Carb loading at Threecoins Italian Trattoria

I love Italian food. Love pasta and pizza and arancini. Yes, all those carb heavy delicious things that can be the subject matter of deep seeded food dreams. Here in Perth there's some lovely Italian restaurants, but I'm yet to find one that completely commands my attention. So whenever I hear of a new restaurant specialising in this cuisine, I'm generally pretty keen to try it out. 

Threecoins is a newcomer in Mount Lawley, a place foodstagramer Perth Eats told me about when we were at the Lucky Chan's behind the scene tour. Chatting to my closest friends Jay, Vee and Linda we decided to try it out on one of our "family" dinners - our weekly catchup where we try to eat at a new venue each time. 

Picking the restaurant and the date was easy, but actually getting things up and running were a little less than stellar. It all started when I used Threecoins' website to book our dinner, receiving a notification messaging that they'd call me to confirm.

A few days later I realised that dinner was that night and I hadn't heard from them so I gave them a quick phone call. No trace of my booking, but they had enough room to squeeze the four of us in that night at 7.30pm. Dinner was on!

Arriving at Threecoins on time (if there's one thing you should know about me, I'm usually ridiculously punctual) the restaurant is packed. For a new place on a Thursday, it is a great sight to see so many people inside and immediately I'm expecting big things. Sadly when I go inside it seems my booking has (1) been made under the wrong name (2) made for 6.30pm not 7.30pm (which I'm then told cheekily that I'm late for) and (3) for 3 adults and 1 baby so a highchair is in the spot where one of us needs to sit. Never mind, they take it away and tell me they'll be right back with a replacement... which never comes. I need to flag down a waitress to get it for us. So far, it's off to shaky start and I have to admit it did put a bit of a dampen on the night but I was willing to shake it off for some delicious food. 

We order quickly, agreeing to share a couple dishes as entrees and order a main each. We're all pretty early eaters so actually starting to eat at 8pm is late for us. As we wait for the food I take in the cute decor with checkered tablecloths, blackboards on the walls and wooden furniture. It feels rustic and homely.

Our meal starts off with a serving of the starter dish called 'from the frier' ($16.00) which has two arancini, a potato croquette and two fried battered olives sitting atop a bed of rustic looking fries which have the potato skin on still. Love the look of it!

The potato croquette is definitely the best. Soft, fluffy on the inside and just the right amount of crispness on the outside. I wish there had been more than one! The arancini is really tasty - not to the highs of The Brisbane's pumpkin and feta ones, but still really enjoyable. None of us are big fans of the fried olives, they have a weird shell and a slightly polarising taste.

Our second entree is pizza, but after around 30 minutes of waiting our waitress tells us they have a backlog in the kitchen. She then provides us with a complimentary serving of wood fired focaccia (normally $8.00) and marinated olives (normally $6.00). It's a really nice touch and definitely made the wait a bit easier! I didn't try the olives but the bread was yummy - salty and slightly chewy. I love focaccia, it's always such a house pleaser! This one wasn't quite oily enough, nor had it risen high enough - after trying the one at Lalla Rookh, there's a high benchmark in my mind.

By the time our pizza comes to the table I have to admit I'm feeling a little carb-loaded which makes me a little worried about how I'll feel when our mains arrive. We've chosen the prosciutto pizza ($23.50) which has mozzarella, prosciutto San Daniele, cherry tomatoes, rocket and shaved parmesan.

The base is thin and biscuity, the appearance rustic looking. The prosciutto is salty but not as melt in your mouth as I would hope, and I would have preferred for the rocket to be on top of the other ingredients with a nice sprinkling of salt and olive oil over the top.

I think because of their backlog there wasn't quite enough love put into the wood-fired creation on this occasion and the cheese was almost non-existent. All up the pizza is pleasant enough but it's not something I'd return for in a hurry.

When our pasta mains come out to the table they're all steaming hot and while they look on the small side, they're actually very filling. Carbs are so deceptive!

My dish is the first to arrive and the aroma of truffle fills our space, commanding attention. I've ordered the pumpkin and taleggio filled ravioli ($26.00) which is tossed in a sauce of butter, parmesan and sage, drizzled with white truffle oil.

One bite in and you can tell the pasta is definitely handmade and fresh. It's cooked perfectly al dente, with just the right amount of bite in the tension of the texture. There's a really great balance between the sweetness of pumpkin and the salt of the cheese. Really yummy, but very filling! I was starting to wish I'd skipped the pizza and held out for my lovely main.

Both Jay and Vee ordered the slow cooked lamb leg ragu fettucini ($24.00) which is finished with shavings of pecorino cheese. I was also eying this dish on the menu so I'm pleased that they've ordered it because that way I get to try it! The lamb is rich and tender, the sauce a great homestyle rendition. I like the bursts of rosemary flavour but I'm not so sure about the whole stick resting on top. This is a really comforting dish, I can definitely imagine eating this in winter.

Last to come to the table was Linda's lasagne ($22.00) which was a cheesy and beefy affair, cooked in the wood-fired oven. It looked so good, with the mounds of béchamel and cheese - but as she started to make her way through it we realised the top layer was burnt. Discarding that sheet of pasta, the dish was really tasty. I think if we'd gone on a less busy night and our food hadn't been running so late, then they would have avoided burning part of it.

Though we're all pretty full, we decide to go all out and order a couple desserts to share between the four of us. The millefoglie ($14.00) is what is commonly known as the French dessert mille-feuille or a cake of a thousand sheets. It's house made puff pastry surrounding chantilly cream, white chocolate and strawberry.

While it might be rustic in appearance, the taste is lovely and sweet. The crunch of the pastry combined with the sweet, vanilla cream is a match made in heaven. I like the little bursts of sour sweetness whenever you come across a strawberry slice in the mix.

Our final dish is the Threecoins pannacotta ($14.00). Pannacotta is the dessert Jeremy and I always make at home and have worked hard to tweak and perfect over the past few years. I definitely have a set mind on how I like it to be.

At Threecoins there's is soft and silky, but with a sour yoghurt base rather than thickened cream. The taste and texture is pleasant and enjoyable, but not quite the way I usually like to eat it. However in saying that Linda, who doesn't usually like pannacotta, tells us she likes it because of the yoghurt flavouring. We all chip in and barely manage to finish - and with that we are definitely done. My stomach is bursting!

Our night at Threecoins Italian Trattoria in Mount Lawley was one of highs and lows, but all up it left a pleasant taste in my mouth. The pasta was definitely the standout point of the evening, which is exactly what you would hope for. Since they're new I'm chalking up the booking fiasco to teething problems and I think given a bit of time they'll really get into the swing of things. It's great seeing them so busy so early on as well!