For our final evening in Brisbane my girlfriends and I decided to treat ourselves to a fancy night out. We had some trouble finding the right place (our hearts had been set on French) but eventually came across OTTO through Zomato.com (the more popular food-hunting site here in Australia).
We arrived around 8 PM but spent about fifteen minutes trying to find the spot. It's located in what seems to be an office building or something? We had to venture into the complex then take an elevator to get to where it was. We'd made a reservation which was probably for the best, even on a Tuesday night the place was pretty packed.
Our dinner started off with my having to explain the dishes and courses to my friends, OTTO was fancier than they were used to so they were a tad out of their element. Considering the crowd was mostly 30-40 year olds on dates or business men I think it was just us having not researched the venue properly, not OTTO being overtly posh.
I was the only one to get drinks or an appetizer -- both of them only got mains. I started with their carpaccio di manzo --beef carpaccio -- ($28AUD) and a gin-based cocktail ($18AUD). The cocktail arrived promptly but the food took quite some time, thankfully, the waitress brought us two rounds of their amazingly delicious bread so we didn't starve. When the carpaccio arrived I couldn't help but gasp, the plating was absolutely gorgeous. From the very first bite I already knew I was in love. The meat was so tender and thin that I needed only my fork to cut it. The addition of capers, rocket, truffle dressing, parmesan and aoili was positively fantastic and made for one of the best appetizers I've had in a long, long, LONG time.
Our mains came shortly after I'd finished the carpaccio, which my friends were immensely grateful for as they hadn't eaten since noon. One of my friends got the risotto ($35AUD), the other the bistecca di manzo -- sirloin -- ($45AUD) and I got the agnello -- lamb -- ($39AUD). Each dish was beautifully presented and we found ourselves taking photos for a good five minutes. My lamb was cooked perfectly and was amazingly tender, it also had this fantastic sear and crust on it that created the most fabulous crunch. My only issue with my dish was perhaps that it was lacking balance. The dish comes with grilled eggplant, black garlic dressing, sheep yoghurt, pine nuts and parsley -- all of which are amazing ingredients, however, I think they went too far and the dish erred on the too-rich side. The creamy eggplant, dressing and yoghurt lacked texture which meant every bite I took was a mushy mess without much difference in flavor. They needed more freshness and more variety of texture to make the dish truly amazing.
My friend who'd gotten the risotto was also struggling with the richness issue. I'd tried a bite of her risotto at the beginning of our meal and had already thought it was too much, so of course after eating an entire bowl of it she was struggling. It was a LOT of dairy and a LOT of grain (hence why I usually never order risotto as a main dish). I also thought it was a fairly basic menu item, parmesan and truffles in risotto is incredibly standard and I've seen the exact same dish in dozens of other places for half the price. If they'd just added a hint of brightness, some acid or some herbs, the whole dish could've been immensely better.
We then moved onto our final meals, dolci -- dessert -- for the girls and formaggi -- cheese -- for me. The girls ordered the gianduia and I got the pecorino cheese option. In regards to plating both of our dishes looks positively amazing. Albeit, mine was a bit muted in color (which made it a bit difficult to eat considering OTTO's dim lighting). The cheese was positively fabulous but I found the accompaniments a tad cumbersome. Instead of baguette they serve these incredibly thin and crisp breads which snap in half at the slightest movement. I was unable to put anything on them without risking crumbs. Eventually I just cut off bits of quince paste and cheese and sort of scooped them onto the bread. Not the fanciest of experiences.
By the end of the night I'd spent $125 on two drinks and three dishes. I personally don't find this too awful as my boyfriend and I have done far worse damage back in the State's, however, when I am spending that much money I expect to be completely taken aback by how amazing a place is but I found myself only loving certain parts of OTTO. I think this is the kind of place you go to for a fancier date night and test out a variety of smaller dishes. It's not the kind of place to just eat an entree (like my friends). The view of the bridge is pretty amazing though. read more