There are certain people that you meet in your professional life that go on to become friends, beyond the 9-5pm (or let’s face it 7pm) time. When I first met The Second Wife at an event she invited me to, I was instantly taken by her aura. She is a PR legend whom I would follow to the ends of the earth and we’ve become friends outside of the workplace. When she invited me to lunch for my birthday, I squealed with delight. For I was getting to have lunch with a fabulous person but also one with fabulous taste.
We take a seat in this very black Italian eatery in Surry Hills. Called Vini: Enoteca, Italian Wine food, (Enoteca meaning wine repository) everything is sleek and black and of course the focus here is on the wines with a huge blackboard full of various types of wines (many available by the glass) with a small but very good selection of food. We share an entree of the salmon carpaccio and we also order the gnocchi and ravioli. The atmosphere is noisy and buzzy. The food is said to change often – in fact daily, and is always good whatever you order.
Olives and breadsticks
To start, there are some poppyseed encrusted breadsticks and delicious black and green olives. Before we can finish these (ok there was a lot of talking in between), we receive our entree.
Carpaccio of Salmon with roast beetroot $12
The salmon carpaccio is delicious, thinly sliced with some peppered creme fraiche and marjoram and sweet roasted beetroot and is a generous serve.
Ravioli of Roast Duck, Eggplant and Rosemary $18
The ravioli arrives, filled with duck meat and it’s gorgeous. The duck inside is soft like a ragu and the overall effect is a delicious richness with a crispy bacon on top. I love the aroma of rosemary with this and the liberally sprinkled spikes throughout.
Gnocchi with Salt Cod, Roast Peppers, Chives $18
The brilliant handmade gnocchi is light and spongy with small pieces of salt cod dotted here and there, some sweet peppers and chives to finish. The sauce is one where you just wish you had some bread to soak it up, it’s so good. The Second Wife has again proven her prowess at restaurant picking!
Vini
3/118 Devonshire St
Surry Hills, NSW
Tel: +61 (02) 9698 5131
No bookings
http://www.vini.com.au
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16 Comments | Add your own
That ravioli looks amazing! Did it make you wonder if you could recreate it at home?
I find I’m always doing that subconsciously…
The ravioli looks great! And as I am not one normally for gnocci(yes i know i say this often), that does look divine
Everything looks delicious! The salmon tarte sounds so good with those beets on top.
I love the look of the gnocci!
Ooh I love the sound of the duck raviolo, it must have been lovely and moist from the duck meat. And with crispy bacon, even better!
You found my weak spot: Italian. Next time I am in Sydney…..
the gnocchi won me over. I MUST try gnocchi one day. I MUST. gosh, and with salted cod…I can just imagine the flavors swimming in your mouth! swimming, get it? haha…not. I am so corny.
The ravioli are smiling at me – I love duck and it sounds soo good in this ravioli – yum!
This is one of those places like Bodega, must get there super early to get a table..I keep missing out!
i didn’t realise this place was open for lunches – that’s cool. i liked the decor and service but had a more mixed experience for their dinner dishes. i liked their dessert of ricotta pannacotta though.
http://simonfoodfavourites.blogspot.com/2009/04/vini-27-march-2009.html
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A good friend who leads you to good food sounds like the best kind of friend to have! It’s awesome that they change the menu daily. It would really add to the excitement.
I used to work on Cooper st and always wandered along the area trying to decide what to eat for lunch. I have passed by this place many times but never thought they serve lunch this nice! (I often ended up getting a burger from Burger bar LOL) I’ve got to remember to try this place
Are you going to the Italian Festival on Sunday? Hope there’s good food like you had at Vini!
The pasta looks great and the serving size looks just right for the price! =)
All three dishes looked amazing and the gnocchi sounds right up my alley. Lucky you – so many birthday goodies!
Hi Su-yin -It did actually! But I think that if I were to do a ragu again and a ravioli I’d have to do it for quite a few people as it’s a big effort
Haha that’s a good thing!
Hi ArtemisIII-They were really lovely I have to say. And I’m not a huge pasta eater but I adored them
Hi Sara-It was great
It was such a good sized serve too!
Hi Bill-It was great, definitely worth another visit although who knows if it would be on the menu!
Hi Steph-It was so good and I loved how I could really taste the duck
Absolutely! Everything’s better with bacon.
Hi Theresa-Yes and they have special 4 course regional dinners too on Tuesday nights
Hi Sophia-Oh you haven’t yet? How exciting then! It’s so delicious. Haha I got it
Hi 5 Star Foodie-Haha cool! It’s a match made in food heaven
Hi Reemski-Ahhh what a shame. You might need to leave work early one night!
Hi Simon-Yes most definitely, it does a roaring trade at lunchtime. I would have loved to have read more description of the dishes though so I could see whether they suited me as they look lovely.
Hi Arwen-Yes exactly! A friend like that you treasure forever
I know, it would be “What am I going to have today?”
Hi Yas-It’s hard to know what the food is like isn’t it and it’s not like one can walk into a place just to check out the food (although I’d like to!
)
Hi Belle-I did indeed! I was really looking forward to it
Thanks, the food was pretty good at the festival (the story goes up tomorrow 
)
Hi Brianna-It was! It wasn’t a huge serve but it was the perfect size for lunch
Hi Forager-I know! I felt totally spoilt. So many good friends-I’m a lucky girl indeed!
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