Thirty Eight Chairs

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Firstly, apologies we haven’t been posting as often as we would have liked to. With moving to our new place, selling our old home AND exams for me, it’s just a tad hectic to say the least! Hopefully once everything is settled, we’ll be able to get back into doing what we love doing – eating and writing about it!

So recently we found a little gem which has probably replaced one of our usual favourite go-to places. If you are in search for some yummy Italian food, look no further. We were recently recommended to try out Thirty Eight Chairs and they certainly did not disappoint!  This small and intimate restaurant has a limited number of chairs but serves fresh and delicious Italian dishes. It is nestled in a quiet alley in South Yarra with some tables spilling outside of the restaurant. Being a bit chilly on this particular night we opted to sit indoors. Because it is small, it is essential that you call and make a booking!

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The staff are all Italian and are so warm and welcoming, you feel right at home as soon as you enter. We were seated at a quaint little table near the back. We ordered some Italian red wine, recommended by the staff there when we asked for something similar to a shiraz. They let us test and then have this wine imported from Italy for their restaurant, it was a 2012 Lecorbe, Toscana. It was so good and had the right complexities to it. We wanted more but it was the last bottle!

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For starters we ordered the Bresola di Wagyu which came with parmesan cheese, croutons and sicilian citrus oil, and the Cicale di Mare, which were the Moreton bay bugs with lemon butter sauce. The wagyu slices were SO soft it just melted in your mouth! Combined with the other ingredients it was heaven in your mouth. I could have eaten that whole dish to myself but of course had to share with Davin. The Moreton bay bugs were really fresh and cooked to perfection. The lightness of the lemon butter made the natural flavours of the bugs the star of the dish. It was a very enjoyable dish.

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For the mains, I ordered the Gnocchi al Pomodoro, potato gnocchi with red datterini tomatoes, mozzarella and basil. I absolutely love gnocchi so couldn’t say no to trying it. It was so delicious! Each bite of the potato gnocchi was light and fluffy and did not feel heavy at all. The datterini tomatoes gave it a lovely light and enjoyable flavour to it. I cleaned it up pretty quickly!

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Davin ordered the Linguine ai Fruitti di Mare which had linguine, seafood vellutata in tomato base, crab meat, deveined prawns, orange zest and bread crust sauce. Again, amazing dish and the flavours all came together so well, it wasn’t a heavy pasta dish and you could eat lots of it. We were both impressed with the pasta dishes. We also ordered the the Caprese salad to go with the mains which had Roma tomatoes, buffalo mozzarella DOC and basil. I loved the buffalo mozzarella, it was fresh and with the tomatoes and basil, a match made in heaven.

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For dessert, we ordered the Meringa, Crema, Fragole to share. It had meringue, vanilla cream, fresh strawberries and berries compote. Um, yes please! It had everything I loved in a dessert. When it came out we just literally scoffed it, it was so good! I would definitely order that again, and maybe just for myself next time. Staff also gave us complimentary dessert wine to go with our dessert.

Overall, we had a great experience. From the great food and wine, to the lovely service, we can assure you we’ll definitely be back!

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Thirty Eight Chairs
Approx $60 AUD per person
Address: 4A Bond St, South Yarra VIC 3141
Phone:+61 3 9827 5553

Thirty Eight Chairs Menu, Reviews, Photos, Location and Info - Zomato