Paul G.
Yelp
Plenty of other reviewers have done Oggi justice by describing the atmosphere and decor. It's a beautiful space that exudes warmth and familiarity. The folks at -gram are the absolute guns of the Adelaide hospitality circuit at the moment.
Likewise the service. I will leave the other positive reviews to clarify this with you. (Read: professional, knowledgeable, great.)
To the food. We visited for the second time on a recent Friday night. I decided on the squid ink gnocchetti. It came to the table as a flat plate of what novelly resembled kangaroo droppings, in a slight pool of pastel orange broth. Garnishing the top were delicate slithers of cured squid. Zesty and melt-in-the-mouth, but nowhere near enough of them. The tiny gnocchetti were quite chewy in texture, and this wasn't at all a bad thing. Buttery and salty, they were a pleasure to eat with a good mopping of the sparse though moorish crustaceans bisque.
As we jumped straight into the mains - albeit after the standard issue bread and olive oil - myself and another of the party decided on second helpings. Something unfussy to fill the void that the on-the-smaller-side main had left. When in doubt - and as you'll soon realise, this is a public service announcement - go the spaghetti carbonara.
We've all eaten far-too-creamy way-too-saucey carbonaras before. And even then, they're usually comforting. Well, Oggi sticks with tradition but applies its own restrained twist to the dish. It came to the table, not in a bowl but a plate, on the drier side as a traditional carbonara should. Rather than the spaghetti floating in a sauce, the sauce instead coats the pasta just enough. A big, shiny egg yoke took pride of place on top of the pile until the waitress performed her duty of crazily mixing it all up like an Italian bibimbap. My first mouthful took me to the cinema. Crispy little pieces of pancetta tasted like buttered popcorn. Seriously, I could have eaten a bowl - and probably felt very sick afterwards. The pasta was creamy, but no too much, and salty, and rich. The pasta was perfectly al dente as to not rob the dish of its flavour by soaking up all the sauce. We soon began to eat more strategically - ensuring there was the right ratio of pancetta, egg, pasta, and sauce with each mouthful. For the combination was eye-closingly, moaningly pleasurable. My friend and I concluded confidently afterwards that this was probably one of the most delicious things we have ever eaten.
Go for the decor and service. Stay for the carbonara.