Not a fan of carbonara? Odds are you've never had a good one. Tricky to get right, but so rewarding when you do.

Ingredients

For one portion: 60 to 80gm spaghetti freshly cooked al dente 1 tb Extra virgin olivae oil 30g flat pancetta or guanciale 1 or 2 eggs, beaten 25g freshly grated Pecorino Romano and/or aged Italian Grana Cheese (Grana Padano or Parmigiano Reggiano) freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Mix the beaten egg with grated cheese and grounded black pepper. 2. Slice the pancetta 7 to 10 mm thick and cut in 2 cm rectangular bites. 3. Slowly fry the pancetta in the extra virgin olive oil in a non stick pan until crispy. If the pancetta has enough fat you will not need to add oil. 4. Add the spaghetti with some of the cooking water, do not fry the spaghetti but rather just let it absorb the flavour of the pancetta. 5. Simmer gently until the water is almost gone. 6. Remove the pan from the stove. 7. Add the egg, cheese and pepper mixture to the pasta and stir quickly making sure

Our Italian Imports have landed!

We tasted hundreds of wines earlier this year at the massive German Trade wine fair, Prowein, at the Italian wine expo Vinitaly and throughout various Italian wine regions. Overseas we tasted and reviewed the wines at least twice and then we did it all again as a panel back in Australia, tasting and reviewing the best wines from those shortlisted for consideration. We settled on a very select few - just the 17 superb wines which are now in stock. Drum roll please…

Here’s a little info on each of the wineries from which we have chosen to import these beautiful wines:

Ca’ de Lion is a boutique producer which has been based in the Piedmont since 1655, making wine for many, many years. We’ve chosen to start with two of their brilliant Barberas from Asti. These are exceptional examples of Barbera and we are delighted to introduce them to you.

Ca’Botta ,based in the Valpolicella DOC region about half an hour from Verona, makes wine exclusively from dried grapes.