Zafferano is situated on the Swan River by the Old Swan Brewery. The views of the city are amazing, and it seems to be a restaurant that you visit for a special occasion.
I was really looking forward to trying some good seafood here.
The first thing I noticed was the car parking – it’s expensive! Not only do you have to pay premium prices for food, you have to pay to park there, which seemed to me a bit rough.
When we walked in, we expected the restaurant to be full, but it wasn’t. Quite surprising for a Saturday night – it should have been buzzing with clientele. It was a chilly night and we were seated near a heater, which was great, still with good views of the city, but not right by the window.
We started with a glass of wine – Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc – $17 per glass. It was okay, but I have tasted much better Marlborough sauvignon blanc. It didn’t have the wonderful pineapple and gooseberry bouquet that you often get with sb, although it did have a citrus feel, and probably could have been served a bit colder.
I found the menu quite uninspiring and a bit reminiscent of the 70’s. There was a lot of seafood, as that is the speciality, but with dishes like caesar salad, duck with cherries, and scampi – I wondered if they were aiming for an older clientele. The menu wasn’t really clear about entrees and mains, it seemed that most dishes could be served as entree or main, but it would have been good to have a demarcation on the menu.
We decide to go for mains only. I chose grilled pink snapper with mango chutney, lemon and olive oil. I chose this dish because it was one of the few dishes on the menu that wasn’t served in butter or with parmesan. They seem to put parmesan on everything! I did mention my dairy issue on booking, but none of the waitstaff mentioned it or gave me any guidance or alternatives that could be served.
So this dish was $49.50 and to be honest it didn’t warrant that price tag. The snapper was overcooked, and I was not convinced of its freshness. The mango chutney didn’t really go with it, a nice fennel and tomato salad would have been a better accompaniment. I didn’t finish the dish because I didn’t really enjoy it, the flavours just weren’t there.
My partner chose the Crispy Skinned Barramundi:
Served with dukkah roasted potatoes, herbs and beurre blanc. The skin wasn’t really that crispy, it was quite light on the beurre blanc. The potatoes were nice and the fish generally was well cooked and fresh, but that crispy skin was a disappointment. This dish was $48.50.
We chose a ‘special’ side dish of a peach salad with chorizo and this was probably the star of the meal (we didn’t know the price, but sides are round the $17-18 mark).
The chorizo was unnecessary and could have been left off. To be honest the chorizo skin was a little tough and unpleasant, and chorizo is too strong a flavour to complement delicate peach. The peaches were beautifully grilled with flaked almonds, the ubiquitous parmesan, rocket, and a raspberry/balsamic vinaigrette. I couldn’t detect the vinaigrette, but this was a nice dish in amongst a poor meal.
We perused the dessert menu, but it was disappointingly dairy heavy and at $25.50 per dessert, we didn’t want to risk another let down.
When we left, nobody asked if we were okay. The head waitress took my phone away to get my Entertainment Book voucher ‘authorised’ by the chef, which I found a bit disturbing (do they not trust their staff/customers?).
Not a great experience, we won’t be going back. Zafferano is hideously overpriced and not really that good.
Visit Date – May 2019
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Truly Scrumptious 
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