Jacqui had been raving about Dweezil for the past few weeks now. She worked in the area and reckoned the food there was the bee’s knees. She also mentioned nonna-made pasta which sold me. Who am I to argue against a Nonna-made pasta? Plus I ran out of peanut butter and the Carlisle Health shop nearby sold the most yummy fresh 100%-peanut peanut butter.
We arrived at Dweezil in the afternoon, starving. But that didn’t stop me from admiring its warm wooden interior. I loved the way the place was decked out. They had the usual cafe fare like breakfast dishes, toasted foccacia, pastry, sandwiches and various cakes. And of course the daily pasta specials.
After pondering whether I should go for a breakfast dish (as usual) and decided against it (as usual), I settled on the day’s special: Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni. Josh, being a predictable soul, went for the Chicken Puff Pastry Calzone.
(Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni – $10.00)
This. Was. The. Yummiest. Thing. Ever. Served by Nonna herself, I don’t know how else to describe it but it was one of the best pasta dishes I ever had. It’s as good as Pelligrini’s lasagne (which I think is the bee’s knees) except it had ricotta and spinach in it – two of my favourite things in the world.
(Dweezil’s cannelloni – it ain’t pretty close up but it’s beautiful!)
The sauce was yummy. The pasta was yummy. The filling was yummy. Everything was yummy. Jacqui was right.
(Chicken Calzone – $7.50)
(the chicken calzone filling)
Josh’s calzone came with tomato relish. It was lovely. Of course I had a bite. Josh reckons it was ‘better than that chicken pie at that place with the cute waiter.’
(Side salad – $6.50)
We both wanted side salad but Josh’s calzone had an option to include salad and mine didn’t, we ended up with a serve of side salad on its own to share. It was very good. Very well-dressed and the lettuce were beautifully crunchy. I didn’t realise normal iceberg lettuce could be so yummy. I think side salad should be something that makes or breaks the dish and often it’s what I use to determine how good a cafe or a restaurant is. If they do side salad properly, everything is bound to be good.
(Lemon tart – $4.00)
Being greedy guts that we were, we opted for dessert. I went for the lemon tart (How could I not? I was told, ‘I have the best lemon tart in town’) and a coffee while Josh opted for a hedgehog slice.
(Hedgehog slice – $4.00)
The lemon tart was good though I’m not too sure about best in town but it was yummy nonetheless. Josh liked his hedgehog slice. I’m not a fan and never really found one to be any good anyway. We were served our dessert and I pulled out my camera to take pictures, the waiter/cafe manager saw and said ‘Do you want me to pretty them up for the pictures?’ so I said yes. She came back with coffee beans on the hedgehog slice and lemon slices on the tart with a bit of icing sugar dusted on them. Very creative!
(coffee – $3.20)
It was lovely. The coffee was also very good. I love it when I get a bit of latte art on my coffee. We would be sure to go back when we’re on that side of town again!
Dweezil, 172 Carlisle St., St Kilda
