Chicken to make you fly
Having opened just last month, Rosto, the newest addition to Linden’s growing list of must-visit restaurants, has already been fully booked pretty much every night since opening, and with good reason. With delicious roast chicken and other seasonal fresh food cooked in an on-site wood-fired rotisserie oven, this new Italian all-day eatery is not to be missed.
Filling the space between Linden favourites Prom and The Fat Zebra, Rosto brings entirely new cuisine to the suburb. Taking its name from the Italian word “girarrosto” (gira means turn, and arrosto means roasted), the clear focus at Rosto is fantastic chicken. Inspired by the girarrosto shops that serve spit-roasted local street food all over Italy, the team behind Rosto have selected what they believe to be the tastiest goodies from different regions in the country to create their menu. And while the modern restaurant may have electricity to turn the spit, there is a tangible dedication to the cuisine traditions of the Italian peninsula in the classic wood-fire cooking method.
Rosto’s decor is stylish yet welcoming, with bare wood, bright yellow, and beautiful lights – themes which are said to pay homage to the old yellow channel letters signs from the 1950s that Italian shopkeepers would place above their shops to let customers know that they had a spit. Complementing the decor is a simple yet delicious menu, which is set to change seasonally to ensure only the freshest ingredients are used. When ordering your free-range chicken, you’re faced with three options of seasoning: Rosso (sun-dried tomato, chilli, and garlic), Giallo (Mediterranean herbs and Sorrento lemon), or Verde (Parmigiano-Reggiano and mountain herbs), each of which is tasty in its own right. Paired with the traditional focaccia, arancino, and panelle (chickpea fries), you’ll feel as if you could be sitting in a bustling restaurant in the middle of Rome.
Open from 10am on the weekend and noon during the week, Rosto is family-friendly, and perfect for lunch and dinner. Aside from the chicken offering, the restaurant also serves delicious Italian coffee and mouth-watering dolci (dessert), so make sure you arrive hungry, and you’ll soon be back for more.
Rosto
011 888 0369
eatrosto.com
Words & Images: Lucy Sarah Heaney
