Restaurant and food reviews from Perth, Australia

Monday, April 12, 2010

Positano Cafe Restaurant, Northbridge

Having travelled to Italy, Positano's coastal position reminds me of the abundance of seafood in their cuisine.  Not to say that all dishes on their menus were seafood based, but the presence of seafood in many pastas, pizzas, salads and other seafood mains dishes was evident.  So too is the abundance of seafood influenced dishes on Positano Cafe Restaurant's menu, amongst many other dishes for those who prefer meat to seafood.


Positano is located in the heart of Northbridge catering for casual lunch patrons through to the bustling night crowds.  The atmosphere and interior is distinctly casual Italian cafe, and the service is friendly.  You can see pictures of its interior here: http://www.positano.net.au/tour.asp

The menu, though distinctly Italian, has a variety of food on offer from pizzas, to pastas, to salads, Italian entrees and mains, and coffee and desserts.  The price is pretty average for an Italian cafe ranging from the cheaper pizzas and pastas that hover around the $20-25 mark, and mains that average $25-35.  The menu also had a few vegetarian selections including salads, a gnocchi dish and a couple of vegetarian pizzas.

Chicken Genovese - $27.50

This dish consisted of chicken breast cooked with a cream pesto sauce, accompanied by vegetables and roast potatoes.  Having a liking for creamy sauces, the cream pesto sauce added nice flavour (and fat for more flavour) to the chicken.  The rich and pesto flavoured sauce was a nice change from say a standard tomato or white wine cream sauce provided you like pesto (which I do).

The vegetable, consisting mainly of carrots, cauliflower and zucchini, were lightly cooked but soft and drizzled with oil for flavour.  The potatoes were roasted and had a nice slightly crisp skin and was covered in a nice buttery coating.

Overall, the dish was a rich and reasonably filling main dish.

Seafood Marinara - $26.50

The linguine marinara came with prawns, clams, mussels, fish, squid and a Napolitana sauce.  The pasta was quite normal for an Italian cafe with a decent amount of the mixed seafood, but unfortunately all the clam shells in this particular dish we were served were broken and mixed throughout the pasta which didn't feel quite right to me.

Otherwise, this was a decent tomato based linguine marinara dish.

Australiana Pizza - $20

OK, so the name of this pizza sounds a bit un-Italian but that didn't mean it wasn't worth a try.  This pizza came with mozzarella, pepperoni, pineapple, basil, fried egg and a tomato based sauce.

For the ingredients of this pizza, the pizza seemed reasonably well covered with topping throughout including a generous amount of mozzarella cheese.  The base was of a medium thickness and didn't seem oily.

The pineapple was still juicy and therefore added a nice sweet and juicy flavour to the pizza, but released quite a lot of juice to make parts of the pizza base a bit soggy.  That being the case, the sweet juiciness of the pineapple was nice for those who like pineapple or its refreshing taste.

Overall, Positano offers some decent Italian style cafe food in an otherwise already established Italian cafe area of Northbridge.  The service is friendly and the venue is relaxed for a casual meal.

Points to note: The menu has a range of typical Italian style dishes with a small emphasis on seafood to reflect the coastal location of Positano.

Go for:  Casual Italian cafe food in the heart of Northbridge.



Positano
153 James Street
Northbridge WA 6003
(08) 9227 1184

Trading Hours
7 days: 11am till late

Positano on Urbanspoon

No comments: