BRUNETTI - CARLTON, MELBOURNE

Brunetti
204 Faraday St
Carlton, Melbourne

Brunetti is an institution in Melbourne for desserts and coffee. They have a few shops around the place but their flagship store in Carlton is their most popular and most well known venue.

Its a sprawling place that covers what appears to be the space for three shops. Outside is a sea of small concrete tables where you take your treats. There may be table service but its hard to tell so your starting point here is to first grab a table and then send one or more of your party on a recon mission to check out the food options inside. The place is busy but generally service is quick.

Mlady had this tasty treat. The whole thing was delicious even though I have to admit she probably chose it almost solely based on how it looked (as she loves chocolate) and fortunately she wasn't disappointed.

Sometimes the choice process offers so much and then lets you down when you actually taste it - but not on this occasion.

This dessert was extremely rich, but light and fluffy.

Appearance was also good too - it just invites you to pick it - particularly if you like chocolate - which a lot of people at Brunetti seem to prefer.

I fancied something a bit more citric and the lemon brulee tart was just what I wanted and needed. It had a bite to it - but you wouldn't order this dish if you didn't want this as it's expected.

The pastry was great too - nice and crisp without being overly brittle and it was certainly not to thick either.

We topped it all off with some hand made chocolates. There were so many food options it was hard to choose.

If you're dining in Lygon Street then save some room after your mains and head to Brunetti for dessert. Its not expensive, the food is great and the choices are impressive. Its succeeded for a reason.

TIAMO - CARLTON, MELBOURNE

Tiamo
303 Lygon St
Carlton, Melbourne

Tiamo, and its sister restaurant next door, Tiamo 2, both have nice large outdoor dining areas with smaller indoor areas. We were there on a particularly warm day so we chose to eat inside where it was a bit cooler. The subdued lighting and flow of air was certainly pleasant.

The place is covered in show posters and its windows are painted red and have snippets of graffiti on them. Service is fast and friendly even though it's a very busy place.

We were after simple and quick meals on this occasion - however the speedy service here ensures you never wait long.

Mlady had here usual penne - this time with Napoli sauce - a traditional Italian tomato sauce with basil. It was well prepared.

The pasta was well cooked and the sauce was tasty. Its a basic dish that was nicely done. The serving was a reasonable size but a bit more sauce would have made the dish even better.

It was very reasonably priced as well.

My choice was the cannelloni - described in the menu as pasta tubes filled with mince meat and spinach and topped with Napoli sauce.

The filling was substantial and had nice flavours, there was plenty of Napoli sauce and the overall serving size was good.

We both left reasonably satisfied from decent meals at decent prices.

Bread is also provided to every table and they bring extra if you want it - a nice touch. They have a simple but adequate wine list as well.

Tiamo is a decent place for well priced Italian food.

IL GUSTO CUISINE - LYGON ST MELBOURNE

Il Gusto Cuisine
Lygon St
Melbourne

We decided to go out for dessert and ended up at Il Gusto Italian Cuisine - in fact we were encouraged in by the charm of our gregarious host out the front.

The flambe creme brulee sounded appealing - particularly as it indicated this was to be done at our table. It was an attractive show and added some flair to the meal. At $10.50 it was fair value too for a good dessert.

Wanting a chocolate fix ensured that the chocolate gelato was ordered next. It was certainly a big serving and very chocolatey - which hit the mark. It cost

$10.50.

When having dessert its hard not to have a little sip of something with it. In this case we had Amaretto and Tia Maria for $8 each.

You've heard of wardrobe malfunctions but in this case we had a dessert ordering malfunction which resulted in us getting an extra dessert (and paying for it too - another $10.50). We could have sent it back and avoided the expense but it looked good and we were pigs (or she was - she'll kill me for this) so we ate it too (and I had some to be honest). It was also very nice.

Il Gusto is a decent place. Service was a bit slow but the food (or desserts) were nice - but not spectacular.

TOTO'S PIZZA HOUSE - LYGON ST MELBOURNE

Toto's Pizza House
101 Lygon St
Melbourne

The name is deceptive - it's a lot more than just a pizza place. Toto's does the whole range of Italian food and they do it reasonably well. You can sit inside or outside - but if its a nice day or evening its better eating al fresco and watching the bustle of Lygon Street pass you by.





 

It's a pleasant start to get some herb pizza bread. Its light and tasty.

The fettucini alla toto's sounded appealing. It had tri-colour pasta, with avocado and chicken and fresh tomatoes on side. For only $15.50 it was good value for a solid meal.

The pumpkin lasagne with napolitana sauce was reasonable. It wasn't bad but it wasn't great either - it just seemed a bit bland and lacked something. However at only $14.50 it was again good value for quantity. 

 We decided on a Brown Brothers merlot to wash the meal down and at $25.50 it was a good price.




Toto's is a pleasant place in a nice location with good prices for reasonable food.