400 Gradi

Address:  99 Lygon St, Brunswick East, Melbourne VIC 3057, Australia
Phone: +61 03 9380 2320

After having heard so many good comments on this restaurant I finally decided to drop by there with some friend this evening. I had great expectations because the good comments and reviews found in the various web sites that I am used to check before trying a new place... and I have to say that I am not disappointed at all. The food, was good very italian style and the service nice. Price? reasonable considered the food that we got and that it is good Italian restaurant.

We sat outside, because even with the booking the place was crowded and there were only free tables outside for the time we booked. Not that bad, it is always cool having a look at Lygon street while you are eating...

My first interest was to try Pizza but we delighted ourselves with a starter: Tre, due, uno - Gnocchi. Gnocchi is a special kind of pasta made with potatoes and that can be dressed with different sauces and flavours, such as Napoli sauce, cheese sauce, and spinaches or basil. Guess what we got? a trio of dishes including gnocchi with Napoli Sauce, Ricotta Cheese, and spinaches. They were very good and warmed up our expectations and appetite.

We then moved to the main course and we decided to have two pizzas and some Gamberi impanati (breaded prawns) with a dressing of lemon juice, capers, and capsicums. The prawns were quite good and my friend was happy with her choice. I really liked the dressing that was really light and tasty. Let's now move to the pizzas that is the thing that more interests me...
We ordered two very different pizzas: Pizza Caserta ( Fior di latte, Raw ham, and basil and rocket) - quite classic, and Pizza Suprema (White pizza with ricotta cheese, rocket, roasted pumpkins, pinenuts, ...) - not too classic. Both of them were good and I have to say that there is only another place in Lygon where I ate pizzas like this and it is D.O.C.. This is the very Italian pizza i like not sweet, with a thin crust, and well baked.

The serving was very rustic and impressive: pizzas were served on wooden boards and they were quite abundant in size, tasty, and salty enough. I am very happy to have found another good Italian restaurant where I can feel at home. I also have to say that the service was really welcoming and ready to free your table from dishes (yeah the table was quite small and the large pizzas were occupying the entire table...) and to ask if everything was ok. I had a really good evening and after that... since we were close, we stopped at Gelobar to conclude the italian food trip with some ice cream and desserts. Very good evening!

Price? all together: 79 bucks. Gnocchi: 13 dollars, Pizzas were about 20 dollars on average, and Prawns 17 dollars ( yeah we got also some orange juice 3.5 dollars each..).... Quite good I would say.

I have to say that the pizza was a little bit soft, but this is just a personal taste. If I compare it with its direct competitor D.O.C., the advantage of 400 Gradi is that you can have a wider selection of food. This is normal since 400 Gradi is a restaurant while D.O.C. is a pizzeria and mostly prepare pizzas. Pizzas are both very good, the advantage of 400 Gradi is that you can book. Thumbs up for 400 Gradi then!