Via Alta, Willoughby

Over the last few years, High Street in Willoughy has been transforming into a hip suburban street, lined with a mixture with trendy cafes (including Dose and High Street Bakery) and shops for your weekly grocery run. A new local gem has just landed high and hopefully will become a long term neighbourhood favourite.  

Via Alta means "High Street" in Italian and now sits in place of where High Street Bistro use to be.  The internal decor is mostly the same as what it was when High Street Bistro was there, not that this is an issue - it is well lit and not too formal. A perfect location for a "just because" date or catch up with friends.  

Via Alta is part of The Sydney Restaurant Group, which includes Ormeggio at The Spit, Ripples (Milsons Point, Chowder Bay and Sydney Wharf) and Aqua Dining.  

K had a pretty rough week at work and so we decided to go out on Saturday for a relaxing lunch and to just chat after a week of not really seeing much of each other.  So without further adieu, onto the food! 

Entrées: What can be better than meatballs (in C's mind anyway)?  FRIED meatballs.  These were described in the menu as Milanese meatballs and even though K is not usually a huge fan of meatballs, even she had to agree that these were pretty special.  Although fried, the meatballs retained moisture and the accompanying dipping sauce gave the dish a vibrant lift. 

Mondeghini: Milanese fried meatballs

Crunchy on the outside, moist on the inside

Next we had the Buffalo mozzarella with anchovies and charcoal globe artichokes.  Delicious!  It was our favourite dish of the day - the buffalo mozzarella was fresh and creamy and the saltiness of the anchovies just matched so well with the subtle charcoal-ly flavours of the artichokes.  C was very reluctant about ordering this entrée (being normally neither a fan of anchovies or artichokes) but agreed by the end of the meal that this was his favourite dish. 

Buffalo Mozzarella with anchovies and charcoal globe artichokes

Fresh warm bread sourced from Ormeggio at The Spit
with extra virgin olive oil and home made ricotta

Mains: As this lunch, both C and K opted for their freshly made pastas rather than the heavier main meals.(That said, we're definitely going to be back to try them for dinner).  C chose the handmade casoncelli filled with duck.  You can't really go wrong when you pair crispy sage with burnt butter and this was no exception.  The flavours worked perfectly and the duck filling is generous and rich.  

Casoncelli filled with duck - crispy sage and burnt butter

K chose the handmade tagliolini with seafood (prawns, mussels, calamari, clams) and a chick pea puree.  The tagliolini was fresh, perfectly al dente with just the sufficient amount of bite to it.  The seafood was fresh and very generously mixed throughout the dish.  The only gripe K had was the chick pea puree.  Personally, we felt that was too heavy and in fact took away from the freshness of the seafood flavours which flowed throughout the pasta.  If we ordered this again, we would probably ask to skip on the chick pea puree. 

Handmade tagliolini with prawns, mussels, calamari, clams on a bed of chick pea puree

So next time you are in the north, think about popping by Via Alta and supporting this business!  They also do breakfast and dinners and for dinner they offer a special, limited portion traditional Brescian pit roast.  C is already planning on coming back for this one.  There's been a number of quality restaurants flow through this little spot now which have had to close down, so hopefully this one is here to stay for a little longer.