Sassi Bale Review - At the Sassi Bale Restaurant you get cuisine that has identity. Although not all strictly Italian it is elegant, uncluttered and it understands its roots. As my Venezian father-in-law once said, good food has its own taste, allow it to be.

Renowned chef Tony Sassi has built a reputation on delivering modern Italian food with a robust, almost rustic heart and an abiding simplicity. With Sassi you don’t get fusion, you get food to remember.

My dinner partner and I began our evening with oysters, freshly shucked, topped with chives and a spritzy salmon caviar. These were not overdressed ostrich but delicately structured textural treats.

We followed this with the Sassi carpaccio, in which wafers of raw Atlantic salmon sat superbly with their dressing of extra virgin olive and citrus soy. Meanwhile, the floating top note provided by the chili and herbs worked all the flavours together into an appetite whetting whole.

You’d expect Sassi to deliver mouth filling flavour in his pastas and he didn’t disappoint with tagliatelle nero con gamberi. Here he balances the integrity of traditional Italian flavours with a lighter, contemporary touch, exemplified by the basil and lemon sauce and the breeziness of the prawns. The house made squid ink pasta added a visual underline that gave the dish a little something extra.

For mains we treated ourselves the piatto del pescatore, a virtual smorgasbord of ocean delight. Seafood platters are not a daring inclusion on any menu, but it is rare to experience one with so much flavour so thoughtfully concocted. Right from the unadorned calamari to the perfectly cooked, silky textured reef fish and the mouth puckering, sea salty shiver of the oysters, the Sassi platter is a sensual affair. In this, a certain deftness of touch is evident, with textures and flavors across a range; yet with a restraint that speaks volumes.

Dolce maintain the standard. The white chocolate zabaglione with strawberry, blueberry and mint salad is not only eye candy but a lush, indulgent finish. Without yielding to simple sugariness, this treat has a mouth filling feel to it, a creaminess smartly offset by the sharp/sweet zip of the berries in Amaretto.

All the while we were also savouring the finessed tropicality of the luxurious poolside setting, the well matched wine list and attentive service. We left with fresh memories implanted of a dining experience miles above the average.  

Sassi Restaurant - Port Douglas Australia