La Lanterna

An exceptional dining experience! The chef demonstrated remarkable attention to detail, going above and beyond to accommodate specific dietary requirements (gluten-free and vegan). The cuisine surpassed all expectations, the ambiance was perfectly curated, and the evening was thoroughly enjoyable. Highly recommend.

Back to La Lanterna for an [always] excellent dinner last Sunday night. We’ve been here a couple of times before and we always sat in the front section of the restaurant. Consequently I’d assumed that it was just a quaint little 20 seater but on Sunday they took us to the rear, rustic area, just like sitting in Tuscany garden. All wood and vine it’s quite the lovely setting to dine in. They have a friendly [very young] front of house staff but the Italian “man on the pans” is obviously well versed in regional Italian cooking. As soon as you sit down at their well set, bucolic tables, cold water arrives and menus are delivered with a smile. A delicious Campari aperol for me but I had to request some lemon wedges (my personal taste) to top it up. The drinks menu has a broad range of mainly Italian wines and it is well worth a deep dive to the “big reds” section because there’s some real bold, beauty, “belt you in the gob” wines in there. [hunt ‘em down] This menu is an eclectic blend of country Italian cooking with the chef’s personal touch to make for a special dining experience with dishes that we haven’t seen at other Italian restaurants. We started with a shared serve of La Lanterna foccacia. A lot thinner than the usual focaccia, toasted and spread with garlic and oil it’s a light and delicious start to dinner. We also shared a dish of Nannata. One of our la Lanterna faves with just a squeeze of lemon to top off perfectly cooked whitebait fritters. I’m a bit torn about this one. I usually prefer my whitebait complete, swimming on the plate coated with a crispy seasoning and flash fried but this dish makes for an interesting variation on a theme and whitebait is rarely seen on menus these days. My daughter ordered Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, my son went for Pappardelle all'Anatra, [one of my personal faves] his partner (celiac) ordered a custom pasta that they were quite happy to create for her, and I had the Tagliata di Manzo. All pastas are made on the premises [and can be bought separately to take home] and it shows. Fluffy, light Gnocchi swimming in a delicious tomato sauce and topped with an oven baked rich mozzarella cheese baked to golden perfection. The Gnocchi was melt in the mouth and sauce and cheese complimented it perfectly. The pappardelle was aldente excellence and topped of with delicious, tender chunks of duck in another wonderful Italian country sauce. The zero gluten pasta dish verdict was similarly positive and our friend was very impressed that they took the extra care to cater to her needs. Now, the steak! As usual it was a perfect, fat tinged sirloin slice. A great aged cut, cooked perfectly M/R [although I usually prefer my steaks a bit “redder”]. Dissected onto a crisp rocket salad with sweet roasted capsicum and it’s usually a tender, great experience here at La Lanterna. Unfortunately, tonight it was delivered cold. Most disappointing but I notified the helpful staff and the problem was rectified immediately. Just a slight hiccup on the night in this restaurant that obvs prides itself on extremely high standards. Not cheap but not expensive this is a a special, dainty little, shining light in the mass of restaurants on the beachfront at Redcliffe and we will, of course, be returning to La Lanterna. It’s too good not to. Do yourself a flavour and give La Lanterna a try. Strongly suggest booking before you go as seats are limited.