Mietta's Review
Not content with one restaurant Thierry Gatchet opened the Italian Grappa next door to his French opus Montrachet within months of one another but at the end of 2004 he sold it to the Roduner family, restaurateurs from Hobart, and it became Grappino. In spite of the extreme mix of European nationalities the changes have been slight - the food still looks as much towards modern Australia as to Italy, the service remains smart and professional and room is almost unchanged. In 06 mains averaged $24.
Other Published Opinions
QLD Good Food Guide 2012 May 01, 2012 Score: 14/20 "
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Queensland Good Food Guide 2012 Score: 14/20
Courier Mail Food and Wine Guide 2011 Score: 14/20 "When you start to pine for Italy and all things Latin there's a piece of it to be had close at hand in Paddington. Grappino has it all - the innate panache, the sumptuous robust food (many cuts above simple when it needs to be), and the ebullient energy (with maybe a touch of opera now and then)"
Queensland Food and Wine Score: 14/20 "It's the service which marks this restaurant out from the pack. Smiling whiteshirted, waitstaff are charmingly solicitous, creating a welcoming atmosphere, whether matriarch Deanna Roduner is onsite or not"
Courier Mail Food and Wine Guide 2009 Queensland Score: 14/20 "For bookings over ten, the Roduners suggest a set menu - $58 pp for two courses or $95 pp for a five course degustation. Not lucky enough to have an Italian nonna? Why not pop along to Grappino and you can pretend for a few hours"
Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "This family-run trattoria is a popular spot on Paddington's main street; bustling, noisy and laid-back. The substantial menu of hearty Italian favourites is delivered by a fast-moving team of waiters watchfully directed by the welcoming family matriarch"
Courier Mail food and wine guide Queensland 2008 Score: 14/20 "What's not to love about Grappino? It's big hearted, convivial and there are few better places in Brisbane to slurp a bowl of spaghetti or admire the vivid beauty of a caprese constructed with decent, properly ripe tomatoes and peppery olive oil"
Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "A quiet achiever in the recently reborn Paddo precinct, even early in the week it's humming with locals"
Brisbane News Dining Out Guide 2007 "Within a few short years, this family eatery has established itself as Paddington's Little Italy"
Gourmet Traveller 2007 Australian Restaurant Guide "The place hums with happy diners engaged in cheerful conversation, particularly on weekends when Paddington comes alive. This trattoria is run by the Roduner family - father and son in the kitchen and mother and son on the floor. Fresh produce is gleaned from wherever the best is to be found, and authentic Italian cuisine is faithfully reproduced without fuss or fancy footwork."
Courier-Mail Good Life Restaurant Guide 2006 "In the heart of Paddington next door to popular Montrachet, Grappino offers a taste of the Italy of old. Chrome and vinyl padded chairs and faux marble formica topped tables, posters of 50's Italian movies all create an ambience of a bygone era and the food, hearty and plentiful, is timeless and classic."
Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide "After creating Montrachet, the antipodean ideal of the classic French brasserie, Thierry Galichet grabbed the shop next door and built Grappa, the perfect retro Italian trattoria. Sticking with his Gallic roots, he sold to the Roduner family, a restaurant clan from Hobart which now runs the newly named tratt."
Brisbane News Eating Out Guide 2006 "Brothers Theodor and Bernhard Roduner's cosy eatery, with its peppermint walls, Italian movie posters and laminated tabletops, is 1950s Rome meets Melbourne milkbar."
Courier Mail Lizzie Loel 01/03/05 "This is not typical mod-Oz or mod-Med food. It is authentic Italian, made with great quality ingredients and simply presented, minus the bells and whistles. Add attentive service and an interesting line-up of Italian imports and Italian-style Australian wines and you have the sort of trattoria you'll come back to."
Brisbane News 2/2/05 Natascha Mirosch score 8/10 "Grappino is fresh, original and unpretentious, exactly what this part of Paddington has needed for a long time."
Courier-Mail Goodlife Restaurant Guide 05 "When Thierry Gatchet opened his Francophiles paradise, Montrachet, in mid 2004, no one could believe he was already planning Grappa, the Italian version right next door. Grappa is an authentic retro trattoria"
Courier Mail Good Life 26/10/04 Lizzie Loel "Grappa is a brightly lit retro Italian trattoria serving refined but robust regional dishes in a vivacious and witty setting. Mint green and aubergine walls, faux marble laminex table tops rimmed in aluminium, and chrome upholstered chairs are all reminiscent of a past dining era. So is the service friendly, and chatty."