Mezzanino Ristorante, Waterloo

EDIT: CLOSED

The Danks Street Produce Merchants opened up in Waterloo on the old Fratelli Fresh site and I’ve been peachy keen to visit. It’s pretty damn impressive walking through all the fresh produce which is sourced from Flemington Markets daily. There’s also the Free Range Butcher, The One That Got Away fishmonger, Sami’s Souk Middle Eastern groceries and Dank Street Cheese Affineurs for the rest of your grocery shopping needs.

Feeling mighty peckish, we head upstairs to Mezzanino, an Italian restaurant which showcases piattini small-style dishes on a marble-topped trolley. Our waiter explained that the piattini were priced $8-$14 each. Simply point at what you’d like to order and the kitchen will cook you a fresh one to eat!

It was just a lil too easy pointing at all the dishes that looked good and before I knew it our table was filled! I couldn’t resist the antipasto plate with ribbons of prosciutto, thickly sliced salami, honey drenched sun dried tomato, olives, artichoke and a wedge of focaccia.

I loooove gravlax! The raw salmon is cured in a salt, sugar and dill mixture and the flavour of the salmon is delicate and just perfect for this warm weather. I initially had misgivings about getting this because it looked so dull but it’s just the blue plate lol

See? Much nicer lookin’ on a white plate 😛

The Pizzette is delightfully cheesy, with a nice crisp base and a puffy crust. I chortle at the size- it’s the perfect portion for me cos I always get full after 2 normal slices of pizza haha

We marvel at the meatballs which are freakishly soft and juicy and use the focaccia to mop up the rich tomato sauce.

We also ordered the Blue swimmer crab risotto ($27) off the ala carte menu. Noods loved this which was a surprise because he’s not really a risotto fan but each grain had a good bite to it and there were generous amounts of crab meat buried within.

Aaaand some refreshing lemon sorbet to end the meal because holy crap Sydney, this summer has been a scorcher!

The piattini will rotate throughout the year depending on the seasonal produce available. I can’t wait to return to Mezzanino and try the rest of their pastas!

Mezzanino Ristorante
Level 1 Danks St Produce Merchants,
3 Danks St,
Waterloo

Trading Hours:
7 days: 11am – 4pm