Tuscan Bar Melbourne

Tuscan Bar Melbourne

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Posted 2013-02-11 by Clay Steelefollow
It's a funny thing the North Italian accent. It sounds almost French. Given the French border is about as close to Tuscany as is Rome, this should hardly be a surprise.


As you wait for your food these are the things you will ponder at Tuscan Bar. Mind you there was only one waiter taking care of all the tables, perhaps the other waiter had taken in too much Tuscan wine the previous evening. With an hour between entrée and main you can indulge in such expansive speculation. Enough whingeing; how was the grub?

Entrees
We went with the prosciutto e formaggio fetta, the bruschetta alla Toscana and the calamari alla diavola. We didn't find anything inspiring about these dishes. The Bruschetta was probably the pick with the calamari failing to lift itself above your average pub meal. In fact they do it better elsewhere . The fetta wrapped in prosciutto was altogether too salty (this from a guy who loves anchovies ) and a little rich given the amount of cheese they used.

Mains
The mains menu does not have a great deal of variety which is good for an indecisive clod like me who thinks that every meal sounds delightful. There are three pasta dishes and three meat/seafood dishes. With a large party we were able to sample nearly every one.


Any misgivings about the entrees were quickly banished by the perfect salmon, delicious ragu and a succulent prawn linguini. To their credit the mains arrived within quick succession, negating the necessity for any martyrs insisting everyone else starts. Being an Australian man I required a large slab of red meat to keep up my crocodile wrestling physique. My steak was cooked to perfection (medium rare) and generously sized. The sweet potato and port mash made it the pick of a good lot of mains.



Dessert
Tiramisu we recognised, but we needed help with most of the others. Fortunately with the aid of smart phones we were able to search engine what a Zabaglione was. As it turns out it wasn't a rank in the Calabrian mafia but rather, according to Wikipedia (which knows everything), "is an Italian dessert, or sometimes a beverage, made with egg yolks, sugar, a sweet wine and sometimes whole eggs". According to the menu this was "served with Belgian chocolate".

I pictured a cold custard dish with some tastefully flaked Flemish chocolate atop it. My co-diners decided to go sans-dessert as the idea of eating egg yolks sent them pale. And then this arrived:



After I was finally able to wipe the smug grin off my face I indulged in what was one of the finest desserts I have tasted (a new contender ). A rich chocolate flavour and a beautifully silky texture took me to heaven and back, sinning all the while.

So despite a fairly mediocre entrée course, the meal took a sharp upward curve from there and continued its steep ascent to the cocoa laced crescendo. As I was driving that evening I left my friends to enjoy the much vaunted rooftop bar. Something I intend returning to investigate before summer ends.

#restaurants
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#food_wine
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%wnmelbourne
182719 - 2023-06-16 02:02:01

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