PROFILED BY DE GROOTS MEDIAWhen passing Ambrosini’s at night, I feel drawn to its warmly glowing dining room. Couples share meals here, and business types do lunch before bringing their families back for a relaxed dinner. The warmth is felt in the ambience, the hearty food, and the cheerful maitre d’ who will never forget your name. Chef Amabile Ambrosini began his life and career in Valtellina, an alpine valley of the Lombardy region in Italy. In St Moritz he trained in classic European cuisine, before his family migrated to Adelaide and opened Ambrosini’s in 1988. It houses three generations of Ambrosinis who do it proud. Amabile is now in his late 70s but still makes his own pork, veal and venison sausages, and his special venison casserole.
The Lombardy regional influence is appreciated on a menu not overripe with tomato-based everything. A rustic dish of potato gnocchi, for instance, is served simply with sage and garlic toasted in a nut-brown butter. A Genovese speciality of sauteed veal slices in lemon juice will entrance your senses with its aromatic sauce of basil, spinach, marjoram, pine nuts and pecorino cheese; while the classic French dish, Anatra all’ Antica, comprises tender roasted and boned duck glistening under an orange glaze. After this and dessert you will be as beautifully stuffed as the two feathered pheasants on the wall.
Roz Taylor, December 2007
