Romantica

ROMANTICA HAS PERMANENTLY CLOSED.

Romantica brings the traditional taste of Roman cuisine to Paddington, serving unique pizza and pasta dishes that are worth travelling for.

The cute little trattoria behind a red and white striped awning has just 30 seats upstairs, with a basement function room to take the spillover on busy nights.

Taking pride of place to the rear is a top of the range imported pizza oven, out of which come some of the best pizzas (made from Roman style pizza dough) to be had in Brisbane.

As per Italian tradition, pizzas are Le Rosse (red) or Le Bianche (white), with toppings such as the must try Speck (San Marzano tomato, Fior di Latte, wild mushrooms, smoked prosciutto and basil pesto) or Mortazza (mozzarella, gorgonzola, original imported mortadella, grilled zucchini, black olives and rocket.

Starters are equally as delicious, with choices including Bruschetta ‘fai da te’ (Bruschetta ‘do-it-yourself’) with toasted house-baked ciabatta, olive tapenade, diced roma tomatoes, basil and Mozzarella Fior di latte, Arancini Zucca e Provola (homemade Arancinic filled with roast pumpkin and smoked Provolo, served with Pecorino Romano Fondue) or the highly recommended Fiori di Zucca in Pastella (beer battered zucchini flowers stuffed with goats cheese and orange zest, with semi-dried tomato pesto and Modena balsamic glaze.

From the Pasta dishes it’s hard to go past the Orrechiette alle Cime di Rapa (ear shaped egg pasta with wild broccoletti, anchovies, garlic, chilli, toasted breadcrumbs and parmesan or the Nonna’s Cannelloni (Nonna style cannelloni filled with buffalo ricotta and spinach, served with tomato salsa, light bechamel and parmesan). All pasta sished are available gluten-free.

Otherwise for mains there’s a choice of Carne (meat dishes) including Petto di Pollo al Pesto (crispy skin chicken breast filled with basil pesto and fontina cheese, with saffron and pea risotto and chicken demi-glaze) or Coda alla Vaccinara (a traditional Roman recipe – wagyu oxtail slow-cooked in vegetable ragout, red wine, salsa and pine nuts, served with steamed veges and lemon evo oil).

Save room for dessert, with delectable choices such as Frappe di Carnevale (Roman fried pastry with vanilla gelato, dark chocolate and icing sugar) or melt-in-the-mouth Millefoglie Crema e Cioccolato (traditional dessert with layered puff pastry, vanilla and chocolate custard served with whipped cream, berries and mint).

Fully licensed, Romantica offers a range of Italian craft beers with 2 on tap including Romantica Premium Lager, a dedicated Italian wine list of Prosecco, organic Italian whites, reds and rose and dessert wines and spirits such as Frangelico, Affogato al Liquore and Il Convento Limoncello di Sorrenti IGP.

There’s also Peroni Red gluten-free beer and Italian cider as well as Pureza sparkling and still water, juices, and coffee and teas.  *BYO wine on Tuesdays only with corkage charge of $6 per bottle.

Nice to know - Romantica is child-friendly, with a Bambini menu including Spaghetti or Trofie with tomato sugo or pork ragout, kids pizza (margherita or tomato, ham and cheese), and vanilla gelato with chocolate.

Need to know – Street parking on Given Tce and surrounding streets. Pizza is available to take away.