Who would have believed that Westfield Carindale would be the perfect home for a slick new Italian restaurant with a $1.5 million fit out?
Brisbane shopping centres are better known for food courts with techno colour sauces and dodgy coffee than full flavoured food but all that has changed with the opening of Gallery One
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| Find Gallery One near the mall entrance to Myer. |
Enter Tony Di Vincenzo, a first generation Aussie with a passion for great food and shared dining and gun chef Trent Robson, ex Pier Nine, 1899 Enoteca, Belle Epoque and Pescatore with a restaurant concept that could have been lifted from any of Brisbane's innovative restaurant dining precincts.
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| Tony Di Vincenzo and Trent Robson |
The doors to Gallery One have been open less than two weeks but already locals are loving the authentic Italian cuisine and crisp based pizzas. And what's not to love about six metre long refrigerated cabinet groaning with pasticceria, tortes and patiserrie ready to go or served with a cappuccino made with their own hand crafted special blend of quality Arabica beans.
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| The six metre long pastry cabinet also doubles as a breakfast bar |
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| Inside the pastry cabinet |
With most food offerings made in house, from the sour dough bread to the pasta and with dishes decorated with garnishes grown in Trent's own garden, there's lots to enjoy.
The wood fired pizza oven fires up daily with charry, hand spun bases topped with buffalo mozzarella, house made sugo, San Danielle prosciutto, swiss browns, salami and much more. There are several inspired salads as well as pasta dishes and mains that follow the time honoured Italian style of simplicity and the restrained use of great flavours like ripe tomatoes, fresh Australian garlic, aromatic herbs, quality seafoods, meat and poultry. Most dishes are priced between $15 and $25.
I like the specially designed ‘work tables’ where you can plug in your devices to charge and get some work done using the free wifi while sitting on funky, old-man-face stools. Check out the shiny black chairs as well and you'll see they are replica Him & Her Chairs crafted from polyethylene and modelled on male and female derrieres by Fabio Novembre. Tony says they are strictly for inside the restaurant in case they 'frighten or offend ' shoppers.
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| Believe it or not, this is a stool. |
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| Yep, these chairs are modelled on people bottoms - male left, female right. |
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| The fit out is slick |
Breakfast is all served daily and includes choices like a hotel-style ‘Continental’ – ham and gruyere on sour dough, croissant and honeycomb yoghurt and fresh fruit with preserves or more indulgent choices of truffled egg, housemade gravadlax and toasted brioche with stracchino or and buttermilk pancakes with ricotta, strawberries and maple/rum syrup.
Owner Tony Di Vincenzo is a first generation Aussie with a passion for great food and shared dining. After a successful career in IT, the Italian in him took over and he created the Gallery Group – Gallery Soho at Coorparoo and Gallery Cafe at Westfield Chermside and now Gallery One at Carindale. With the extension of the Carindale site, Tony decided to upgrade his café bringing a strong Italian flavour to the menu and a multi-awarded chef to execute his vision.
Trent Robson has vast experience in both the UK and Brisbane and it shows on the plate. Together these Italo-philes are bringing a new level of dining for the increasingly discerning tastes of shoppers at these centres.
"Most shoppers are blown away by the fit out and the food," Trent says.
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| Freshly made pasta |
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| Salumi board – Calabrese salami, san Danielle prosciutto, cornichons, caper berries & grissini $21 |
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| Zucchini flowers lightly battered, ricotta & pinenuts, crème friache, horseradish $18 |
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| Potato croquettes of parmesan & mozzarella, sautéed peppers & dressed radicchio $16 |
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| Pappardelle- ribbon pasta, corn fed chicken, tarragon & truffle, mascarpone & walnuts, parmesan $19 |
The restaurant seats 180 in two areas, inside the slick intimate restaurant space has cosy booths and a line of banquettes and out in the mall atrium, encircled by delicate custom designed iron work, white upholstered chairs make for extra comfy dining without any restaurant noise.
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| There's more seating in the atrium space. |
Bottom line: Restaurant quality food in a shopping centre.
Best tip: Go, experience, and you'll be a believer too. Try Gallery One pre movies when it opens soon on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights.
Gallery One, Carindale shopping centre, Carindale (find it outside the Myer entrance in the mall)
Disclaimer: Ed+bK was a guest of Gallery One.