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Thursday May 24, 2012

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Ela Dines Out At Mister Bianco

Posted by: Ela Carte | 18 November, 2011 - 12:27 PM
Mister-Bianco-172x115

If there’s a good sign to come from a visit to Mister Bianco, it’s that within 30 minutes of arriving wait staff were turning away punters who arrived unannounced and asked for a table. And this was a Monday night.

Mr Bianco - 285 High Street Kew

My overarching feeling as I sat and ate at Mister Bianco was that this really wouldn’t be a bad neighbourhood bistro no matter where you rest your head in Melbourne. There’s generally a restaurant for each occasion in most suburbs within cooee of the CBD, the one for Friday night drinks and just a quick lining of the stomach, the one for takeaway, the one for a Sunday afternoon gorge, the one for date night, and this is the one I’d take my parents when they came to visit (funnily enough there were few tables with the folks and adult kids dotted throughout the joint – must straddle the generations).

It’s a nice, classy fit-out – simple but stylish. Botanical prints, big light-globes, timber tables, cruisy music – it’s very non-offensive. Service is friendly, I reckon we had attention from every waiter on duty and there were a few of them.

I loved that in this suburban restaurant the house white was an Arneis, not only because it’s a variety I particularly like, but they didn’t feel like they had to dumb down or cater to the unfair assumption that most of us will only enjoy a sauv blanc or chardonnay. If you’re not drinking the house wine ($8), the wines by the glass are on the more expensive side, with whites from $12-15 and reds $11-14. Bottles are priced from $30, with quite a few available around the $40 mark.

To the food, and there’s a couple of options when dining at Mister Bianco. For those who can’t decide, you can let the kitchen decide for you using their “shared table menu”. The idea is to choose how many courses you want (two to four), which courses you want (stuzzichini/starters; pasta; main; and/or dessert) and then await your food. The good thing is there are two or three inclusions under each heading and you get to try ALL of them. Given what we ordered anyway, this really would have been the best way for us to go, we might have spent only an extra $20 or so between us but would have tasted more dishes – good to know for future reference.

Instead, we went the traditional way of choosing what we’d eat. Entrée was shared, starting with well cooked, spice dusted calamari atop a fresh tasting fennel and salsa verde salad; some zucchini flowers that didn’t blow us away; and some wagyu meatballs that made up for that – marvelously moist with a good rich sugo and a nominal offering of cous cous on the side.

For mains the stinging nettle risotto with prosecco, zucchini flower and pumpkin oil looked as strange as it sounded, taking on the appearance of a real pea soup (not the foggy kind), but from all reports it was quite lovely on the palate.

Hand cut spagettini was cooked al dente, and accompanied by rabbit ragu, currants and pine nuts. The ragu was tender, but a little salty, with the sweet currants not even managing to cut through.

Semonlina gnocchi was a little firmer than the traditional potato and flour versions, it came paired with prawns and mussels, zucchini, lemon and basil – good simple flavours together.

Mister Bianco brings together efficient staff, elegant décor, and solid Italian fare – and as such gives our friends in the eastern suburbs a sound option for local dining.

3AW Food Directory

3AW Food 3AW is Food: Melburnians love to eat so it's fortunate we live in the culinary capital of Australia. On this dedicated food page you will find the latest recipes by Bob Hart as well as Tony Leonard's Pub of the Week reviews. La Luna head chef Adrian Richardson also serves up a dish from his own cook book and food reviewer Ela Carte visits one of Melbourne's hottest eateries weekly.

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