The Missing Brontosaurus

“What number is it? Mr NQN asks and I had forgotten to write down the street number for La Piadina. I know that it’s somewhere in the hundreds. It’s not a glorious sunny day the Sunday that we visit La Piadina. The rain has settled in and we’re driving up and down Glenayr Avenue in Bondi Beach looking for what was described to us as “a little hole in the wall”. We drive up and down and up and down before I google it on my phone. Ahh 106. We drive past number 106 and there it is, it was there all the time but like Platform 9 3/4 at Kings cross station in Harry Potter we just didn’t see it. Subtly signposted and with a open glass and wooden frontage it’s a small restaurant and one that sells piadinas. “What are piadinas” you may ask? They’re flat, unleavened soft bread rounds that originally hail from Emilia-Romagna in Northern Italy. Reportedly the poet Pascoli described it in one of his poems as “Simple, holy bread of the poor” and “Nothing speaks more of Romagna than this bread of ours… it is a symbol that speaks of devotion to our land”. M’s friend Hans described it to us as “a flat bread that has been folded over”. “Do you mean a calzone?” “No not quite” he says. We were intrigued by the concept and this is the only place doing piadinas here in Sydney.

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Christie and I are a touch frightened. It’s raining and there’s a note under the windscreen wiper. We’ve just attended the opening of the new Essential Ingredient store in Rozelle and we were just about to find somewhere around here to eat when we go to feed the parking meter and find this note. It’s wrapped in cling wrap and says “Wayne 04xxxxxxx Call me, Cute yellow car”. It’s so random and so doesn’t make sense – we don’t have a yellow car and there’s no yellow car around. Because it’s a sinister looking dark and stormy night, we abandon plans to eat locally and high tail it out of there wondering why and how someone cling wraps a note like that and sticks it under a windscreen wiper? And what kind of person carries around cling wrap? The kind that has human heads in their freezer? Yes, let’s get out of here, we agree.

I check my book for places to eat. Apres jumps out at us although it is in busy 1 hour parking only Potts Point. We ring and ask whether at this lateish hour we can  secure a table and they tell us that the kitchen closes at 10pm but they’ll keep it open until 10:15pm if we just want one plate. Done. We arrive and by some miracle find a park and arrive. It’s in a gorgeous Art Deco style building with ruby shaded velvet boothed seating. The manager is friendly and leads us to our table. When he asks us what we’ve been doing that evening thus far we tell him and he remarks how their sister place La Grand Bouffe is near there. Doh! Except that we did want to leave the area pronto of course in case a human head hunter was after us. There is a 3 course set menu but we’re not hungry enough for that and we’re too late for that. Entrees are $18.50, mains are $29.50 and desserts $14.50.

Amuse Bouche: Escargot

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“Are you from a blog or something?” the tattooed gentleman asks me as he is clearing up the tables having spotted our camera work. The tattoo work is echoed on the walls with tattoo swallows although it doesn’t quite match his arm art. He’s friendly though and the question is asked with interest rather than suspicion. Around us are families with young children and babies as well as couples. Prices are very reasonable and the menu, although not American diner style is more Australian cafe style.

Sparkling Black $5

The Sparkling Black is a bit of an inauspicious start. We enquired as to whether this was just a fancy name for saying Coke and the waitress tells us that it’s a coffee drink with sparkling mineral water (although she doesn’t admit to liking it herself). Envisaging those slightly bitter Italian drinks like Chinotto we’re instead presented with a glass with a foamy Guinness type head on the top. It’s an unsweetened long black with sparkling mineral water and is not popular with the table at all with each of us trying some and passing it on quickly. “Worth a try” some of us say whilst Queen Viv is less enamoured “No it wasn’t” she says grimacing.

Belgian Chocolate milkshake $6

The milkshakes are made with homemade syrups. You can taste the Belgian chocolate but it needs a touch more syrup and a bit more richness via some ice cream as tastes more like chocolate milk.

Organic Cloudy Apple juice $5

I do like organic cloudy apple juice as it’s sweet and delicious. I find cloudy apple juice to be like drinking the juice from a freshly bitten apple.

Sourdough rolls

We’re given complimentary sourdough rolls and they’re deliciously soft and fresh.

Chickpea salad $14

My chickpea salad was one I ordered because I was hoping to eat a bit healthier. It comes with roasted carrots, rocket, tabouli, chickpeas , mint and parsley and is tasty with a light and zingy preserved lemon dressing and fresh herbs and I happily finish every morsel.

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