10 August 2016

Social & Co set to shine on Tosolini's site

| Charlotte
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SocialCo-600x449

The team behind viral freakshake sensation Patissez are part of a group that will on Thursday open Social & Co, a bright and leafy restaurant/bar on the ex-Tosolini’s site at Baileys Corner … and last night RiotACT was invited in for an exclusive sneak peek.

In the works since November 2015, Social & Co will serve breakfast and lunch seven days a week and dinner Monday to Saturday (they will close at 4pm on Sundays). The restaurant will take bookings, and bar food will be available till 12.30am on Friday and Saturday nights to keep weekend crowd fed as well as watered. They’re licensed to open till 2am, but plan to offer an alternative to the rowdy offerings elsewhere late at night.

Social & Co table

General manager Ashleigh Wood, who joins from Patissez, said the concept is, as the establishment’s name suggests, social. Tables are designed to encourage groups to congregate over shared plates, which will vary from small to large plates with pizzas just one of the options on offer.

“It’s that whole social side of dining, of getting together, not just a quick meal, a more European style of dining,” she said.

“Hence the big tables, everyone sitting around, sharing food, sharing drinks and everyone having a social time, enjoying that whole experience.”

Social & Co interior

Ms Wood said pizzas were just one component of the menu.

“[The chefs] do [also] cook beautiful lamb shoulders and kilo steaks and stuff like that, which is all designed to share,” she said.

Social & Co top tables

The interior was completely gutted before a refit commenced, and is now filled with aged timber, black metal and lush garden foliage.

When we visited last night, children were sitting at the pizza bar, watching the chef at work sliding pizzas around in the pizza oven, while tucking into a slice or two themselves. Older family members and friends of the owners and staff were congregated around mezze plates on long tables or chatting with the friendly staff behind the bar over a beer or wine.

Social & Co centre

Signage for the restaurant was still to come last night, but RiotACT was pleased to see that the outdoor seating will once again spill out onto the pavement outside, and that light will stream inside via the floor to ceiling windows.

Social & Co outside view

We’ve missed Tosolini’s. Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food with his typical pizzazz on the other side of the lake at Molto Italian, but the al fresco seating outside his former cafe was perhaps the best in the CBD for people-watching, and we’re looking forward to settling back in there for a social break from city life.

Social & Co window seating

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Just walked past Social & Co and saw it was closed. There’s a note on the door to the effect that the owners have taken back the building and changed the locks. Same as the previous tenant who was apparently evicted for serial non-payment of rent.
Has the above mentioned group gone the same way?

Acton said :

tiliqua said :

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

@Dungfungus, Molto Italian, which Mr Tosolini now manages on the Kingston Foreshore, isn’t a casual pizza joint. It’s a fine dining establishment, much more so than the former Tosolini’s. Take a look at the menu. http://moltoitalian.com/assets/Uploads/menu.pdf
Yes, there are some pizzas, but there are also dishes like carpaccio with truffle oil and spaghetti cacio e pepe, which is served from within a full pecorino wheel. It’s pretty spectacular. If you do drop in, I recommend you ask the barman to make you his best of Canberra mocktail. I don’t know what was in it, but it is the current standout in my year of not drinking alcohol by a mile.

I can’t remember eating anything but pizzas at Tosolinis Baileys Corner. This doesn’t necessarily mean the were not memorable but they were definitely not “great Italian food” either.
You wrote that the “great Italian food” was back. I am saying it never was in the first place.

I can’t remember ever eating the pizza at Tosolini’s – they had a beautiful gnocchi dish with burnt butter and sage, as well as wonderful veal and chicken dishes that I tended towards.

Also, genuinely wondering, how is pizza not great Italian food? Are you referring to Italian-style pizza in general, or…?

“I can’t remember ever eating the pizza at Tosolini’s…………”
They weren’t memorable for you either, then?
I’ve checked out that menu at Molto (thanks for the link). Looks very enticing even though it isn’t the traditional “Silver Spoon” stuff I am accustomed to.
Nevertheless, I will try it out (when I win Lotto).

Acton said :

tiliqua said :

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

@Dungfungus, Molto Italian, which Mr Tosolini now manages on the Kingston Foreshore, isn’t a casual pizza joint. It’s a fine dining establishment, much more so than the former Tosolini’s. Take a look at the menu. http://moltoitalian.com/assets/Uploads/menu.pdf
Yes, there are some pizzas, but there are also dishes like carpaccio with truffle oil and spaghetti cacio e pepe, which is served from within a full pecorino wheel. It’s pretty spectacular. If you do drop in, I recommend you ask the barman to make you his best of Canberra mocktail. I don’t know what was in it, but it is the current standout in my year of not drinking alcohol by a mile.

I can’t remember eating anything but pizzas at Tosolinis Baileys Corner. This doesn’t necessarily mean the were not memorable but they were definitely not “great Italian food” either.
You wrote that the “great Italian food” was back. I am saying it never was in the first place.

I can’t remember ever eating the pizza at Tosolini’s – they had a beautiful gnocchi dish with burnt butter and sage, as well as wonderful veal and chicken dishes that I tended towards.

Also, genuinely wondering, how is pizza not great Italian food? Are you referring to Italian-style pizza in general, or…?

Madelini, whenever I see you being logical and thoughtful in response to illogical or irrelevant responses, in my head I hear Lisa patiently explaining things to Homer.

I didn’t mean to suggest that you’re an 8 year old genius BTW. 😉

Acton said :

tiliqua said :

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

@Dungfungus, Molto Italian, which Mr Tosolini now manages on the Kingston Foreshore, isn’t a casual pizza joint. It’s a fine dining establishment, much more so than the former Tosolini’s. Take a look at the menu. http://moltoitalian.com/assets/Uploads/menu.pdf
Yes, there are some pizzas, but there are also dishes like carpaccio with truffle oil and spaghetti cacio e pepe, which is served from within a full pecorino wheel. It’s pretty spectacular. If you do drop in, I recommend you ask the barman to make you his best of Canberra mocktail. I don’t know what was in it, but it is the current standout in my year of not drinking alcohol by a mile.

I can’t remember eating anything but pizzas at Tosolinis Baileys Corner. This doesn’t necessarily mean the were not memorable but they were definitely not “great Italian food” either.
You wrote that the “great Italian food” was back. I am saying it never was in the first place.

I can’t remember ever eating the pizza at Tosolini’s – they had a beautiful gnocchi dish with burnt butter and sage, as well as wonderful veal and chicken dishes that I tended towards.

Also, genuinely wondering, how is pizza not great Italian food? Are you referring to Italian-style pizza in general, or…?

tiliqua said :

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

@Dungfungus, Molto Italian, which Mr Tosolini now manages on the Kingston Foreshore, isn’t a casual pizza joint. It’s a fine dining establishment, much more so than the former Tosolini’s. Take a look at the menu. http://moltoitalian.com/assets/Uploads/menu.pdf
Yes, there are some pizzas, but there are also dishes like carpaccio with truffle oil and spaghetti cacio e pepe, which is served from within a full pecorino wheel. It’s pretty spectacular. If you do drop in, I recommend you ask the barman to make you his best of Canberra mocktail. I don’t know what was in it, but it is the current standout in my year of not drinking alcohol by a mile.

I can’t remember eating anything but pizzas at Tosolinis Baileys Corner. This doesn’t necessarily mean the were not memorable but they were definitely not “great Italian food” either.
You wrote that the “great Italian food” was back. I am saying it never was in the first place.

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

Have you even been to Molto? I was there a few weeks ago and their pizza oven was being repaired so pizza was off the menu. Despite this the restaurant was packed and we had a delicious meal. They have a spaghetti dish that is served out of a cheese wheel and it is amazing.

Charlotte Harper12:13 pm 04 Aug 16

rommeldog56 said :

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

@Dungfungus, Molto Italian, which Mr Tosolini now manages on the Kingston Foreshore, isn’t a casual pizza joint. It’s a fine dining establishment, much more so than the former Tosolini’s. Take a look at the menu. http://moltoitalian.com/assets/Uploads/menu.pdf
Yes, there are some pizzas, but there are also dishes like carpaccio with truffle oil and spaghetti cacio e pepe, which is served from within a full pecorino wheel. It’s pretty spectacular. If you do drop in, I recommend you ask the barman to make you his best of Canberra mocktail. I don’t know what was in it, but it is the current standout in my year of not drinking alcohol by a mile.

A_Cog said :

Shared tables: The quicker these ate consigned to the dustbins of history, the most likely good I will go to this restaurant. This don’t there army you know.

I don’t actually know what you said, but I caught the bit about disliking shared tables. And I agree with you.

Shared tables: The quicker these ate consigned to the dustbins of history, the most likely good I will go to this restaurant. This don’t there army you know.

“Yes, Carlo Tosolini is back serving great Italian food….”
Pizza is not great Italian food.

The premises was named “Cafe du Coin” by a Vietnamese refugee family who bought it and served zucchini cake and mung bean cake. A French woman bought the cafe from them and kept the name and the old push-button cash register (which punched receipts in pounds). Before it was “Cafe du Coin” the cafe was nicknamed the “Gangster Cafe” because it was full of swarthy Balkan-origin men playing chess and smoking, before they headed upstairs to a gambling joint in East Row in the evenings. I don’t remember the original name unfortunately but I think it was Eastern European.

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