Barbarino's Spaghetteria

Avondale is the unsuspecting location of my latest obsession, Barbarino’s Spaghetteria. Its name is a mouthful, there are a lot of syllables in it, and sometimes I get it wrong (the number of times I’ve called it Spaghetti Barbarino’s is perhaps too many). So I’ll affectionately call them Barbarino’s for short. Barbarino’s is the brainchild of the team behind some of Auckland’s most well known cafes to open in the last 5 years (Hello Friends + Allies, Winona Forever, Sugar, Major Tom, Rude Boy, Just Like Martha, Friday I’m in Love, did I get them all?) but it is by far my favourite. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth and I’ll take a hearty bowl of Barbarino’s pasta any day over a caramel slice or glittery raspberry meringue.

The only catch with Barbarino’s is you’ll have to go to Avondale in order to get it. I’m fine with this, I’ll travel for good food, and this is good. Don’t come expecting New Zealand’s answer to Osteria Francescana, it’s not that kind of place. What it is, however, is delicious, fun and unusually affordable.

If you aren’t a local, you should book ahead to save yourself the disappointment of waiting or being turned away. The space sits on the intersection of Great North Road and Ash Street, and is a bright and airy space with the look and feel of many of their already established cafes. There are a lot of indoor plants, especially dangling ones, with light bulbs strung up across the room and a big, glittery ‘Barbarino’s’ plastered across an exposed brick wall, its tinsel-tiles fluttering in the breeze every time someone comes and goes.

The menu covers pasta, pizza, and a few other things in between. I’m mainly here for the pasta, and I’m working myself up to trying the pizzas next time, but it’s hard to wrest yourself away from their big, gorgeous plates of orecchiette and pappardelle. I’ve visited twice now, and the first time was with my girlfriends to celebrate the end of lockdown and the restarting of social gatherings. We started the evening off ordering a carafe of their frizzante (how great is that name?), a wine with a light fizz and just a smidge of sweetness. As far as the wines go, they are all house wines, pretty delicious and easy to drink, and damn good value if you aren’t the night’s sober driver. They also have some beers and an assortment of Italian sodas, some familiar, and some less so (like the San Pellegrino chinotto).

When it comes to pasta, at Barbarino’s you first must choose which sauce (or sauces, because can you stop at one?) and then which pasta shape to go with it. We three ladies went for a pesto orecchiette, chicken peppercorn spaghetti and boscaiola pappardelle situation, the pesto orecchiette as a combo with a piece of chicken schnitzel for good measure. They also have proper chicken and eggplant parmigiana on the menu as well as lasagna, risotto and several pizzas to choose from. I usually shy away from creamy pastas; I’ve had one too many episodes of orderer’s remorse but I’m happy to report that the chicken peppercorn spaghetti destroyed all my preconceptions about chicken and cream-based pasta sauces. The addition of green peppercorns gives it a warming but not overly spicy flavour with a subtle twang of vinegar that prevents this dish from becoming sickening. Orecchiette is one of my favourite pasta shapes; it has such a great texture, a bit of bite to it, and the pesto is fresh and bright. The boscaiola featured a medley of seasonal mushrooms, finished with broken Italian sausage and white wine. It had a nice savoury earthiness and contrasted the two other pastas well. We struggled to get through all our pasta, and stubbornly ordered dessert at the end. We ordered two tiramisu which are served in chilled glasses with the untraditional but welcome addition of a chocolate shell on top that one has to crack through to reach the tiramisu underneath. The serving was generous, the tiramisu not too sweet and not too boozy, just right.

After recounting my fantastic dinner to my significant other, it was only fitting I return with him. Our dinner was just as enjoyable; we ordered the Siciliana, a tomato Napoletana-based sauce with sweet eggplant melted into the sauce, spiked with salty, umami Kalamata olives and dollops of tangy, creamy ricotta to add a touch of luxury to the dish. The notion ‘the more, the merrier’ certainly rings true at Barbarino’s. Get a big group of you along and have yourself a pasta festa (that’s ‘party’ in Italian.

Barbarino's Spaghetteria
1790 Great North Road
Avondale
Auckland

Ph. (09) 820 0458
@barbarinos_spaghetteria