Thursday night and Italian was on the menu. Opposite the well established Boccelli's Restaurant is another offering based on the same regional cuisine. Though, a baby compared to its counter, Milano Cucina has been around for a couple years making itself an established regular Italian dining destination on Hutt street. Not hard to miss at all, the restaurant forms the ground floor of the Channel Ten building. On arrival, my anticipated excitement of seeing George and Bec was quickly extinguished by their absence. Though this was only an unrealistic expectation greeted by reality.
Provided with prompt service, we deliberated the menu in wait of a stray......Upon their arrival we were quick to order and ready to tuck in. Regretting this as I type, at the time I believed this was the smart and healthy choice I would be pleased with, but the consequences of my inadequate decision making skills was already known to my friend who voiced his concern and warning at the time. A wise man who I chose to ignore. My loss. Out came my tuna salad......fresh ingredients filled the plate. Raw spinach leaves, Spanish onion, cherry tomatoes, and an egg mixed through with olive oil and vinegar provided a simple and even salad. The tuna itself was yellow fin (none of this tinned leftovers you get from the supermarket), a steak evenly cooked through and dispersed throughout the plate. No rawness left in this piece of meat. A satisfying simple salad that lacked complexity and a character for adventure.
The dessert list was simple and not too hard to deliberate from. Three choices straight off the specials board; Panna Cotta, Chocolate Pudding, and a Banana and Caramel Calzone. A masculine decision made by two, Chocolate Pudding with chocolate gelato, ganasche and sauce was ordered. 'Two spoons please', was the request as one would have made the shared dessert an interesting experience.....the layout had design I admired. The creamy iced textures of the gelato, the thick smooth ganache, and the damp caked pudding had the added complexity of cold, tepid, and warm temperatures combined for a favourable balance. A pleasant dessert.
Milano Cucina, a dining experience of good food and good service. I leave a satisfied customer of an enjoyable evening, but still asking myself 'should I be expecting more?'.......
Arriving at Milano Cucina first as we usually do, we had time to soak in the atmosphere of this modern Italian eatery. Located directly beside the Channel 10 headquarters on Hutt St, one would be lying if they didn't have some faint hope of catching George Denician grabbing a quick coffee or if we were slightly earlier maybe Jayne Riley delivering the days weather from the balcony above. This was not the case however, and that hope disappeared almost as quick as it came.
ReplyDeleteAfter flicking through the first couple of pages of the menu, I was interested to see that the food spread 5 pages deep! There was everything from breads and pizzas, pastas, antipasto platters and steaks. Certainly no shortage of variety to be had here. This being said I still felt that Milano Cucina was floating somewhere in between a cafe and a restaurant. But this is not a bad thing by any means when it came to the food.
Being a big pasta fan and a lover of seafood, my mind was easily made up when i saw the blue swimmer crab linguine (Italian was used in the menu). This was done with fresh swimmer crab of course, mixed with fresh linguine, a tomato and crab broth and finally tossed together with chilli, basil and olive oil. A tick in every box for me.
On the meal's arrival I was pleased with it's appearance. A generous serve positioned neatly in the centre of the bowl awaited me. The smell radiated upward and even received a complement from the Scalz himself. BON APETITE! We dug in.
After tasting, my first thought was something was missing. I didn't know what. I just knew it was missing something. After adding a sprinkle of parmesan though, this was no longer the case. Weather or not it was the parmesan I don't know. What i really enjoyed most about this meal was the chilli. It was really present in every spoonful. Not too much though. A level that I thought was just right. All in all a very enjoyable dish.
Tonight I decided to treat myself and indulge in some desert. It was hard not to seeing as Chan is struggling to get off the junk. Why not put her through her paces. I asked if she would like to share the chocolate pudding with me and as I saw her hand slowly move toward her knife she replied 'No nath. Don't you even listen to me?' as she looked down at the knife which was now in her hand and pointing directly at me!
So next person i tried was Scalzi. Luckily he was not so hard to convince. So two spoons it was and what better sight than two grown men sharing a chocolate desert! Now I'm not usually big on deserts particularly anything more than cookies and cream ice cream at home with Packed to the Rafter on the tele, but let me tell you THIS WAS GOOD! The pudding was soft and lush, the gelato had an excellent texture when mixed with the pudding but what really set it off was a small dollop of choc reminded me of the centre of a Ferrero Rochere. Put a little of all three of these on your spoon and you are in for a real treat.
Overall a very enjoyable and affordable night with many laughs had by all.
Big Nath over and out
Whoa. I just wrote way too much.
ReplyDeleteShort version:
I liked my pasta.