400 Gradi

400 Gradi has become somewhat of an institution of late in Melbourne. With good reason too. The margherita verace that propelled the restaurant to fame last year is undoubtedly of great quality. If you were to look the restaurant up online today you would encounter a mixed bag of reviews. Quite simply it has fallen victim to hyped expectations that some diners seem to get when visiting renowned/celebrity chef restaurants.

The place is located on the northern section of Lygon street well beyond the traditional pizza pasta strip. It's well worth the journey especially as that end of East Brunswick is bursting with character.

At the restaurant the gf and I went for our standard approach at Italian restaurants:
1 pasta
1 pizza

Such optimisation yo!

Paccheri rigati al sugo d’Anatra $29 - Pasta Paccheri rigate cooked with duck ragu

The pasta probably cost more than some people might think reasonable. I was payday money blind though so no worries! The duck was incredibly tender (read delicious) but I reckon the pasta itself was a tad bit harder than I would've liked.

Margherita verace $21 - San Marzano tomato, buffalo mozzarella, basil

Delicious! Best I've ever had? Don't know about that but who cares, that's for judges in far flung countries to decide. I'd be delighted to come back for this. Thin and very moist. To the extent I had to refrain from my usual philistine techniques and equip a knife and fork. Well, for the inner third - the rest was fine in the hand.

Arancini $6 (each) - Crumbed rice ball made with bolognese, peas, saffron served with spicy rosé sauce

 I was starving during this excursion as this was essentially a really late breakfast lunch as always seems to happen on weekends. Hence two starters. Decided to have everything arrive at once: Asian style! With both dishes the sauces were perfect. So well seasoned. The eggplant was particularly pleasant whilst the arancini ball was a bit meh. Worth noting is the good value these did present.

End Verdict: Fairly obvious - I'll be back.

Involtini di melanzane $6 (each) - Eggplant layer with smoked scarmoza, prosciutto cotto, basil, parmesan rolled & oven baked in Napoli sauce