Svago

Name: Svago

Address: 285 High Street, Kew, Vic 3101
Phone: (03) 9855 0505

Food: Italian.
They have sharing plates, so small sharing plates are around $11, and larger plates are around $22. Desserts around $11.

We ordered (descriptions aren't detailed as I cannot recall exact ingredients and there is no website):

Four bruschette platter: smoked ocean trout with goat cheese, marinated mushrooms, mozzarella, tomato, basil & rocket pesto and roasted capsicum with a salami on top

This was smaller than we expected as the bruschette was served on those small packet toast shaped crisp breads; not a baked bread. The ocean trout was quite bland and became mush in you mouth. The marinated mushrooms were quite tangy and predominantly tasted like lemon juice. The mozzarella combo was my favourite, as the tomatoes were fresh and the traditional flavours melded well.The second smaller dish was Baccalà Mantecato (salt cod) with potato foam and Parmigiano cylinder. This was really tiny and maybe 4 tablespoons worth. The fish was only a small teaspoon-size paste on the top of a Parmesan wafer which had become soggy from being in the potato foam which was more like a puree in texture. I didn't find this appealing at all. It was quite bland and the cold temperature made it less appetising on the tastebuds.


"Mains": Porchetta (pork) rolled with herbs: Ryan found this super-fatty to the point he couldn't even swallow around 1/4 of the slice. He described it as being reminiscent of a deli purchase, straight from the counter to his plate.

Grilled scamorza cheese served with minty zucchini slices: There were 3 quinelles of melted yellow cheese with around 1/2 a minted zucchini. The cheese was gluey and tasted like fish. It was room temperature at most. The zucchini was nice, slight hint of mint, but only 3tbs worth on the plate. I didn't enjoy it, and were it not for the fact I was starving I wouldn't have eaten it.

Bread salad: This was perhaps the most substantial portion of all 3 'main' size plates. It consisted of bread, onion, artichoke, olives, tomatoes and was dressed in a vinaigrette. Most of the bread chunks were already soggy when it arrived. It was the tastiest and most pleasing dish we had ordered, but still average.

Dessert: Dessert degustation for 2: Rum Baba and Ricotta Cannoli - $18.

This was perhaps the worst dish of the lot. It was barely enough for two. The rum buba was dry and stale, I could barely find a splashing of rum on the top. The cannoli parcels were doughy, Ryan bit into one looking forward to tasting the filling, his hopes dashed upon tasting 'nothing'. The scattered walnuts and drops of what might have been sherry added nothing. Horrible value for money, we were so hungry we had to resort to buying McDonald's next door when we left at 10pm.

Cost: $77 - 2 entrees, 2 mains, salad and dessert for two.

Service: Fair. The waiter was walking around chatting to all of the guests and at a few stages interrupted my partners and my private conversations to add his opinions etc.

Atmosphere: Fair. The interior was dark, with single tealights on each wooden table. The chairs were wooden, with the edge of the chair cutting into my legs. There was a blackboard across the wall with the booths which had chalk figures and scribblings from patrons. The bar runs along the left hand side. Our table for two was in between it and the booth tables. We constantly had waiters squeezing past and felt quite like we were in the middle of two lanes. The noise level was quite loud and consisted of both the patrons and the waiters chiming in.

Parking: Street. We went on a Friday night at 9pm and found parking across the street immediately.

Website: None

Hours: Monday - Saturday from 6pm.

Would I return: No. Never again.