Visible Improvement

Home Tasting Room

110 - 8th Ave S.W.

www.hometastingroom.ca

My first visit to Home at the beginning of the year did not not produce the most favourable review, with flavours and colours lacking in the dishes that I tried. The dishes that I ordered this time around were much more vibrant in colour and significantly more flavourful; But not a "I need to drink a gallon of water because I just ate a spoonful of salt" flavourful. Definitely a step up from the subtle, "blink and you’ll miss it" taste from last time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The restaurant was literally empty when we arrived. Everyone was seated in the patio. We ordered a few tasting plates to start. I wanted to try the rock lobster ravioli, but unfortunately, they ran out. Crushed, we quickly found a replacement dish. The first to arrive is the albacore tuna Niçoise salad. Originating from the Côte d'Azur, the salad features anchovies and tuna with heirloom tomatoes, fingerling potatoes and pickled asparagus and a perfectly cooked hard boiled egg on the side. The golden yellow egg yolk had just solidified and melted in your mouth. The tuna was seared to a golden brown around the edges, so tasty. The salad is finished off with an olive vinaigrette.

The next dish to arrive was the scallops. Seared to a golden brown, the scallops were served with a cauliflower purée and anchovy paste. The scallops were so succulent and sweet, a nice contrast to the crispy cured bacon. Despite the "just woke up in the morning" look, this was probably one of my favorite dishes of the day.

My single west coast oyster arrived next. Served in a half shelf over a bed of coarse salt, the oyster was firm with a sweet taste. Not quite as tasty as the ones I had in Sydney but considering Calgary is landlocked, this may be the next best thing.

The remaining dishes were brought out for us. The first of which was the high country bison tartare. Slices of baguettes with a truffle aioli spread was arranged like a flower around the jar of tartare spread. The tartare, made with minced raw bison meat and onions, was very flavourful. The dish features an excellent bread to sauce ratio. For a while, I thought I was going to run out of bread. Though, my last piece was smothered with a mountain of delicious tartare. The mushy bison tartare contrasted the tough baguette slices.

The last dish we ordered was the Salt Spring Island mussels. The tasty shellfish were served in a delicious white wine sauce. From the get go, it was quite evident that the two slices of baguette the dish came with was not sufficient to absorb the all the sauce. Despite being really tasty, I was not about to sacrifice the bread from the bison tartare for it.

So what did I think of it the second time?

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. I had the opportunity to sit back and enjoy my surrounding this time rather than shoveling my food down like I normally do. The interior was quite nice. Gone were the Christmas decorations and replaced with tasteful western trimmings in the spirit of the Stampede (This post is probably 3 weeks old...).

Food: 8.5 out of 10. The dishes were much more flavourful than my previous experience.

Presentation: 8 out of 10. Colourful dishes were presented. Looks much more appetizing (Not that it was bad last time), but the white on white didn't do it for me.

Price: 7 out of 10. Prices are similar to other tapas type places around town.

Service: 6.5 out of 10. Average service.

Overall: 8 out of 10. Signifiant improvements have been made to the dishes. I thoroughly enjoyed the dishes we ordered.

Awesome Ish

Cafe Ish

82 Campbell St, Sydney

www.cafeish.com.au

For our second last night in Sydney, we went to Cafe Ish for some dinner. Located in Surrey Hills, Cafe Ish is a Japanese Tapas Ish place serving up Japanese inspired cuisines (not sushi). I crept the urbanspoon earlier and found many favorable reviews. They also served kangaroo and crocodiles meat and I was like "Sweet! let's go there!"

We arrived super early like we always do and walked around the block a million time. To work up an appetite. Obviously. Under the recommendation of our server, we started with 4 tapas. The first to arrive was the crocodile skewers. Battered and deep fried, the crocodile meat tasted like chicken ish. The panko crusted skewer is then served with a Japanese curry and a bunch of watercress leaves.

The next item to arrive was the kangaroo sausage. Topped with feta cheese, it did not taste like chicken. The meat was a little tougher than typical farm animals.

Tuna salad arrived shortly after. Arugula, avocado were mixed together with seared tuna in a tasty dressing. So good.

The last of our initial tapas to arrive was the soft shell crab omelette. This dish is literally featured on every single blog post about Cafe Ish on urbanspoon. And rightfully so! Crispy soft shell crab was wrapped up in a fluffy egg omelet with avocado, shallot and garlic. The dish is finished with a sweet chili ginger soy sauce and watercress leaves. So insanely good. The favour was tangy, a little spicy and generally amazing overall. The texture of the eggs and the soft shell crab contrasted each other. So good. Love it.

We decided to order two more tapas after our initial round. The cucumbers "salad" (because my mother was complaining we were not getting our daily serving of vegetables) and wagyu beef skewers. The cucumber salad was probably one of the weaker dishes of the night so I'm just gonna move on. The wagyu beef was much better. The small cubes of tender wagyu beef were perfectly cooked and super juicy.

Because I'm an eating machine, I ordered an extra round of lamb cutlets.

More panko crusted meat. Mmmmm...

Points as follows:

Atmosphere: 7.5 out of 10. Cute little place. A nice collection of sake bottles on the window.

Food: 9 out of 10. Amazing! Get the soft shell crab omelet. Unless you're allergic to seafood. Or eggs. There's a reason why it's featured on every blog post.

Presentation: 7 out of 10. Above average presentation.

Price: 6 out of 10. Average prices. Prices range from a few dollars to high teens per dish. Of course, all the dishes you want are the pricey ones. Don't underestimate tapa places. Things add up quite quickly.

Service: 7.5 out of 10. Our server was very knowledgable of the dishes, offering her recommendations as needed. Water was constantly topped up and dishes cleared despite having a full house.

Overall: 7.5 out of 10. Very good overall. I highly recommend it for groups as you can try many things. This place was definitely awesome. Not awesome ish. 

Check out this photo of the Kardashian sisters, I mean the Three Sisters, I took earlier in the day!

Musical Taste

Bistro Piq Niq

811 1 St SW

www.beatniq.com

Big Taste outing number 4. Went out with the work crew for Russ's birthday at Bistro Piq Niq. Located in the historic Grain Exchange building which was built in 1910 and featured one of the slowest elevators ever made (according to Arvid, you can walk briskly up the stairs to the fourth floor faster than taking the elevator), Bistro Piq Niq is located on street level and as such, we were unable to verify this claim. The restaurant is fairly small on the main floor with a lounge type dealio downstairs which features live jazz music by pros and amateurs at night. It's pretty sweet. You can find additional event information here. 

For Big Taste 2011, Bistro Piq Niq is offering a $25 lunch and $35 dinner. For the lunch feature, two choices were available for the appetizers. I chose the feature soup of the day. It was a purée of carrots with a ginger extract and some sort of leafy green vegetable (maybe parsley) on top. I’m just a blogger who likes food. Don’t hate. The soup was very smooth and creamy. Probably pureed with a Tom Dickson Extreme Blender or something. What can't it blend?!?

Entree consisted of a choice of the feature quiche of the day with salad or duck confit over a boar bacon cassoulet. Not to be confused with a casserole. It looked pretty amazing (and tasted as such. I can verify this as Jordan was gracious enough to offer me a small scoop of duck and beans). I actually got the quiche. Brie, asparagus and mushroom filled the flakey pie crust along with an egg mixture. So good. The quiche was very flavourful. My only complaint was that it was too small. Each serving only consisted of 1/8 of the entire pie. I could have eaten the whole thing. Or at least two slices.

The dessert featured a Callebaut Chocolate mousse. This is the second mousse in two days and I'd have to say this one was much better than the mousse at La Vita e Bella. Served in a cocktail glass, the chocolate mousse is topped with some blueberries and a crispy pastry stick. It was so smooth and creamy, melted in my mouth like that snow mount on the side of the road during a chinook. Delish. 

Trying something new for this post. Rather than giving a rating, I will answer some of these common questions one asks before venturing to a new dining establishment.

Are the chairs comfy? Yes, the seats were pretty comfy. If I didn't have to go back to work, I would have had a nap there.

What type of background music do they play? Jazz music play in the background. If listening to anything other than Justin Bieber makes you vomit in the mouth, then I suggest you expand the breadth of your music taste and go back to your algebra homework.

Was it tasty? It was very tasty. 

Do you have to rob a bank to dine there? F-Log For Thought does not endorse such criminal activities. Please apply for a loan at your bank prior to dining at Bistro Piq Niq. It is worth every penny though.

What if I'm a vegetarian? Don't order the meat dishes.

Is there parking nearby? Yes. Street parking is available if you are lucky and a pay lot around the back if you are not.

How many thumbs up would you give it? Two. As I only have 2 hands. 

Satisfying Taste

La Vita e Bella

401 12 Ave SE

www.lavitabella.ca

It is Thursday (Thursday at the initial time of writing, Day 7 of the Big Taste) and this is only post number three. When I fired off the bazillion emails early last week, I had envisioned a few more outings than this. But between plans falling through and lunch and learns at the office, y'all will have to settle for 3. Don't worry, I have two more posts coming for sure and debating whether I want to treat the family out to eating something that isn't Chinese food and will not be thoroughly enjoyed by everyone. 

Anyway, lunch outing with Russ at La Vita e Bella. I was surprised he was up for such silly antics with me as he is skipping yoga AND paying $25 for lunch. Could he be finally turning a new leaf or succumbed to such bullish peer pressure? Located in the Dafoe Building just outside the Stampede grounds, La Vita e Bella features a $25 lunch, $35 dinner and $85 gourmet menu for this year's Big Taste. Similar to Escoba, items featured for the Big Taste are dishes from the regular menu (For lunch anyway). A choice of two items was available for each course. 

I selected the Caesar salad for my appetizer. Romaine lettuce tossed in a Caesar dressing was topped with grated grana padano cheese, pancetta, crunchy foccacia croutons and red wine eggs. It was really good overall. I can't say that I was a huge fan of the red wine eggs though. Hard boiled in a red wine, the eggs had a reddish tone on the outside and cut into quarters. It tastes a little pickley. It's weird. It wasn't bad or anything. I just didn't enjoy it as much as a regular egg. It sounded neat.

A choice of spagettini or risotto was available for the main. I had the spagettini while Russ tried the risotto. The pasta noodles were likely laced with either a puree of red bell peppers or a tomato paste when it was made and as a result were orangey red in colour. It was really good. Served over a tomato sauce containing various herbs and olive oil, the dish is then topped with a VERY generous amount of garlic and shallots (I can’t even count that high), andouilli sausage and little itty bitty grape tomatoes. The pasta and sausage were very flavourful and a little spicy. The tomatoes were firm and sweet. It was pretty good. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

For dessert, I had the double chocolate mousse. A white chocolate and dark chocolate cream cheese mousse sandwiched a thin crispy wafer cracker and finished off with a mint leaf. The mousse was really thick and heavy. The texture was smooth and melted in my mouth. Despite begin extremely full, I still devoured it like a champ and then took a nap after.

Here's a brief summary of what I thought of it,

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Nice relaxing atmosphere. 

Food: 7 out of 10. Good food, fresh ingredients. No vampires will be bothering me for the next little while. Maybe don't get this if you're trying to hook up with Edward. I'd imagine it'd be a deal breaker for him.

Presentation: 7.5 out of 10. Good presentation.

Price: 7 out of 10. Good deal overall. It's still a whopping $25. So it's not exactly cheap. Just think of how much food you get and don't worry about it.

Service: 7.5 out of 10. Attentive service, plates are cleared promptly. 

Overall: 7 out of 10. Decent overall. Not as good as my first time.

Big Taste

Bistro 2210

2210 4 St SW

www.bistro2210.com

Big Taste 2011 is officially here (two days ago)! Formerly known as Dineout Calgary, it is one of my favorite times of the year! I've been looking forward to it since the menus were posted online a couple of weeks ago. All of my free time the last week has been dedicated to organizing lunches and dinners! For those who have not been, The Big Taste is an event held in the beginning of March where participating restaurants around the downtown area offer 3 course lunches and/or dinners for a set price of $15/$25/$35 and a gourmet menu that comes with a wine pairing for $85. There are good deals to be had, and some not so great deals.

First up, Bistro 2210. One of my favorite restaurants of all time, this restaurant, located in the Mission district featured a $15 lunch and a $35 dinner menu. I rounded up some friends from work this past Friday to check it out. Bistro 2210 is not the biggest restaurant in the world, so I decided to phone the day before to make reservations. No one picked up and I was sent to voicemail. "Thank you for calling Bistro 2210. We are open for dinner Tuesdays to Sundays from 5 pm..." I was like WHAT?!? Why do you have a lunch menu posted?!? I left a super convoluted message asking if they were going to be open for lunch for the duration of The Big Taste event. I got a phone call back later that evening confirming that they will be indeed open for lunch. At 11:30. I was like sweet. I decided to not make reservations at the moment as I needed to confirm who all was still in since I told everyone that they might not be open. I phoned back at 11:00 on Friday to make reservations. No answer. Uh oh. Phoned again half an hour later and a lady finally picked up and confirmed that yes they are actually open and they did not take reservations for lunch. 

We arrived at the restaurant right at noon. I pulled on the handle. Locked. I was like what...? I swear I phoned and they said they were open! I stood around the entrance feeling like a complete idiot. Thirty seconds later, the door suddenly burst opened, confetti flew from the rafters with a choir singing hallelujah (slight exaggeration) as one of the staff members invited us in. Hooray! We took a seat at the booth at the back of the restaurant as our waitress brought over the menu and some tasty water. There wasn't really a choice as to what we could actually get and really, we were here for one reason only. The $15 dollar Big Taste feature. Just sayin’.

First course consisted of mixed greens over roasted beets with a walnut dressing. It is then topped with a perhaps too generous amount of goat cheese. Maybe just a right amount if you love the stuff. Me and goat cheese are not BBFs. It's a nice cheese. Just not my style. The dressing was not all that walnuty either. And it looked about the same as Jon’s salad which came with a regular vinaigrette since he was allergic to nuts. He didn’t need to be rushed to the ER after chowing down so I presume he got something different.

Good ol fashion mac n cheese was the second course. A thin layer of aged cheddar and gruyere cheese were melted over a generous pan of macaroni with smoked ham and tomatoes. It was really tasty. The cheese sauce was a little runnier than that of other places I've tried but I think I like it better than the super thick variety. Probably more milk than flour. It was pretty flavourful. Way better than the KD you buy at the grocery store for 99 cents. 

Dessert featured a vanilla creme with a mixed berry coulis and a chocolate pocky stick in a jar. The vanilla creme was a little sweet which offset the slightly less sweet taste of the berry purée. Chunks of real berries can be found in the coulis. So good. The pocky stick was a nice touch. I haven't had one since I was a young'un. Good times all around.

Points as follows:

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Sitting up at the elevated giant booth gave us a nice view of the restaurant. Simple decor furnished the restaurant with many of the original parts of the building restored.

Food: 8 out of 10. Aside from the goat cheese salad, I thoroughly enjoyed my meal. So tasty.

Presentation: 8 out of 10. I loved the Pot de Creme. It was so cute. And tasty too.

Price: 10 out of 10. 3 course lunch for $15? Probably one of the better deals off the Big Taste menu. 

Service: 6 out of 10. Good service overall. Our only complaint was that they were a little slow given the number of people that were there (2 tables). 

Overall: 8 out of 10. Bistro 2210. Check it out. Great deal. Not open for lunch during the week after the Big Taste event. Unfortunately. Dinner is equally amazing so I guess it's not that big of a deal. 

OC Bound

Artisan Bistro

809 1 Ave NE

www.artisanbistro.com

Checked out Artisan Bistro just before heading out to the OC last week. Located in Bridgeland, Artisan Bistro is a family run restaurant serving up tasty Spanish and French fusion cuisine. The place had a look that was everything that I ever imagined a bistro would be, from the dusty chalk board that featured the specials of the day to the double table cloth and fresh flower table decorations, the atmosphere exudes an sense of coziness. The staff was extremely friendly and helpful. 

For lunch, I had the Artisano sandwich. It came with a bowl of soup and a garden salad. Shortly after placing my order, a steaming bowl of hearty soup arrived in front of me. The feature soup of the day was the seafood chowder. Chunks of shrimp and clam were blended in with a medley of potatoes, vegetables and chopped onions. So tasty. 

My sandwich arrived shortly after. In fact, I was still sipping on my soup whilst playing Angry Birds. Chunks of marinated beef were sandwiched between a slightly toasted bun with lettuce, tomatoes and an avocado puree. I liked how it was chunks of beef and not a patty made of cow parts. Not that I’m super picky with what I stuff in my mouth. 

It was a pretty sweet day overall. I met the whole gang from the OC and got this sweet group photo of them. Check it out! They said they loved my blog and asked for my autograph. So flattering. 

Anyway, the scores:

Atmosphere: 7.5 out of 10. Such a cute little bistro. 

Food: 7 out of 10. The food was really good. Ingredients were fresh. Portions were a little on the small side.

Presentation: 7 out of 10. Good presentation. 

Price: 5 out of 10. Despite offering a soup and salad as a side, it is still pretty pricey for what you get. 

Service: 7 out of 10. Decent service.

Overall: 7 out of 10. Pretty good experience overall. 

PS The OC I’m talking about is probably not the OC you are thinking about. 

Good Things Come in Small Packages

Petite

1301 10 Ave SW

www.petiterestaurant.ca

I totally ripped that line from someone else's blog but it's so fitting and I couldn't resist. Located on 10 Ave across the street from the Community Natural Foods store, Petite is an aptly named bistro as it is very tiny. I think there were maybe 9 tables plus the bar? Seriously. It was small. But that's ok. Way more intimate atmosphere. Reservations are a must if you are a big group. Or in general. Don't want to be showing up and being disappointed because they are full. We went on Saturday in a blizzard and they were over half full. Or half empty if you're a pessimist. Or it's twice the size it needs to be if you're an engineer. It's also important to note the entrance is around the side (Not facing the streets) and maybe somewhat difficult to open. Or I might be a tool and can't open doors properly. Likely the latter. 

So anyway, we arrived pretty early and had a choice of seats. Upon being seated by the window, we were promptly shown the menu and had our drink orders taken. When our server returned with our warm lattes, we were informed of the feature sandwich (Veal), soup (Tomato with veal and sausage), pasta (Hare(?) with penne) and fish catch (Snapper). 

It was a toss up between the feature pasta and the chicken fricassee. I was really intrigued by the possibility of eating bunny rabbits for lunch and brag to everyone about it after (By brag I mean gross out). But I decided not to because I can buy it at T & T. Not that I can't buy chicken at T & T. So long story short, I had the chicken fricassee. It's basically a meat pie without... the pie. Just the smooth, creamy filling in a bowl. And the filling was fantabulastic, it's like fabulous and fantastic but together (Yeah I make up my own words, ain't no thang). The chicken was super amazingly tender and mixed with diced veggies like carrots, peppers and celery in a creamy veloute (Read: Sauce). Really flavourful. This bowl of deliciousness is then topped with a toasted garlic brioche (Read: Bread). Let the drooling on the keyboard commence. 

Oh and it came with a garden salad. Whatever.

My mom had the feature sandwich with the soup. The soup, though small, was really hearty and tasty with large chunks of meat and vegetables. It is finished with various herbs and parmesan cheese. The veal for the sandwich was really tender and finished with melted cheese and tomato sauce. 

Here's what I thought in numerical form and a Coles Notes blurb:

Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. Though small, it felt really cozy and not cramped. The exposed brick work is really nice. Kind of rustic. I wonder if it's single or double wythe...

Food: 10 out of 10. The chicken fricassee was sooooooo amazing! 

Presentation: 7 out of 10. Simple presentation but colours are vibrant.

Price: 7 out of 10. Definitely not a bargain, portions are not significant but filling.

Service: 8 out 10. Good service. Our server or THE server, as there was only one, was very knowledgable of the dishes and our water was constantly topped up. 

Overall: 9 out of 10. Good things do come in small packages.

Where Dem Focaccia At?

CHARCUT Roast House

899 Centre St S

www.charcut.com

Yet another post on CHARCUT. Click here, here and here for previous "reviews". Everyone knows by now there're two things I love about CHARCUT: 


     1. Raggedy towel
     2. Memory Foam Focaccia Bread

However, this time around, I decided to not get the lunch all at once (It was the tuna melt again). Or a sandwich for that matter. I know some of you are like WHHHHAAAATT?!?!?! But how can you enjoy the spongy focaccia bread if you don't order a sandwich? 

Well... I didn't. Don't remind me.

What I did order was the grilled Spring Creek steak salad, which was just as great. Medium rare-ish done steak overlaid a bed of arugula leaves with a buttercream vinaigrette. It is then finished with a very generous sprinkle of crispy fried onions. The steak was so so so so tender. The arugula was young and therefore not super bitter. The more mature it gets, the more bitter it becomes. Slivers of pickled peppers were hidden within the greens providing some surprising flavours. I was a little skeptical about the buttercream dressing at first but it turned out to be really light and didn't taste like a blob of wedding cake on my salad. So tasty. Portions were decent. Definitely not as filling as the lunch all at once but still great nonetheless. 

Chris and David got the country sausage. It was an interesting presentation... But apparently if you look past that and give it a try, it was pretty good. You know the old saying Don't judge a book by its cover? Similar deal. Don't judge a sausage by its girth and length. 

Also, special belated birthday shout out to Sheryl! Happy belated birthday! Wooot!


Once again, my arbitrary rankings:
Atmosphere: 8 out of 10. We sat at the bar table this time. The table was super high. Natalie needed a stepping stool to get up.
Food: 9 out of 10. My steak salad was delicious but I was sad that I didn't have any focaccia bread. Can't win them all I guess. 
Presentation: 7 out of 10. Fairly standard presentation. Maybe except the country sausages.
Price: 8 out of 10. Decently priced. Lunch all at once is definitely the better deal.
Overall: 9 out of 10. If you haven't been to CHARCUT yet, check it out. It's great. If you're not a follower. Click on the "follow" button on the right. Just sayin'. 

Welcome to My Stomach

Vero Bistro Moderne
209 10 St NW
www.verobistro.ca

Coming back from my site review in the middle of nowhere (Literally, I had to drive like 2 hours to get there), I stopped by Vero for some lunch. I was quickly seated upon arriving (probably because there was 1 other table being occupied. But to be fair, I was there shortly after 1 PM). I ordered the daily feature; A two course lunch for an sweet price of $15. I would like to point out that it used to be a 3 course meal for an incredibly low price of $15 dollars. In spite of this, I still think it is a pretty good deal. Just not an incredible deal. Unfortunately.

First up, fresh greens with a orange fennel dressing. It is topped with purple potato and shreds of carrots. Interesting presentation. Looks like a vegetable explosion. The dressing was very light and very refreshing. The wedge of purple potato threw me off, I was all like "umm... what is it?" and shoved it in my mouth anyway. The waitress later explained (To another table) that it was purple potato. Could you imagine if she was like Oh no! That was a mouldy potato, my apologies and took it back? I'd be at the hospital with food poisoning or something and not writing this awesome review (so modest, I know). But it's not. Just a purple potato. No biggie. Crispy and delicious though. Thumbs up for being a non conformist and not use something lame like a red potato or something.



Moving on. Just in time for the Thanksgiving weekend (Maybe), the entree consists of an "open face" turkey sandwich. What is an open face sandwich you may ask? Well... I'm no expert (literally. As you may know), but from what I was presented with, it's slices of bread with stuff, in this case turkey, placed on top and that's it. The top layer of bread that is normally found on sandwiches was nowhere to be found. No matter. The turkey, slow cooked to perfection, was extremely tender, the jus was very flavourful. Due to lack of picture taking skills you can't even see the turkey. Unfortunately. I guess you will have to make do with my vague descriptions. The "sandwich" comes with a side of fingerling potatoes and yam fries. They were seasoned lightly with salt and maybe cheese with a hint of citrus flavour. I quickly gobbled them up (Get it? Thanksgiving > Turkey > Gobble? I'm so clever).



9 Stars out of 10. Executive chef and owner Jenny always bring her A game to the table but to say that I wasn't slightly disappointed because the feature didn't come with a dessert would be lying. And I would never lie to you. You anonymous reader you. Stay awesome. Leave a comment. But seriously, it was delicious. I don't think I've ever gotten anything from their actual menu (for lunch anyway)... feature dish is where it's at. As a wise sage (not the plant, and by sage I mean server) once told me: "... Or you can order the [feature] and have the chef do what they do best - cook ..." Not quite exact words but words I live by. Sort of.

The Black Rooster

Il Gallo Nero
211-17th Avenue SE
www.ilgallonerocalgary.com

Went out for lunch with the work team on Thursday to bid farewell to Nick before he leaves to go back to school. Upon being seated, we were offered a very nice mineral water. After staring at the menu for 5 minutes, we opted to go with the chef's special. A 3 course surprise. We then proceeded to rattle off a list of allergies we had. Shellfish... sesame... peanuts... et cetera, et cetera.

While we waited for our food, I had a sip of my precious mineral water. It was carbonated. It was kind of like drinking a pop except after the initial fizzing, there was no flavour explosion. And you realize that it was just water. And you just dropped some mad cash for it. It was quite unfortunate.

The first course of the chef's surprise is a salad. A caesar salad. With prawns. I can't say I was super impressed when they first brought it out but it was pretty good! The dressing, likely made in house, was fairly light with parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. The prawns were delicious. I wished I had more.



The main dish arrived shortly after we finished the salad. Veal and chicken were served with steamed vegetables and rigatoni. Decent portions. I was shocked that we received two types of meat. The veal was definitely better of the two. The chicken was perhaps overcooked and a little tougher (relative to other chicken meat). The veal was much more tender. The sauce served over the veal was very flavourful. The veggies were a little bland but the veal sauce certainly helped. They must of known I was a food reviewer as I received an extra slice of carrot. But I'm a man of principles and do not take bribes. Not carrot bribes anyway... The pasta, served with a tomato sauce and parmesan cheese, was very rich.



Dessert consisted of gelato, a piece of chocolate cake and half a strawberry. I thought the plate was a little big and despite having three items on it, felt very empty. The chocolate cake was warm and fresh with a chocolate sauce. The strawberry was little sour (because I ate the cake first. BIG mistake) but delicious nonetheless. Strawberry gelato was served over a slice of orange. It was very creamy and delicious. For those who don't know the difference between ice cream and gelato, check out this sweet article here.



The food was decent. It was extra delicious as I didn't have to pay! : ) 8 stars out of 10. To account for the price, I have determined the following equation to adjust the rating: actual rating = unadjusted rating - e^ln[cos(2*π)]. Therefore, the actual rating is 7 stars out of 10. As a side note, Il Gallo Nero is The Black Rooster in Italian. Hence the logo. It just doesn't have the same ring to it in English. But maybe that's because I don't speak Italian. And of course, best wishes to Nick in his studies.