My wife and I were fortunate to have a booking on opening night for this new Italian restaurant – Compa in Canberra. For the local Canberran, Compa is located next to Raku Restaurant, in the corner of Canberra Centre. This is a review of the restaurant experience, food, drinks and service.
When we arrived, we were seated pretty promptly and it was clear that the night would be busy. There were a lot of staff on hand greeting and attending to customer needs so that was nice to see as well. We sat luckily no where near the entrance as there was the very typical cool evening breeze in Canberra. Once seated, we were shown the menus, drinks menu and offered sparkling or still water, to which we said still water please.
Now the food menu is one page but boy the drinks menu is extensive. Below is the menu and prices. I had the steak, while my wife had multiple discussions about whether to have the prawn pasta, the Gnocchi or the Fish. In the end, she settled for the Gnocchi, but should have chosen the fish. Based on the menu below, what would have interested you?
Not really a wine drinker I just went for the cheapest red wine I could find. We also ordered a starter, which was the tuna and then had a side, which was the greens, as my wife had always wanted to try it but never got a chance to. The order was placed and so the wait began. The atmosphere in the restaurant was nice, decor and set up looked nice but we were seated next to a big curtain hiding a set of stairs.
Compa is part of celebrity chef Matt Moran’s group of restaurants. So, being opening night, Matt Moran was at the restaurant and serving food to tables and helping staff out while walking around and seeing diners. Sadly I never got a meet and greet with Matt, but the table next to us did and I notice the table behind my wife did as well. Oh well. At least I can say I saw Matt in action.
The starter came out really quickly which was nice. The tuna tasted nice and with the touch of spice it was a nice way to start the evening. For those who know me, you’ll know I can’t take spice. But this was ok, definitely on the more extreme end of my spice tolerance. Not long after the dish was cleared, the main along with side came. You could smell the sear on the steak and on initial presentation the steak looked ok. The food looked very appetising, or was it only because I was hungry?
My wife took a few bites of the gnocchi and noticed it sadly had a bit of a burnt taste to it. She still finished it but the slight burnt taste was definitely noticed. I cut the steak and it was cooked to what I wanted, medium rare. It was really tasty and paired with the red wine jus, perfect. It could have done with more rocket salad though, I think I got 2-3 leaves, along with a wedge of lemon and that was it. The side dish was ok, but it was in the end just greens to us with dressing.
When we had finished, we were wondering where the dessert menu was. This wasn’t given to us at the start of the night, which we thought was different. Anyway the dessert menu was simple, it had 3 options and then dessert wines to go with it.
Our dessert was really good. A nice way to end the evening.
Overall I thought it was a nice evening. Nothing really spectacular or different from your mid to higher end Italian restaurants though. All the dishes tasted good with the exception of that burnt taste from the gnocchi, but some dishes which we could have ordered were probably a tad pricier than what you would see in other comparative Italian restaurants. It looked like the prawns from the entree menu was the dish of the night (given so many went out!) but they were quite pricey.
Would I go back? Probably. But not like next week. Food options are limited some what. But there are other dishes we would love to try, the fish is one of them. They do seem to have more of a drinks menu than food. But the food was served well. It is primarily a steakhouse though I have heard. Their steaks were done well. We weren’t salivating over the food we had so that’s probably the other reason I would say we wouldn’t head back so soon.
Compa restaurant – 148 Bunda Street Canberra City.
http://www.comparistorante.com.au
Currently open Tuesday – Saturday 12 – 2.30pm and 5pm – late, with Sunday trading starting on Mother’s Day in May 2024.
info@comparistorante.com.au
luithefly 