Bravo Trattoria and Gelato Bar
6-8 Falcon St
Crows Nest, NSW 2065
$$—

Bravo Trattoria used to be a common spot for dinner for us.. it’s just down the road from me and great for some hearty decently-priced pasta. However, since we started cooking… and not to be snotty here… but I think we make better pasta!

But first things first. The fun aspect of the place comes with the 101 pasta dishes to select from. However, they cheat a bit.. as many are just variations, for example, “fettucine carbonara” and there’s also “linguini carbonara”. I mean, COME ON!! Any restaurant can just mix-and-match multiple iterations of the ingredients+pasta types, and they’d also come up with 101 choices 😛

That said, the restaurant has a fun, casual atmosphere and the prices are decent, roughly around AU$15 for a pasta. I’ve had their pizzas before but they’re typical ‘gourmet pizzas’ with flat bases and not much topping. I always go for their Fuschilli with Ragu Beef pasta (Note: these come in various iterations like “Penne Ragu” and “Spaghetti Ragu” etc), which is what I chose for this particular occasion. The beef was spot-on, it came in cubes and is incredibly tender. However, the pasta!! It was SHOCKING!!!! And not in a good way. Being an Italian restaurant, specialising in pasta, I expect them to cook pasta PERFECTLY. The pasta arrived limp and totally soggy. I’d gotten Fuschilli (spirals) and some of the spirals had actually unwound and fallen apart because they were so waterlogged – it was such a turn off. Fortunately, the sauce and beef was divine, so the dish was still good.

Chris opted for the Linguini with chicken & mushroom in tomato chilli cream sauce. His linguini was a bit overcooked too, but the sauce was spectacular and the chicken was tender. I was surprised the pastas were so bad, I don’t remember them being overcooked the (many) previous times we’d been there.

Dessert was, without a doubt, Tiramisu. It is NOT TO BE MISSED here!! They make the best Tiramisu IMHO.. home made, fluffy yet all juicy, and with a light cream. So delicious. We always order it, and it never fails to satisfy.

I would say I wouldn’t be keen on returning for their meals. The pizzas are uninteresting (and don’t offer much toppings) and the pastas, assuming they’re cooked properly, aren’t better than when we cook it ourselves. However, their Tiramisu is still to die for.. so I’d consider them a dessert & coffee place now.

Their “101 pastas” painted on the wall

Fuschilli with Ragu Beef

Linguini with chicken & mushroom in tomato chilli cream sauce

Tiramisu