Drive down Camden Valley Way these days and you will see the rows and rows of new houses springing up like mushrooms in that part of Macarthur.
But there’s more to places like Oran Park Town, Gregory Hills and Catherine Park than just another chunk of suburbia.
They also mean, among other things, new restaurants for all of us to share.
Rose and Fortunato Florio opened theirs in Gregory Hills last year and named it Il Sapore – which means taste.
On their website they promise authentic Italian cuisine, simple meals reflecting home cooking but full of flavour.
But you don’t try a new restaurant based on what’s on the website only: for me it was the word of mouth about Il Sapore.
The word on the street was that this little place on the St Gregory’s College end of Gregory Hills was definitely worth checking out.
So when an opportunity came along last Friday, four of us sat down for a very good meal at Il Sapore.
Getting there was easy: Just turn into Gregory Hills from Camden Valley Way and go almost all the way to the end of Gregory Hills Drive, turn right at Village Circuit and it’s on your left just a few metres later.
Parking is no problem and we pick up a spot on the street right outside Il Sapore.
The place is packed with families and groups of friends, and there’s some Italian words here and there, always a good sign if you’re in an Italian restaurant.
The waiters are all young men and women but you can tell straight away they are well trained.
Our group of four sit down and relax – it’s Friday night after all and we want to start the weekend all chilled out.
The boys order a couple of cleansing ales, while the girls get into the red wine, so we order an Australian shiraz as we check out the menu.
For entres we order the calamari fritti (lightly floured and fried calamari, served with fresh homemade aioli and lemon), gamberi all’aglio (prawns with cherry tomato, garlic, olive oil, white wine, served with bread) and spaghetti marinara (spaghetti with a selection of fresh seafood, chilli garlic and fresh tomato sauce).
Yes, three entrees for four people, because the young couple on our table decide to share a starter.
For the mains we order the risotto of the day (with italian sausage and porcini mushrooms); linguini with green prawns, fish of the day (John Dory) and filetto alla griglia (350g Black Angus scotch fillet with green pepper sauce served with seasonal vegetables.
All the entrees were delicious, so we kick back and relax to wait for the main courses.
A waiter approaches us and he apologises for the delay in getting our mains. Delay? What delay? Which means we are really relaxed when the mains arrive and we hook in.
My linguini is divine, as is the risotto, both full of taste but light as a feather.
The Black Angus also gets a big thumbs up as does the John Dory, which is a difficult fish to get right, as I know myself after a few attempts at home.
It was full of flavour, says the companion who destroyed every little morsel of the poor little John Dory.
The servings are generous but we all agree that there’s a bit of room for a scoop or two of gelato ice cream and a cup of coffee to finish things off.
For me, a restaurant is doing its job well when you know that you will return there after trying it out.
And we’ll certainly be back soon at Il Sapore, especially when the new road connecting Gregory Hills to Badgally Road is opened later this year.
I am sure that will halve the 20 minutes it takes now to go there via Raby Road.
Salute!
