Tutto Bene

Tutto Bene is still one of my favourite restaurants. After many years and many visits, they still produce reliably delicious Italian food, at a reasonable price and with good service. We visited on Australia Day Eve, for a relaxed and casual dinner before seeing Nine (which was horribly painful to watch, but at least we were full and happy!)

Tutto Bene
Mid Level Southgate
Melbourne
Vic 3006
(03) 9696 3334
Website

When we made the booking, we were told that we could definitely have a 6pm table, but we may have to leave before 8, due to lots of bookings for the tennis. As we were prepared for this, and the food came out speedily, this was definitely not a problem. In fact, I think it was very considerate of them to tell us when we booked!

Woo! Go Melbourne.

For drinks, I had an aperol spritz - aperol and sparkling wine. (I tweeted about this, and then re-created it at home for our Australia Day BBQ the next day - divine!)

Lovely drink. Plus you can see me tweeting in the background.

For starters, we shared the mozzarella special - burrata with fresh pea puree and cherry tomatoes. The little leaves you see scattered on the plate tasted like very fresh coriander, but I'm not sure what they actually were.
Mozzarella special - $18.50

Love the pea puree swirl - they've certainly got a bit more cheffy since the last time I visited!

I'd never had burrata before, but was very keen to try it. The outside is normal mozzarella, whereas the inside is a mixture of mozzarella and cream, giving it a very soft, almost liquid centre.

It was absolutely delicious, intensely milky and soft. It was fabulous with the herbs, peas, tomatoes and bread. And a generous sprinkling of salt!

You can't go to Tutto Bene without having a risotto...

But first, let's check out this funky risotto spoon!

I've noticed that they seem to change at least one aspect of the plates and cutlery almost every time I visit. (April '07, September 07, April '08, Feb 09... and those are just the visits I've blogged, hehe.)

For myself, I ordered a new addition to the menu - risotto with prosecco and scallops. (If you can't tell, I'm a sucker for any type of sparkling wine.

Risotto with prosecco and scallops - $28.50

Although it looked great and had perfect texture, I was slightly disappointed with this one, as it was a little bland for my taste.

I was suffering some serious plate-envy when I saw Sandra's mushroom risotto!

Risotto ai funghi misti - $22.00

Classic. I love how there's such a huge variety of different mushrooms in there.

After all of that deliciousness, there was still heaps of time, but alas, no room for dessert, so all that was left was a leisurely walk up to the cinema!