Restaurant Review: Grossi Florentino: The Grill

Location: 80 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Link: http://www.grossiflorentino.com/

Phone: (03) 9662 1811

Cuisine: Italian

Before Eddie's Perfect show, we decided to have a pre-theatre dinner somewhere to start the night off. One of the great things about pre-theatre dinners is that you know you won't be waiting too long for your dinner. The menu is designed in a manner that ensures that you will not be late for the 'theatre', or in our case, the show. We couldn't go pass the pre-theatre menu at The Grill. I had emailed the restaurant for more information and found  a  very polite and lovely voice message on my phone explaining that she would prefer to speak to me about the menu because it is not fixed and changes very often. I was told what sort of dishes to expect. It sounded great so I quickly made a booking for the coming Saturday night.

Grissini

We were greeted by the longest breadsticks I have ever seen. As far as breadsticks went, they were pretty good. We immediately noticed how European the décor was. We really appreciated how the restaurant was set up. It reminded us both of our eating adventures in Italy.

Freshly baked bread, extra virgin olive oil and dukkah

very very good extra virgin olive oil!

 Yering Station Shiraz Cabernet

Rigatoni Norma

tomato, eggplant, salted ricotta

The pasta was perfectly al dente- not that I would have expected anything less. The eggplant was delicious and quite literally melted in our mouths. Perfectly seasoned, this simple dish was a good started.

Lombata di manzo

Minute steak, chargrilled, roasted potato

The steak was disappointing. Although cooked perfectly (medium rare) and texturely pleasant, it lacked basic seasoning. The potatos were however, lovely and crisp on the outside and had a good rosemary flavour.

Pollo Agrodolce

Chicken, pine nuts, sultanas on a bed of polenta

The chicken was tender and delicious. Hearty and simple, it really struck a chord in us. It was the sort of delectable comfort food we both enjoyed.

Orange biscotti

Lattés for a caffeine hit

Torta di sciroppo di fichi

Fig syrup cake,
almond milk sorbet

The cake was less than ordinary and lacked any fig-tasting components. The almond milk sorbet, however, was splendid. Smooth and delectable.

Overall impression: 7/10

It was good, simple, Italian fare. Lovely ambience and attentive waitstaff. Minor hiccups along the way but it was an overall pleasant dining experience.