It's been a while since I've posted (been telling myself that I would post once a week AT LEAST, ha ha), my apologies as I have been busy with doing nothing. haha.
I thought I'd mix things up with the next post being food related :D
Spring had just started and it was a lovely Saturday night, so Jen and I decided to go out.
We were both craving Gusto Da Gianni's seafood pizza so we decided to head there.
Situated at Portside Wharf, in Hamilton, Gusto Da Gianni's is a seemingly small restaurant that overlooks the water and board walk of the complex (there are other restaurants and a few shops in the area). On closer inspection, the place is very spacious and can fit quite a number of diners at once.
As you can guess, Gianni's is Italian, and what better way to start things off than with the pizza we were craving! :)
(Click on the images to view them in full size, and I apologise for the shoddy images, they were taken with a mobile phone camera :( !)
Looking at the picture, you can see a selection of seafood (prawns, mussels, scallops and calamari rings), I really don't understand why the mussels were left in their shell... for presentation I suppose... but it made things a bit harder, having to take the mussel out of the shell, then putting it back on to the pizza (lucky for me there were only 2 mussels and the Jen didn't want either :D wooo). The pizza itself is thin and crispy, with a tomato sauce base. Aioli and herbs are sprinkled on top but I couldn't really taste either and wished there was more aioli. :(
It was good, and our cravings were satisfied, but having said that, it wasn't as tasty compared to the last time we had it, fingers crossed the next time we order it again, it will be better!
We finished our pizza and didn't have to wait long for our mains (perfect timing!), soon after, they came out :) Both of us were hungry, but I wouldn't let Jen touch her food till I had taken a decent photo. She mentioned that restaurant-goers nearby probably thought I was crazy for taking photos of my food. haha but it had to be done!
I ordered the pork (I can't quite remember it's proper name - in my defence it was long and a tongue twister!)
It was roast pork filled with a pistachio based stuffing, sitting on top of a mashed potato base, accompanied with rocket and pear salad and finished off with a reduced balsamic sauce.
The pork was a little bit dry and chewy, I was expecting something more "melt in my mouth", but it was well flavoured and the stuffing went well with it. The mashed potato was average tasting, not too creamy and not too salty. I would have preferred if it was more creamy... but perhaps that would have made the dish too heavy overall. The rocket and pear salad was my favourite! I highly recommend it - I ordered it by itself last time I was there, so I was ecstatic to see it on my plate (getting overly excited about a salad - I need to get a life haha). The reduced balsamic dressing was salty which was good, because there was nothing too salty on the plate and it pulled all the flavours together.
Overall, this dish was tasty, but I was a little bit disappointed by the texture of the pork so I probably won't order it again. It was good to try it out though!
MEANWHILE... Jen ordered her favourite pasta dish, Spaghetti Bolognese:
Like me, she felt as though the food wasn't as great as the last time we dined here, but she enjoyed her meal none-the-less. Instead of mince in the sauce, there were meatballs instead. There were also minted peas (probably the frozen kind) and Jen said they made the dish taste funny. I had a taste of the spaghetti and felt as though it was a bit too salty for my liking, and the meatballs were kinda over herbed... haha I don't think that's a word... BUT in saying that, the spaghetti was decent.
By then we were wayyyy too full for dessert so we left it as that, HOWEVER, a few hours later, we did venture into Max Brenner... but that will be saved for another post :)
Overall, the food was good, and the staff were lovely. Jen and I particularly love the area because you can go for a walk along the boardwalk after you're done (to hide any evidence of a food baby) :)
We're definitely going to come back, but we probably won't order what we had this time again, with the exception of the seafood pizza of course :)
For the complete menu and further information, check out their website:
Hope everyone has a lovely week!
