Amalfi

As we were feeling like Italian on Friday night what better place to enjoy it than at Amalfi, one of the best Italian restaurants around and definitely the best for rustic Italian food. There's something homely and inviting about that little shop front on Frome St. just off Rundle. Whilst the dishes are a little bit pricier than all those cafes surrounding it they are so much better than anything you can get in the area.

For entrees we decided to share a small pizza, in this case Amalfi's speciality pizza. Amalfi's pizzas are the best I've ever had, with the toppings the best you can get anywhere in town and the crust oh so perfectly done. The specialty pizza is an exercise in perfection with prawns, basil, pepperoni, assorted vegetables and what I believe is pancetta and anchovies.

Again we brought along a wine from Vintage Cellar's in Central Market, this time it was the Kingston Empiric 2003 Tempranillo. Tempranillo is the main variety in many of Spain's famous Rioja and a lot of people think it has great potential here in Australia. I would wholeheartedly agree with them, it has a delightful fruitiness and depth with gentle tannins. The spicy berry flavours match the fantastic mediterranean cuisine here and should do justice to more robust asian dishes thanks to that tantalising hint of apparent sweetness.

The wine cosied up to the pizza so wonderfully and so I decided to move on to the pasta del giorno (pasta of the day). This was a blend of mussels and clams with basil in a napolitana sauce and spaghetti. The pasta was cooked perfectly, with that elusive al dente character. The ingredients melded perfectly together and were robust enough to embrace the wine even with the seafood.

This was yet another delightful meal at Amalfi, definitely the best place in town for pizza and one of the best for good rustic Italian food. It was unfortunate that we had not booked and landed an al fresco table on a cold autumn night but that's the cost of impulsiveness. The staff were busy but were pleasant, helpful and efficient when they did finally serve us. For a great Italian meal you can't go past Amalfi.