A visit to Caffe L’Incontro is one of the closest experiences you’ll have to time travel – not only is it located in historic Gays Arcade, the 1885-built offshoot of Adelaide Arcade, but it has that red-and-white-checked-tablecloth and straw-covered-Chianti-bottle feel about it that disappeared from the Adelaide dining scene around 1990.

Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

But the thing that will have you thinking you’ve stepped into a magic wardrobe is that it’s run by a troupe of young people born after 1975. No, this is not Gen Y irony, Caffe L’Incontro is operated by Italians with rolling accents and old-school food pedigrees.

Owner Federico Strada arrived in Adelaide from Forli, near Bologna, and bought L’Incontro from its previous owners in 2007. Strada says L’Incontro has existed as an Italian caffe in Gays Arcade for more than 10 years.

Chef Edoardo Strappa. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Strada looks after the front-of-house, while the chef Edoardo Strappa is in charge of the kitchen. Strappa is originally from Terni in Umbria, where he trained as a chef before migrating to Australia and opening Pinocchio Ristorante at Unley. Strada and Strappa met in 2008, when they were next door neighbours. The second chef, Rossano Meoni, is from Tuscany.

“In Italian, L’Incontro means ‘the meeting’,” says Strada. “I met my wife Rachele (another Italian), who was working here as a waitress, when I bought it.”

An architectural feature of Gays Arcade. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

L’Incontro itself is tiny, seating only 25 inside, but it shares the expanse of the arcade – which seats another 110 – with Katsumoto, the Japanese restaurant next door. L’Incontro also has the benefit of a Roman-style bronze statue providing the centrepiece of its coffee bar at the centre of the arcade.

“The place is beautiful,” says Strada. “It looks like an Italian arcade – I loved it from the beginning.”

Handmade orecchiette with zucchini and prawns. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Favourite dish: Fantasia del Pastaio ($26) – “homemade pasta tossed in a delicious Edoardo’s fantasy sauce” (sic). Although an expensive dish, InDaily couldn’t resist the mystery.

A long dish of handmade orecchiette arrived that had been tossed with half a dozen large prawns and zucchini dice cooked in “crustacean broth”. The orecchiette was slightly firm, as it should be, and the generous serving made us feel right at home.

Handmade egg pappardelle with cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, eggplant and basil. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Other dishes: The specials board featured four to five specials, priced between $13 and $26, and the hand-written a la carte menu offered more than 40 dishes ranging from antipasti and focacce to pastas and risottos to main courses and salads.

The bread is also handmade and flavoured with whatever takes the kitchen’s fancy on the day. When InDaily visited, it was peppered with chilli flakes.

House-made bread and butter. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

At the bottom of the menu is the following quote: “Eating, it’s a joy. Cooking good food…it’s our mission. Edoardo S.”

Something sweet/to drink: We didn’t ask for a dessert menu, mainly because we were so well fed, but the specials board listed affogato ($9.50) and there was a selection of fresh cakes and biscuits such as biscotti and zeppole under cloche.

A selection of Italian pastries. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

L’Incontro serves only four wines – all Italian imports – Prosecco, Pinot Grigio, Sangiovese and Montepulciano, but coffee is obviously the drink of choice here, with 18kg of Segafredo organic Fair Trade beans being consumed by customers each week.

Espresso and biscotti. Photo: Nat Rogers/InDaily

Caffe L’Incontro

Monday to Thursday 8am to 5pm; Friday 8am to 9pm; Saturday 8.30am to 5pm
Stall C2/9G Gays Arcade, 8232 4994