An offer she couldn't refuse

The groper at Cosa Nostra Italian Trattoria Restaurant. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Cosa Nostra Italian Trattoria

Rating out of 10
Food: 8
Service: 7
Value: 8
Ambience: 7

Address: 234 Tinakori Rd, Thorndon, Wellington Ph (04) 473 3005
Our meal: $103.70 for a shared entree, two main dishes, two desserts and three glasses of wine.
Wine list: A short but satisfactory selection of New Zealand, Australian and Italian wines, many available by the glass.
Verdict: Fine trattoria food served in a cosy, neighbourhood setting. Well worth a visit.

Good trattoria food is hard to find, even in Italy. So when a couple of Wellingtonians suggested "that new Italian place in Tinakori Rd," we were keen to try it out. Armed only with a street number we set off on foot, and tracked down Cosa Nostra without even knowing its name.

Despite being open only a few months, the little trattoria was nearly full with couples and family groups obviously enjoying themselves. So, after sniffing the delicious wafts of garlic and herbs drifting towards us, we decided to find out why.

The menu was short and relatively simple but with several enticing choices. The interior, with its religious icons on the walls, gave us the feeling that we were eating in someone else's cosy dining room. We began with the bruschetta di giorno ($7.90 for two). The bruschetta was crisp, garlicky and warm, and topped with feta, tomato and olives. Our glasses of wine, a pinot gris for me and a robust Aussie shiraz ($8 each) for Eugene, were both enjoyable.

A brilliant sign came via our fast-paced waiter, who announced that the pesce of the day was not the usual dreary snapper but what Wellingtonians call groper and Aucklanders know as hapuku. The other specials sounded great too: a lemony risotto, a seafood pasta and a couple of pizzas. All this as well as a menu covering most of the Italian favourites such as osso bucco, other veal dishes and an enticing array of pasta meals.

Despite all that, we both wanted the groper, so I gracefully gave in and opted for the scallopini di vitello. For once good manners paid off. While the groper was excellent, the veal turned out to be way better than expected: tender slices of veal, and lots of them, in a fragrant, tasty, creamy sauce, served with lashings of cubed and roasted potatoes and fresh greens. I'd walk miles for another serving.

The groper was less exciting but moist and succulent with a crispy outside and served with a caper/lemon butter that worked well. Tall glasses of water and warmed bread rolls arrived unbidden and didn't show up on the bill as they tend to in Auckland. For dessert we decided on the affogato (vanilla icecream served with a demi-tasse of hot espresso coffee and a shot glass of amarillo liqueur) for me and tiramisu for Eugene. Both were $10 and the affrogato, especially, was generous and quite outstanding.

Throughout our meal, which was reasonably long, the neighbouring tables were reset and re-occupied by a steady stream of customers. Many were couples popping in for a quick bite on the way home from work on a Tuesday evening. Some had children with them. The remarkable thing was how relaxed they seemed to be about spending money on dinner mid-week.

Although Cosa Nostra is relatively inexpensive, people were enjoying several courses and decent bottles of wine. It was certainly a far cry from our recent excursions to downtown Auckland where even established restaurants have been only half full on Thursday and Friday nights.

Possibly the recession has not hit this part of inner-city Wellington as hard as it has in Auckland or, perhaps, people are still willing to go out and spend money when they can get this superb standard of fresh-cooked trattoria food at reasonable prices.