Posts Tagged ‘Pizza’
March 12, 2010 | 
Author Della Nonna
QV Square,
Cnr Swanston and Lonsdale St
03 9654 4880
Della Nonna is fast becoming one of our favorite neighborhood joint- we’ve tried quite a number of their pizzas now and with their pasta, I just can’t get enough of the Tortelli di granceola: Home made pasta filled with fresh blue swimmer crab meat in a light crab bisque and chive sauce ($18/$25) , but really the Papparedelle di Castagne con ragu di anitra – home-made chestnut flour pappardelle with braised duck, porcini mushrooms and sage ($18/$26) could have been my favorite too. Actually, I am happy to try all pastas in their menu- nom nom nom.
This is one yummie pizza- Capo $20 with tender grass-fed porterhouse, awesome melted mozzarella pearls, fluffy thin crusted pizza *drools* I want I want I want!!!!!!
This Funghi misti e tartufo $19, is a miracle in itself. Hubby loathes, I mean, LOATHES cooked mushrooms. This, however, is not your average off-the-shelf canned mushie pizza. This is fresh mixed wild mushies, with truffle oil and an abundance of those yummie mozzarella. Hubby reluctantly tasted a bit when I offered, and then stole 2 more pieces off me and shoved it in his gob! HUMPHHHHHH!!!
Now if you think, fantastic, great pizza and pasta, cool! You ain’t heard nuthing yet- their dessert… oh their DESSERT!
Tiramisuuuuu $12- trust me, it’s worth every dollar. Savour every bite people, this is really really yumgasmic tiramisu. Good strong expresso, bittersweet chocolate dust and a huge generous serving. Nom nom nom…
9/10! Yum Yum Yum!
<a href=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/71/1484781/restaurant/CBD/Della-Nonna-QV-Melbourne”><img alt=”Della Nonna QV on Urbanspoon” src=”http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1484781/minilink.gif” style=”border:none;width:130px;height:36px” /></a>
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Gusto Da Gianni
Cuisine: Italian and Spanish
Portside Wharf
Gusto Da Gianni sits along the Portside Wharf promenade and features a menu of pizza, pasta and tapas style food. Its the kind of place where it is a good idea to have at least one or two other people who are happy to share “a bit of everything” with you. That way you can order all the tapas that sound enticing (a lot of them) and not feel like you’ve missed out on something. Luckily for me I had just the right dining companions!
Before I continue this post let me apologise for some of the mis-focused photographs. I recently acquired a new camera (thanks very much to Min Wye) because of a silly accident with my G9. This was the first food test of the camera but we were so excited when the food came out (and my companions so hungry) that I hurriedly snapped away so we could dig into the food. I think I need a bit more practice with the digital SLR before I venture out again.
Most of the tapas are $7 to $8 for the “tapa single” serves and either $17 or $21 for the bigger “racion shared” serves.
Zucchini Flower with Goats Cheese and Olives
Octopus Gallega Style, Potatoes and Sweet Paprika – Tender octopus sitting on a yummy potato slice.
Cipollata and Chorizo Sausage – Slices of sausage in a tomato and onion sauce.
Home Made Meat Balls served with Tomato and Peas – These were really nice meat balls cooked in a very tasty tomato sauce. I think we all but licked this plate clean.
Patatas Bravas served with aioli – Fried potato pieces with an aioli sauce, we are potato fiends, so of course we loved this one.
Marinated Sardines with Cabernet Sauvignon Vinagrette – Tom really liked these and I was happy to let him have most of it.
Fried Calamari and Zucchine – Very nicely cooked calamari and zucchini fries. We shared this one amongst four but I could have had one to myself … maybe.
Black Mussels cooked in a white wine chilli sauce – The white wine chilli sauce was not that spicy (to me, though that’s saying something). I remember someone commenting that something was a bit spicy for them but I’m not 100% sure if it was this dish. The mussels were plenty and fresh and somehow I was left with the task of eating most of them. I’m happy to say I did my duty.
Organic soft Polenta and mushrooms served with italian sausage – This was the least favourite dish of the night for anyone who tried it. The Italian sausage was nice but we felt it was the only part of the dish with flavour. The polenta was mushy and tasteless and while the mushrooms were okay, we felt that the whole dish was missing something.
Most pizzas are $21.50.
Pizze Bianche (Olive Oil Based), Campagnola – Caramelized Spanish Onion, Mozzarella, Lemon Thyme & Italian Sausage. Gusto’s pizzas are made on a thin light base, almost like a pita bread. There is a definite taste of olive oil as expected on the olive oil based pizzas and while it seems like the toppings are scant they are packed with flavour and you won’t find yourself disappointed.
Pizze Bianche (Olive Oil Based), Al 4 Formaggi – Dolce Latte, Stracchino, Buffalo Mozzarella and Caprino Cheese.
Tagliatelle All’Abruzzeese – Slow cooked white veal mince ragout and mushroom pasta.
On another occassion I have tried the potato pizza and also one with porcini mushrooms and they were a huge hit with our table.
I enjoy eating here, especially with a group who like to share dishes but there is the tendency to want to order almost everything off the tapas menu. Not that you’ll regret it, you just might have to sit there a bit longer to finish it all.
362 Little Bourke St, Melbourne
03 9642 0440
We started off with a couple of glasses of wine and I ordered a Bellini with peach ($9). It was not cold enough but it was quite yummie. They managed to forgot what drinks the others have ordered though and I got a bit scared about ordering food.
We ordered a Capricciosa Italiana ($18) and a Broccoletti ($18). The capricciosa Italiana consists of mushroom, olives and shaved ham (shaved by that red machine- Berkel Slicer, tummyrumbles called it). The pizza base is very thin and really yummie, although it does get a bit soggy if left out for too long. I love the topping also but (I am talking overall here) we all agree that the pizza is too exxy for the scanty toppings it had.
The Broccoletti is topped with broccoli, anchovies and cheese. I would have liked it more if the anchovies are kinda minced and spread across the whole pizza instead of eating one salty eyelash in one bite and have no salty eyelashes the next! More broccoli would have been good also. And did I tell you I love the cheese on the pizza? I love the cheese on the pizza! YUM!
Others ordered a Crudo San Daniele ($21)- tomato with prosciutto and erm… I think that’s about it. Must be VERY good prosciutto but I think I like mine better Crema di Zucca ($16) is a pumpkin and bean pizza- I had a taste and found it too mild for my liking. I think I’d like some meat with that one 
We also ordered a pear and truffle honey salad ($9) but they gave us a rocket, tomato salad instead
Overall, the pizzas were great and that was all I really needed after my very filling few nights- you definitely won’t find any greasy pizza hut type pizza in here, but you will certainly not find the Pizza Hut prices either! Then again, Alan had greasy pizza takeaway and their prices ain’t cheap either, on the $14-18 mark, so I suppose we didn’t do too badly.
Service needs some fine tuning- the hunky Italian smile and charm does sweeten things up though when they stuff up They are still a new restaurant so let’s see how things shape up in the next couple of months! 6/10
Sugo Mi
Cuisine: Italian Bistro & Pizzeria
3/190 Oxford Street
Bulimba
07 3395 6327
I can’t eat Dominoes pizza anymore. Not after Sugo mi.
I’m not satisfied with supermarket bought pasta anymore. Not after Sugo mi.
Situated on the hip and happening Oxford St Bulimba is Sugo Mi. Its a small restaurant, with a small bar. They don’t take reservations but we went on a Saturday night with 7 people and only had to wait 20 minutes for a table. The bar helps make the wait feel shorter and it gives you time to spy on other people’s food to help you with the decision you will soon have to make. Do you have enough money and room in your stomach to eat everything on the menu that sounds delicious? The answer of course will be no, because everything sounds delicious.
Sugo Mi is dangerously close to where I live. On the first visit we ordered the following:
Entree – Scallops sitting on a sweet potato (I think) puree with a slice of cripsy wagyu. Why did we only order 1 serving? It comes with 5 scallops, and there were two of us! We cut the lone scallop in half, because neither of us were prepared to give up a whole scallop to the other. The crispy piece of wagyu was so deliciously crunchy. I must eat more.
Side of green vegetables – very nice as far as vegetables go and covered in salt.
Pappardelle – Pasta (hand made!) with free range duck ragout, caramelized onions, wilted spinach and peppered mascarpone. I LOVE THEIR PASTA! Its HAND MADE! It tastes so much more succulent and mmm tasty than the $1 packet stuff from the supermarket. This pasta actually inspired me to go out and buy a pasta maker and I’ve used it several times now. (note: lasagne made from FRESH pasta sheets is to die for!)
Termolese Pizza – Sugo, smoked tomatoes, double smoked leg ham, anchovies, olives and bocconcini.
Personally I’m not much for smoked meats, nor anchovies, nor olives. But this wasn’t my pizza. The people I know who loved smoked meats, love anchovies and love olives said this pizza was delicious. If you are dining in then your pizza is served to you on a little wooden cutting board. Yes they have take away for the pizzas only. The only difference is that its a little more rounded for takeaway and it comes in a box. Still tantalisingly tasty.
Funghi Pizza – field mushrooms, truffled egg, mozzarella and sea salt
Now this pizza I could appreciate. I’m a mushroom fiend and this was so very tasty. The bases for these pizzas are perfect, not too thick and not too crispy.
I didn’t take any photos of the desserts, but we did try a couple of them. My choice was an apple tart (or was it pear… no I’m pretty sure it was apple). It was a very deep pan tart, with lots of yummy apples. So tasty! Must eat more! People kept stealing it from me, which was quite heartbreaking.
There was another dessert that someone on our table ordered. I can’t remember what it was called but I’ve found a photo of it from the restaurant website. They did say it was really good. But all I tried was the little fluffy thing you can see on top in the picture. It was basically an italian fairy floss. Tasted sort of like almond and sugar but with a fairy floss texture.
In conclusion: eat it!
Arrivederci Pizza Al Metro
Cuisine: Italian (Pizza & Pasta)
Mains: $12
Entrees: $6.50
Shop 1, 1 Park Road
Milton
Tel: 07 3369 8500
This is a great venue for big groups and particularly for sports fans. Walk in the door and you see red and white checked table cloths, walls adorned with soccer paraphernalia and a few big screens showing sport, sport, sport. Most of the times I’ve been there it’s been football (the soccer variety) but on this night in particular it happened to be darts.
The reason why I say it’s great for groups is the 1 metre pizzas. You can have up to 4 pizza types on a 1 metre. We were a group of 6 strapping young men and one lady so somehow we thought we could finish 2 metres of pizza. Oh if only we had one more person!! We left just over 1/4 of a metre behind.
I think our flavours were:
Margherita – Tomato, bocconcini cheese & herbs
Forza Roma – Tomato, cheese, salami, Italian sausage, ham & bacon
Arrivederci Special – Tomato, cheese, bacon & salami
Pizza con Salsicce – Tomato, cheese, Italian sausage, onion, olives & garlic
I can’t remember which one I liked the best, it was possibly the Arrivederci Special. Although I didn’t get to order any pasta this round (because I’m not crazy enough to try to eat 2m of pizza plus pasta), from memory I’m a big fan of the Boscaiola – Cream, prosciutto, mushrooms & shallots.
If the place is busy, it may take a little time to get your pizza, but don’t be afraid to ask the wait staff nicely if its on the way, just incase it got lost somewhere. perhaps order some chips to keep you going if there’s going to be a wait.
