Features:
- pram access;
- high chairs;
- kids menu; and
- child-friendly standard menu.
Brunetti has always been a favourite with our family.
We’ve celebrated birthdays and festivals with their cakes, are regulars of their bakery for their delicious spelt bread, find excuses to drop in for an Italian hot chocolate on cold winter days, indulge in pastries on Sunday mornings and buy a baguette or foccacia to take away for lunch on the run or before a movie at Cinema Nova.
They’ve now opened a brand new flagship store in Carlton, in the large site that used to be occupied by Borders. While I’m not as much of a fan of the shopping centre surrounds as their previous street-fronted store in Faraday Street, the new fitout is shiny and sparkling and you can’t help but be amazed by the grand glittering entrance opening up to the the endless expanse of biscuits, cakes, sandwiches and hot food.
It’s a food emporium!
Brunetti is a family-friendly restaurant/cafe, but be warned – only under certain conditions. There’s rooms for prams but navigating the crowds, particularly on a weekend, is difficult. Weekends are peak hour which means it may also be hard to get a table indoors, so you’re relegated to the little tables outside on Lygon Street or in the shopping centre. If you have older children you may be able to perch at one of the high bar stools and tables.
Once you’re seated there’s not much wriggle room because one side of the seating is a long banquette and it also makes parking a pram a bit troublesome unless you’re at the end of the banquette. On the plus side, each table has a ready supply of paper napkins which means wiping up spills is easy!
Orders are taken at the counter so if you have impatient toddlers in tow you need to make a very quick decision from the long menu. We decided to eschew the kids menu (small pasta/pizza, drink and dessert for $15) to share the Sunday special of Nonna’s maccheroni with pork meatballs plus two pizzas made with their new wood fired pizza oven.
The food came out promptly and was gobbled up quickly. I enjoyed the thick chewy texture of the pasta and the hunks of meat, including the slow-cooked pork belly included with the meatballs. While this dish is only available on Sundays I assume the other pastas, all handmade, are equally good.
The pizzas were also excellent, with a charred bubbly crust and simple flavoursome toppings, though the super-thin crust verged on being too sloppy for my liking. I like my thin bases with a bit more body in order to hold toppings without making a mess of the meal.
By the time we found a seat, ordered and ate it was too late to try dessert or cakes. I’m sure we’ll be back again to Brunetti but next time if we bring a toddler we’ll choose our timing better – just before lunch on a weekday, instead of a weekend lunch hour. I think it’s a venue which is more suited to very young children (who aren’t mobile and don’t get too bothered by noisy environments) or older children who are able to sit still and can get excited by the vast choices of kid-friendly food that’s available.
Brunetti Carlton, 380 Lygon St, Carlton +61 3 9347 2801
Sunday – Thursday (6am – 11pm)
Friday – Saturday (6am – Midnight)
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