Before jetting off to Melbourne last Tuesday, I enjoyed a meal of pasta with my sister at the Francoforte Spaghetti Bar located just a doorstep across from Super Star Waffles in the arcade on 189 William St, Northbridge. 7PM always seem like a bad idea but thankfully on a weekday, the congestion in this little pasta place clears quickly and it took them no more than 10 minutes to get us seated.
After being seated, we placed our orders and were given a complimentary serve of bread, with olive oil and balsamic.
Kale Pesto
Kale and lemon pesto, pecorino, caciatorre sausage, spaghetti
Porco Rosso
Sugo, pork sausages, spaghetti
Guanciale Carbonara
Cured pigs cheek, parmesan, pecorino, penne
Having picked at various pastas around the table, I could not fault with the pasta served at Francoforte. If was cooked right, served right and the taste was pretty decent. Do not expect lashings of creamy and American style trickery to hide the pasta.
Whilst I was not expecting the flavours to overpower the pasta, I was not exactly bowled over by the flavour combination and wanted more bang for my buck. For example, the Carbonara had great saltiness from the generous slices of crisp pigs cheek which was a nice touch, but the over all finish to the dish was lacking. It did not have the silkiness or an even salt distribution. Without a slice of pig’s cheek, it was bland. Similar comments would apply to both the Kale and Porco Rosso pastas. The kale pesto one had a homemade feel that enveloped the strand of spaghetti very well but still did not bring me to that level of nirvana a normal basil pesto one does.
Was Francoforte Spaghetti a bad eat? Definitely not. In fact, if I went to Italy, I would be looking for the homemade feel which I get from Francoforte. Reading the comments of other, I quickly found the error. If in Italy, the flavour of the sauce are meant to compliment the homemade pasta. But in the case of using pre-made pasta, does it still work? I have absolutely no idea whether the spaghetti was homemade or not. One thing for sure though is that it did not have the same silkiness of the one I had at Marea or Rockpool. Then again, the two restaurants I mentioned are heavily accredited by the folks at the Michelin Guide or Australia Good Food Guide.
Francoforte despite being hard to fault, the pastas here were more of an OK than a “wow”. In saying that, I would not feel obligated to even bother queuing on a busy day. But on any other day, it could be an automatic walk-in meal.
Weny
