Sunday 7 August 2011

Light Italian Lunch @ Balzari

Balzari
130 Lygon Street
Carlton, VIC
www.balzari.com.au


Winter always made people crave for warm and hearty food.  Myself is one of those people that have craving for those kind of food today.  

Lucky for me that my friend, T, wanted to be my fellow diner hunting for winter comfort food, so we both headed off to  to Lygon Street, to the heart of the Italian strip in Melbourne, and paid a visit to Balzari.  

Looking from outside, Balzari looks like any other Italian restaurants on Lygon Street - they all have small table sets outside the restaurants for those who want to enjoy the sunshine and having coffee while enjoying the street view.  The moment we walked through the door, Balzari gave us a different feeling, a warm, calm and collected vibe, as if we were in a different world from outside.  We were greeted and guided to our table toward the back of the restaurant.  I kinda like our table since I could see and observe the ambiance inside the restaurant.



We start of our comfort food degustation with Fried Sardines with Lemons ($17) and Contechino with lentils ($17) and of course, the bread and olive oil served in Italian way.  The taste of Fried Sardines with Lemons were well designed by the creator.  I would never expect that the deep-fried sardines with the deep-fried lemon rings were complementing one another so well.  Many flavour left lingering in my mouth after the first bite, saltiness from the sardines, citrussy from the lemon plus the aroma from the skin of the lemon, yet together they brought out the sweetness of the dish.  The Contechino was a sausage served with lentils, the dish was delicious and the lentils were perfectly cooked.  







Our light lunch dishes were served, our choices were Rabbit Risotto ($22) and Spaghettini with king prawns ($20).  I believed the chef probably had the concept of "Simplicity" in mind when he plated the dish because both dish look simple but somehow quite appealing.  The Risotto was creamy and delicious, all the components went well together and I gotta say that the stock they used were amazing! Rabbit meat wasn't overcooked and tasted awesome.  They made the spaghetti al dente and well seasoned, no additional condiment required for this dish.  The king prawns were fresh, together with the spaghetti and alioli, left the sweetness and aromatic roaming in my mouth.



Since T and myself wanted to try the Italian desserts at Balzari, we decided not to go for main course otherwise, it would also defeat the purpose of our light lunch anyway. The pick for the day were Zabaione with almond biscotti on the side ($17) and Chocolate Fondant with Hazelnut ice-cream ($17).  Since our table weren't far from the chef bench, we actually heard the chef was whisking away the Zabaione.  A moment later, the desserts arrived and our waiter told us to have the Zabaione first as it tasted better when it warm, so we quickly snapped few pictures.  One spoonful of the Zabaione said it all...it was foamy, warm and sweet - very delicate and delicious indeed....great dessert for the cold day, I must say.  The Chocolate Fondant served with Hazelnut ice-cream was amazing - presented well and taste awesome! When we put the spoon through, the chocolate sauce slowly oozed out...oh, what a pleasant feeling...this was the way chocolate fondant should be!  It was spongy outside and oozing in the inside, oh so decadent! The hazelnut ice-cream on the side was flavoursome, complementing the chocolate fondant so well and did not overpowering the whole dessert at all. 




After the decadent desserts, T and myself left with the wide grin on our faces and satisfying tummy full of comfort food. We would definitely want to come back for more.

+Disclaimer: The commentary contained in this blog is purely based on my own opinion and experience at the time of visit. Taste is a subjective and yours and mine can be differed.



Balzari on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

msihua said...

I've possibly walked up and down Lygon over a dozen times but have never investigated many of the restaurants...

Pinkswoon said...

Guess we are in the same boat. I only managed to try a few of them, but still lots to discover :)

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...