La Francesca

Location: 512 Whitehorse Road, Surrey Hills

A local Surrey Hills Italian restaurant, La Francesca has a good vibe with an authentic feel that just seems to force pictures of scooters and Italian landscapes. Fully booked on a Friday night, mostly with clientele over 60 years of age (we were the youngest group there by a long shot).

Food
Our starter of garlic bread and succulent soft shelled crab bruchetta was mouth wateringly delicious. On the main dish front - Anatra al Arrancia, a twice cooked duck in orange sauce. Morgan loves duck and he believes this dish did ducks all around proud. With a sweet orange sauce that very well suited the perfectly cooked duck meat he rated this 8/10. Lauren’s Salt and Pepper Calamari was tender and flavorsome getting a 7/10 rating. Our other mains were disappointing – Tori felt her Lasagna was overcooked (6/10), Mark felt his Risotto Marinara although tasty was too sweet (6/10) and Melinda’s choice of Risotto Ortilano (baked vegies) did not meet expectations at all (5/10).

Value for money
At $170 for the five of us (and it was BYO) you wouldn’t put La Francesca in the ‘cheap and cheerful’ category.

Things we liked
The staff and service at La Francesca were exceptional – welcoming and accommodating with them making space for us with our last minute booking by squeezing us into a table designed for four diners (instead of five).

Things we didn’t like
The misleading pizza oven in the centre of the kitchen of La Francesca was quite frustrating, mainly because they don’t make or sell pizzas. They did last year, apparently.

5.5/10 stars overall