gusto at the grand

my most loved italian place so far in town. the food was simply delicious. the meatballs were the best soaked in home made tomato sauce. not a cheap place but worth for a special night with a special one.

gusto cooks italian simply, rustically and beautifully. the dish of the night has to be the meatballs. the juicy, tender meatball is seasoned to perfection and sings harmoniously with a classic tomato sauce and topped off with parmesan.

for appetiser we started off with honey ricotta on rosemary pizzete. that is a flavour twirl that hits sweet and salty in perfect combination. lightly dancing on your palette and gets you ready to start the meal.

the duck ragu you could tell has been cooked down for hours and has all its flavours concentrated and rolled around hand made pasta cooked al dente.

the mushroom gnocchi. i love the mushroom and the sauce it went with. very earthy and herby. but unfortunately the gnocchi itself is a let down. it was actually a little powdery instead of soft and pillowy. but that is a hard technique to master and i've only had it done right once.

the calamari was a little overbattered but still soft. i would highly recommend getting the chargrilled octopus instead. that one just melts in your mouth and simply seasoned with olive oil, salt and herbs. you will not need more.

lastly the sides of rocket salad and duck fat potatoes are good. nothing exciting though.
overall a great night and a great place to go to catch up with good friends over a meal that would not disappoint.

i have been here over 10 times with my sister and family. the service is always great. the staff are friendly and very accommodating. we have gotten to know them over the past year. there is actually a discount for parking. make sure you ask them to validate your sky city ticket! 
lovely food. the bread and olives are so nice as well as the olive oil with it! 
the wine list is great, albeit a bit pricey!
fabulous food! famous duck papedelle ! very good ! the fish is great too! 
my sister loves the tiramisu. 
the restaurant is hidden past reception at the grand.

i dined at gusto at the grand with a couple of friends, and had a fun italian-style dining experience. gusto is located on the ground floor of the skycity grand hotel- tucked away at the back it almost doesn't look like a restaurant so much as it does a fancy lounge area.

we were seated immediately (with no reservation) and waited on by the hospitable service staff. the extensive dinner menu is italian/european and designed to share, which is always good fun. therefore we ordered a mixture of the king prawns, squid, clam pasta, a chicken meatball dish, olives, and the mushroom gnocchi dish. all the food was so full of flavour and herbs, simply tasty! for dessert we had the panacotta, which i cannot recommend more highly. it was just absolutely delicious - not too sweet, full flavours and melt-in-your mouth texture. bring a full wallet because the average dish price is roughly $20-$30, and if you want the full "sharing menu" experience, you will be ordering quite a few.

overall, an understated yet classic little restaurant, full of wonderful, wonderful food! lots of fun if you're happy to share the food around and try a little bit of everything!

we had a private dinner for 12 and were afforded a room at the end of the main restaurant. the room was wonderful with an oak ceiling and dimmed lights adding to the ambience. the minimum number of people for this room is 15 (if you want to guarantee a private function) the staff pointed out we could be joined by any restaurant 'over -fill' but this never occurred.
very attentive staff, delicious food and no pressure over our eating time/s.
the mains pasta was a little salty but otherwise compliments all round. 
the champagne was not too shabby either.
we will be back!

one of my favourite restaurants. we normally start with the garlic and rosemary pizza, the fried calamari and the pea and mint bruschetta. the pizza is very tasty, although it is quite small and last time i went it had way too much salt on it. the calamari doesn't have a lot of flavour to it, but the lemon aioli makes up for that. the bruschetta is my favourite, it's very refreshing and the mint isn't too over powering. the lamb rack with roasted capsicum is my favourite dish, the meat is very soft and the skin is niceley seasoned and crispy. the meat from the beef cheeks falls apart and is super juicy, i'll normally get a side of the pear and parmesean salad as i find that it balances out the richness of the sauce from the beef cheeks, the duck fat and rosemary potatoes are a must have. very efficient staff, highly recommend!

simple and delicious with classic flavours. gusto just cannot do wrong in my eyes. the chargrilled octupus is to die for. and the lewis road pannacotta just melts in your mouth causing an explosion of spring flavours 💯👌

i had the most gorgeous dinner here with a friend. being a vegetarian had the "orgy of mushrooms, clevedon buffalo ricotta gnocchi"- absolutely exquisite. the garlic rosemary pizzetta is a great starter- i do wish it was bigger! to finish we shared a couple of desserts- the salted caramel popcorn semifreddo and the warm chocolate pudding, pistachio gelato. left feeling so full and floating on cloud 9. will definitely be back to try the wild porcini mushroom risotto and the baker eggplant parmigiana. usually i avoid italian restaurants without pizza but gusto at the grand is a must for all italian food lovers.

after being told we had to wait around an hour and a half for a seat at depot for dinner on a tuesday night( as expected), we decided to just try something else skycity had to offer; leading us to le ~gusto at the grand~ :d the restaurant was relatively queit but had a lovely dark ambience that shouted out $$$ and class. our friendly waitress sat us down with some water and told us the popular dishes customers usually went for. after much debate, we had opted for the beef cheeks, chargrilled octopus, the dack and pea ragu papadelle, cloudy bay clams with spaghetti and duck fat potatoes.

cloudy bay clams spaghetti: as a 'fine dining' restaurant, i had expected all four dishes to come at the same time but the spaghetti came out first and long before the others ( spaghetti for entree? why not). although it looked simplistic and plain, this dish was actually bursting with flavour and perfectly balanced with the right amount of parmesan; both pasta and clams were beautifully cooked and super fresh too! my second favourite dish for the night, 8/10. note: it is quite a small dish, but probably perfect size for one person who's a relatively small eater. 

duck & pea ragu parpadelle: this! was the dish of the day for me ( it was close between the two pasta dishes tho). this was the second dish that came out ( by itself again, whats going on lol) and shared amongst the four of us. packed full with rich hearty flavours and generous portions of duck; the parpadelle was also cooked to perfection. gusto is defs the place to go for all your pasta lovers, high reccommended!! 9/10, can get quite rich to eat by yourself tho so i'd suggest sharing or getting a side dish with it 

beef cheeks: finally, the big dishes. i was extremely excited to try this dish as i'd never had beef cheeks before; although soft and easy to pull apart, i was quite disappointed with this dish as the sauce it was served with was quite bland and overly salty. for $30, i'd get a pasta dish any day. defs a dish for sharing tho. 6.5/10

chargrilled octopus: this, was the biggest disappointment of the night. was super excited for this dish as well, but when i had taken my first bite of octopus, it had an extremely bitter and unpleasant taste as it was burnt and almost completely black in some parts. when i asked a waiter, he had said it was meant to be this burnt as it's 'chargrilled', but i'm seriously questioning his definition of chargrilled haha. the potatoes and salad it was served with were really good tho, wouldnt get this dish again. 4.5/10 

duck fat potatoes: cant go wrong with these!! crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, yumyumyum really good as a side dish to soak up any sauce you guys have. could be seasoned a bit more tho haha 8/10

dessert! we weren't quite content ending on a savoury note; so of course we had to try out one dessert at least. we opted for the salted caramel popcorn semifreddo, and what came out was not what i was expecting ( loked like a popcorn banana haha). the entire dish was overpowered by the delicious salted caramel sauce that it was drenched in ( couldnt taste anything else haha); for one person ( or even two), this may have been extremely sickly to eat but for four it wasnt too bad. nothing special in my opinion, would skip out on dessert next time. 6/10

overall, service was good and ambience was fantastic, especially for a first date or something ( lady and tramp style ;) ). the dishes were a hit and miss for me as the pasta dishes ended up being the stars of the night. if i came back, i would probably stick to what italians do best and try out their other pasta dishes as their meat mains and dessert were slightly disappointing.

dish reccommended: duck& ragu parpadelle :))

we had a family dinner at gusto at the grand tonight. it was such a fun experience, because we were seated at the chef's table, which is literally inside part of the kitchen. it felt like we were really amongst it! it was exciting to hear/see all that was going on in the kitchen and how the clever chef's juggle all the orders in such a timely manner while still presenting all the dishes so beautifully. the service was really good, and our waiter/chef basically designed us a menu of the best dishes and altered it slightly to our preferences. we found the food really rich but delicous. calamari was too salty, but otherwise everything was a++ and we would definitely return. thanks for a great night!

service with a smile and simple clean dishes is on order at gusto.
we were seated at a high table in the dimly lit area behind the bar but this was mainly due to a friday booking for saturday evening.. if you want a better table i would recommend booking in advance.
shares starters of pizetta, ricotta and baked mozzarella were tasty and fresh but the stand out had to be the meatballs and eggplant parmigiana!! definitely more rich and decadent flavours!
we all went for individual mains including duck parpadelle, mushroom risotto, ravioli and lamb... all tasty dishes but varying in sizes. if i was to eat here again (which i would recommend) i would try to order a variety of meat and pasta/sides to share!
service with a smile... and good for a bit of celebrity spotting too!

gusto at the grand is as it suggests - there's a sense of grandeur regarding the establishment. from entrance, the dining area is hidden from the passers by, making you feel as though you're in a much smaller boutique restaurant. service is impeccable as per skycity's usual standards, and the menu will satisfy even the most discerning italian aficionado. we started with the mozzarella & walnuts - from your first bite, you're able to tell the chefs are masters of their ingredients. the cheese is not overwhelmingly rich, and has a supple texture (anyone can make mozzarella stretchy and tough). the calamari we had was of no special note, but the roast duck pappardelle was measured perfectly. of special note is the beef cheek and the veal, both are mouthwateringly tender and brilliantly flavored. gripes - there aren't many. the dishes could i guess be a tad more flamboyant, and the snapper with its mussels felt like it didn't belong with the theme. the glasses are grotesque; brown clear glasses that are seen much further down the fiscal food chain. however, overall an excellent dining experience; special mention to our sponsor for the night too.

we had read an article on the gusto at the grand in viva a few weeks ago recommending the italian lunch on sunday, so today we went with high expectations of the quality of the food. not only were we not disappointed, but our expectations were exceeded. the lunch ($49 + free parking at sky city) is based around a traditional italian lunchtime feast. the antipasto buffet was a treat with a delicious array of cold cuts & traditional antipasto fare, and warm dishes. all the dishes (including the following courses) were simple but using the best quality ingredients and each with its distinctive balance of flavours. the pasta course was spaghetti with clams, and the third course was pork & veal meatballs in a tomato sauce served on creamy polenta. this was followed by tiramisu and coffee. cheeses and bread from the buffet were also still available.
gusto truly delivered a dining experience in warm relaxed surroundings, and the staff were all charming, attentive, and very professional, explaining the dishes and refreshing the settings for each course. we will certainly be back again!

the best service i've ever had at high class resteraunt, waiters offered explain the menu and suggested perfect sides for our meals. there were plenty of vegetarian options which was amazing, though the potatoes were slightly bland. the tables were a little close for comfort but and all round excellent meal!

business dinner at gusto last night. had the privilege of being at the chef's table. absolutely amazing experience. we trusted the chef and boy was it a good idea. epic selection of food. the bread and dip with truffle set the tone for the evening and the bar was set high. too many dishes to mention here but my fav was the lamb chop. nice n pink and aahh beautiful.