Fortitude Valley trattoria Biànca has rolled out a fresh menu, and the dish doing the talking is a prawn spaghettini, which Anyday Group culinary director Ben Williamson has kindly handed over in full. The new menu, which launched earlier in October, leans into clean, light, flavour-packed dishes while keeping plenty of the restaurant’s cult favourites. The spaghettini is its headline act, built on garlic, chilli and a generous splash of pinot grigio.
The Prawn Spaghettini, From Biànca’s Kitchen to Yours
The recipe serves two and needs about 20 minutes of prep, plus 13 minutes of cooking if you’re using dried spaghettini (or just four minutes if you go fresh). Williamson walks through every step, so it’s very doable at home on a weeknight.
What You Need
Pasta: 180 g spaghettini, fresh or good-quality dried.
Prawn sauce: Finely dice 180 g of banana prawns and thinly slice 10 g each of garlic and long red chilli. You’ll also need 70 ml of extra virgin olive oil, 120 ml of pinot grigio (or a similar dry white) and 200 ml of reserved pasta cooking water.
To finish: Finely chop 20 g of flat-leaf parsley. You’ll also need 10 ml of white soy sauce and 15 g of lemon juice, which is roughly the juice of a third of a lemon.
To serve: 5 g fresh chervil, picked.
The Method
Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a rapid boil for the pasta. Meanwhile, heat a large frying pan over a medium-high heat, add the olive oil, garlic and chilli, and cook for about two minutes, stirring often so the garlic doesn’t burn. Tip in the diced prawns, season with salt, nudge the heat up slightly and cook for another two minutes, breaking the prawns up with a spoon as you go. You want them sizzling, not stewing.
Deglaze the pan with the pinot grigio and let it reduce by half. Add the 200 ml of pasta water, reduce by half again, then take the pan off the heat and set it aside.
Cook the dried spaghettini for about two minutes less than the packet says (so nine minutes if it says 11), as it will finish cooking in the sauce. Drain it straight into the pan, return the pan to a medium heat and toss for the final two minutes so the pasta soaks up the sauce. Add the white soy sauce, lemon juice and chopped parsley, then take the pan off the heat and toss vigorously to create the mantecato, the point where the sauce, juices and pasta emulsify into one glossy whole. Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.
Tip into a serving bowl, scatter over the picked chervil and serve straight away.
What Else Is on the New Menu
The spaghettini has company. On the new menu it sits alongside the likes of veal cotoletta alla Milanese and fried mussels. Beyond that, the à la carte menu sticks to Biànca’s sharing-style format: an extensive antipasti selection to go with wood-fired breads, pastas and secondi. The pastas and breads are still made in-house, and the kitchen sources its ingredients from local growers and producers.
Catching Biànca in Fortitude Valley
The restaurant is at Shop AM5, Ada Lane, 46 James Street, Fortitude Valley. Weekends are all-day affairs from 11.30am until late. On Fridays, lunch starts at 11.30am, and dinner runs Monday to Friday from 5pm until late. To book, call (07) 3063 7679. A 10 per cent surcharge applies at weekends and 15 per cent on public holidays.
Five years after opening, Biànca has become a stalwart of Anyday Group’s portfolio, and this October refresh gives regulars a good reason to go back. Start with the prawn spaghettini. The quick garlic-and-chilli base and the final hit of white soy make it the one to order first, or to cook at home this weekend.
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