Category Archives: Italian

food stuff relating to Italian flavours

Blend Cafe @ Melville

Posted in Food, Italian, Modern Australian by

Whoa. I realise it’s been a while since I last posted something food related. With working and all that studying 24 hours in a day is seriously not enough. But rest assured I have been eating out quite a lot too since I don’t have much time to cook a proper meal so I shall get the blog up and running again with more restaurant posts for the weeks to come.

I’ll kick it off with Blend Cafe, a local neighbourhood cafe in Melville serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, home-cooked style. I say home-cooked because I find the food here to be unpretentious. It’s simple, fresh and tasty. I started coming here for those nighttime dessert cravings. They serve good coffee and one of the better tiramisus.

Left impressed with their coffee and sweets each time, my family and I finally made it for breakfast. It’s the usual breakfast menu with eggs and bacon, eggs hollandaise, muesli, etc but what really stood out for me was the baked beans. It’s not those canned baked beans for sure. I don’t even like baked beans but I found myself wanting more. The beans are cooked just right, not too hard but not mushy, and the taste was just divine – tangy with a hint of spiciness. The dish below is a potato cake with poached egg, hollandaise sauce and oozing lava of baked beans.

We enjoy coming to Blend so much that even my little cousin asked to have his birthday dinner here. And so we did. The cafe was pretty packed for a Monday night (but then again, this place is always packed) but we made reservations so we were seated straightaway. The dinner menu was not overly exhausting and nothing particularly special. Still, we were able to find something we like and something that suited everyone’s tastes.

Here’s a run down on what we had that night from the top, left to right -

* Gamberi - fettuccine with prawns in creamy tomato sauce; very fresh pasta with succulent prawns – you cant go wrong with that

* Copacobana pizza – with sausage, ham, pancetta and pepperoni; the boys loved it

* Salt and pepper calamari – served with an Asian style lime and fruit salsa as dipping sauce and I polished it off before anyone else could. It was very refreshing to contrast the heaviness of having deep fried squid

* Fettuccine alla vodka – pasta with chicken and spinach in creamy vodka rose sauce; very tasty pasta and tender chicken. Loved the sauce.

* Paella – finally a place where the paella rice is cooked just right. Serving a bit small to be shared but it was good nonetheless

* Prawns with rice – an item on the specials menu but was nothing really special about it. Rice used was the same as paella rice so it was basically a wet paella with prawns in tomato sauce

* Surf n Turf – scotch fillet steak with mushroom sauce and prawns. tThe mushroom sauce was good and steak was tender and tasty but it came short of a medium done steak.

Overall a gem in the suburb of Melville where you can have a great night out.

My rating: 8/10
Blend Cafe on Urbanspoon

www.blendcafepizza.com

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Homemade Fresh Pasta

Posted in Food, Italian, Recipes by

Fresh pasta. So tasty. So easy. So much better than dried pasta. This is seriously one of the best things one can make at home. All you need is an investment in a good pasta machine (sturdy and heavy duty), unless you want some serious arm workout. I bought this pasta machine when it was on sale for about AUD 40 and I haven’t looked back since. Mine came with an attachment for 2 types of pasta – spaghetti and fettuccine – and that was enough for me since those are 2 of my preferred types of pasta. The machine also has this grip thing where you can lock it onto your benchtop but my bench top was to thick/high for it. If that’s the case I just get my happy helpers to hold down the machine for me while I roll out the dough.

Another thing to remember is that you need only 2 ingredients to make fresh pasta. Yes, TWO ingredients – flour and eggs. An easy guide to this is that you need 1 large egg for every 100 grams of flour you use. One egg, 100 grams of flour. Two eggs, 200 grams of flour…you get the drill.

Here’s a step by step on how to make those darn tasty Italian noodles.

N.B. Pasta made with 100 grams of flour plus other ingredients like chicken, tomatoes, veggies…etc can feed about 2 people.

1. In a medium sized mixing bowl, put in 100 grams of flour and make a well in the centre. Add in 1 large egg in the well. Using a fork beat the egg while gradually incorporating the flour starting from the middle going to the edge of the bowl.

2. When the dough is ready to be handled using hands (you will know this when the dough becomes too stiff for the fork and the dough need not be in a ball shape), tip it onto a clean and floured surface.

3. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth. If the dough feels a bit dry sprinkle some cold water and continue kneading. The dough should feel like a playdough; soft and does not stick to your hands when handled. Then shape it into a flattened ball and wrap it in plastic wrap. Place dough in the fridge and let it rest for 30 minutes.

4. Set up your pasta machine while the dough is resting. If you plan to cook the pasta straight away ensure that you have a pot of boiling water with salt and a touch of oil ready to be used. Fresh pasta takes only 2 minutes or so to cook and as soon as they come out of the machine you can dump them straight into the pot.

5. Now the fun begins. Take the dough out of the fridge and depending on the size of your pasta machine cut the dough into smaller pieces to fit the machine. For instance, I would cut mine in half to fit the machine (pictured below) and keep the other half wrapped in plastic wrap. Sprinkle some flour on the dough before you roll it through the machine.

6. Start rolling your dough with the widest setting on the machine (mine has 7 as the widest). Do this about 3 -4 times, until you get a smooth looking, flouring the sheet of dough on both sides every time you pass it though the rollers.

7. Then roll it again using setting 6. Then setting 5. Then setting 4; all the while flouring the dough each time. The dough will become longer and harder to handle the thiner it gets. Cut it in half so you don’t overstretch some parts of the dough or accidentally rip a hole.

8. Once you’re happy with the thickness of the dough (only trial and error will tell this but I find that setting 4 gives a reasonable “bite” to the cooked pasta) it’s time to roll it through the cutters. Pass the dough through the cutter the same way you did with the rollers only this time sprinkle the surface where the cut up dough would land with flour to avoid sticking.

9. Cook the pasta in the pot of boiling water prepared in Step 4 for about 2 minutes. Pasta should be al dente and silky when you try it. Drain and run it under cold running water to stop the cooking process. Pasta is now ready to be added with other ingredients for an edible work of art.

10. Alternatively, you can place the uncooked pasta in airtight container sprinkled generously with flour and freeze it until ready to be used.

Maretti Caffe Cuccina @ Mosman Park

Posted in Food, Italian by

I had a dinner date with L last Wednesday and used a voucher I bought months ago for Maretti Caffe Cuccina. I have never been to Mosman Park (shocking) but the restaurant was very easy to find, just off Stirling Highway. Somehow I had the impression that this is a fine dining restaurant but when I walked in it felt like I was in a renovated warehouse. The lights were dim and were certainly not the romantic kind of dim lights which felt eerie.

We were served by a very friendly waitress but it was almost impossible to understand what she was saying. We really couldn’t decipher what accent she had. With that fine dining expectation I had, I was really disappointed to see that our waitress was reading the voucher course off the back of the order sheet. With the voucher we got to choose between a meat or a fish course. This again was a disappointment because we had the impression (from the voucher) that we could order anything from the menu so long as it was 1 entree, 1 pasta, 1 main and 1 dessert. We were also told that we both had to have to same course. Er, how hard would it be to cook the other course if they offered it? L and I always share our dishes when we go out to eat so this was clearly disappointing. Since we couldn’t understand what kind of fish was being served we opted to go for the meat course. We started of with an entree called panzerotti.

Maretti Caffe Cuccina: panzerotti

Without reading the menu I couldn’t tell what I was eating with this dish. It was bland and there was no one taste that stood out. On my way out I took a take away menu and found out that it was fried pizza crust with mozzarella and tomatoes inside served with a tomato sauce dip on the side. The pizza crust was too thick; not enough mozzarella or tomatoes; and the sauce was very bland with a hint of chilli. Definitely not something I would order again.

Next up was a small plate of fettucini amatriciana and I mean really small. Overlooking the size, this was one good pasta. Unlike the tomato sauce of the entree, the sauce for the pasta was very tasty and rich. Fettucini was al dente and the pancetta and bacon added a lovely flavour to the dish.

Maretti Caffe Cuccina: fettucini amatriciana

Then the meat dish was served. A sirloin steak with porcini sauce chunky mashed potatoes. I only wished that the steak came in a bigger piece. Cooked to medium doneness, it was very tender with the sauce just salty enough. There was only 1 porcini mushroom stalk in the whole dish too. L gave me her 1 stalk so I had 2 stalks. Score. The mashed potatoes were very good, too, except it was too soft and couldn’t hold its shape.

Maretti Caffe Cuccina: steak and mash

In between all the chatting and the wine, L and I both agree that the best part was dessert – chocolate mousse!

Maretti Caffe Cuccina: chocolate mousse

It was heaven in a tiny cup (but which holds a lot more mousse than I expected). It was chocolate-y and very light. The white chocolate bits on top added a nice texture to it. It did not taste like those type of dessert that has been sitting in the fridge for quite a while. This did taste like it was freshly made.

As we were leaving the staff asked us if everything went ok and asked if we would consider coming back. Our response was yes (a little bit of a lie because I’m a torn between the shock of the serving size and wanting to try the non-voucher dishes) so she gave us a discount voucher for our next visit.

My rating: 6.5/10
Maretti Caffe Cuccina on Urbanspoon

www.maretticaffecucina.com

Angelo’s Pizza and Pasta @ Como

Posted in Food, Italian by

A little girl talked me into getting pizza for dinner. I suppose that is what I get for taking her along for a quick ride to the city and back. After already deciding to head straight home after our mini adventure for the day, something about sinking my teeth into a cheesy slice of pizza made me turn to the opposite direction of home.

As we already drove past Ciao Italia our next best option was to head down Canning Highway, towards Burswood, and search for a pizza place called Angelo’s Pizza and Pasta, which I always see when I drove along that street but never tried. I turned in a street too early so my little cousin and I had to walk a few meters in the freezing cold for pizzas. We didn’t know what to expect but, a few feet away from the pizza shop, the waft of pizza in the oven was coming towards us. A good sign indeed. If you ever get lost just follow the smell.

The place was totally not what I expected. Given the name “pizza and pasta” I expected a little restaurant with a few tables for dine-in customers. But no. This wasn’t the case. There were only 2 small park tables and benches and no one in his right mind would sit there in this weather. Basically, it’s 98% a take-away business. It’s a quaint little shop that needs renovating but I’d let this one pass because they make very good pizzas. There isn’t much to do when you’re waiting for your pizza. They have a few magazines for you to read or you can always watch them make the pizzas. For us, we went to the kebab shop next door to get some baklava and hedgehog slices for dessert.

Angelo's Pizza and Pasta: interior

It took about 15 minutes for our pizzas to be made. It was a busy night with customers walking in one after the other and even more people coming in to pick up their pre-ordered pizzas. We had the Stonecutter pizza topped with italian sausages, eggplant, spinach, feta cheese, sundried tomatoes and a sprinkle of cheese on a basil pesto base. Wow is all I can say. Everyone in the house absolutely loved this pizza. From the pickiest of the picky eaters to the die-hard veggie fan, we all agreed that this pizza was simply delicious. The basil pesto was a good change from the usual tomato sauce based pizza and it gave the pizza a nutty flavour. The only downside? It was quite greasy.

Angelo's Pizza and Pasta: stonecutter pizza

For a big family like ours, 1 large pizza is not enough so we also had a family size Marine Supreme pizza with prawns, crab, onions, olives, pineapples and cheese with a tomato sauce base. Auntie C said this is a bit too bland for her but for the rest of us it was tasty enough. There was hardly any grease on this pizza and the pineapples made it even tastier.

Angelo's Pizza and Pasta: marine supreme

Since dinner was already made when we got home, the pizzas became our after-dinner “snack” and we still managed to finish BOTH pizzas! Amazing, isn’t it? We will definitely consider Angelo’s again for our next pizza night. The Caribbean Crunch pizza is already calling out to me.

We all collectively agree to give this an 8/10 rating.

Angelo's Pizza and Pasta on Urbanspoon
www.angelospizza.com.au/index.htm

Pronto @ Claremont

Posted in Italian, Perth by

Having bought clothes sizes too big online has found me hanging about in Claremont trying to exchange my items for the correct sizes. After roaming around Claremont Quarter I ended up exchanging my coat and shoes AND buying 2 more to tops on my way out (which was clearly not in the agenda for today). I also ended up with a massive craving for pasta. In fact, I have had this crazy craving for pasta for a few weeks now and you can’t imagine the satisfaction I felt when I stepped into Pronto, along Bay View Terrace just across Claremont Quarter. From the outside it looked like a restaurant of small capacity but it actually is quite big inside. Modern looking with framed photographs for sale by a man named Paul (based on my assumption only because it says to contact Paul if you want to buy the photographs), Pronto has an unusual mix of having a homey yet modern feel to it. It is like an upscale casual dining Italian restaurant.

Pronto: interior

The waitstaff, when I came here, was a group of middle aged Italian men. I was given a lunch menu consisting of entrees, salads, pastas and pizzas. The menu was not overly complicated consisting of dishes that you would find in most Italian restaurants. I ordered the Spaghetti alla Nolana that was supposed to have mushrooms, sundried tomatoes and chilli. Then the waiter asked if I wanted any drinks so I said “just a glass of hot water, please” because I had a cold. And he said, playfully, “with lemon”? Oh yes please! A thumbs up from me for paying attention. A glass of boiling hot lemon water was just what I needed.

Service was fast too. My pasta was served in less than 10 minute waiting time. But when the plate came it was spaghetti swimming in a sea of tomato sauce. It was obviously not what I had ordered and I fished around for my mushrooms just to check if I read the menu incorrectly or they actually stuffed up my order. No mushrooms nor sundried tomatoes were found but I am not the type of customer who would actually send food back to the kitchen unless it is really inedible. I am a believer of blessings in disguise so I happily ate my Spaghetti Napolitana – spaghetti with tomato sauce topped with parmesan cheese and a few leaves of basil.

Pronto: Spaghetti Napolitana

Getting an order wrong on a not-too-busy lunch is in any way a big turn off for me. But I’m happy to let this one go because it was indeed a blessing in disguise. The spaghetti was cooked al dente and the tomato sauce was very rich but not too acidic with just the right amount of cheese to give it that kick. There is only 1 other Italian restaurant (that I have been to so far) that cooks tomato-based sauces just the way I like them (as described above) but that restaurant, called Green Tomato, happens to be in the Philippines. On a side note, not even Ciao Italia, one of my favourite Italian restaurants in Perth, can whip up this kind of tomato-based sauce. Their’s is too acidic. Anyways, Perth-wise, Pronto is at par with Green Tomato, if not, even better because the tomatoes tasted fresher. It has been quite a while since I last had a Green Tomato pasta so upon taking that first taste of Pronto’s Spaghetti Napolitana I was taken back home, even for just a good 20 minutes that it took me to finish my plate of pasta. I was happy that there was plenty of sauce because I savoured every spoonful of it long after I chowed down the pasta.

The downside? Price and serving size. It costs $20 for such a small plate of pasta. Upon seeing that $20 on the menu I was expecting a big bowl/plate of pasta that would really fill me up until I have no more room for dessert. Sadly that wasn’t the case. I was left wanting for something more. I asked the waitstaff if they had tiramisu but he said that they did not make it today (but that they usually had it). In my opinion, tiramisus are a staple in Italian restaurants so they should be available all trading days. If it was sold out for the day I would understand but not making it is unacceptable. The other cakes in the fridge did not look appetising enough so I just asked for the bill. They wanted to charge me $25 for what was originally the Spaghetti alla Nolana order but I told them they gave me the wrong dish. The waitstaff showed me what he wrote in the order ticket and it proved that the kitchen got it wrong. He did apologise profusely about the mistake and asked if I did enjoy my meal anyway and I said yes.

The pricing and the size definitely makes me hesitant to come back to Pronto because I can get just as good a pasta elsewhere for 3/4 of the price or the same price for a much bigger serving enough to share between 2 people. Well if I get that Green Tomato nostalgia again I know now where to go (and that would probably be the only reason why I would come back).

My rating: 6.75/10

Pronto on Urbanspoon

Ecco Pizza @ Fremantle

Posted in Italian, Perth by

What was supposed to be an enjoyable lunch together with the family this ANZAC day turned out to be one of the worst dining experiences we have ever had.

Ecco Pizza in Fremantle looked like a restaurant worth trying given its location and ambiance. Everywhere else was full house on this day so we walked into this restaurant for a quick lunch. The staff was accommodating although most of them could not understand English properly as they are either on working holiday visas or student visas, mostly from France based on their accent. The menu looked interesting but I just wished that I did not expected too much from this place.

We ordered chilli mussels to share but was told that there was none of it left for the day. So we settled for a pizza to share instead – spinaci pizza, with tomato sauce, mozzarella, spinach, olives and pine nuts. I couldn’t make out if this was woodfired pizza or not but I’m leaning towards not because it does not have the “look” or taste of a woodfired pizza. The pizza was overcrowded with toppings and it was only mediocre.

Ecco Pizza: spinaci pizza

One of my cousins had the Osso Bucco with garlic mash. The meal looked delicious at first but we were later told that it was very fatty and oily. I had a little bite of the veal shank and found it to be lacking something and the mash had an overpowering garlic taste. For such a big eater my cousin could not even finish his meal because of the oiliness.

Ecco Pizza: osso bucco with garlic mash

Up next is a dish called Baccala shared by my auntie and my other cousin. Baccala is cod with potatoes and tomatoes. What they forgot to mention in the menu is that the fish is not fresh cod. It is salted cod, the preserved kind. It was super salty it could literally give you a heart attack. Not even the carbohydrates – the potatoes- could take away some of the saltiness. It was also served with a very runny sauce that did not look appetising at all!

Ecco Pizza: baccala

Last but not least was my dish. I had the pasta with chicken, mushrooms, spinach and sundried tomatoes in a wine and cream sauce. This was the only edible dish we had for the day. I think the overall flavours of this dish worked well together and my plate was the only clean plate on the table.

Ecco Pizza: pasta with chicken, spinach, mushroom and sundried tomatoes in cream sauce

Unless I’m in a desperate time, I certainly would not be coming back to this place. The food was mediocre, close to inedible actually, and the presentation was very sloppy. I guess I just expected too much from this place given that it always seem to be full every time I walk past it. And to add salt to the wound, it took us freaking 20 minutes to pay the bill. I don’t know what was wrong on the till but they had every table’s orders wrong. Customers had to tell them again what they had and the staff were also confused. Service in itself was not very bad but it certainly was very uncoordinated. Perhaps they should train their staff better and get their act together.

My rating: 3/10

www.eccopizza.com.au/eccomain.html

Ecco on Urbanspoon

Ciao Italia @ South Perth

Posted in Coffee & Desserts, Italian, Perth by

A must try for every Italian food loving person? I would say so. Ever since I moved to Perth I was having a hard time finding a good italian restaurant. This was until my friend brought me to Ciao Italia in South Perth.

The first time I dined here the restaurant was only half its current size sitting about 30 people max with some tables just outside the toilets and hardly any floor space to walk on. Today they have expanded. It is now twice the original size bigger but still leaving just enough space for you to squeeze yourself in while taking care not to whack people’s heads with your handbag.

For the past 4 years that I’ve been coming here 2 things have always remained consistent: food and service. They have a loyal staff – charming Italian men who makes you feel very welcomed as soon as you step into the restaurant. And food? Well the taste has not changed and I’m thankful for that. I frequently order the “Fettucini Ciao Italia” because it is very very tasty. I don’t even bother counting the calories anymore because I would just die of guilt. It is a big plate of fettucini with chicken and sundried tomatoes  in a tomato and cream sauce. Taste wise it is heavenly. Health wise it is probably not a good idea to eat the whole plate by yourself, especially when you are on a diet. Try microwaving this the next day when you have leftovers and you will see the sauce turn into melted butter. So much so that I have to drain the “butter” before I actually eat it. Draining the “butter” will not affect the taste though so no need to worry. I always share this with a friend to leave room for pizza and dessert.

Ciao Italia: Fettucini Ciao Italia

Sitting in a small table surrounded by big and small plates alike plus a watter bottle plus salt and pepper shakers, there’s virtually no room left for that pizza that my friend and I always get, “Chilli King Prawn Pizza”. My friend has to have everything hot and spicy so this is the perfect pizza for her. I don’t mind chilli so it’s good for me as well. Thin crust with banana prawns smothered in creamy melted cheese. This is good enough to stop your heart too but it is very delectable.

Ciao Italia: Chilli King Prawn pizza

Half a plate of pasta and 2 slices of pizza later I am already as full as one can be. But I never leave Ciao Italia without having my fix of “Tiramisu” no matter how full I am. People say that this is the best tiramisu in Perth. I would agree if they’d only make it with less cheese mixture. The dessert in itself is really good – sponge fingers dipped in coffee that is not too bitter layered with smooth mascarpone cheese that is of just the right sweetness finished off with dusting of cocoa powder with the whole cake sitting on a puddle of cream. The only problem with it is there is too much cheese. You get filled very easily after a few bites.

Ciao Italia: tiramisu

The popularity of this place is evidenced by the queue forming outside the restaurant. No reservations here so to get a seat without waiting you have to be at the door by 5pm or earlier to give your name to the waiters before they actually open. The last time I was here with my friend we came at 5pm, got a seat, first ones to be served our food, and we finished dinner by 6pm. Half an hour later and you would find yourself waiting for as long as 2 hours just to get a table (which was what happened to us when I came with a group of 8-10 people at 5:30pm).

My rating: 7.5/10

Ciao Italia on Urbanspoon