Piccolo, an Italian restaurant seated in downtown Venice; it is just off the beaten path right behind the Venice Beach.
Upon arrival, Piccolo will surprise with its cozy and romantic ambiance, no wonder many foodie reviews mention this is one of the perfect spot to take your date to. This neighborhood gem will amaze you with its extensive Italian wine list and lengthy dinner menu. We even think most (if not all) of their staffs are Italian and they are very knowledgable about the menu.
Since this is recommended by ToORiMa, of course we are dining with Mr. & Mrs. Chan as well. Although we were a little early today, wifey feel this evening was too windy for photo shoot at the beach, so we went straight inside the restaurant.
Amy @ Piccolo. This is the last day of her 2nd trimester. Hang in there, you are doing great!
Busy kitchen tonight.
A lot of pictures and paintings hanging on the wall.
Candle light dinner. Very romantic.
Why does he talk like a girl? >_<
They didn’t serve bread until we order…. weird!
Does that mean the bread was OK?
Green asparagus soup with scallop.
The soup itself taste a little too bland to me, but the scallop was on the salty side.
Capesante Scottate: Seared Sea Scallops, parmesan-truffle fondue.
Perfectly seared scallop, but the parmesan-truffle fondue sauce was so mild that I didn’t realize truffle was put in it until I’m writing this.
Piccione Arrosto: Pan-seared squab, semi-boneless, lentils, chard, vino rosso reduction
This is another great dish, seared squab (baby pigeon), and I was very surprised how the chef perfectly prepared this. Two thumbs up.
After the appetizer, here comes the main course(s). We started off with couple of pasta dishes. All of their house made pasta is hand-crafted and prepared with organic eggs.
Spaghetti ai ricci: rustic spaghetti, sea urchin emuision, fava beans.
According to ToORiMa, this pasta taste very much the same as in Italy; although many would think the pasta was undercooked and it still hard in the middle.
Ragu di capriolo: tagliatelle, slow-braised venison ragu, aromatic spices, red wine
This is another great pasta dish. The fettuccine was cooked just right and with the aroma from the venison meat, it melted my taste buds.
il Pesce: Chilean Sea Bass
The sea bass was pan seared and seasoned with salt only, so it was still juicy and tender inside. I had a small bite only and think this was quite good.
Maialino nero con porcini e vaniglia: natural berkshire pork chop, Italian porcini-tahitian vanilla bean sauce
I was just listening to 麥兜’s 最靚豬腩肉the other day, and here is probably the 最靚豬腩肉 dish I ever had after CUT @ Beverly Hills.
The pork chop was perfectly cooked to medium, good job by the chef BoBo. Yes, BoBo is the chef, and he was very tentative. He has been splitting the dishes through out the 九大饋 dinner so we all can have a taste of everything. That’s why you probably find the food portion was a little smaller than usual.
To finish up the dinner, we have couple of dessert.
Bignole: pastry puffs filled with belgian gianduja chocolate cream.
Wifey: The Belgium chocolate taste so good, yummy.
Me: Huh? Belgium chocolate? It taste no different than other choclolate.
Wifey: I should had just given you some M&M instead. What a waste.
Me: I like M&M too. =P
Semifreddo: Imported amaretto cookies soft-frozen cream
A very fancy name for pistachio ice-cream; a little too sweet for the ladies so I had 2 big scoops all by myself. Yum!
Thank you for the dinner, Amy & I had such a wonderful time. See you guys in 2 weeks @ INK! =P