ITALI.CO Italian Restaurant

ITALI.CO

173 Barkly Street, St Kilda

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ITALI.CO sits in the heart of one of Melbourne's trendiest eating spots, St Kilda - just a short stride to Acland Street and not much further to the iconic Luna Park and Palais Theatre.

On this particular Friday evening we managed to avoid being stuck in traffic and easily found a parking spot 100 metres away from the front door, granted we booked for the unusually early time of 5:30pm, but I thought it was worth it.
The restaurant had a restrained elegance if you can work out what that means. It was subtle, but beautiful at the same time. Floor to ceiling windows surrounding the majority of the restaurant allowed for a naturally lit space, light timber floors and the white marble bar top contrasted will with the black chairs and was a nice change from the current tendency for restaurants to take the darker approach to their interiors.

A waitress brought us to our table which looked out at passing cars on the not so busy Barkly Street. The table sported 2 paper menus, a saucer with a small jar of red chopped chillies in oil and the obligatory salt & pepper grinders. We sat trying to decide what to order but were constantly distracted by the characters that would pass by our window, don't get me wrong, the drug fuelled exuberance of those that passed us by was definitely entertaining, but distracting nonetheless.

We decided to start with the Foccacia with Extra Virgin Ligurian Olive Oil, Garlic and Rosemary Salt to share, which was absolutely amazing for something so simple. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar were hardly required and rarely used. I ordered the Gnocchi Al Ragú D'Agnello which was home made gnocchi with a spring lamb ragú and carrot purée, and my wife; via the specials board, ordered the Duck with Parsnip Soufflé, Orange, Fried Baby Kale and Pomegranate. 

The Gnocchi was beautifully light and soft and the sauce was by no means too flavoursome as these types of ragú sauces can be, though I would have added more salt to the dish during the cooking process. I dislike the addition of salt to an already completed dish, it just isn't the same. The Duck was amazing, it was cooked to perfection and again the accompanying sauce was exactly that, just an accompaniment. It didn't detract from the duck at all but had an amazing flavour. To my surprise the Parsnip Soufflé was a great addition to the dish as well.

We made the dangerous but well thought out decision of ordering not one but TWO desserts, and I am glad we did. Being a massive fan of the Nutella Dessert Pizza at DOC just off Lygon Street I decided it would be a strong comparison for ITALI.CO's version. ITALI.CO fell a little short. I prefer the way DOC serve it as a Calzone, rather than a pizza. ITALI.CO's version was by no means a bad dessert (how can it be with a sweet pizza base covered in Nutella), but it just wasn't as good. The vanilla bean ice-cream wasn't too bad, but I have had better in that department too.
The other dessert we ordered was the Tortino Di Cioccolato Con Cuore Fondente, it's a bit of a mouthful but loosely translates to mini chocolate fondant cake. This was probably the best chocolate fondant cake that I have eaten. It was exquisite! The warm chocolate spilled slowly from the centre of the cake as my wife cut it open, an event which I would have filmed on my phone if it hadn't of decided to fail as it was happening. The 2 seconds of video isn't worth posting, so you will need to take my word for it. It tasted fantastic, and in addition to the chocolate awesomeness was the peanut butter fudge to make it that little bit more amazing. The homemade Tahiti Vanilla Gelato that is was served with, I could have done without. I would have much preferred the normal vanilla bean ice-cream that came with the Nutella Pizza.

ITALI.CO was a great place to eat. The food was great and the staff friendly. The cost was to the higher side of average I would say, but worth every penny.
Take your family for a nice meal or bring a potential suitor if you want to impress him/her with your impeccable taste for the finer things in life.

Nutella Christmas Tree - Thermomix Husband Review

If anyone has any requests on Thermomix recipe reviews (a husbands perspective) let me know in the comments, would love to know what everyone is interested in reading.

After my last Thermomix post, I received a number of questions regarding the Nutella Christmas Tree, so I thought I would write a review on it specifically. Let's be clear; in this particular situation, I had nothing to do with the actual Thermomixing part, but more to do with the rolling of dough, layering of nutella and dough and some input in the shaping of the end result (although I was told I could not be trusted with this part). Link to the recipe will be at the bottom of this review for your reference.

When my wife told me that such a dessert existed, I immediately ran to the pantry and spread Nutella about an inch thick onto two slices of bread. I ate them, and while doing so was toasting two other slices of bread for further Nutella spreading to take place, I was then ready to discuss this. We sat and spoke over a cup of green tea to offset the sugar overload, it didn't work. We discussed using the 5kg jar of Nutella that I had received as a gift just recently. I fought against the idea, but was unsuccessful, apparently 5kg of Nutella is too much for one person to consume, I refused to accept but it was of no use. The Nutella was to be used.

Nutella Christmas Tree - Thermomix Recipe

It is recipes like this that the Thermomix enters a league of it's own. The ability to knead dough automatically without having to lay a hand on it is such an awesome feature, I mean seriously. It only needs to knead for a few minutes! You are kidding yourself if you think you don't need a kneading function like this. YOU SIMPLY NEED THE KNEAD!
You let the dough double in volume by leaving it in a warm spot (don't be rude! This time of year in Melbourne, outside is perfect) and then you proceed to divide it into four equally sized balls. You need to make sure these things are shaped like balls, not like a tennis ball, but like a football. Trust me, four little footballs. Roll them out into a football oval shape (you getting the theme here?). When the dough balls are shaped like a football they are easier to roll into an oval shape, if they are spherical it makes it a little more difficult. This is my way of doing it, and the best way to end up with heaps of off cuts. If you want less offcuts, you should probably watch the YouTube video I have linked at the bottom of this review. Roll them out so that they are pretty thin, but if you start to see the bench you have gone too far. If you start to see the floor you rolled it off the bench. If you see grass then you are outside getting the dough which has probably risen by now. After all the rolling and spreading of nutella and cutting of the resulting Christmas tree, you stick it in the oven for a bit and get the best damn dessert this side of the Mississippi. Break off those twisty branches and stick em' in your gob! A bit of whipped cream could be a good accompaniment, though they were most enjoyed without anything extra at all. If you do want something to add on the side, try the vanilla bean ice cream, another earth shattering recipe that holds total disregard for your cholesterol.

As mentioned in my previous Thermomix blog (an essential read for the husbands that don't really use the things too much), we made quite a few of these Christmas Tree's as they were well received by the family. They are easy to do and a joy to share.
For my Thermomix related reviews I am creating a special rating system, complicated beyond belief, just goes to show my level of commitment to the cause.

Recipe Rating: 7.25 / 10

http://www.easycookclub.com/2013/12/christmas-tree-with-nutella-filling-with-thermomix/