Grossi Florentino and a Girlfriend

There are a couple of “fail-safe” eateries in Melbourne. I visit them all the time, and am never (or rather have never been) disappointed by the quality of food. They’re my go-to restaurants when I’m feeling down or unadventurous, on those days where bad food will only ruin my day completely. The food is consistently excellent, and I always walk out a happy customer even if the service weren’t up to scratch. Babka’s one of them, and Grossi Florentino is the other.

Photo credits: steelwool.

J (a girlfriend of mine) and I had an impromptu dinner date last night and I was elated when she suggested having dinner at Grossi. It was cold and rainy, I had one of those ants-in-pants days in the office, and really, I was just dying for to get out for some good food and good company. As expected, I was out the door by 530 and we walked two blocks down from my office where Grossi was located.

Photo credits: steelwool.

J ordered the roasted pumpkin tortellini with crispy fried sage leaves, while I had the antipasto platter that had an impressive array of different antipasti. As J had to return to the computer labs after dinner, we decided to save the wine for another day and went for dessert instead.

J was blown away by her pumpkin tortellini. Tiny bullets of creamy roasted pumpkin filling encased in silky sheets of pasta, with a healthy coating of olive oil and crispy sage leaves. The crispness of the sage and the tenderness of the tortellini was like a match made in heaven, their textures complementing each other to perfection and it went down very well with us.

The antipasto platter isn’t as much of a mindblowing dish as it is a surprise each time. The contents of the platter changes according to what the chef makes that day or what’s in season, so you never know what you’re gonna get inside. I must’ve had about ten different antipasti on my platter that night, everything ranging from a roast beef with parsley puree to salted cod and roasted capsicum. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed it as it was light enough a meal for me.

Pity they no longer do their chocolate marquis because that would’ve perfectly ended our lovely evening on a top note, so we settled for the next best thing of a chocolate pudding. It didn’t quite do the trick but it was better than nothing. Having said that, the chocolate marquis is the best chocolate desserts I’ve ever had in Melbourne. It is so good, that despite knowing the amount of “shtuff” that goes into it, I’d still willingly eat it every time. It’s not cloyingly sweet as most chocolate desserts are here; it is a slice of pure, thick, dark chocolate – the texture sitting somewhere between a mousse, ice-cream and a fudge cake – the epitome of sheer decadence. That probably explains its name.

After our dinner ended, we walked out happy as clams, and best of all it was barely 6.30pm. Nice.

[Foodnote 2/5: when I walked past Grossi again yesterday, I noticed that the chocolate marquis is still on the menu. Perhaps the waiter didn't quite understand what I wanted...I'm hoping that's the case, and not because they've recently changed the menu and it's not updated yet. The chocolate marquis is on The Grill's menu instead of the cellar bar's (that are three parts to the restaurant - The Restaurant, The Grill, and The Cellar Bar - in decreasing order of ostentatiousness; J and I were at the Cellar Bar.) but you can order across the different menus. Be prepared though, the dessert in The Grill costs as much as, if not more than a main at the Cellar Bar. But I assure you it's worth every penny.]

Kueh Salat

Pandan leaves extract

The artery-clogging coconut milk

Steaming the glutinous rice

Pandan kaya custard

VOILA!

The final product

I’ve been in a bit of a trace-your-roots mode the last few weeks, most probably because I’m away from home and like what they say, distance makes the heart grow fonder. As a result I’ve been researching up on different Asian – or more specifically Singaporean – dishes and desserts. I’ve got all these soups, kuehs and noodle dishes sitting on my to-cook list, waiting for any occasion to come by that will give me the perfect excuse to make them (e.g. Bible study group meetings)!

So two Saturdays ago, I tried my hand at making kueh salat, a Nonya dessert consisting of a glutinous rice cake at the bottom and a kaya custard layer at the top. I’ve eaten it as a kid, having grown up on Bengawan Solo kuehs, but I never really craved it. I suppose I attempted making it more out of curiosity, but it turned out to be quite a brilliant attempt! Actually, I made two attempts; once on Friday, and another on Saturday to correct all the “errors” on the first attempt. Kudos to the recipe since it obviously didn’t require much technique as the more delicate desserts do, but the portioning of the custard (in the recipe) was overestimated and was enough to make two cakes (hence the second attempt as well).

All in all, it wasn’t at as much difficult as it was tedious as I had to soak the rice, steam it, fluff it, steam again, compress the rice, steam it yet again, then make the custard and steam again…you get the idea. It’s definitely something worth making if you have a big party of Asians who’d appreciate it, because my unsuspecting Bible study group mates are quite easily wowed.

Next up on my list is lapis sagu, or what the Malaysians call kueh lapis, which I’d probably attempt for this Saturday’s Bible study!