Casa Cibo stays true to flavour

After success with other hospitality ventures brothers Nick and Adrian Rosata wanted their newest restaurant to faithfully represent their Italian heritage

The pair’s father comes from the Abruzzo region, which offers a rich variety of food many believe to be the best in Italy. The brothers wanted to stay true to this culinary history. So they spent several years planning and finding a suitable venue, working with a talented Executive Chef on a quality menu, and sourcing the appropriate equipment to deliver this menu.

The plans came to fruition when they launched Casa Cibo – a sophisticated, up- market Italian restaurant located in the Westfield building at Chermside, Brisbane’s hip new dining precinct.

Built over two levels, and with capacity to seat more than 350 people, the restaurant offers a range of unique spaces within a suitably sleek, elegant interior.

Staying true to their roots

The menu sticks very closely to the Rosata’s Italian roots, featuring a range of delicious fresh pasta, pizza and antipasti, sliced to order. The restaurant also employs its own Italian pastry chef, Annamaria, whose skill and passion provides many a delectable cheesecake and chocolate crostata for regular diners and new converts alike.

“We offer the Italian staples that people are used to, but done traditionally and properly, with a real depth of flavour,” says Adrian.

“We do everything from scratch. We make everything in house daily using great ingredients to deliver quality Italian food that is accessible, authentic and inspiring. This includes things like baking fresh focaccia on site, as well as rolling our pizza dough every day and letting it proof for up to 36 hours.”

Bold Statement

Sitting boldly in the centre of the restaurant are two giant wood-fired Stefano Ferrera pizza ovens, which the Rosatas imported from Naples. Weighing in at 3,500 kilos each, the ovens have been affectionately named Big Betty and Massive Myrtle.

“The ‘ladies’ work hard cooking our pizzas, and they’re also busy slow-cooking beautiful dishes like porchetta, Amalfi chicken, lamb ragus and wood-fired vegetables. We really respect our ovens and treat them like family,” Adrian says.

Servicing such a vast space, the load on Casa Cibo’s kitchen is considerable. It’s one of the main reasons the team turned to Moffat for their fit-out.

 

 

“Moffat offers a great balance between quality, price and durability,” says Adrian. “When it comes to purchasing and servicing it’s also very easy and seamless for us having all of our equipment from the one provider.”

IN THE KITCHEN

Providing an authentic Italian dining experience requires the right ingredients, the passion and expertise of talented chefs and the highest quality equipment for them to work on. For the equipment the Rosata brothers went with what the ‘tried and true’.

“We have been buying Moffat gear for years and we use it across all seventeen of our restaurants. We like it. We trust the brand”, says Adrian. “Every single piece of equipment in our kitchen, with the exception of our refrigeration and pizza ovens, is from Moffat.”

This includes a Convotherm oven, and a full Waldorf Bold set-up, with deep fryers, target tops, pasta cookers, a cooktop and chargrill. They also invested in several Washtech dishwashers to enable kitchen staff to deliver quality results as efficiently as possible.

“Most importantly, Moffat also helps us deliver a really high level of delicious, traditional Italian food to our customers, which keeps them coming back again and again,” says Adrian. “And at the end of the day, that’s what it’s all about.”