Friday, February 17, 2012

Dalmatino (Port Melbourne) 02/2012

Some peoples lives are well ordered, sort of neat and reliable. Others are more unpredictable, perhaps more spontaneous and erratic. I think we are a bit like that. A snippet on TV about a Croatian dish changes our dinner plans and suddenly we're off to a new adventure, completely unanticipated. That is how we ended up at Dalmatino in Bay St. Set out with tables along one side of a long room separated from a bar on the other by a long panel topped with bottles give the place a pleasant bistro feel. Bare tables are a good size and the somewhat uncomfortable chairs the standard for these places. The wall is imitation pressed steel with a long narrow blackboard advertising the day's special. A little research informed us that Croatian food is often regional food the main division being between the Islands and Dalmation coast and the inland areas. The inland cuisine is more influenced by the food of the Austro Hungarian and Ottoman Empires while the coastal area is more influenced by Italian, Greek, French and perhaps Spanish cuisine. Dalmatina obviously derives from the Dalmatian area and is noted for fish stew known as brudet or brujet. As presented here it was a soup rather than a stew. A first course of asparagus soup was full flavoured great for asparagus lovers. Charcuterie was disappointing, a dull small collection of cuts with nothing exciting and a bit over priced too. Slow cooked beef cheek with gnocchi was tender and I especially enjoyed it. The brujet was full of seafood, a little over cooked, how can it not be and the soup tasty. Desserts were pretty but the custard in the creme caramel was very gluggy and heavy. Despite all these criticisms the food is really quite respectable and the venue has an extremely pleasant atmosphere about it. Eno, chef and part owner dropped by and chatted briefly with us. I would be happy to come back to try some of their other dishes.
Score: 13.75/20

8 comments:

Turkish Food said...

I also bookmarked and tweeted this. Thank you so much for showing great concern for other people. Much Respect.Turkish sweets

Elliot and Sandra said...

Hi,
We love 'ethnic' food and are very well served in Melbourne with restaurants, bistros, bars and cafes serving a fabulous variety of dishes. We're very fortunate indeed.

Mark Benson said...

The images in this post gets the craving in you for delicious food get going again and instantly you feel like going for flights to Australia. Quite obviously eating at the Dalmatino would be the first most thing to do.

Cheapest Umrah Packages UK said...

These are looking great and I want the recipe of these dishes because I want to make these dishes for my family. Surely my family will enjoy these dishes.

ady william said...

Travel from the UK to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj at a reasonable cost with discounted hotels and cheapest flight to make your mystical pilgrimage memorable. Avail the Hajj Umrah Packages with Flight from the UK.

Ady Grewal said...

Food is also a motivation to visit a certain place. I have found these last-minute Umrah deals and don’t want to miss them out. So I would plan a visit to Australia after my visit to Makkah and Madinah.

Aaban Raqib said...

Travel from the UK to Saudi Arabia to perform Hajj at a reasonable cost with discounted hotels and cheapest flight to make your mystical pilgrimage memorable. Avail the Umrah Packages with Flight from the UK.

Qwerty said...

What a wonderful idea