Italian

Tazio Birraria Pizzeria Cucina

Porco Carne Pizza – tomato, mozzarella, pork and veal meatballs, goat’s cheese

Thin crispy base with delectable toppings.

★★★☆☆

Pasta – linguine with prawns, garlic, chilli, white wine, extra virgin olive oil, rocket

Bland. Needed more garlic, chilli, and a squeeze of lemon.

★★☆☆☆

Overall:

It was a busy Saturday night at Tazio and I was absolutely ravenous. You know how food tends to taste better than usual when you are really hungry? Well this wasn’t the case on this particular night. Although the food was tasty, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. The ambience on the balcony was nice and the service was average.

Tazio Birraria Pizzeria Cucina

66 Flinders Lane, Melbourne, VIC

(03) 9654 9119

Tazio – Birraria Pizzeria & Cucina

ANOIA Artisan Pizza & Pasta Bar

Linguine Del Mare

(tiger prawns, calamari, cherry tomatoes, garlic, chilli)

★★★★☆

Zucca Pizza

(bianco-fiore di latte, roasted pumpkin, pinenuts, rocket, goats cheese)

★★★☆☆

Overall:

As soon as we walked in, we were inundated with delicious smells coming from their open kitchen. Now the fit-out at Anoia is dark and sleek and although the place appears to be small, there is actually more seating available at the back of the restaurant. The food we sampled was delectable while the service was ordinary. Note that this place also does takeaway.

ANOIA Artisan Pizza & Pasta Bar

779 Glenferrie Rd, Hawthorn, VIC

(03) 9819 2900

http://anoia.com.au/anoia/

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

Linguini Marinara

(a selection of fresh seafood, butter, white wine, garlic, parsley)

Generous amount of tasty seafood, al dente pasta, a little bit salt heavy for me.

★★★☆☆

Rosemary Potato Pizza

(mozzarella, bocconcini, potato, rosemary, garlic, caramelised onion)

I was pleasantly surprised with how good this pizza was. Yes the toppings were good, but the stand out was in fact the pizza base: not too thick, not too thin, not too oily, not too dry, perfectly crispy and very tasty.

★★★★☆

Overall:

A terrific family restaurant that offers great service and enjoyable food. Note that parmas are $10 here on Monday nights. Bargain!

Pacinos Italian Family Restaurant

300 Epsom Rd, Flemington, VIC

(03) 9376 4888

http://pacinos.net.au/

The Grand Hotel – Richmond

The Grand Hotel in Richmond recently celebrated their 130th birthday and I was lucky enough to be invited along to take part in the festivities. The party started with drinks at the main bar and a quick glimpse at the Grand Dining Room. It is impressive to note that The Grand has been a winner of The Age Good Food Guide’s Chef Hat award nine times over the last decade, and is the only pub in Australia to consistently hold such a prestigious accolade. The Grand Dining Room is well known for their simple authentic Italian food which is served up by Michelin trained head chefs Federico Frigato and Mattia Aloisio.

Grand Hotel Richmond

After a while we were guided upstairs and encountered a smaller bar and three rooms. As we chatted, some enticing canapes came around. The first canape we sampled was cured ocean trout with citrus and berries, the second was poached veal tongue crostini with salsa verde and the third was tomato and basil bruschetta. All were very delicious!

We were soon led into the Nesso room and was informed that the kitchen was down a chef and that we had to make our own dinner!

So we each put on a T.Serafina apron, grabbed a rolling pin and began to roll out some clay.

We then each received a beautiful piece of fresh Cone Bay barramundi and were told to be as creative as we liked in terms of flavouring this fish dish. I decided to go with potatoes, cherry tomatoes, garlic, olives, braised leeks, salt, pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.

Head chef Mattia Aloisio then instructed us on how to wrap up our barramundi so that it could be baked for our dinner. This whole process was so much fun and I couldn’t wait to taste my creation! We were then led into the Como room which had been stunningly transformed by event stylist The Three Piece Suit with stationary styled by Lauren Skorsis. And it was here where the incredible feasting began!

Pepper Crusted Venison Carpaccio with Goat Cheese Mousse and Beetroot

Agro Dolce Quail with Porcini Mushroom Puree, Brussel Sprouts, Quail Egg and Black Truffles

Broad Bean, Pecorino and Mint Risotto

Mortadella Cappelletti in Brodo

Fish Cooked

This was the moment we had all been waiting for! We made good use of our rolling pins and had a blast smashing these little terracotta parcels open!

The result? Perfectly cooked barramundi that was delicate and moist, with a beautifully intense flavour. And as it turned out, the ingredients I added tasted fantastic in combination with the fish so I had a little bit of a ‘phew!’ moment after having my first bite.

Caprese Palate Cleanser – basil, tomato, buffalo mozzarella

Lemon Delizia – lemon parfait, almond crumble, limoncello gelee, candied lemons

Candy Buffet

A big thank you to Zomato and owners Barnie, Tiur, David and Katie for organising such an amazing night filled with spectacular food!

And finally if you sign up to become a Grand VIP member (which is free), you will receive a complimentary six course degustation dinner for your birthday! How amazing is that?

The Grand Hotel – Richmond

333 Burnley St, Richmond, VIC

(03) 8658 3459

http://www.grandrichmond.com.au/

*Disclaimer: I dined as a guest of The Grand Hotel.

Tutto Bene

Shop M28 Southgate Plaza, Southbank 9696 3334

Bread and olive oil

Slider of the day

Zucca risotto

Anatra risotto

Thoughts:

Bread and olive oil – Tutto Bene’s very own brand of award winning olive oil is simply marvellous! Robust and fruity, the olive oil here is definitely something special and is even available for purchase = Excellent

Slider – crumbed scallops with celeriac and truffle = Good

Zucca – roasted butternut pumpkin, sage, crushed toasted walnuts and Taleggio. The sweetness of the pumpkin combined with the aromatic Taleggio cheese and the addition of walnuts for added crunch made this dish very enjoyable = Excellent

Anatra – organic duck, porcini mushroom and sage. Whenever I have risotto anywhere, I somehow always compare it to this one. With generous amounts of succulent duck, this simple dish is mouthwateringly delicious. My only concern is that it has become saltier these days than how it used to be (I must remember to tell them to add less salt next time), but I still love this dish anyway = Excellent

Overall:

The translation of Tutto Bene in Italian is “everything’s good” and it is a very fitting name for this restaurant. The food here is fantastic, particularly their risottos which are one of their house specialities. Be sure to also try their terrific in-house produced gelati (note that flavours vary from season to season). The service here is generally excellent, while the dark elegant decor and amazing views of the Melbourne city skyline provide a wonderful dining atmosphere.