Are You A Regular?
Giardini features comfortable home-style décor and a casual, relaxed atmosphere with both inside and (coveted) al fresco Oxford Street-side seating. Agnes Gould has owned and run it for ten years and Chef Steve Kim has been there even longer - about sixteen years in fact.
Although the cuisine is essentially Italian, the menu does offer something different, including a few Asian-influenced items. Chef Steve has created a lot of the unique dishes on the menu. In true Italian tradition, the serving sizes are generous. Many dishes are big enough to share and certainly sufficient to satisfy even the largest of appetites.
We started with the Giardini Platter - a mixture of Italian and Asian influences - with marinated feta and olives, vegetable spring rolls and sweet chilli dipping sauce, Cajun chicken tenderloins, slices of cacciatore sausage in red wine, Asian pesto crêpe roll with sun dried tomato and cream cheese, and tempura prawn skewers. A tasting platter is always good value, and this was certainly no exception. There's something for everyone and it is a great way to try out a few different taste sensations.
The Giardini Bruschetta consisted of two huge slabs of Italian garlic bread topped with chunky pieces of fresh tomato, onion, bacon strips, mozzarella cheese and fresh herbs. This would definitely be a good dish to share; two could share it nicely and then move onto mains. There's also a more simple Roman Bruschetta with 'divine' tomatoes, Spanish onion, fresh herbs all served on garlic bread.
For mains, we tried Peter's Risotto, an excellent dish: two tender grilled marinated lamb cutlets on a mound of Arborio rice, cooked with oven-roasted tomatoes, olives and feta, garlic and chilli. There was obviously saffron or turmeric in there also, as the rice had a warm golden colour. We kept coming back for another mouthful of that tasty rice.
I was also impressed by the final dish - Warm Chicken Salad, which we both agreed tasted absolutely superb. Tender pieces of warm chicken, served with mixed salad leaves, eggplant, orange, tomato, capsicum, cucumber and onion, all tossed in a spicy dressing with more than a hint of chilli and garlic - it was truly delicious, and we washed it down with a nice glass of dry yet fruity wine, the 2008 Stoneleigh Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand.
Giardini has become a bit of an institution in Leederville, with plenty of regular customers who don't like changes, so things tend to stay the same for a long time. Many people come back again and again, and always order their favourite dish. They are open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch and dinner - or just for coffee and cake - and can cater for vegetarians, and for people with lactose or gluten intolerance. The staff are friendly, the prices are reasonable and the food is very good value for money. So if you're not already a regular, visit Giardini, and perhaps you'll become one.
