Cheap eats - Santa Lucia (Kingston)

Hubby and I felt like some spag bol for lunch today so we went to Santa Lucia for their lunch special. I also wanted a full bodied good italian coffee. Sadly that was not to be. Although the cup size was big, the coffee was very watery without much taste. Black mark number one. Service is good and quick. The noise level was okay. The background music was in the background, not in the foreground like 99% of eating places in Canberra. The lunch special of $14.90 includes bread and a glass of wine, which was good. The spag bol was disappointing to say the least. The plate was not very warm at all, so the meal cooled quickly. It was rather bland as well. Black mark number two. We decided not to have dessert as we didn’t want another bland dish.

I remember Santa of old when it was in Kennedy Street, the food and atmosphere was superb.

marcothepolopony said :

I miss Santa Lucia being at the Swinger Hill shops. Ate there on a regular basis.

When did it close?

Grrrr said :

Alexandra Craig said :

Yup – my mum makes really good carbonara (i.e the proper way) like you’ve described. I’m yet to find an actual carbonara in a restaurant in Australia. 🙁

Maybe because they don’t want to risk Salmonella poisoning their customers, and can’t be bothered finding pasteurised eggs.

The heat from the pasta is probably borderline on the amount required to kill the bacteria if it’s present.

That, and pre-prepared sauces are way easier.

1. You use fresh eggs, not the months old eggs from the “Fresh Food People”.

2. The pasta is scalding hot and the eggs are cooked almost instantaneously

3. Cream is the best feedstock for bacteria, as well as clogging up your arteries

4. Show me the millions of dead Italians, who KNOW how to cook. Something that eludes so many here.

This is a repeat of the nonsense that kept Gus fighting windmills his whole life in the wasteland that was Canberra: “The land where knowledge comes to die”.

Alexandra Craig said :

Yup – my mum makes really good carbonara (i.e the proper way) like you’ve described. I’m yet to find an actual carbonara in a restaurant in Australia. 🙁

Maybe because they don’t want to risk Salmonella poisoning their customers, and can’t be bothered finding pasteurised eggs. The heat from the pasta is probably borderline on the amount required to kill the bacteria if it’s present.

That, and pre-prepared sauces are way easier.

rubaiyat said :

Carbonarra should be strictly pancetta and fresh egg cooked by the heat of the pasta alone.

Not a “white sauce dish” (usually cream), which a standard commercial abomination in this country.

Cooked correctly with lots of fresh cracked paper and served immediately, it is a wonderful healthy and refreshingly light meal. I sometimes add just cooked peas as a variation. Taught me by my ex-girlfiend’s Tuscan Mum who was a brilliant cook.

Yup – my mum makes really good carbonara (i.e the proper way) like you’ve described. I’m yet to find an actual carbonara in a restaurant in Australia. 🙁

Carbonarra should be strictly pancetta and fresh egg cooked by the heat of the pasta alone.

Not a “white sauce dish” (usually cream), which a standard commercial abomination in this country.

Cooked correctly with lots of fresh cracked paper and served immediately, it is a wonderful healthy and refreshingly light meal. I sometimes add just cooked peas as a variation. Taught me by my ex-girlfiend’s Tuscan Mum who was a brilliant cook.

I’ve been there a few times with a friend who knows the owners, the lunch specials were tasty and I also enjoyed the delicious bread.

It’s been about 7 months since I went and I do believe it did used to be more days of the week they did the special.

I miss Santa Lucia being at the Swinger Hill shops. Ate there on a regular basis.