Cellar Bar (Grossi Florentino) – Lunch – Melbourne
On my recent jaunt to Melbourne, I had a lazy Saturday wandering around town and happened upon Guy Grossi’s ventures in Melbourne. Not wanting to burn a hole in my wallet, I decided to go for the “cheapest” option of The Cellar Bar.
It was surprisingly, not busy around midday on a Saturday which was a relief for me because I’m not one to wait for food.
The decor is well done and I quite like the cosy brassiere feel to it.
It’s a small place, I wouldn’t really consider it a bar, more of a cafe but it was still enjoyable nonetheless.
Service was great, we were promptly seated, then a table cleared up next to the window and they had no issues with us moving.
The waiters were very Italian, with prego this and gratzi that.
Brand Grossi at work
It seemed a bit tacky to me for him to be so strongly plugging his cookbooks (scrawled all over the window, with further scrawling on a wall with the books laid out), but I suppose every one has to make a buck.
Complimentary foccacia
The bread is not warm & fresh baked, but it is around midday at a so-called bar so I’m not complaining. It’s very soft and fluffy and comes with some very good olive oil.
Birra Grossi
Obviously, I was parched from wandering around and needed something to quench my thirst – this went down quite well. Not overly strong in flavour but I wasn’t after something particularly strong tasting.
Proper Hot Chocolate
This was gorgeous, a little pot of melted chocolate and a bottle of hot milk & froth with a cup and saucer to make your own hot chocolate.
Tortellini di zucca della lunigiana – $18
Oh wow! Roasted pumpkin tortellini with sage butter sauce. The sage leaves were crunchy yet still retained some flavour and some needed texture to the tortellini. The tortellini was so good & the sauce was quite rich. Very happy with that.
When the meal came out, I wondered if I’d have to get a second course as it looked quite small, but the richness, with the bread, beer & side of chips had me too full for dessert by the end of it (oh how I wanted some dessert).
Spaghetti con vongole – $18
I think I lost my friend for a moment in this dish, she was just too absorbed in the eating of it (or maybe I was too absorbed in the eating of mine). An oldie but a goodie, you can’t go wrong with these flavours, so simple yet oh so very good. Garlic, chilli, clams – perfection.
Patatine fritte – $8
Hand cut potato chips – didn’t come out as blisteringly hot as I thought it would. Only half of them were crunchy on the outside. Liked the ones that were hot & crunchy, bit meh on the others.
The entire meal filled me up so there was no room for dessert, but I will have to go back for a cannoli & a coffee next time I’m in town.
The lowdown:
The good – fresh, silky pasta; hot chocolate; service; decor;
The bad – nothing bad about this place
The mediocre – half of the hot chips
Details:
The Cellar Bar Grossi Florentino
80 Burke Street Melbourne VIC 3000
Phone: (03) 9662-1811
http://www.grossiflorentino.com/grossi-florentino/the-cellar-bar.aspx
