missfattyfoodie*: italian

I have a new favourite restaurant, it is Sandrino which is located in Fremantle.

I came across this restaurant about a year ago when the other italian restaurant i frequent was full. From then on, i dont go back to 'that italian' restaurant anymore and i will go here if i want good pasta, pizza or mediterranean food!

This is a good place for lunch too and it gets really crowded, so make a reservation in advance or go on weekdays if you can.

The interior of the restaurant is very spacious yet cosy. There are 2 large wood-fired ovens and an open-kitchen concept where you can see all the magic happening

I could afford one day off work, and brought a friend to this restaurant, telling her all about the 'must try' beef burger which is only available for lunch. The restaurant was quiet as they just opened, and this was very different from the long queues you will see for dinner or weekends.

When we read the menu, i realised they no longer sell the beef burger! I think they might be back on the menu now since it is so popular, but i am not sure, if you do go there for lunch, you have to order that. So although i was a bit disappointed, i went on to order my second favourite dish:

Calamari - dusted with sweet paprika, lightly fried, served with a garden salad and lemon aioli $20

this is my second favourite dish. The serving is very huge although you can't tell from the picture. The flavoursome calamari (seasoned just right) and lightly fried is served on a bed of mixed salad. The combination of the calamari and the salad is divine!

Steak Bianca - grilled steak, garlic, fried onion, mix lettuce and aoili $16 (lunch only)

As the beef burger is not available, my friend ordered this instead. The steak and lettuce were very fresh and I have no doubt that they use the freshest/best ingredients as this is be reflected in their dishes. The chips were roughly cut and crispy. What a nice lunch we had!

I went back again for lunch on a Saturday and the restaurant was full with a queue outside.

Pizza - Fish, Prawns, calamari, chilli mussels and virgin olive oil $20

Their pizza was delightful (as with all of their food). Their homemade woodfired pizza base was light and fluffy. One of their main specialty is bianca bread so be sure to try that next time!

Crab Linguini - Shark Bay crab meat with scallops, tossed with tomato, garlic, basil and olive oil $27

This was just AWESOME. There was generous serving of the crab meat and scallops. The seafood went very well with the slightly tangy and refreshing olive oil, basic, tomato and garlic sauce. It's simple yet the flavour explodes in your mouth! This was their special of the day so I am not sure if they will have it next time.

One of the best restaurant which serves good burgers, pasta, pizza and salads. Highly recommended. Remember to make reservations on weekends! I also have to add that the service is good and fast, and staff are very friendly even though they are really busy.

Rating: 4.5/5
95 Market Street Fremantle WA 6160
Phone: (08) 9335 4487
www.sandrino.com.au

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I love to spend my weekend mornings in a cafe where I can take my time sipping my cup of latte while watching people pass by. Eggs, toast and bacon are also a must for weekends. We chose to go back to Funtastico as it is conveniently located near the subi market and their breakfast is awesome.

Very spacious and modern interior. It is a very nice place for chilling out and they are often full during dinner time (which i have yet to try)

Poached eggs on smoked salmon on toast - yummmooo!

His order. The scrambled egg was very creamy and it tasted heavenly with the grilled tomatoes, sausages, mushroom and bacon

I like the food and the spacious restaurant. However, their service still needs to match up with the quality of the food! I also heard that they serve very good pasta. Anyway, I am used to their service and have learnt to embrace it as their personalities so it doesn't bother me as much as before. In fact, i find it funny at the way they serve people as that does give the restaurant some character.

i brought mff sg here for breakfast last year when she came to perth for a visit. We were the only ones there as it was a weekday. They took ages to take our order, and then took ages to come to our table. I was practically waving both hands in the air signalling for one of the staff (although looks like the boss) to come over, and he just stared at me. Maybe he forgot his glasses that day or he thought i was waving at the chair he was sitting on. The food was still good with generous portion.

Website: www.funtastico.com.au

Location: 12 Rokeby Rd, Subiaco

Rating: 3.5/5

written by mff perth

Friday, January 22, 2010

Perth - Viva Restaurant at Applecross

One lazy evening, I went online to search for good pasta places around my suburb and I found very good reviews of Viva Restaurant which was located at Applecross.

I've drove past this restaurant a lot of times but I've never thought about giving it a try! I always go to the places I am familiar with - it's time to treat my tastebuds to something new this time :)

There is a lot of good food in Australia but you need to know where to find it. Australia is made up of big immigrant groups so we get a range of very good authentic food like Italian, Chinese and Indian etc. According to the web, Viva serves authentic Italian cuisine that has a home-made theme to it. The chef is also famous in Perth and has opened his own 'family' restaurant

The restaurant is quite casual but it has an elegant feel to it. It has a really nice bar and the ambience of the place is relaxing and romantic too! (must be the lighting)

They have a lot of pasta choices, and you get to choose what pasta you want with their wide variety of pasta suace.

My order: Beef Ravioli with Pomodore sauce - Traditional tomato sauce with fresh basil, garlic, onion and bay leaf $19.00

My pasta was good, but this was much better! (sorry for the bad photo)

Pasa Al Forno Tortellini (baked) - Baked with bacon, chicken, mushroom, tomato, cream, mozzerella $23.00

Dessert - Cream Brulee with coffee for only $9.90! You get to choose coffee or tea with any dessert for that price.

Went back again and we were lucky because it was pasta night. All pasta for half-price!

For entree, we ordered the Eggplant Rolled with mince meat and mushroom.

I ordered my baked tortellini again (see above) for half the price this time. My partner ordered the pasta duo.

This restaurant serves one of the best pasta I've ever tasted in Perth. I highly recommend it! Viva has a lot of specials going on like half-price pasta on certain days, live music day and friday lunch dimsum (italian dimsum - is there such a thing? the owner is just so creative!)

Please check out the details here : http://www.eatingwa.com.au/restaurants/viva-restaurant/

Location: 24 Kearns Crescent, Applecross

Ph: 93648688

Rating: 4.75/5

written by mff perth

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Singapore - Da Paolo Gastronomia

Had a quick dinner after work one day and settled on somewhere closest to office - the Sail, which is just opposite. Headed to Da Paolo Gastronomia, tucked away at the corner of the Tower 2. Thankfully it wasn't crowded as there was only one row of bench facing the window for seating. Not very conducive for face-to-face conversations but more for a quick bite and coffee.

The pretty affordable pastas and the quite pricey desserts. The Hello Kitty wine bottles will make really great novelty presents, though you'd be paying mostly for the cartoon label.

My friends had pumpkin salad, chicken breast, lamb and a mish mash of other food selection. So healthy! I had the Al Granchio linguine pasta, which was crabmeat, tomato, cream and linguine. Really big serving, tasted pretty good. Strange that they served everything on paper plates though. Not very economical nor an appealing sight.

I like the glass replicas of the One Raffles Quay towers.

The pasta portion was so huge that I could only finish half of it before feeling really full. Ended up packing the other half for lunch the next day. Tasted just as good after heating in the microwave for 2 minutes and kept me full for the rest of the day as well.

Location is at 4 Marina Boulevard #01-15, Tower 2 The Sail @ Marina Bay

Rating: 4/5

Friday, August 14, 2009

Perth - Ciao Italia

Had a guest from my favourite country (SINGAPORE!!) come to stay with missfattyfoodie for a few days. Ciao Italia immediately became one of the dinner places that missfattyfoodie had to bring her friend to!

Ciao Italia is a small italian restaurant located in Mill Point. It is really famous and popular among both tourists and locals. Since it is very small, the owner a.k.a human compactor came up with the great idea of packing everyone together so tightly to fit as many people as possible. This place only opens for dinner and it a great place for a family dinner or a casual night out with your friends. As the restaurant fills up very quickly, please go earlier especially if you are with a big group of friends.

This menu may look simple but it is not. It is very difficult to decide what to eat!

Gratis water given once you managed to past your neighbouring tables to get seated.

Missfattyfoodie always gets to sit at the side while her leaner friends will crawl to the inner seats.

Ciao Italia also provides take-away and delivery pizza which has a super fast turn-over rate and the orders don't stop coming in till they are closed. People who live in the metro area can get their pasta/pizza delivered to their homes for a small surcharge. NOT FAIR!

packing people together like sardines is actually a very very good idea (no sarcasm really) because the restaurant is so noisy (in a good way!) and lively due to the crowd. On top of the noise, you will be able to hear faint italian background music which creates this very fun and energetic atmosphere. Everyone there is really happy and always smiling while immensing themselves in this restaurant full of positive energy. Even the baby sitting infront of me (who was crying) started to chuckle once he was in the restaurant. If you are going to break some bad news to your friend/partner you might want to consider bringing him/her to this place.

The waiters here, who I am pretty sure are italians, are dressed in suspenders. Although the restaurant is soooo busy, crowded and small, the italian-mafia themed waiters are NEVER impatient or rude to me whenever I am there. Their service is always so fast and prompt. The waiters will even willingly oblige to stupid requests like taking photos with them (something i've always wanted to do, but im too humji) or taking photos of you with your bowl of mussels.

First Order:

Ravioli Napoletana $23.50. Ravioli stuffed with spinach and ricotta cheese. Served with a traditional italian herb tomato-base sauce.

The ravioli is not the usual pathetic small pieces that you come across at some Italian restaurants. This ravioli is BIG and awesome, even missfattyfoodie has trouble putting the whole thing in her mouth. One piece of ravioli almost filled up the whole side plate!!!! The spinach and ricotta cheese filling taste very good together. The ravioli's skin is just right, not too thin or thick. Mix it with the light and refreshing napoletana sauce, close your eyes and let the flavour burst in your mouth (beware of weird looks shot at you when you do that).

Rating: 4.5/5

The next order is their SPECIALTY dish and it is even named after the restaurant!

Order no. 2

Fettucine Ciao Italia, approx $24 (I forgot! and i cant read the price from the blurry picture of the menu, paiseh)

Super big plate of fettucine served with tomato-base cream sauce, sundried tomatoes, generous serving of chicken and garnished with parsley.

The portion is very huge and should be shared between two average eaters. The cream is very rich and you can taste the sundried tomato in it. Rich cream + huge portion = wear looser pants.

Rating: 4/5

Of all the pastas that I have tried here, this is my favourite. Their carbonara is/was very popular too, but I don't think it tastes as nice as before anymore, the cream is toooooooo heavy for my liking. If you like creamy pasta and you want a slightly healthier heart, please order this instead of the carbonara!

Usually, two pastas are all that we will order for 3 people. However, missfattyfoodie and her greedy friends cannot leave ciao italia without ordering one of their famous/super popular wood-fired pizzas. Instead of getting a traditional wood-fired pizza, we chose one of their 'daily specials'.

Order no. 3

Pizza Bianca, approx $16. Pizza bianca uses bianca bread as the base instead of the usual pizza base. This pizza is topped with italian sausages, fresh tomatos, herbs and olive oil.

WRONG CHOICE. We should have stuck with the usual traditional pizza. We ordered this as we wanted something smaller... but this is not the pizza bianca/bianca bread that I've tasted elsewhere. Bianca bread is supposed to be soft with a slightly crispy/burnt outer layer.

This bianca bread did not taste like bianca bread at all. The pizza was not topped with italian sausage, it was completely COVERED with italian sausage which was dry, hard and very difficult to eat. HOWEVER, the fresh tomatoes and olive oil taste like a good combination and makes the sausage redundant. It does taste/look like the chef was too lazy to design a pizza and simply covered it with sausages.

Rating 2/5

Please don't judge their pizzas by what I have just said. I have tried their other pizzas before and they all tasted great! large portions topped entirely with yummy and fresh toppings. When you eat it straight from their wood-fired oven you will forget all about your diet! I will review their 'proper' pizzas next time.

We only had a slice of pizza each. One great thing about Ciao Italia is they will happily pack your lefftovers in a take-away box for you. In this case, we took away the pizza. If you want to sample a variety of their pastas and pizzas, don't worry that you cannot finish them. You can always ask to have them put in a take-away box and you can enjoy it at home! (with your glasses, pink fluffy robe and favourite show on while enjoying your authentic italian take-away food)

Dessert time~~~

Order no.4

Their famous dessert (big enough to be shared) -Tiramisu - approx $8 (ordered blindly without checking the price)

I am not sure if the tiramisu was supposed to look like it toppled over or not, but it still looks good! Missfattyfoodie's friends make their first appearance on this blog, check out their fingers at the top!

The dessert actually tastes really light and does not taste as heavy as it looks! the cake was nicely soaked and the level of moisture was perfect. The cream was sweet but not overtly sweet, and the alcohol taste was not too strong (i dont like it strong as it spoils the flavour of the tiramisu, and because i dont like the alcohol taste). The texture of the cream actually taste like a really nicely blended gelato... yummyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! even my guest, who said no tiramisu tastes as good as the ones she had in italy, agrees that this tiramisu is yummmmyy!

Rating: 4.5/5

We went to Ciao Italia at about 6pm (when it opens) and it was already crowded. When we left the restaurant about half an hour later, it was sooo packed we had to squeeze our way out. Last time I actually had to wait one hour in the cold to get a table.

sorry about the image quality, but you can see on the right where it is packed with hungry customers eager to go in.

Ciao Italia is Located at : 273 Mill Point RdSouth Perth WA 6151(08) 9368 5500

They do not accept any forms of booking so please go early (before 6) or late (after 8.30)to avoid waiting as you can wait up to hours! Their service is really fast and efficient, but they just have too many customers and the customers there often have huge orders which explains the wait. You can always order take-away instead of waiting for a table if the waiting list is too long.

They open Tuesday to Saturday from 5pm-10pm. Their last order is usually at around 9-9.30pm. It is a BYO restaurant so you can bring your own wine but you might have to balance it on your lap as there won't be any space to place it (just kidding).

After dinner, please go down to mill point jetty for a scroll to burn off some calories while enjoying the breathtaking view of perth city.

missfattyfoodie*

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Sydney - Buon Ricordo

Monday, June 28, 2010

Gucce in Applecross

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

Armando Pasta Recipe

Saturday, April 17, 2010

Perth - Sandrino Cafe and Pizzeria

Monday, January 25, 2010

Perth - Funtastico