It was great to see how popular Briscola Pizzeria has become with Canberra locals.

Even mid-week it was hard to get a table. Well deserving of its fans, Briscola has positioned itself well as a mid-range Italian eatery offering warm hospitality and good food.

Gianni was as helpful as ever as we created a shared menu for seven of us. He was right, the salads are huge, the Pulcinella is still a fabulous pizza choice, and his mum’s ravioli is indeed very good.

We went for maximum variety within our $25 per person budget and chose:

To start:

Antipasto di salumi affettati -antipasto & charcuterie board w/ salami, prosciutto, mortadella, pickled

giardiniera, fresh buffalo mozzarella, stone baked focaccia $25

..with an extra stone baked focaccia with herb + sea salt – $12  for this size

1 x Pulcinella pizza – mascarpone + gorgonzola + pancetta + fresh pear $30 (large)

For mains we ordered:

Casareccia pasta – chicken, pancetta, shallots, brandy cream, macchiato sugo $22

Egg pappardelle, three meat ragu, chianti, basil, grana padano $24

Mum’s roast pumpkin & ricotta ravioli, burnt sage butter, amaretti $26 for five and $5 each for extras

Buffalo mozzarella caprese, tomato, basil, virgin oil, aged balsamic $15

Shaved fennel, baby leaves, blood orange, mint, citronette $16 size

Rocket, grana padano, caramelised walnuts, fresh pear, aged balsamic $16

The real standouts for me were the Pulcinella pizza, Casareccia pasta, Buffalo mozzarella caprese and the soft baked focaccia that came with the antipasto.

Gianni was right, we didn’t need so much salad and next time we would skip the Shaved fennel salad – most of which was still left when we’d finished.

The Linguine, banana prawns, mussels, rock lobster meat, tomato, chilli, white wine $29 looks excellent on the way past too as did the take-away gelato outside.

To help with budgeting Briscola offers a 25% discount for Canberra Entertainment Book holders and BYO – Corkage $4.5per person, Cakeage $2 per person