Ding Dong the Nutter Has Gone!
Jun 20th, 2008 by Dani
There is a building that has had three incarnations since I became aware of it. Lasted night, with much trepidation, I experienced the third.
The building is 735 Heidelberg Road, Alphington. When I was first told about it, it was called TJ’s. It was described to me as a restaurant with a kids playroom that had afternoon tea available. That always sounds appealing to desperate mothers on a rainy afternoon, so a couple of us tried it one day. Afternoon tea was unremarkable, the playroom pretty ordinary but the Ankle Biters were happy. The worst part was the proprietor. A seemingly mad woman who hovered at our table, joyously explaining her business vision of fine dining for parents, good food for children and peace for all mankind. Now that’s all very well and good but we just wanted her to go away and shut up. Not an option apparently. The Bread Winner and I tried it again for a breakfast one weekend morning, only to find the food overpriced and quite average, the service slow and the mad woman no less annoying than the first time.
A year or so later, mad woman chased me through the car park at Dan Murphy’s flapping leaflets at me. She eventually managed to pin me against the side of my car and force one upon me. This time the building was called Tastebuds. The Bread Winner and I, in unusually masochistic fashion, decided to check it out. Oh dear. This time, the playroom was worse than ever and had lost the power of attracting children. The menu was poorly designed and horrifically over priced. The food was appalling and the service even worse. As icing on the cake, crazy nutter woman was as overbearing as ever.
So, to bring us back to the present, I was invited to Piazza for dinner last night to celebrate the fabulous Fairy Love Heart’s birthday. Needless to say, I was quite nervous as to what I might find. I even had a hearty lunch just in case the food was still borderline inedible. So you can imagine my delight when I walked in to find the place remodeled. Skanky playroom gone, a nice warm fire installed, welcoming atmosphere and best of all, no resident lunatic!
Piazza is a purely Italian affair. The menu is a sensible Italian menu with all the old favourites and a great specials boards. The prices are perfectly reasonable with $18 - $25 being the basic range for a main. On the downside, the service was slow. The food however, was worth the wait. Simple hearty, well cooked Italian fare. I had the mussels in napoli sauce. The mussels were fresh and tender, the napoli sauce obviously made from scratch on the premises. In fact bottles of it surround the fire place area. To the right of me was a serving of mushroom and thyme risotto. Perfectly cooked with not a sign of glug. To the left and opposite was the swordfish special served with a tomato and cucumber salsa and a pea and spinach puree. Which was, by all reports, superb. It sold out quickly.
So all is now well at 735 Heidelberg Road. If you’re in the area and a fan of Italian food, drop in and check it out.
