Tommy Sugo: Takeaway Pasta

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We seem to have the same argument every night at my place.
'What's for dinner?' one of the kids will ask. I will answer with some appropriate healthy, well balanced meal, such as 'chicken' and they will all moan and sob like I am poisoning them and then they will say 'we want pasta.'

So when the brochure for Tommy Sugo appeared in my letter box I was rejoicing. A range of freshly made, cooked pasta available for takeaway. Awesome.



Tommy Sugo is quite literally a hole in the wall. A tiny little kitchen built under a staircase in the Broadway Fair Shopping Centre in Nedlands might not sound very appealing, but the space is more than adequate for the neat little menu they have available. And they have styled it nicely. For a hole in the wall, it looks very inviting.

It's very simple: step 1 is to pick a pasta and with nine options including the simple (spaghetti, linguini and penne), the old favourites (beef ravioli, pumpkin and feta ravioli, chicken tortellini and gnocchi) and some exciting new options (biodynamic lamb, bush mint and wild mint in spelt ravioli and fresh ricotta and nut free pesto spelt ravioli).

Step 2 is to choose a sauce and there are seven to choose from including basic Bolognese, Napolitana, pesto and carbonara.



There is also hot chick (a mix of chickpeas, zucchini and a hint of chilli in tomato sugo) and the Italian Stallion (Italian pork sausage with fresh sage and tomato sugo).

The Tommy Sugo namesake is a mix of chicken and slow cooked beef in a thick tomato sauce.

The prices are attached to the type of pasta, not the sauce and each 200g/250g serving ranges from $9 for plain pastas to $13.50 for the lamb spelt ravioli.

Each serving size is adequate for an adult, and one serving fed three of my fussy kids.



Daily specials will appear, such as the meatball sauce we had and they also offer both arancini balls ($5 for a serve of 6) and croquettes ($5 for 3 or $8 for 5). Dipping sauce is an extra $2.

Small but mighty.

We ordered the chicken tortellini with hot chick sauce ($10.50), a serve of the meatballs and spaghetti ($13.50) and the pumpkin ravioli with carbonara sauce ($12). I also wanted to try the croquettes, advertised as creamy potato, sautéed bacon and fresh local eggs.

You order and pay at one side of the counter and then collect your food around the corner. I was told it would be a seven minute wait. Brilliant! Apart from fast food (which usually isn't that fast) how often do you get a fresh hot meal in seven minutes (certainly not at my place).

It was actually ten minutes in the end, but seriously, who's counting? Each serve was boxed up (some in plastic, some inexplicably in cardboard) and they were placed in a decent paper bag with some quality biodegradable cutlery.

My main piece of advice would be that unless you live within a five minute walk or drive of Broadway, to nab one of the tables in the courtyard and enjoy your pasta straight away. I discovered pasta isn't really meant to sit around for an extra 30 minutes while you collect kids from daycare and then battle peak hour traffic.



My husband really liked his hot chick (who wouldn't), and the mouthful I pinched before he got home showed a tasty, healthy sauce that wasn't too overpowered by the chilli. The kids ate up the spaghetti and meatballs, although my middle showed some family loyalty (or cunningness) and said she preferred mine.

I loved my pumpkin ravioli in the carbonara sauce. Despite being made with cream, it didn't feel too heavy, and I like the addition of the peas. It made me feel healthy. The ravioli was large and well filled.

I wasn't as impressed with the croquettes because even though the flavour and presentation was nice (they came in a cool coffee cup), they were a bit hollow and not as full as I would have expected.

You can enjoy pasta practically any time of day with long opening hours from 8am to 8pm during the week and 9am to 8pm on weekends. Bolognese for breakfast anyone?

Or maybe it's because they're also an espresso bar…

#coffee
#crawley
#dinner
#food_wine
#italian_restaurants
#nedlands
#takeaway
#western_suburbs
%wnperth