New Brisbane

Prior to moving to Brisbane, I lived in Venice, Italy for 6 months, where I became absolutely spoilt on genuine Italian cuisine, with daily specials made fresh by a crazy chef named Gianni. At the end of my travels, I moved to Brisbane where I was dismayed to discover an absolute lack of Italian restaurants in the Brisbane CBD. For almost 2 years I have languished without a decent Italian fix, until one of my favourite new restaurants launched in December, Vapiano.

Vapiano
Albert Lane (just off Queen St mall)
Brisbane CBD
P: 07 3221 4933
E: will.cooke@vapiano.com.au
W: www.vapiano.com.au
Open every day, 11am - 11pm

Based on the premise of chi va piano, va sano e va lontano (taking things a bit slower to get it right), Vapiano offers a “fresh casual” dining experience that is anything but slow. Originating in Hamburg, Germany, the group now boasts 65 locations worldwide with their Brisbane restaurant leading the charge into the Australian market, with another Brisbane restaurant as well as Gold Coast and Sydney restaurants planned for 2010.

Despite their rapid growth, Vapiano prides itself on fresh, locally-sourced cuisine - with most of the food served-up being brought in from less than 150km away (a welcome treat for locavores!). In fact, the pasta they serve up is made in store daily, in their own manifattura. And the restaurant itself is superb, with tons of additional seating upstairs (as well as a bar, herb garden and olive tree) - not to mention the condiment tray at every table that includes a plant so you can add fresh herbs to your meal.

Now, the first time I went down to Vapiano, it was at the invitation of the restaurant itself. And of course they plied us with delicious food to get a good review (our reviews can be very influential you know). But, I wanted to see if the amazing quality held up when I was paying for it myself (my journalistic integrity is not so easily bought!), so i went down there again a few weeks later with a friend of mine, for a casual bite. Both times I had a bellisimo meal that completely slayed my 2 year pasta craving.

With the option to mix different pastas and sauces, as well as a heap of pizza options, there’s something in the order of 50 different meals you can choose from. So, it can be a bit hard to choose, but I found this just made me want to come back again. The first time around I opted for penne with a pollo e spinaci (chicken and spinach) sauce, which not only tasted great, but was also a very filling portion. Side note, when you’re in Italy, remember to ask for penne and not pene, as they have completely different meanings. My offsider on this occasion enjoyed a meat-loaded carne pizza, a nice light base that balanced nicely with the toppings and which took me back to late night pizza from the pizzeria in Venice.

On my second trip back to Vapiano, I had a bit more of a chance to see the Vapiano concept in action. As we entered the store, we grabbed our individual swipe cards that we would record all our meal purchases on (so we could pay at the end without worrying about splitting a bill) and then proceeded over to the cooking stations. This time around, we ignored the pizza and pasta stations and made straight for one off the four pasta stations. Opting for something light, I went for a campanelle con funghi (mushroom sauce) while my friend grabbed an arrabbiata (tomato, garlic & chilli). Now, even though mixing certain pastas with certain sauces is not traditionally done in Italy (Gianni would shake his head at fusilli carbonara!), the ability to pick the pasta to go with your sauce is something that I really like - I prefer short pasta and hate always having to make a special request when a menu explicitly says fettucine or tagliatelle.

Vapiano is like fast food pasta, only much healthier for you. Because the pasta is made fresh, and by using Vapiano’s unique cooking system, our pasta was ready in just 3 minutes, then topped with a sauce cooked on a wok in front of us while we waited. I really enjoyed my con funghi and my friend, who knows very little about pasta in general, couldn’t stop raving about his arrabbiata- or about how great an idea the restaurant was. It’s this kind of dining experience, incorporating healthy, reasonably-priced food and a casual atmosphere, that has made restaurant chains like Wagamama so popular and Vapiano has adapted the concept perfectly to serving up great Italian-Australian tucker.

So am I going to go back? Well, I already have. And with its convenient location to the cinemas at Myer centre, its great food at great prices, and the fact that it’s probably the only real Italian restaurant in the CBD (isn’t Il Centro more modern-Australian now?), you can rest assured that I’ll be there on a monthly basis, if not weekly.

- Ross