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98 Ramsay Street
Haberfield, Sydney.
Ph +61 2 9716 4444.
On friday night, Sydney was bustling. People, and cars, everywhere. We were going to meet a couple of friends of mine for dinner, but city car parking was going to be a problem.
I told Ray that i’d let him choose a restaurant - a sensible choice seeing as they live here and should know a few good places. After a 15 minute drive, we arrived at Dolcissimo, a large Italian restaurant in Haberfield. Ray recently had dinner here, and said it was very good.
It looked like Dolcissimo consisted of 3 shops with the walls knocked out inside. It was big. And despite its size, it was packed. This looked promising.
When we entered, we were immediately greeted by a waiter, who informed us that they were currently full, but if we were to wait a couple of minutes they were just cleaning up one of the tables. So we waited, hungrily admiring the Gelati and desserts in the display case nearby.
There was also a large sign on the wall, basically saying “don’t complain about the wait, we make everything fresh and we won’t cut corners on that.” Not a problem. There’s nothing worse than pre-made pasta that’s been sitting around in a pot for hours.
We were soon seated nearby, and we could still eye off the dessert case. Complimentary crusty bread with Balsamic Vinegar in Olive Oil was served as the menus were distributed, and we were left to make our choices.
The menu was extensive, so we had to send the waiter away a couple of times as we couldn’t make up our minds.
In the end, here’s what we ordered:
Aglio Pizza (with extra garlic)
Garlic & Olive Oil ($12.00)
Hawaiian Pizza
Ham, Pineapple, Mozzarella ($16.00)
Spaghetti Marinara
Assorted Fresh seafood in a tomato, garlic, white wine, extra virgin olive oil & parsley sauce ($22.90)
Penne All’Arrabiata
Short pasta, fresh chilli & tomato sauce (hot & spicy) ($13.70)
Carpaccio Di Salmone
Fresh boneless salmon, marinated in extra virgin oil & lemon juice, served with capers & spanish onions ($17.50)
Chocolate Mud Cake
Moist and dark,rich mud sponge sandwiched together and topped with chocolate ganache ($5.00)
Caffe Late ($2.80)
Looking around the restaurant while we waited for our meals, everything seemed to run fairly smoothly. There wasn’t a waiter to be seen that wasn’t doing something, yet if you put up your hand to ask for something, they were with you in a flash.
Our meals didn’t arrive all at once - Ray’s Salmon arrived first (as it didn’t require any cooking), then the pastas, then the pizzas. I guess this was fair enough, as they’re probably from 3 different parts of the kitchen; though a little bit more coordination wouldn’t have gone astray.
My Aglio (Garlic) Pizza was divine. Plenty of garlic (I did ask for extra) and it was thin and crispy. Sometimes you get them and the dough is too thick and chewy, or they add too much olive oil until it’s drowning. I think Dolcissimo’s true talent is in the pizzas.
Chris has fairly plain tastebuds, (hence the ’safe’ menu option of a Hawaiian Pizza) but there were only thumbs-up from him on that.
Equally happy was Ray with his Carpaccio Di Salmone, although he also polished off a quarter of Chris’ Hawaiian.
One thing to watch out for though, I ordered a 375ml can of lemonade ($2.00), but received a 270ml bottle ($3.50). It only dawned on me after i’d consumed half of it, so I couldn’t really complain then.
After tucking away most of a garlic pizza and a bowl of pasta, I was pretty full - but I still wanted to try a dessert. I went halves with Louis for a slice of the Chocolate Mud Cake, and paired it up with a Caffe Latte.
The Mud Cake was to-die-for, though I think it is a little to rich if you were to eat a whole slice on your own. But hey, i’d give it a go if I had room.
Dolcissimo also knows how to make a good coffee. Coming from Melbourne, down here we know good coffee (which means Starbucks is not even on the list) and this one was decent. I didn’t catch the brand of beans they used, but I noticed only certain people made the coffees, so I think they consider it a specialised area, rather than ‘train everyone to churn out the coffee’. And $2.80 is quite reasonable for a coffee anywhere, as opposed to the shocking $4.50 I was stung for a disgusting cup of dishwater at some walkway cafe near Star City Casino yesterday.
Some of Dolcissimo’s mains are a little on the expensive side, but you certainly can’t fault the service - so I guess it evens out somewhat. But I think they need to work on their pastas a little. Desserts are surprisingly cheap, and unfortunately I didn’t get to try their home-made Gelato. Maybe next time when it’s a bit warmer.
I must say, the menu for Dolcissimo’s was absolutely amazing. I have never seen such a wide range in an Italian restaurant before, and its a testament to how they managed to do things well that people keep coming back. I noted a rather amusing “notice” at the entrance of their restaurant, stating that their cooks take pride in the quality of their cooking so customers sometimes would have to wait a bit for their food, and not insist on rushing the kitchen.
Looking through the menu was daunting, but i settled for the familiars. I think it’s becoming quite a ritual that everytime i go to an Italian restaurant, i would feel inclined to try out their version of pasta marinara. I love seafood and since i am none too adept at cooking seafood dishes, i look forward to opportunities to try them outside instead.
I can’t speak for the pizza (didn’t try any), but my pasta was rather good. At first, i thought it was a bit lacking in the ingredients department (only one mussel!), but i realised they made up for it with generous portions of fish and prawns. Though most of their pastas are reasonably priced ($13.70), the portions aren’t much and they aren’t that remarkable (read Damien’s review). But if you’re willing to fork out extra for the top-tiered stuff like the marinara, i believe they are actually more worth it. Of course, this gets Dolcissimo’s a lower value rating, then again i suppose you get what you pay for.
The desserts are top notch, and rather affordable compared to the prices of the mains. You can easily get a nice chunk of cake at $5-6, and they are not cheaply made too.
For once, i am truly impressed by the level of service we got. As mentioned, Dolcissimo’s is quite a popular restaurant, if the crowds and good reviews are anything to go by. Yet, we still got served promptly and didn’t feel neglected despite the whole restaurant bustling during dinner time. I believe part of the reason is also because the manager/owner was also running around helping out, and he was especially attentive. When our friend Ray questioned the salmon dish he ordered (not what he expected), the manager took time to explain the dish and offered to placed it in the fridge until the rest of our food arrived.
Overall, i would recommend dropping by Dolcissimo’s to sample some of their stuff if you’re in Sydney. You might need transport to get there, since its not in the city center but one of the suburbs. However, if you love your Italian food and are willing to go out of the way for a satisfying meal, you can’t go wrong with this one.
