bar reggio

Before I start, "Hello! Welcome! and thanks for the cheese!" to all my new readers (whose presence I have recently been made aware). Ok. That's all. So what I really wanted to say is...

It's Friday! And that means that it is more likely than not that I am presently twirling around in my swivel chair at work, arms flailing like a drunk seagull.

Fridays are the last day of my working week. The day before Saturday. A day in which I can wear jeans, or dresses, and flat heeled shoes to work. A day of after work drinks & snacks, Friday night dinners and (my favourite) Lunch. That's right. Lunch. With a capital L. Because on Fridays, lunch are a little bit of a big deal. And on one Friday, not dissimilar to today, the boys & I traipsed across the park, then down, down, down the hill, past the boys' school on the left (you know the drill by now) and then up, up, up the hill along Stanley St before hanging a right straight into Bar Reggio.

We'd been here before. Well, I'd only been once before, but that was enough for me to know that I wanted pasta. Or pizza. One of the two. And, such was my indecision, that it wasn't until after the boys had both ordered, and the waiter looked in my direction that I actually decided. And by decided, I mean said the first thing that came into my head. And that thing was the scampi linguine.

scampi linguine (special) $25.00

The last time we'd been here, I ordered a vegetarian pasta. Don't look at me like that. It had artichokes in it and I really felt like artichokes. Until, that is, my next door neighbour's plate of crab farfelle arrived and all I could do was think of crustacean.

So this hit the spot.

Five scampi halves, buttered, egged and grilled under a salamander, arrived on top of a giant (and I mean giant) pile of perfectly al dente fettucine. Olive oil and parsley topped it all off and I amazed myself by polishing it all off. I have to say, the olive oil here is wonderfully fruity, I could taste it with every bite, and that's a big deal when it's battling with scampi.

large pizza: half mortadella half something else

The pizzas actually arrived before my pasta, but not before a decently long wait. It could have been that we were hungry, or that it took just a little longer than we were hoping for, but the wait felt like it went for days. Weeks even.

So when the pizza did arrive, we all hopped straight in. It wasn't until halfway through the first slice that someone said "Weren't you planning on taking photos of this?" My response, through a mouthful of cheese went something like this "Mmmm...orrrrgh! *gulp* hold on." Hence the semi-dessimated pizza shots :)

large pizza: half prawn, chilli & garlic; half marinara

The other pizza (the one that I nicked a slice of whilst waiting for my pasta to arrive) was absolutely lovely. Now, I've read about how Bar Reggio's pizzas are burnt and oggy, over-and-underseasoned, lacking in general flavour... but I have to disagree. This pizza was wonderful. It tasted fresh, it arrived warm, the base was crispy and the top golden with cheese.

I have good authority on the quality of the pizza too - 1x half italian/half malaysian thought it was just right (and if anyone's going to have high food standards, he's it).

After inhaling our meals (literally! We ate so much so fast I was quite quite uncomfortable afterwards) we wandered back down the hill to the boys' school, up the hill past it and across the park. By this time it had started to rain, but the warmth from lunch hadn't escaped me and when I turned up at work, I was told I looked vaguely like a small drowned animal.

Bar Reggio
135 Crown Street
Darlinghurst (cnr Chapel St)
ph (02) 9332 1129