rough idea as to how much you want to spend. You then sit back and wait to see what your evening meal will be. The suspense adds a real excitement to the dining experience as you crane your neck to see what other diners are enjoying in the converted suburban house that forms the restaurant.

Everything presented at Cucina Vera is made in house and in good old fashioned slow food style. Vincenzo gets his vegetables from all over Adelaide and has regular suppliers of free range meat and fresh seafood. All pasta, bread and charcuterie is made in house. He ages the ham himself for at least 4 years (Lara was apparently begging to try some before this and it was only when Vincenzo's Dad finally turned up with a carving knife and declared that 4 years was long enough to wait that they finally tasted the finished product.) Specialised produce such as the provolone cheese we enjoyed with our charcuterie plate is sourced from Italy and then aged further for 2 years before being served to guests. Vincenzo's Cucina Vera is a shrine to the rewards of patience.

Our meal began with a mandarin and vodka foam on a mandarin sorbet served in a square glass made of ice. It was refreshing and palate cleansing. We had decided after looking at the wine list to put ourselves in Lara's capable hands and have a different matched wine with each course.

The home made bread arrived next in the form of an olive oil light crusty white roll that had very definitely been baked that day. It was served with some excellent olive oil and an aged balsamic vinegar of delightful syrupy bite.

But we were waiting keenly for the charcuterie plate and we were not to be disappointed. The waitress came to the table and placed strips of prosciutto, pancetta, osso collo, guanciale and belly on our plates alongside a few rounds of a home made fennel, garlic and chilli sausage. A slice of aged provolone cheese in the centre completed our circle of pig parts. Let me state unequivocally that Vincenzo knows his way around a Berkshire free range pig and that I would buy his ham if I could only get my hands on it regularly. The prosciutto didn't have the subtle acorn fed flavour of an Iberico ham but it was nevertheless very silky and deep flavoured with a delicate intensity. The osso collo (from the neck) was superb as well - covered in a peppery crust that gave it a real kick. The pancetta was delicious and I can only imagine the joy of chunks of this in a braise or thrown through a pasta sauce. We did find the belly a little overly fat - although we agree fat is flavour this perhaps went a little far in that direction. My husband had a passionate encounter with the sausage which he declared virtually unsurpassed. It was certainly spicy with a good kick of fennel and a real chilli bite. The cheese was pungent after its two years of aging and had taken on a darker nuttiness that complemented the charcuterie beautifully.

We were excited and our meal had scarcely begun. Course three took the form of sous vide scallops from Kangaroo Island - cooked with the lightest touch of olive oil and Fleur de sel salt from Brittany. The two scallops were served surrounded by wood sorrel and nasturtium flowers with a shaving of white truffle from Italy on top. This was subtle cooking at its absolute best - simple flavours beautifully melded. The method of gently heating the scallops in the water bath without searing gave them a beautiful creamy consistency. The balance of the olive oil with the hand harvested sea salt was just perfect - neither flavour dominating the silky taste of the scallops. The white truffle and delicately flavoured wood sorrell bound the dish to perfection. Lara gave us a white vermintino made by Ben Glaetzer (declared the wine of the decade by Decanter Magazine). Neither of us were familiar with the grape but I found it had an oily, metallic taste similar to Reisling which I didn't enjoy. It was swiftly replaced by a delightfully smooth Italian Portone 2004 pinot grigio which I thought a great match to the dish.

Our next dish was some of Vincenzo's home made fettucini, which he makes using duck egg yolks to give it a richer flavour. This was another perfectly subtle and tasty dish. The fettucini was served with butter, a mere hint of vanilla and tiny, almost microscopic cubes of crisp green apple. The crunch of the apple provided a great contrast and burst of fresh flavour alongside the richness of the duck egg pasta and the creaminess of the butter. The vanilla worked with all three ingredients beautifully. Lara matched this with an excellent chianti Burchino Superiore from 2007 which we loved, although both of us thought the dish might have matched a white wine better.

Our last main called for a big red and we happily accepted a taste of a 2005 Penfold's RWT. Vincenzo had been playing with the sous vide again - this time using it on a fillet of grass fed Illawong Black Angus beef. Being Vincenzo the beef had first been aged for 60 days. It was cooked with salt and pepper and garlic in the sous vide, after which it had been taken out and finished on charcoal to caramelise the outside slightly. It was served with a beetroot glaze, edible blossoms and a delicious black garlic mousse. Personally I prefer my beef truly rare and almost still mooing on my plate - something that neither ageing or cooking by sous vide will ever produce. The dish was well done regardless and was finished with a great leek "ash" which gave real starbursts of intense leek flavour.

The beef was served with my ideal chip. I would like to compose an ode to the crispy joy of this bowl of chips. They had quite possibly been twice cooked to achieve the soft centres surrounded by delightfully crisp exteriors and were sprinkled with just the right amount of salt. They are on a par with the best chips I have had in the world to date - at Fouquet's Barriere on the Champs Elysees. It would be worth visiting Vincenzo's for the chips alone!

Dessert came all too soon it seemed. Vincenzo had created an Italian trifle or zuppa Inglese with the most wonderful custard (made with a hint of salt), a gelato crema, chocolate sponge and a touch of elderflower. Our only complaint was that this dessert disappeared too fast - we would quite happily have eaten a bucket of it!

The staff tell us that Vincenzo changes his menu almost every night, and certainly the review we read in Sumptuous had an entirely different meal to ours. Only the charcuterie remains a consistent element. Lara told us the Wagyu bresaola was currently hanging and will be ready sometime in the New Year. We will definitely be back for a taste of it.