IL Baretto, Surry Hills

D: “Where do you want to go to dinner?”

G: “I don’t know what I feel like, im not sure if im hungry..” (lies.)

D: “But you told me to come meet you after work for dinner”

G:”K fine, whatevs, just drive to surry hills..”

D:”Toko, Birra or Baretto, lets go to Il Baretto I feel like pasta”

G:”I don’t know what I feel like, why don’t we try something new? You decide. Decide for me please” Il Baretto it is.

I hate deciding which of the Surry Hills holy trinity I pray to – its bad enough that im hungry. (The other two members of this Surry Hills Holy Trinity being Toko/Tokonama and Pizza E Birra)

I love the simplicity that Il Baretto offers, just a nice small space with big hearty delicious meals. There is nothing fancy about this restaurant – simple interior, fuss free table settings, handwritten menus and your BYO wine (we buy the Chianti Classico every time from the pub across the road..) served in little glass cups. No matter how frantic and busy this place gets, everything slows down – and you fall in love with the food.

I set myself a challenge this time – to come here and NOT order the duck ragu. Yes, to actually think and use my decision making skills. Yes, that is the duck ragu and Demos (from one of our million past visits here..)

We share the Sicilian Olives as Demos tells me about how his day was, and I daydream about a man vs food challenge involving me eating a bucket of these.

Tonight we have the chicken and pesto risotto and the spicy italian salcicce with polenta. Yum Indeed. Both were for the soul, and made that tiring day a little bit better – However, the little jiminy cricket inside my head still wished I ordered the duck.

The chicken and pesto risotto is Demos' favourite. It is as said, pesto risotto. Very simple but very tasty. Creamy rice with a pesto that isn't overpowering and a beautiful green colour make this dish a standout.

The italian sausage with polenta was a special for the night and a departure from the standard menu pick. Most of the time we get pretty lucky with the specials and end up enjoying beautiful dishes. Not to say that the sausage wasn't nice, but I ended up giving it to Demos. Spicy italian sausage that was cooked in a spicy red sauce on polenta proved too hot for me. Problem with polenta though is not finishing while the dish is hot makes the polenta go cold and gluggy. Not so good to eat cold I must say.

All in all a good end to an otherwise dull and shitty day. Because its good to eat your emotions. Mangiare people. Just mangiare.