Last Sunday morning Adelaide Food Central visited Il Camino in Walkerville. Having lived in this suburb my entire life it was a breath of fresh air seeing an Italian restaurant opened up around the corner from me. The owners of classic, authentic Il Camino come straight from the motherland itself, bringing us pizza, pasta, sides, coffee and desserts.

We sampled a range of menu items:

Arancini – Porcini and black truffle or pork and fennel
Arancini is always a delicious treat, and a great side to go with any main. These balls of joy were filled with a light stuffing of porcini and black truffle boasting a ridiculously crispy outer. This is the type of side that you can’t get enough of and want to keep eating more.

Polpette – pork and beef meatballs with Napoli sauce and toasted bread
This was my favourite dish of the day. The juicy meatballs were slightly pink in the middle and topped with the most flavoursome sugo. I honestly couldn’t stop eating them and even dipped the rest of the crispy bread in the sauce, even though I was beyond full.

Pappardelle Alla Natra – slow cooked duck ragu.
Nothing beats a rich and flavoursome ragu. I loved the use of the duck meat, it fell off into the pasta sauce which gave the dish a beautiful flavour. The pappardelle was fat and worked well with this kind of topping. A hearty meal and you certainly won’t go hungry with the generous portion sizes.

Linguine Ai Gamberi – prawns, broccolini, bread crumbs, chilli and garlic
This dish is a little bit different to your typical Italian pasta, but the combination of ingredients worked very well. The light chilli and garlic paired perfectly with subtle fish flavour. The sauce was light and complimented the vegetables, prawn and bread crumbs.

Calabrese Pizza – San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, pork sausage, hot salami and red onion
Their incredible pizzas are the reason that I come to Il Camino. It doesn’t get much better than their classic napolitana style dough. You know a pizza is going to be good when the crust rises and the toppings are generous but not too overbearing. I loved the combination of the salty sausage and hot salami, it is a favourite. I have nothing to fault about their pizza, and highly recommend giving at least one a try.

Capricciosa Pizza – San Marzano tomato, fior di latte, artichoke, black olive, mushroom and leg ham.
In my opinion, Capricciosa is the god of all pizza. It has all the best toppings, especially the artichoke which is my all-time favourite. The olives give it that salty twist, accompanied by the mushroom, ham and cheese. I dream about this pizza at night.

Calzone Forno – folded pizza filled with fior di latte, mild salami, leg ham and topped with San Marzano fior di latte.
Calzone can sometimes be very heavy and I struggle to eat it. This one was far from that, even though stuffed with 2 meats and cheese, I didn’t feel like I was eating anything my stomach didn’t like. A great alternative to pizza if you are feeling something a bit different.

Thank you to the team Marco, Michael, Daniele, Ben and Marie at Il Camino for having us. We appreciate how hospitable you were, talking us through the dishes and showing us your passion for Italian food. We can’t wait to come back, as your restaurant is certainly a favourite.

Words by Tomika Salerno

WHERE: Shop 4, 117 Walkerville Tce, Walkerville