Tuesday, October 02, 2007

Ricardo's


Introduction: A family style Trattoria at 99 Dundas Place, Albert Park, serving substantial Itslan food

Ambience: Bustling with a large portrait of Mona Lisa looking down on the main dining room. The waiters describe the Italian menu in a mixture of clearly ennunciated Italian followed by solid Australian accents!

Service: Very friendly

Food: a good range of dishes. I started with crumbed lamb brains on a bed of leaves with olives and pine nuts with a caper sauce which improved greatly with some salt. The main of crumbed pork chop stuffed with pork liver, a sort of variation on beef Wellington!, did not work well because the liver totally overwhelmed the delicate taste of the pork. the vegetables - roast potato in its jacket, sweet corn on the cob roast pumpkin and green beans all tasted very good but missed out in presentation. The snapper fillet was served with the same vegetables and was surprisingly dry and tough. their pie was more of a pastry covered seafood and chicken soup than the consistancy one expects from a pie.

Their creme brulee was excellent a smooth creamy texture rarely achieved at other restaurants
Wine: A good range depicted on blackboards around the room. I particularly enjoyed the Massoni 2001 Pinot Noir ($50)

Price: about average for suburban restaurants Entrees about $16 Mains about $26 Desserts $12

Comments: A little bit of Italy in Albert Park

Score: 13.25/20

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sounds nice, I will have to check it out soon. I live in the outer east of Melbourne so don't get down that way mutch.

Anonymous said...

My wife and I went here last Monday, and I thought it was terrific.

We went to Ricardo's because every time we walked past to get a Jock's ice cream, it was always full! I now know why.

The restaurant is set up as fine dining, with linen table cloths, carpeted floors and a cute little fireplace.

However, the menu is reasonably priced and expansive, and the serves generous and really tasty.

We started with an eggplant stack topped with mozzarella, and it was really nice. For mains, my wife had spaghetti meatballs ($19.50), which had fresh basil in them and were terrific.

I ordered veal scallopine in marsala sauce, and I must say, the veal was both generous in proportion and suprisingly good quality for $26.50.

Will be going back.