In this post, I'll share my experiences at two amazing restaurants in Melbourne - Pastuso and Tipo 00. Pastuso serves Peruvian food while Tipo 00 is an Italian diner.
My first time trying Peruvian food was an amazing experience. While this restaurant didn't come up in my initial research for good restaurants, I happened to notice it while checking Google Maps for directions to some other nearby restaurants, since this is actually located next to several popular upscale joints, just off Flinders Lane at the Eastern corner of Melbourne's CBD. I really enjoyed the food here; my server gave really good recommendations and all of them turned out great. Perhaps I should have asked for advice regarding the dessert too, because the one dish that I chose for myself without recommendations turned out to be quite disappointing. While they offer Chef Menus here at $59, it isn't suitable for solo diners, so I went for 2 mains, a side dish and a dessert.
One of the mains I had was the
Causa de Pollo, described as Aji mirasol marinated chicken causa on a yellow potato base with avocado and cherry tomatoes. The chicken was really juicy and tender, and the causa (Peruvian potato mash) complemented the dish well. The aji mirasol, which is a Peruvian chilli, was a little spicy but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I also ordered the
Anticuchos - beef loin and swordfish skewers with grilled vegetables, huacatay and aji amarillo sauce. Both the beef and fish were cooked perfectly, but I liked the swordfish more. The grilled vegetables were spot on, and the sauce was delicious. I also just learned that huacatay, also known as Peruvian black mint, is a herb that's essential in Andean cooking, and that's probably what tied the whole dish together. For my side, I picked the
Ensalada Tropical. It was a salad of red butter lettuce, radicchio, pickled starfruit, candied hazelnuts and soursop vinaigrette. Really loved the candied hazelnuts and wished there were more, while I thought the starfruit was an interesting touch.
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| Causa de Pollo |
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| Anticuchos |
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| Ensalada Tropical |
Finally, for dessert, I ordered the
Picarones, which were sweet potato and pumpkin doughnuts served with cinnamon infused raw sugar syrup and white chocolate mousse. While the white chocolate mousse was delicious and extremely smooth, I didn't find the doughnuts nice, and I personally didn't like the taste of the syrup. The minor disappointment with the dessert was made all better when I spotted Matt Preston dining there too. Of course I had to approach him for a photo.
Overall, it was a truly wonderful experience, though it did get pretty warm sitting at the open counter where food was prepared right in front of you. At least I got to see some of the food prep, which was rather interesting.
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| Picarones |
Tipo 00 is a quaint Italian restaurant located along Little Bourke Street. Getting a place here was really hard, partly because it's not a very big space, with a seating capacity of only about 40. I initially intended to visit on a Thursday evening, but upon arrival at about 6.30pm, I was told that the waiting time was close to 2 hours. I came back again on Friday evening, making sure to be early, arriving at about 5.30pm and still had to wait 45 minutes. My advice - make a reservation; while walk-ins are allowed, the waiting times you have to endure can be very unpredictable. They will take down your number and give you a call once spaces are freed up.
I decided to go for the chef's menu that goes for $65. I think it was worth it considering the number of dishes you get to try - 2 starters, 2 half-portion pastas, 1 salad and 2 half-portion desserts.
To begin with, there was an amazing little ball of fried risotto which isn't pictured here. This was then followed by the
Lingua, or grilled ox tongue. It was served with balsamic vinegar and pink peppercorns, and tasted absolutely perfect. What an experience for my first time having ox tongue. The other starter was the buffalo
Mozzarella with pistachio pesto and gnocchi frito. Again, the combination of flavours just left me speechless.
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| Lingua |
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| Mozzarella |
Next up, I had two pasta dishes -
Tagliolini al nero aka squid ink pasta, and
Gnocchi di patate. The tagliolini was just so perfectly cooked, and served with unbelievably fresh squid. I don't always enjoy the texture of squid but this dish was literally the best. The flavour was further enhanced with bottarga, or salted fish roe. The gnocchi, meanwhile, was accompanied by braised duck, porcini mushroom and pecorino cheese. I felt that this dish, while really tasty, was quite heavy. Alongside the salad of rocket and pear, I was getting really full by this point.
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| Tagliolini al Nero |
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| Gnocchi di Patate |
But of course, there is always room for dessert. For the tasting menu, I got to try two contrasting desserts - a rich tiramisu and a light, fruity panna cotta. The tiramisu is supposedly the signature here, named "Tipomisu", but I actually enjoyed the panna cotta more, which was topped with hibiscus, berries and vermouth. With that, one of the best Italian meals I have ever had came to an end.
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| Tipomisu |
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| Panna Cotta |
