Fasta Pasta, Aspley, Brisbane

November 26, 2016

Fasta Pasta used to be a food outlet serving up good old homemade Italian dishes for family and friends to enjoy and be able to dine in on a weeknight or even on the weekends. There are only a few outlets left now in Queensland and sometimes you may experience some good and bad when you dine. Lately, there has been a few changes which has been great along with the friendly waiters as well as the owner.

'Pizza Bianca Italiana' (AUD$7.90) was the only pizza option in their lunch menu but don't underestimate it as it will come with a fluffy base topped with toppings full of flavour that balanced each ingredient well. With olive oil, ham, garlic, mushroom and mozzarella cheese, you may even eat this as breakfast by the sounds of it.

It may sound like a light dish to have and to order but having a well made medium fluffy base was the highlight of the pizza. The amount of ham and mushrooms as well as mozzarella cheese was more than what other pizza shops would give you and although the size isn't as big as takeaway pizzas, it definitely would satisfy you anyhow.

'Lasagne' (AUD$8.90) was served in a seperate oval bowl with a simple garden salad and chips served on the side. Oven baked lasagne topped with mozzarella cheese and bolognese sauce, although it wasn't anything special, it was just alright. The lasagne did not fill the whole bowl so imagine having it 3/4 of the way. Though with the downs, the lasagne had numerous layers and tasted homemade and not supermarket bought which was quite nice to know.

'Linguine Amatriciana' (Entree: AUD$15.90, Large: AUD$17.90) was slow roasted pork belly, napoli, white wine, garlic, chilli and basil served with Linguine pasta. For an entree sized pasta, their portion has always been great and more than enough to fill you up where you end up thinking that the larger size isn't needed. When ordering the entree size, you are able to share it with others on a side plate.

Although I wasn't able to taste the basil, you can taste the white wine and the napoli sauce as well as the hint of the heat from the chilli. The slow roasted pork belly was thinly sliced and although it isn't something that someone would use to cook pasta with, it is quite a unique combination that works well. The amount of roasted pork belly was quite sufficient, just remember to mix the pasta to even out the sauce.

'Penne Rosso' (AUD$8.90) was one of the dishes in the lunch menu options. Chicken pieces cooked with semi dried tomatoes, baby spinach with tomato and cream. Similar to the previous dish, its portion was quite enormous. The balance of the tomato and cream was nicely balanced, not too salty and the chicken pieces were heaps in terms of big chunks of chicken thigh pieces, juicy and succulent. The baby spinach was the only greens in the dish and although it would have been great if there were more, it was not too bad overall.