Rosa's Kitchen 

After being to Rosa's Canteen just the week before (which was pretty incredible) I had high hopes going into Rosa's Kitchen. Unfortunately, whilst it was definitely 'nice', Rosa's Kitchen was a bit of a disappointment. 

Tucked away in Punch Lane, with its menus scrawled on blackboards and open kitchen, the place definitely has a homely feel. 

Unfortunately, the service was not so homely - it was very slow (it's never a good sign when a dinner companion has to raise their hand like a school kid to try and get someone's attention) and there wasn't much of a smile. But the menu looked incredible and we ended up sharing the antipasto platter and five different pastas. 

 

The antipasto platter was probably one of the best I've had in a while. It had a wonderful mix of cured meats, marinated vegetables, fritters and frittatas - ticked both the boxes for taste and variety. 

The dish of night was definitely the ricotta filled ravioli - deliciously creamy ricotta wrapped up in silky pasta - this dish was absolutely exceptional. 

The pumpkin rigatoni was also exceptional - buttery smooth pumpkin matched with lovely pops of hazelnuts - delicious. 

 

Our other pasta dishes (beef cheek ragu and pea and pecorino) were ok but nothing special - I thought the ragu could have done with more flavour, and the pea and pecorino was a bit eggy. 

Also, when asking whether we could order a side salad with the pasta we were told that salad came with the pasta for free - bonus! Unfortunately, when the salad came out is was one small bowl between 5 of us mostly filled with wilted iceberg. 

Whilst there were definite plusses to this joint, if looking for a good Italian joint in the city I would highly recommend hitting up Rosa's Canteen, Tipo 00 or Lupino's instead. 

 

Food: 3/5

Service: 2/5

Decor: 3/5

Total: 8/15

Verdict: don't bother - there are better Italian restaurants in Melbourne.