Cucina and Co – The Overview…
Food: Egg plant parmagiana, the Focacciata, Parpadelle Giuseppina, Parma Pizza, Tiramisu, Nutellino
The details…
The open kitchen dominates one wall of Cucina and co. Choose your seat well and you can watch your pizza being lovingly created and wood-fired. It creates a busy, interesting venue that still feels lively even during quieter times with fewer diners. The decor is dominated by muted greys and pale woods, with blue chairs adding a splash of colour to the environment. While not beach front, it definitely forms memories of a bright seaside eatery.
Tables were a little cosy, but the venue is fairly large so unless you arrive on a busy night, you’ll be fairly unaffected by this. The venue filled up while we were there but we still felt able to enjoy a private conversation – helped by the perfect background music. The friendly, welcoming staff easily cater to their diverse range of customers – from babies no more than a few weeks old to pensioners. Menu-wise there’s several entrees, foccacias, pizzas and pasta. There’s a good choice without it feeling overwhelming. We started with the egg plant parmagiana and the focacciata.
The Parma was rich and cheesy and leaves those classic Italian tomato and herb flavours on your tongue. It’s a great Italian starter, and really sets the expectations high for what’s to come. The wood fired focaccia with just a light coating of the tomato pizza sauce was bubbly, thick and soft. We loved the presentation of this dish, making it easily shareable and it can be enjoyed as either an entree or a side to a main dish.
Next we enjoyed the Parma pizza. Lavishly topped with prosciutto and basil, the base was light and airy – woodfired to perfection with a nice char forming on the crusts. Atop this was a crisp yet sweet tomato sauce which really awakens your senses with its freshness. It’s typically the toppings that stand out on a pizza, but this sauce really hit the mark – standing out, yet not overpowering the sweet, dry-cured prosciutto.
Our final savoury dish was the parpadelle. The rich, almost stock like flavour of the sauce was mouthwatering and the meat was falling apart before I even got it on my fork! Given the strength of the tomato based dishes we’d has so far, I expected this to follow suit flavour-wise. I was pleasantly surprised at the meatiness of the sauce and it felt like a really refined pasta dish. The parpadelle was thin with just that slight firmness of perfectly cooked pasta when you take a bite.
Dessert-wise we tried the tiramisu and the nutellino. The tiramisu arrived in an adorable little jar. We enjoyed the subtle flavour, which doesn’t overwhelm the palate and has a nice sweetness. You can taste the coffee running through it but there was so much more to the dish.
Nutellino is your decadent Italian comfort dessert. It’s what you order when your boyfriend breaks your heart – seriously, Bridget Jones would not have been crying on her couch if she’d had these. What I mean is, this dish can’t fail to put a smile on your face. It’s filling, so make sure you save room for it. It’s sweet, chocolatey and indulgent – the kind of dish you scour Venetian bakeries for. If you ever need a substitute for a hug, this is it!
Everything else…
Website: https://www.cucinaandco.com.au/
Address: 325 New Street, Brighton
Opening Times:
Mon 5pm to 9:30pm
Tue 5pm to 9:30pm
Wed 5pm to 9:30pm
Thu 5pm to 10pm
Fri 5pm to 10pm
Sat 5pm to 10pm
Sun 12pm to 10pm
Parking: It’s in a quieter part of New Street, so we easy found a spot to park just across the road.
Getting here on PT: It’s about a 12 minute walk from North Brighton Train Station (on the Sandringham Line), or on the 219 bus route.
Disclaimer: We dined as guests of Cucina and Co, Brighton. Reviews are honest and based on our own personal experiences. We cannot guarantee things at a restaurant won’t change including, but not limited to, menu items and opening hours, so please confirm any details with the venue before visiting.