By St
Retro-review from December 2010
Hello blogworld! It's been a while but it's the lovely Becc's bday today so this is dedicated to her ;)
Timmy and I don’t usually venture out for Italian but we made an exception for Cala Luna since its been praised by our fab friends, Becc+Nate. The restaurant was small and packed but luckily we scored a side table for two in the annex which was full by 8pm. Our Italian waiter for the evening was so lovely and I could not fault the authentic service here.
Timmy and I don’t usually venture out for Italian but we made an exception for Cala Luna since its been praised by our fab friends, Becc+Nate. The restaurant was small and packed but luckily we scored a side table for two in the annex which was full by 8pm. Our Italian waiter for the evening was so lovely and I could not fault the authentic service here.
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| Cala Luna annex- feels like in small shack overlooking the water |
We were presented with a complementary starter consisting of warm mix of carrot, cauliflower with a touch of fennel. It tasted like good old pumpkin soup but thinner consistency (compared to the usual Campbell's tin soup I eat- don't judge me!).
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| Soup starter of carrot, cauliflower & fennel |
For starters, we had the BBQ Yamba prawns, vincotto and cherry tomatoes. With the bold, vibrant hues of red, green and orange emanating from the plate, I expected some flavoursome BBQ prawns but was disappointed. I experienced the flavours I was after from the vincotto salsa instead.
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| BBQ Yamba prawns, vincotta & cherry tomatoes $22 |
We can’t stop at one starter so we chose the fried calamari too. These came cutely wrapped in an Italian newspaper cone and had a wonderfully light batter and still crunchy but not overwhelming. I don’t usually mind the heavy crunch from deep fried calamari but these were just light and right with the rocket (sauce very mediocre). I didn’t want to overload on the “friedness” seeing as Timmy ordered chunky fries as a side!
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| Shallow fried squid with tomato and chilli salt $19 |
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| Chunky fried chips $8 |
Main time. In one corner it was Miss Gnocchi Handmade with pancetta and duck ragu. On the other corner was Mr Lamb Loin with salad and red wine jus. Both players were great sport, soft and tasty but there was a bit of heaviness in Miss Gnocci (can't blame her, look at that serving hand). Hence I admit I swapped teams and went for Mr Lamb. Equally as soft as the duck but that salad mix of apple, celeriac, rocket and walnuts went so well with it- overall all-round champion.
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| Handmade ricotta dumplings with pancetta and duck ragu $23 (sm) |
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| Southern Highlands lamb loin with salad of apple, celeriac, rocket, walnuts and red wine jus $32 |
So far we have failed to listen to the dietitian's mantra of portion control and ate pretty much everything on the plates. It was time to say grazie and leave, however dessert came with our meal so make it a big fat F- for my bulging tummy and self-control. The profiteroles were good but again too heavy for us at this stage. The gelato and sorbet were wonderful! Such pleasant claasic tastes to end our night.
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| Creme profiteroles with chocolate sauce and shaved almonds $13.90 |
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| Chocolate and vanilla bean gelato and strawberry sorbet $14.50 |
Becc had alerted us to the Eatability online deal for Cala Luna: 3 course dinner for $50 pp (shock horror we ordered more on top, O poor tummy). I would come again even without this deal (and without the BBQ prawns). Get mooooing to Cala Luna!
Wok rating /5: 
Cala Luna
235 Spit Road
Mosman
02 9968 2426
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