Alfresco - Italian Restaurant on the Gold Coast

FULLY LICENSED & BYO (WINE ONLY)

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Covering all Italian bases

It took an earthquake outside Naples to shake the Velardo family out of Italy in 1980, but they haven't regretted a moment of their move to Australia ... not since a year-long pilgrimage back to Europe. "The Gold Coast is the best place in the world," says Raffaele Velardo, the jovial son of restaurateurs Tony and Silvana, who gives his parents a hand in the restaurant whenever he can.
The Velardos opened their first restaurant in Surfers Paradise in 1990, sold it in 1991 to spend time back in Italy, and launched Al Fresco at their present address when they returned in 1992.
They have not looked back.

What began as a pizzeria and a small restaurant grew when they took over the adjoining premises ... and tables on the pavement add to the capacity, clear plastic drops from the awning shielding diners from the noise and fumes of the highway. Raffaele went to St Michael's at Carrara until 1995, learnt Japanese to add to his Italian and English, spent two years at TAFE doing a Business and Tourism diploma and in 1998 spent five months living in Japan, where he worked in an Italian restaurant. A warm and outgoing young man, he reflects the personality of his parents who have just enjoyed a short break for the first time in 10 years ... but he doesn't sing.

That is left to Tony, who is apt to burst into song with little encouragement, a feature which makes Al Fresco a popular venue.

The style

VERY much traditional southern Italian, despite the fact the three chefs in the kitchen hail from Australia, Spain and the Middle East. Fortunately, background is no handicap when it comes to creativity in the kitchen. The menu is supplemented by a daily list of blackboard specials among which you are bound to find something delicious and different. There is an extensive pizza menu as well, ensuring that when it comes to eating Italian, all the bases are covered.

The ambience

POSITANO, Ravello, Sorrento, Amalfi... a few of the places in Italy depicted in a restaurant festooned with paintings on the ceiling as well as walls, photographs and framed letters of thanks from grateful customers who have enjoyed their visits. One such is a large note stating simply 'The best food, (dated) 6-1-2000. *And not a Jewish dish in sight.' It is signed, Jerry Lewis. The American comedian loves the place and he appears in more than one of the wall photographs.

On one side you enter past the pizza counter; on the other there is a bar at the far end of a festive room with tiled floor and brown tables ... all of it smelling deliciously and with Italian music wafting from the speakers. From opera to the Dean Martin rendition of That's Amore, the music adds to the charm. And then there is Tony.

The service

JOVIALLY and typically Italian, even if our waiter was Spanish. In the absence of Tony and Silvana. Al Fresco was in good hands. Even new customers are welcomed like old friends; a kind of home away from home for a group of Italian artisans who are putting the finishing touches to Palazzo Versace. They have become regulars here, something which says as much for the food as it does for the welcoming mat.

Left: The Al Fresco Italian Family Restaurant is in good hands with Raffaele Velardo. Right: An assortment of delicious antipasto

The food

A SMALL pizza bread starter offers a good indication that the rest of the meal will be enjoyable,
although the restaurant aroma alone is enough to set the taste buds tingling. An antipasto of assorted Italian meats and cheeses is another good way to begin, full of delicious flavour. The specials board offered an eggplant parmigiana which was very tasty, a dish which the Italians do well and which can also be spiced up for variation.

Also among the specials, whitebait. Lightly battered, the tiny fish, served with a wedge of lemon, spilled from the plate and were mildly crunchy yet delightfully soft. Not always available but good when they are. Again from the specials board, chilli octopus ... not the small whole octopus but a larger variety sliced, marinated, extremely tender, and served with a salad. Board listed too, field mushroom. This was a single large mushroom, marinated and char grilled ... again, a tasty dish full of flavour and done to perfection.

In East Sydney many years ago there was, still is in all probability as the idea spread, an Italian restaurant which, unnamed, was called No Names, where students and those on a modest budget could enjoy good food without it costing an arm and a teg. One of the most popular dishes was a veal schnitzel with spaghetti bolognese, a huge meal which could see many people through until a repeat 24 hours later. No Names was a place full of character and characters, not the least of which were the cooks toiling sweatily in their singlets behind huge steaming pots ofspaghetti at an open servery. Such a dish appears on the Al Fresco menu and is every bit as appetite appeasing and enjoyable as that of memory at No Names. It is almost too much to add a fresh Italian safad of lettuce, tomato, capsicum, onion and olives. Almost. The menu bristles with delights such as black mussels, pasta of all types, seafood, fish, veal, chicken and steak and, of course, pizzas.

There are the usual suspects among the desserts ... gelati, cassata, tiramisu ... and again they are worth trying if you have the room.

The verdict

THIS is not a fancy restaurant; no airs and graces here; just good, hearty Italian fare, well cooked and presented in a pleasant atmosphere by pleasant people which makes you feel good and feel like returning. There are dining places at which the food is all important, at which the atmosphere and the service can lift a modest meal. Here the entire experience is pleasantly worthwhile. - PATRICIA MOSSOP