Bar Idda

So beautiful! Loved it. Fast, unpretentious & fun. Great energy & on point staff. Good was spot on & house red was amazing!

Finally got the chance to eat here after passing by many times on my way home and seeing it packed… that’s when you know it’s a hot spot. Knowing this, I made a booking through Bar Idda’s easy-​to-​use online booking system. Not your typical Italian restaurant with a menu full of pizza and pasta (there’s no pizza on the menu), but rather one that specializes in Sicilian cuisine with second dishes or ‘secondi’ that are typically meat or fish based. The place isn’t very big and has a homey feel to it. Some of the wait staff are Italians from the accents I heard. We started off with a limoncello cocktail special and house white wine which were both good. For primi, we ordered arancino, which was very good but my favorite of the firsts was the zeppole, which was deliciously flavorful (warning: has anchovies for you picky eaters). For seconds, we had agnello — three tender lamb cutlets of tastiness — and ordered their Thursday bbq special — pork neck (a part that is commonly used to make pulled pork but in this case was served as succulent steak cuts). We waited a bit for the pork neck to come out and when it came out we thought we had accidentally ordered two servings but awesomely enough, it was just one generous serving, score! We finished the dinner with rich hot chocolate and affogato that lived up to strong Italian espresso expectations. Extra points for the cute waiter who served us dessert. Holler.

I love Bar Idda. Great food, perfect with a bottle Nero D’Avola. Great with friends so you can order more off the menu to share. Fresh pasta, anchovy donuts, veggies — the flavours are just delicious.

My flatmate recently moved in so, with no other plans, we decided to grab some dinner at Bar Idda tonight. With an 82% rating on Urban Spoon, you can only expect good things from the place even before walking through the door. Well, after experiencing it, I am kicking myself while wondering why I’ve waited so long. After all, I’ve only moved 2 blocks away about 6 months ago!
Bar Idda offers plenty of seating both inside and outside (perfect on warm summer nights). As it was a bit chilly, we chose to sit inside however had to make do with the bar as it was packed. There are no many restaurants of this genre that offer bar seating and I have to admit that I quite like it, especially when I am dining alone.
True to its Sicilian heritage, the menu is written in both Italian and English. I go for the Maccaruni con sugo Siciliano which is pretty much Twirled Pasta with Beef and Pork Ragu and the Salad of warm chicory, new season tomatoes, cracked wheat and olive oil.
The food is beautiful — lots of flavours and fresh and totally warrants its 82% rating. I love it — delicious dishes at reasonable prices, does it get any better?
Overall, a great experience although it was quite loud to the point where we had to come close to yelling to hear ourselves at times!

Melbounites, u lucky dogs. I want to take this chef back to Los Angeles to open a restaurant so I can go there every day. Nothing was fancy, mind you, but everything was simple and delicious (except for the greens and meatballs). I had about 5 appetizers, 4 main, 3 sides, and a dessert plus ample alcohol, and all were excellent. Linguini with dried tuna was specially amazing — I had ones with dried/​salted sardine in Sicilly which was better, but his version is probably as good as u can expect outside of the homeland. It’s also one of the two pasta items on the menu, btw — Sicilians less reliant on pasta and tomato sauce, and more on herbs, fish, eggplant, lemon, cinnamon, etc.
The main fish was also fantastic. Simply grilled with lemon, caper and olive oil. All the dishes were 8– 15 dollars each, and expect to share on table. Very family type restaurant where u drink inexpensive table wine and enjoy simple but delicious food with friends. Make sure to call in to reserve as tables are filled quickly by local patrons. There are two bar chairs where u can dine quickly.
Olive oil– non spicy kind– is amazing. I’m jealous. If I lived here, I’d buy a couple bottles a week to use it at home. Not a place to impress, but a place to cherish.
Definitely worth a visit or two or more. U lucky dawgs.

So do you want the good news first or the bad news? Ok, the bad news is that there are a couple of weeks each year when Bar Idda stays closed. The good news is that during this period of closure, the owners go to Sicily to visit family and come back to Bar Idda with new, delicious recipes. Hooray!
Not that Bar Idda’s home-​style Sicilian fare isn’t delicious enough as it is. I would recommend every single dish on the menu but that’s not terribly helpful. Instead, I’ll pick one dish from each course — primi, secondi, contorni and dolce — that I simply cannot not order when I eat here. First things first, pan-​fried ricotta gnocchi with mushrooms and greens… I’m starting to salivate. Then, the mulinciani — layered eggplant with tomato, basil and pecorino. Drool-​worthy indeed. On the side, so simple yet so refined, the house salad of chicory, celery and sultanas. And the sweet surrender — soaked and spiced figs with vanilla bean gelato. Oh. My. Word.
I also recommend doing it Italian-​stylee with the drinks by starting off with a refreshing Campari and soda, a vino rosso to accompany the food, and finally, a herbal Averna to wash it all down.
It’s la dolce vita in a meal. Really.