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