Emilia reviews a restaurant that’s ‘exactly what Ringwood needed’
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This restaurant takes family owned business literally. The name is a reference to the five Ringwood local siblings that own the restaurant together, there’s three brothers and two sisters, and the youngest sister runs the place. The family is Calabrian but they have lots of different Italian influence throughout the restaurant as the manager is Sicilian and the head chef is Roman. I imagined the menu discussions would get heated between North and Southern Italian dishes but they said it actually makes for a really eclectic menu with all different flavours. I took a friend local to the area who tells me it used to be a old bank so the location itself has always been a tight part of the community.
Cinque is an Italian restaurant in Ringwood North amongst a strip of shops that has recently had a facelift. Cinque’s neighbours now include a paint and sip and an upmarket ice creamery.
The fit out when you enter is gorgeous, with arches, columns and light sconces lining the outside of the restaurant. There’s an illuminated LED sign that tells you everything you need to know about the place — it says “Mangia che te fa bene” translating to “Eat that it will make you well!” — it’s a classic saying to keep the table, have fun, eat well and rejuvenate the spirit.
Head chef, Fabrizio Mutta has worked at hatted restaurants in both Melbourne and before that in Italy (Imàgo all’Hassler, at the top of the Spanish steps, if you know, you know!).
I went on a Tuesday which is BYO night, there’s a fabulous wine shop down the road you can pick up something on the way. They also have a combo night and a $3.50 oyster night.
Let’s talk food, the pizza and pasta was beautiful and we’ll get into that but I was actually most impressed by the antipasti and secondi offerings.
There was one clear winner on the menu that I can’t even wait until it’s turn to talk about…it was the slow cooked beef cheek. You know when someone politely offers you the last bite of the best dish of the night and you are genuinely so happy because you’ve been staring it off this whole time hoping they wouldn’t finish it. That was this beef cheek.
It literally fell apart as you stuck a fork into it, it was beautifully balanced between rich flavour without being overbearing. It was on a bed of parsnip puree which I always love as an earthier, less starchy alternative to a mash potato. I find it really works with a rich meat to cut through the flavour. I could not rave about this beef cheek enough, would go back there for the beef cheek alone.
From the antipasti section we also had Baked Cacio Cavallo Cheese and the grilled Whole Baby Octopus with Potato Puree, Olives and Salsa Verde. Both were fabulous.
You can’t really go wrong with baked cheese but they did this great balancing act with it by adding the sweetness of the date jam, nuttiness of walnuts and topped with little broccoli florets. I really enjoyed the baby octopus, it was smokey and crunchy (on the tentacles where it should be).
You have to get the deconstructed tiramisu with frozen mascarpone as the centre dome and chocolate syrup poured over it at the table.
They were super accommodating in making all the pizza and pasta gluten free:
- Casarecce with Slow Cooked Lamb Shoulder Ragu and Rosemary Breadcrumb
- House Made Tagliolini Pasta, Prawns, Roasted Tomato Sauce, Chilli, Fried Basil and Chives
- Margherita di Buffalo Tomato Base, Buffalo Mozzarella, Cherry Tomato, Basil Pizza
The customer service was amazing, we were lucky to be served by their fabulous joyful manager with a gorgeous Italian accent and a belly that told me to trust his recommendations.
Seated around us were mum groups, families, and date nights.
Cinque what Ringwood needed — it’s a nicer place to go for a date night but there was also the end of a wake being hosted there. It was that perfect ‘everyone’s welcome’ kind of place with the food to back it up.
Cinque
170 Warrandyte Rd, Ringwood North
cinqueristorante.com.au