Beppi's

Beppi's is one of the oldest restaurant in Sydney. It's in the news a lot but hasn't been a place I had particularly wanted to to try. But this Saturday we really felt like eating out in the city, and as usual, our top 5 choices were all booked out, but Beppi's had a table. Even though we were a bit suspicious about a restaurant that has spare table on a lovely Saturday evening, we decided to give it a try anyway.

Food

The food is what you would call "classic Italian", none of that new-age or Modern Italian stuff. We took this opportunity to try some of the dishes we had in Italy.

For entree we shared the Capelli d'Angelo con Granchio Gamberi e Zafferano - Angel hair pasta with blue swimmer crab meat and saffron ($24). Well, about 2 minutes after we ordered, the meal had already arrived at our table, I was still making my way back from the bathroom when the waiter skillfully divided the pasta onto two plates for us. Thankfully the pasta tasted hot and fresh, so maybe their prep work was good? The pasta wasn't the best I've had, but the creamy sauce had great complexity and just the right amount of cream. There was a generous amount of crab, cooked well.

We had virtually just finished licking our plates clean when the waiters cleared our plates. A few minutes later, our mains arrived. I ordered Beppi's Veal Saltimbocca con Formaggio e Prosciutto - White veal scaloppine folded with ham, fontina cheese and sage ($38) just so I could compare Beppi's to Rome's. The presentation was classic Italian. 3 white veal fillets smothered with cheese on a white plate, serve it like it is with nothing extra. The veal was very tender and the cheese tasty, but I'd forgotten that I didn't really like the saltimbocca from Rome because it was too salty. There's nothing to fault about Beppi's interpretation, except I found this one too salty. The bacon was pretty overpowering. The Spatchcock con Salsa di Vino Rosmarino e Aglio - Panfried Spatchcock with Rosemary, garlic & white wine ($38) was nicely cooked. The quails were fried to the brown side of golden, the birds were average size but retained its juices after cooking. The classic rosemary, garlic and white wine combo was a winner. The waiter warned us that there were no vegetables on the plate (which was kinda untrue as there was 11/2 a tomato, but then again, we all know that a tomato is a fruit right?), so we ordered the Vegetable ($8) - baked potatoes and green beans. I was disappointed with this dish. For $8 we got some baked potatoes, not cooked that nicely (no crunchiness & fluffiness!) and too salty. The beans were blanched, with no sauce added, but they didn't even string the beans!

I think the longest part of the experience was actually our eating - it's hard deboning the quails with knife & fork! As soon as we put our cutlery down, the plates were cleared and dessert menu brought. It suited us fine as we were tired and just wanted to eat and go home, but if we had wanted to make an evening out of it, well...We skipped dessert and actually got out of there after 1 hour, which must be a record for this type of restaurant.

Rating - 7

Atmosphere

We certainly felt out of place there. First off, we were dressed very casually after our Sculpture by the Sea outing. Everyone else was dressed to the nines. Secondly, we seem to be the only people under 40... maybe even 50, eating there!

We watched the waiters greet a lot of people, who were obviously regulars, there are also one or two tables set for one, it's that sort of place. The decor is like an old house, the furniture quite rustic and basic. The colour scheme is "old style", with dark green and brown and orange the dominant colour. There are some "homely" looking paintings on the wall. One thing though, the tables were VERY VERY close to each other. There certainly is not much privacy. We were put in a corner table that really should only seat 1, luckily we weren't that fat, but it wasn't exactly the most comfortable or pleasant setting. We were right next to a doorway AND the staff door to the bar. The good thing was we were tucked in the corner and the table next to us was empty, otherwise it would be very unpleasant indeed.

Rating - 0.5

Service

The age of the waiters seem to reflect the clientele. I didn't see any without grey hair. The waiters might be unattractive, but at least they can serve. They certainly have great experience, being polite, and anticipated when we needed attention. They all seemed to be Italian or at least spoke with an Italian accent. Not long after we sat down, they asked us if we would like some bruschetta or anything, and we said no, then they looked at us incredilously and said, "no bread", in that very Italian manner. They also do the giant pepper grinder thing. I consider them part of the entertainment!

Rating - 3.5

C-factor

The bill came to $70 with our e-card discount. It's in the more expensive range, but they serve quite homely food, and the poor attention to detail certainly didn't warrant the price. It was certainly a strange meal. The speed suited us fine and we did get some entertainment watching the waiters.

Rating - 0.5

Brownie Points - 11.5

Info

21 Yurong St (Crn Stanley St)
East Sydney
NSW 2010
Phone (02) 9360 4558
Website