L'angolo Bistro Hamilton

Italian food isn't something that Mrs Mega-Parm (Adrasteia) and I have very often. It's not because we don't like it, we really do. But quite often it's hard to find a place that will cater to Mrs Mega-Parm's dietary needs without her having to settle with what she calls a "boring steak".

The bar with the kitchen in the background

When we were invited to a media night/dinner at L'angolo Bistro in Hamilton, and they said they'd be happy to cater to her needs we jumped at the chance to go. And we weren't disappointed. Instead of picking items from the menu we were given a taste of twelve different dishes. Five entrees, four mains and three desserts. By the end of the night I was surprised I could un-wedge myself from the table and fit out the door.

Entree

For entrees we were given two different types of pizza, a meatball dish with a delicious tomato sauce and bread, baby calamari with a pesto mayo and sardines marinated in chardonnay vinegar with breadcrumbs.

Pizza L'angolo

For me, the highlight of the entree options was the Pizza L'angolo. With mozzarella, pistachios, grated zucchini, diced tomatoes, parma prosciutto and shaved grana it just worked so well. Salty but not over powering. I would probably skip by it when looking at the menu but now that I have tasted it, I'd be hard pressed picking a different pizza to try.

The meatball meal was a close second, there's something really nice and homely about a rich tomato sauce soaking into crusty bread with delicious succulent meatballs on top.

I'm not really a seafood eater, but I had to try the sardines. I'm glad I did, and everyone around the table said they were amazing but I could only manage one bite. Mrs Mega-Parm even said it was her favourite meal of the evening. I'm also pretty sure I heard the waiter laugh at me as he cleared the table after the entrees, my sardine sat there with only one bite taken out of it.

Main

For the mains, we were given four meals to try. A risotto with prawns and a lobster bisque, a lasagne with truffle sauce and spinach, tagliatelle with marinated quail and, what was my favourite, crispy skin pork belly with mashed potatoes and mushroom sauce.

Pork Belly

I've only recently discovered pork belly but what we were served was heaven. A really tasty sweet mushroom sauce and perfectly cooked pork belly. It wasn't chewy or fatty but just melted as it was eaten. And the crackling was awesome. I could hear others on the table eat it, and I am sure they could hear me too. I didn't finish all of the courses during this evening (as it's a lot of food) but I could easily have had a second serving of the pork belly.

The lobster risotto looked pretty epic too, coming out with the lobsters on there with their antennae sticking out everywhere. Was quite the sight.

Dessert

All good meals end with dessert, and this was no exception. We were given a single plate with three different dessert offerings. A dark chocolate tarte with cherry gelato, an Italian donut with chantilly cream and little chocolate truffles filled with nuts.

Dessert



I was a huge fan of the truffles, all decadent and chocolaty with the nuts in the middle. Both of mine were eaten very quickly.

Wines

All throughout the evening they supplied us with wines that matched the meals we were eating. I'm not much of a wine person so I can't really comment on them too much, but it was a lovely touch.

All in all I had a great evening at L'angolo Bistro. The food was amazing, the staff there are very friendly and kind and the place itself looks great. There's even a nice little "glassed" off outside area that would be great to sit on a nice warm day and have a lovely meal.

A few more things for the end of a blog post..

• The beer menu has Peroni Gran Riserva Doppio Malto on it that I had never heard of but want to try.
• L'angolo means "The Angle", named because they're on the corner of a building.
• The menu had dietary info on it too (gluten/dairy free/options), a big plus in this day and age.

I'd like to go back for breakfast one weekend, mainly because of this on the menu.

For two? Challenge accepted!

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Schonell Theatre - Pizza Caffe

It's no secret to anyone that knows me that I like pizza. I really like pizza. Whenever we get pizza bought for us at work (which doesn't happen as much as it should) I smash it. I love it.

So when Mrs Mega-Parm told me about her trip to Schonell Theatre a couple of weeks back I was super keen to go and see it for myself. Not the theatre, I don't really care about that. It's the Shonell Theatre Pizza Caffe that I am interested in.

So on a Sunday afternoon Mrs Mega-Parm, her Mother and I made the trek to UQ in St Lucia on the hunt for pizza.

Unknowing what the parking situation is there we parked a fair bit away, but it was so worth it. They've got 26 "authentic" Italian pizza's on the menu with another bunch of Australian type pizzas. You can see the full menu here with a little snippet below.

We ordered the D and the U and they were both amazing. The marinated mushrooms on the U worked perfectly with the calabrese, and the garlic and oregano just brought everything out. The D kicked ass too, I really couldn't decide which one I liked the most and ate way more than I wanted to.

Here's a picture before we started.


It was a fair trek for us, but it was so worth it. If you're looking for nice, tasty Italian style pizza then I can't recommend it enough. The food came out quickly and was very well priced. Plus they also do schooners of 150 Lashes for $5.50.

-Dave the Mega-Parm

Pepe's Mexican

It's not a chicken parm post I know, but I am so excited I just have to get this out. This last weekend we went to Pepe's Mexican in New Market for breakfast. I've never had a breakfast burrito and was really excited to try it...

And it didn't disappoint.

We got there about 10:00am (which was when the booking was for) and they were kind enough to allow us to order alcohol. The food came out in due time though one meal was a little later than the others. Not by much but enough to be noticed.

The burrito I had was the Sepremo and it lived up to its name. All the ingredients in it worked well together, and the serving of hash that was also on the wooden plate was awesome too. You get your sauces in separate bowls too so you don't have to have guac if you don't like it.

Great value for $16.50.

A couple of the guys on the table got the El Ranchero Grande, a huge bowl of Mexican food goodness. I'll be getting that next time.

Lastly, they have a beer on the menu that I haven't had in about 10 years.

Deperados, if you ever see it when you're out and about it's worth trying. Heck, it's worth going to Pepe's to try it!!

-Dave the Mega-Parm