Food Glorious Food
For reviews of Il Lido and Chez Pierre, it's under the cut.
This entry is one of those occasions where I need to rely on my memory for the dishes we had as neither restaurants had websites of their own. However, I will do my best!
On Thursday night, I was treated to a lovely dinner at Il Lido Italian Cantina - touted for it's so-called Italian peasant food. If this is Italian peasant food though, then one really has to wonder what the upper classes eat!
To begin with, the restaurant itself is actually dimly lit by large candles set on long benches. The communal atmosphere was re-created by the fact that diners sat a large benches so that we ate alongside others. This was kind of fun as we could easily see what other people were having, as well as doing a spot of people-watching if you were so inclined. The one page menu we were presented with appeared pretty simple and sparse. However, we were soon to be surprised. Between the four of us, we shared a couple of entree, including beef carpaccio and an anti-pasto selection. The beef was delightful as it simply melted in our mouths, which I was assured by erivan that this was the way it was meant to be. In the other dish, there was a selection of bread, diced mushrooms (sauteed in butter and garlic), slices of frittata and prosciutto, canapes with creamed crab - mind you, this is what it tasted like to me! Actually, we were ordering what we thought the couple next to us were having, but it turned out entirely different, though in a good way!
For the mains, perseid had the crab risotto with a rib of veal, eirivan also had a risotto but with skewers of lamb, nekomancy had fillet steak, while I had spaghetti with clams. Because of the reputation of Il Lido as peasant food, we had speculated that food might come out in hearty servings, but we were surprised to find that they looked rather small on their plates. And this is not necessarily a bad thing! Because it gave us room for dessert, of course! The food was cooked particularly well. nekomancy claims that for once, her medium-rare steak was actually cooked right. The crab risotto itself was infused with a very strong crab flavour too, making it particularly tasty. My own spaghetti was relatively light on the tomatoes, but also incredibly well-flavoured. Perhaps, that's what Italian peasant food is about! Strong flavours. In which case, the servings justify it as any more could easily make the dining experience far too rich.
Finally, for dessert, there was tiramisu (coming in a jam pot serving for two), Italian ice-cream and liquored plums with marscapone - the latter is a must-try. The flavour of the plums just blew out minds. And after coffee and tea, we were done!
Overall, the service was attentive and a little bit funky - more to do with the waiter who was serving us - whom nekomancy claimed looked so awfully familiar. Until perseid hit epiphany and declared that he looked just like Orlando Bloom. And yes, he DID!
Il Lido is most definitely a place I'd go back again. The atmosphere and the food went together hand in hand. Not to mention its location. For those who might care to try it out, it's located opposite the Indiana Tearooms at 88 Marine Parade, Cottesloe.
Review of Chez Pierre later in the day...
This entry is one of those occasions where I need to rely on my memory for the dishes we had as neither restaurants had websites of their own. However, I will do my best!
On Thursday night, I was treated to a lovely dinner at Il Lido Italian Cantina - touted for it's so-called Italian peasant food. If this is Italian peasant food though, then one really has to wonder what the upper classes eat!
To begin with, the restaurant itself is actually dimly lit by large candles set on long benches. The communal atmosphere was re-created by the fact that diners sat a large benches so that we ate alongside others. This was kind of fun as we could easily see what other people were having, as well as doing a spot of people-watching if you were so inclined. The one page menu we were presented with appeared pretty simple and sparse. However, we were soon to be surprised. Between the four of us, we shared a couple of entree, including beef carpaccio and an anti-pasto selection. The beef was delightful as it simply melted in our mouths, which I was assured by erivan that this was the way it was meant to be. In the other dish, there was a selection of bread, diced mushrooms (sauteed in butter and garlic), slices of frittata and prosciutto, canapes with creamed crab - mind you, this is what it tasted like to me! Actually, we were ordering what we thought the couple next to us were having, but it turned out entirely different, though in a good way!
For the mains, perseid had the crab risotto with a rib of veal, eirivan also had a risotto but with skewers of lamb, nekomancy had fillet steak, while I had spaghetti with clams. Because of the reputation of Il Lido as peasant food, we had speculated that food might come out in hearty servings, but we were surprised to find that they looked rather small on their plates. And this is not necessarily a bad thing! Because it gave us room for dessert, of course! The food was cooked particularly well. nekomancy claims that for once, her medium-rare steak was actually cooked right. The crab risotto itself was infused with a very strong crab flavour too, making it particularly tasty. My own spaghetti was relatively light on the tomatoes, but also incredibly well-flavoured. Perhaps, that's what Italian peasant food is about! Strong flavours. In which case, the servings justify it as any more could easily make the dining experience far too rich.
Finally, for dessert, there was tiramisu (coming in a jam pot serving for two), Italian ice-cream and liquored plums with marscapone - the latter is a must-try. The flavour of the plums just blew out minds. And after coffee and tea, we were done!
Overall, the service was attentive and a little bit funky - more to do with the waiter who was serving us - whom nekomancy claimed looked so awfully familiar. Until perseid hit epiphany and declared that he looked just like Orlando Bloom. And yes, he DID!
Il Lido is most definitely a place I'd go back again. The atmosphere and the food went together hand in hand. Not to mention its location. For those who might care to try it out, it's located opposite the Indiana Tearooms at 88 Marine Parade, Cottesloe.
Review of Chez Pierre later in the day...