Barolo on Beaufort

Ahhhhh Italian restaurants.

For a style of food most regard as pretty straightforward - pasta, pizza, parmigiana - it's amazing how so many restaurants around town do it wrong.

Slap a shellacking of pasta on a plate, drown it in some fancy-named sauce, perhaps mixed with something barely resembling fresh produce (like bad sausage or brown chicken), and there's a dish straight from the streets of Sicily!

Whack a heap of cheese and red sauce on the biggest chicken cutlet you can find, add a bit of salad and mash, and ecco! The kids are full, the doggy bag's packed and you've just experienced the best of Italy on a plate - and got lunch sorted for tomorrow. What a bargain!

Italian food is so simple in its makeup (ingredients) and process (cooking).

But when you offer 12 pastas, 15 pizzas and every chicken/veal/fish combo possible, something's gotta give - and usually the first thing is the love.

At Barolo, on Beaufort Street, the beauty is in the simplicity of the menu and the respect in which they are produced.

Owner David Barber knows what proper Italian food is and has spent the past 9 months ensuring his elegant yet refined space perfects the home-made Italian experience.

We're not talking waiters with slick black hair talking broken English while That's Amore is playing in the background.

We're talking food true to its region, cooked as it should (with fresh produce) and at a price that says "I canna believe".

There's 5-6 entrees available, six mains plus specials which change weekly, a good selection of antipasti and 8-10 pizzas.

The four of us shared three antipasti to get things going. The calamari fritte ($12) were lightly floured then fried and served with a delightful sauce that wasn't heavy or overpowering. There were about a dozen of them too, perfectly cooked, tender and moist.

Cavolo fiore ($9) was a winner. Cauliflower isn't much of an appetiser on paper but when fried and served with caramelised onion, it's another story.

The beef carpaccio ($14) was pretty good too. Unlike others around town who tend to bomb the plate with abundant olive oil, the meat was lightly dressed, allowing its lovely texture and taste to shine. A bit of parmesan completed the picture.

After three entrees at $35, our quartet was quite content, something the Barolo staff picked up on. They didn't rush us into ordering mains but did clear our plates so we could digest in peace and contemplate...

Fresh glasses were provided for a second bottle of wine we ordered - a nice if not normal touch - and we were made to feel in control of our night. No rush, sip, slurp, laugh, graze. That's the Italian way.

For our mains we tried the two pastas - gnocchi sorrentina and tagliatelle bolognaise - plus the pasta vongole, a special for the week.

All three were incredibly generous in size but refined in taste. The gnocchi ($16) were done perfectly - soft, small but with the right firmness and texture. The sauce (cherry tomato, bocconcini, basil) drowned out the gnocchi a little and tasted a touch tart but was still satisfying.

The tagliatelle ($18) was sensational. Like all pastas at Barolo it was home-made, with a sweet rich sauce to die for. Bolognaise-based pastas are often heavy and boring, and something you often regret ordering after a few forkfuls. There were none here, this was light and delicious. A heart-warmer.

The pasta vongole (clams) was the pasta dish of the night though. The sweetness of the clams combined with the right amount of chili made the dish sing That's Amore on my palate, the only place I wanted to feel it. The flavours hugged the mouth long after the fork left it.

The other special we tried were the slow-cooked beef cheeks, which came with a white bean puree. A real rustic, rich dish, the meat was incredibly tender, falling easily off the bone for many a merry moment.

But the real surprise was the pork cutlet ($27). Wrapped in pancetta and served with a radicchio and potato mash, it was the standout dish of the night as far as all four of us were concerned (which is saying something). Pancetta is often overcooked in situations like this, making it overpower rather than complement the meat. Here it blended seamlessly with the cutlet, making for easy cutting and no textural fight on the palate. The accompanying red wine reduction sauce was to die for. All pork dishes need something a little sweet to help it along, and a touch of honey in this sauce made it devine, giving it a lovely thickness that helped melt away the robust flavours.

We hardly touched the proscuitto pizza ($20) but not because it wasn't warranted. Importantly the base was light, slightly fluffy but allowing the ingredients to stand out.

Just four weeks open, Barolo - a region in northern Italy - is a most inviting establishment with a vibrant bustling heartbeat.

Exposed brick walls, wooden floorboards, damasque wallpaper, high ceilings, arches, columns - it's just the beginining.

The restaurant (next door to Luxe Bar) can seat well over 60 people and I found myself devouring the space. There's room to move, dance between tables, if you like, and though there were 40 or so people the night we ate there, the only conversations I could hear were those of my three friends at our marble-top table.

The lighting is clever, and combined with candles blend perfectly to create the right ambience. Romantic meal for two? Sure. Table of 10 for a celebration? No problem.

I must confess both my parents were born in Sicily (but came here as kids in the 1950s), so I've been blessed with the best Italian cooking this side of the hemisphere.

We rarely eat Italian out in Perth because it's just so often done wrong. Overdone, overpriced, over it.

I can't wait to tell them about Barolo though. Mum might even copy a few of David's dishes if I manage to get the family there.

Now that's a compliment. And amore.