Canberra has never been short of Italian restaurants. In the heart of the city, La Scala was one of the longest lasting and most-loved. After an amazing 25 year run, the familiar space was taken over by the CoCu Group (consisting of nearby Tuckshop and Shorty’s, among others) to redevelop the space into another Italian restaurant that Canberrans could fall in love with.
Welcome to Provini!
For anyone that has (or has visited) Italian grandparents that moved to Australia in the 50s or 60s, the design cues will be immediate. Lace curtains hang in the window, the carpet is a deep red with swirls of colour and the walls are lined with wooden arches that frame prints of classic paintings. It’s twee, it’s ridiculous, it’s beautiful and it’s perfect!
The menu is divided into the classic Italian courses: antipasto, il primo (starters), pizza, pasta, secondi (mains), contorni (salads) and dolce (desserts). The prices are certainly accessible, with entrees coming in at the $14.00 to $18.00, while the pizzas, pastas and mains are largely $21.00 to $33.00.
For entree, we fell in love with the Smoked Venison Carpaccio and the Marinated Octopus. Both were fresh and uncomplicated – which harks back to true Italian cooking. For mains, Blue Travelli was a delicious Fish of the Day. And dessert? How can you go past Tiramisu?
As for the wines, the list is a real celebration of the best of both the Canberra region and Italy itself. The vino della casa (house wine) is made by Eden Road’s Nick Spencer, and provides the perfect quaffer and is served in 500ml carafes. The rest of the list, put together by the skilled Peter Bell, offers plenty of adventure within its pages. One can see many return trips to Provini in order to explore the treats contained within.
There are plenty of other surprises as well, but we’re not going got let you in on all of them just yet… you’ll have to head in and discover them for yourself.
Provini is located in Garema Place and opens today (Wednesday 5 August).
For details and bookings, click here.
