Tag Archives: Italian
Assaggio Ristorante
I seem to be always one week late in my entries. Very very inefficient of me. -Shakes head- but do cut me some slack because I had a bad week with my joints with multiple flare ups and paws for hands and legs. But enough of that, let’s move on to more elegant talk such as fine dining :)
Fiori di zucca con spuma di spinaci, Gorgonzola e pinoli $19
Flowering zucchini blossoms filled with baby spinach, gorgonzola & pine nut ricotta mousse
Calamari alla griglia con rucola $18
Char grilled squid with rocket salad & warm morton bay bug dressing
Vitello tonnato, Freddo con salsa di tonno e capperi $18
Roasted slices of cleland mountain veal with a blue fin tuna & caper sauce
Filetto di salmone con asparagi, spinaci e piselli $31
Grilled loin of atlantic salmon with asparagus wrapped in speck with spinach, pine nut & pea pesto
Tortiglioni al brasato di ragu di salsicce e lambrusco $27
Straight edge short tube pasta with ragú of pork, fennel & chilli, sausage & perisian lentils slow cooked in lambrusco wine
Chitarre allo Zarrerano E Polpa di granchio $30
Saffron ‘guitar string’ pasta with South Australian blue swimmer crab and a roasted tomato & shellfish sauce
Orecchiette al pesto di broccolini $28
Ear shaped pasta with pesto of tender broccolini, black olives, garlic, chilli, shaved pecorino & extra virgin olive oil
Risotto ai frutti di mare $30
Vialone rice from verona wi th pan-fried gulf prawns, slipper lobster, scallops & flathead moistened wi th a tomato & shellfish stock
Linguine alla pescatora $30
Thin flat pasta ‘little tongues’ of south australian shellfish, crustaceans, white fish, garlic, chilli & extra virgin olive oil
Cakeage here was $3.50 pp..but I guess for 2 cakes that were not very easy to cut, it was kinda worth it? And they arranged our slices really prettily on the plates as well :) Points for effort and service. LOL!
Assaggio is definitely one of the higher end restaurants with mains costing between mid $20s to $30s and for poor students like us, places like these are reserved for very special occasions and birthdays. And it was a special friend’s 22nd that brought us here this time :) Food did not take very long to be served even though our group was really big and the restaurant was full.. service was good and the taste wasnt that fantastic but definitely an experience. I may come back again to try their dessert menu which did sound and look good because the other tables did order a few desserts and the ones that they did order, looked pretty mouth-watering. But to come back again for dinner, perhaps not anytime soon…
92-94 King William St
Hyde Park, 5061
(08) 8272 4748
www.assaggio.com.au
Milano Cucina
This place was packed on a Saturday night!! (as with all places in Adelaide..what’s new?) We managed to get a 7.30pm reservation but ended up only getting our first main at 9pm. That’s a whole new record I must say…
Frittura Mista $18.90
Fried local calamari, soft-shelled crab and whitebait with chilli and lime aioli
Risotto ai Funghi Porcini a Tartufo $19.90/$21.90
Mixed mushrooms, porcini, white truffle paste
Fettuccini al Doppio Ragu $15.90/$17.90
Egg pasta with double ragout of veal and pork, Milano style
Rigatoni con Verdure Arrosto $15.90/$17.90
Pasta with roasted eggplant, pumpkin, zucchini, capsicum, tomato, onion and ricotta chesse
Taglierini con granchio $21.90/$23.90
Egg taglierini pasta with blue swimmer crab meat, crab tomato broth, cream and chilli
Filetto di Bue al Pepe Verde $29.50
300gm of MSA scotch fillet chargrilled, served with green pepper sauce, sauteed baby spinach and roasted potatoes
You know how each time when we are made to wait really long for our food, we’d say ‘the wait better be worth it’ and more often than not, it is? Well, this time we were a little disappointed because the food tasted pretty ordinary and nothing that fantastic. The service though good was very haphazard because they were shorthanded both outside and in the kitchen so sometimes it was difficult to get hold of a waiter for your request. Nevertheless, the company definitely made the wait worthwhile :)
80 Hutt St
Adelaide, 5000
(08) 8227 0961
Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar
We made a reservation for 16 of us at this restaurant to celebrate Mable’s birthday :) The place wasnt very big so our long table took up about 1/3 of the entire restaurant. Andre’s Cucina & Polenta Bar is an Italian eatery opened by former Masterchef contestant Andre Ursini and specialises in quality Italian produce and a signature polenta. The waiters that day recommended we get a couple of platters and mains for sharing so these are a few dishes we tried that night!
ENTREES
$18
Assaggini Di Verdure- a platter of all things vegetable: sweet potato crisps, roasted mushrooms, lightly grilled eggplant and zucchini, served with a vegetable puree
$15
Polenta Con Funghi E Fontina- creamy soft polenta dressed with mushrooms and fontina cheese
$20
Delizie Del Re- Selection of finely shaven salami, proscuitto crudo, mortadella, salame, porchetta, cacciatore, bresaola, lombo and guanciale
$15
Crostini Con Pate Di Tonno, Fagioli Cannellini E Mascarpone- Toasted ciabatta bread with tuna in extra virgin oil, cannellini bean puree, mascarpone cream, capers and lemon
$16
Bresaola E Rughetta- platter of shaven bresaola (cured and air dried beef) and rocket salad dressed with sweet sherry vinaigrette, walnuts and herbed ricotta
MAINS:
Carpaccio $18- Swordfish, Zucchini, Lemon, Grapefruit, Chives
La Polenta $24- Slow braised duck ragu, pecorino toscano
La Pasta $26- SA king prawn, bugmeat, ravioli, cauliflower, pancetta, beetroot
L’Agnello $38- Free range Suffolk lamb cutlets, gorganzola, peas, rosemary
Overall, the quality of the food was great and service was efficient as well. Sizes of the mains especially were a tad too small? But those of the platters were just nice and we found them very unique. It’ll be good to go down and try something different once in a while :)
94 Frome Street
Adelaide, 5000
(08) 8224 0004
Botanic Ristorante
One food post in the last 7 days?? Im sorry for my complacency. It’s just that this is the first week of uni and I am still trying to finish up all my last minute assignments that KEEP coming in NON-STOP that I have hardly enough time to bake because the thought of having to clean up just puts me off :( But I promise that all will change very very soon because CAR CAR WILL BE HERE IN EXACTLY ONE WEEK’S TIME! So next Saturday at this time, she will be by my side :D And trust me there will be A LOT of trying of new food places and baking because Im going to spoil her before she leaves me for New York :) So till then, I’ll be busy slaving over my MPPD assignments and Clin guidelines. Yes, I know you all understand my pain ;)
But anyway, back to the main point of this post. The housemates and I came here for a quick dinner before they had to rush off to catch Wicked. Heard it was brilliant and though I am too broke to spend $115 on a musical, Im sure it was really worth it for them! Hee :) Boo to the quality of the photos. I apologise but I really dont like dimmed restaurants. What romantic feel?? My camera needs light for good photographs! Please keep that in mind if you want to ask me out ;) HA!
YX’s Tortellini filled with Scallops
My Saltimbocca of Veal, Pan Fried with proscuitto, sage, preserved lemon and spinach.
Mable’s Twice Cooked Roast Half Duck with braised cabalo nero, french lentils and sofa polenta.
The restaurant was surprisingly quiet for a Saturday night. Waited quite a while for the food though but it was worth the wait when it finally arrived because they were all pretty good! :) Service was excellent!
4 East Terrace
Adelaide, 5000
(08) 8232 0626
Alfresco Gusto Italian Bisto and TWG
FINALLY met up with Doodoo dear for a nice talk and afternoon together :) The poor girl was busy meeting deadlines and rushing out projects in the first week I was back so it was good that we managed to meet up just before I left!
Came to this bistro 2 years ago when Ion first opened and back then it was still called Gusttimo if Im not wrong but this time, they renovated the surroundings and revamped the menu as well!
Capellini l’ Aglio Olio $16- Capellini tossed in garlic oil, garlic confit, garlic mash, chilli and Italian Parsley
Aglio Olio is the only style of pasta I eat so Ive had good ones and bad but this one was WAY AWESOME! Somehow the chef has managed to make this dish so simple and yet so perfect. I asked for extra chilli as well and the garlic was simply the main highlight of it. I finished every last bit, even the garlic cloves. Though I regretted it after with the whole garlic breath after effects. Hee
Risotto ai Gunchi Prezzemolo $16- White wine risotto with baked, seasonal mushrooms
Another dish done to perfection. Loved that you could taste all the different flavours blended together with each grain of rice. Very very impressive :)
This is a bell that is placed on every table for you to press for service. Doo and I were very very amused with it. However, we found that the old fashioned way of raising your hand was still more effective.
The place was kind of empty for a lunch crowd but maybe it’s because it was a difficult place to find. But do try it. The dishes we tried were really quite amazing and they were not even the Chef’s Specials! ;)
2 Orchard Turn #01-17
ION Orchard Singapore 238801
Tel : +65 6509 9380
Next it was off to good old TWG because Doo has never been there before and because I promised them that I would drop by for tea just before flying back :)
We were not too hungry so I ordered 4 macarons for Doo to try and one pot of Earl Grey Pu Er for us to share :) But they came back with 8 and an additional pot of White Earl Grey as a nice farewell treat =D
I didnt like the flavours they added so I got them to change to my favourite ones :) Hee so Doo would have a nice macarons experience :)
Black – infused with Napoleon Tea, Tahitian vanilla and Caramel Dices.
Dark Brown – infused with Camelot tea and Praline
Brown – Earl Grey Fortune with Chocolate Gauche
Yellow – Lemon Bush Tea
Purple – Grand Wedding Tea, Passionfruit and Coconut
Dark Pink – 1837 Black Tea and Blackcurrant
The White Earl Grey that they brought out for us to try was so good! Heaps better than the one I chose initially. Next time, Im going to ask them to help me choose instead. TWG at Ion has the best service, that’s why I frequent there so much and it’s always nice to have familiar faces serving you and remembering what you like to order :) Promised them I would go back in July for another round when Im back :D
