Bar Centrale

A blustery and cold Monday night. The tail end of the last long weekend of the summer. Where do you find me? Tucked inside a bustling wine bar in Summerhill, enjoying a fantastic 'tapas style' dinner, a delicious wine and a phenomenal friend.  

Photos: the foodiefotog & iPhone...amazing

• Relish: mmmm. The amount of eye rolling as we tasted each dish was fantastic. There were even pauses in conversation as we savoured some of the bites.  The menu here is built around little sharing plates - and we shared!  We started off with some arancini balls, filled with fontina and veal, a crostini (think bruschetta but with other toppings) topped with beef tenderloin tartare, truffle shavings and zabayone - unbelievable. A second crostini stole the show... Nduja sausage combined with some sort of tapenade and topped with smokey ricotta - spice and smoke and sausage. We followed this with a plate of sliced porchetta - basically slow cooked ham filled with herbs - and a ravioli filled with lobster and mascarpone. My perfect evening - lots of small bites of very different tastes, and all was incredibly succulent. The only downside was the dessert. A combination of dark chocolate flourless, warm cake (all good so far)...combined with gorgonzola in the middle. Somehow that completely missed the mark.
• Quaff: mmmm. This was a most pleasant surprise. I actually didn't even see the wine list, but given it's a wine bar, there are many selections lining the shelves behind the bar. Our very helpful server asked me what we were looking for and my price point. My response? A fruit forward, medium bodied, but not too tanic red, for around $50. What did he deliver? An incredibly juicy and delicious red from calabria, light on the tannins, and medium body. Perfect. And the price point? 50 on the nose (as we only discovered once we got the bill). It was called Mutro' Melissa - a wine from Calabria (the bottom of the boot in Italy, more specifically, the 'toe' of the boot), made up primarily of  Gaglioppo and Greco Nero grapes, and had a picture of a boar on the label (which I figured because of my love for wild boar tasty-ness, this must be a good sign). It was. 
• Feel: Bustling and busy, a great atmosphere of friends enjoying wine and good food and good conversation. Servers were super friendly and very helpful with choices. As the night progressed there was a bit of a line with people waiting for tables - and all selected a glass of wine to better pass the time. They've nailed the atmosphere here - nice work terroni!