Risotto Fever

Both Mr. and I wasn't very adventurous in food when we were back in SG. Lack of time due to work. Lack of money due to pathetic pay. Lack of choices. For special occasion or felt like pampering ourselves after all the hard work was Sushi Tei. We did recently revisit Sushi Tei during our vacation in SG but was so disappointed with the food that we ended up in food court for 2nd dinner. More on that on a later post.

Mr. felt in love with risotto and introduced me when I came to Melbourne. I felt in love with it too. I even learned how to prepare and cooked it. Getting there but still can't compare to restaurant.

Tutto Bene is our favourite risotto place after I discovered thru Sarah's blog. But we haven't being back for ages when there are so many places to try in Melbourne. 1st visit was in 2007 and 2nd visit 2009. We must had visited more more but can't recall. But did notice the menu doesn't change much at all.

We did manage to get a table on a Saturday evening without any booking which was rather surprising as we were turned away in the past. Maybe because of the court case created by the ex-chef? It didn't stop us unless the food standard drops. Did feel the service need to be improved.

To satisfy our craving for risotto. We ordered 3 main risotto to share between both of us. 2 Classici (classic) and 1 Di Pesce (seafood).




Funghi misti - Mixed wild mushroom, Parmigiano and aromatic herbs
Fragrant and creamy.


Risi e bisi - Fresh peas, pancetta, shallots and Parmigino
It's full of pea flavour but taste delicious. Those who doesn't like pea might want to miss it.


Granchio con pomodoro e peperoncino - Blue swimmer crab with tomato and chilli
Slightly spicy, fresh and can taste the sea.

All 3 risotto tasted different. Guess was they used different types of stock depending on the ingredients used. Different cheese as well?


Dessert special for the day - Tiramisu
It was light, coffee and liquor mixture was well balanced and lady finger was soaked with just the right amount of liquid.

Hmmm when will be our next visit? No idea especially I just found a great place that serve squid ink risotto.

Good Life (Adelaide)

We stopped over at Adelaide for 1 night on our way to Kangaroo Island. Took the opportunity to meet up a friend of ours for dinner. She recommended Good Life pizza since we haven't tried it before.

I loved the their concept, organic plus local produces right down to drinks, flour to make the pizza base.

We started the dinner with Olive Bread served with Adelaide Hills Olive Tapenade. I'm one who doesn't really enjoy olives. I had tried it before but just can't accept the taste. As for this dish, I find the taste of dip pretty unique. Still acceptable for me. Sorry don't really know how to appreciate them :-)

We ordered 4 pizzas in total with 3 different variety.

The most popular pizza for the night was Free Rang Roast Duck Pizza with shitake mushroom and spring onion ginger jam. I only came upon restaurants serving poached chicken with spring onion ginger jam but never with duck. Loved the uniqueness of this dish!

The 2nd pizza was Angaston Spicy Salami with kalamata olives, red onion, baby bocconcini and basil. Honestly, I have no idea what it taste like now plus I only had a slice.

The 3rd pizza we had was Kapunda Chicken oven roasted with baby potatoes, garilc, rosemary and mild parmesan. 1st time having potatoes in pizza and the roast chicken is delicious. I remember I like the cheese including CL who don't really fancy cheese.

We also had 2 sides which I forgot to take pictures of. It was Roast Vegetables and another Mixed Lettuce Salad. Both were very nicely served.

At the end of the meal, we were all stuffed with pizza that leaves us no space for dessert at all. We couldn't even finish all the pizza.

I will definitely go back for the Duck Pizza if I happen to go Adelaide again. At the meantime, just have to look out for such restaurants in Melbourne.

Tutto Bene (2nd Visit)

From memory and blog entry, the 1st time and previous time we being to Tutto Bene was almost 2 years ago. We tried our luck getting a table without booking a couple of time for the past 2 years without success till Sept 13th 09.

We haven't being into the city for quite a while so decided to spend the day in the city walking around. From memory the plan was to go to Crown and find a nice place for lunch. But when we passed by Tutto Bene on the way, we couldn't help but pop in to request for a table. Lucky stars fall upon us :). I'm guessing because we were really early, can see it from the number of empty tables around us.

We just love their Risotto and couldn't forget it! So far, it's the best risotto we tried in Melbourne.

Started off with some complimentary bread with olive oil. We don't really know how to appreciate olive oil because we can't taste what's so special about it and how it won so many medal.

PRIMI PIATTI
Calamari Fritti
We were served by a really friendly, knowledgeable waiter. Because me and CL don't eat olives and we don't really want something too heavy for entree, he suggested Fried Calamari. The Calamari was lightly battered with semolina and quick deep fried. It's really light in taste, fresh and doesn't taste oily.

RISOTTERIA

Seafood Risotto - Special of the day on the left and on the right Anatra, funghi e salvia - Braised buck, porcini, mushroom and sage

CL had the seafood risotto and I went for the braised buck risotto. Both dishes were totally different as CL's dish was tomato base and mine creamy slightly heavy base. Both were fantastic! Delicious!
I can even taste the "freshness" in CL's dish and have chunks of duck meat in mine.

CONTORNI E INSALATE
Ruchetta selvatica con scaglie di parmigiano, olio e limone - wild rocket with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, lemon and parmigiano
We actually wanted to try Zucca arrosto con cannella e peperoncino - Roasted pumpkin with cinnamon and chilli but the waiter suggested to match our main with wild rocket instead. Gald we accepted his suggestion because it blend it with our main very well.

We only had space for 1 dessert to share and we ordered Creme Brulee.

DOLCI

Brulee al tiramisu con ganache di cioccolate e gelato al mascarpone - Tiramisu infused brulee served with in house mascarpone gelati and chocolate ganache
The sweetness was just right, soft and not watery. As for infused with Tiramisu, honestly I don't remember except did taste a bit of liquor. Does that count???

Tutto Bene

"Where should we have dinner?" Lynn asked. Hubby and me met up with Lynn and husband, Peter for dinner on Thursday. The gals have no idea which restaurant we should try this time. After some surfing and discussion, we decided on Tutto Bene know for their risotto.

Hubby order Cape Sante - tasmania scallops risotto. (can't find the exact name from their online menu)
I ordered a Classic Risotto. Funghi misti - mixed wild mushroom, parmigiano and aromatic herbs.
Peter's main in the background: Salsicce
Lynn and Peter side dish: Insalata Caprese - slices of tomato, basil and mozzarella pearls extra virgin olive oil and balsamic Hubby and Mine side dish: Ruchetta selvatica con scaglie di parmigiano, olio e limone - wild rocket with extra virgin olive oil, sea salt, lemon and parmigiano

All of us were happy with our main. 1st time having such al denta risotto! They were excellent!

Since the serve wasn't huge. All of us still has space for dessert.

Peter's dessert: Biscotti fatti in casa - a selection of traditional in-house made Italian biscotti. A mixture of in-house bake + chocolate + biscuits.
Hubby's dessert: Zucotto - layered hazelnut, chocolate and vanilla mousse in rum soaked sponge with crunchy toffee. It's was so nice! The favour of the hazelnut was really strong. I love it!

Mine's dessert: Lemond curd (not on the online menu). I love this too! Initially thought it will be a tart but was suprised by it's appearance.

Lynn's dessert: Creme Brulee (not on the online menu). Were told this is a very new dish. The brulee is very smooth. It doesn't look like it's being baked at all! The sobert that came with it is fill with strong liquor favour (can't seem to recall what liquor it is). Lynn enjoy it so much that she can't stop saying Mmmm at every spoonful she take.

It's such a good dining place. The waitress is really attentative and polite. Service is great and so is the food especially the dessert! Hubby even rated the place 9/10.

Factors that affected the perfect score 1) small potion in the risotto 2) limited choice in side dish

But definitly Tutto Bene will be the place when we have craving for risotto.

Lynn and Peter gave me a bake book for birthday present, Title: CRAVE a passion for chocolate. AHHHHHH!!!!!I'm trying to lose weight and beginning to hit the gym a lot and now I can't stop fliping it. I'm also starting to itch to try some of the recipes! *faint* There goes my weight lose project.