Bertoni, CBD

Bertoni is a family run chain of cafes and eateries, the Farrer Place location in the CBD is the first to be a fully fledged Italian restaurant and I had the pleasure of visiting a few weeks ago to check out the substantial menu filled with amazing Italian dishes.

Quattro formaggi stuffed zucchini flowers  (gorgonzola, provolone, grana padano, taleggio) + Vitello tonnato

I absolutely love quattro formaggi as a pizza base but I’d never actually tried it in any other form. The stuffed zucchini flowers seemed like a great place to start and I wasn’t wrong, each bite exploded with tastes as the melted cheese is stuffed inside the flower buds. The veal tonnato was the other entree and although I was expecting the meat to be a little bit more rare it was still a very flavoursome and enjoyable dish.

I’ve always been a fan of raw salmon so this was a simple but delicious amuse bouche, following the amuse bouche was the simple bread and delicious olive oil.

When I saw that porchetta was on the menu I couldn’t really say no to ordering it and trying some of it. The deliciously tender meat coupled with crispy crackling on top is my definition of an amazing dish, the sauce it’s served on top of was relatively subdued but gave it a great taste.

I’m not sure if describing this dish would ever do it justice, the gnocchi was so fluffy and soft I’m struggling to find words to describe it. The best part of this dish however was definitely the copious amount of cream smothered in mushrooms and sprinkled with delicious truffle.

This dessert was recommend by the chef and server so I had to give it a go, the inside of the pot just oozes with diabetes inducing melted chocolate. The marsala anglaise served on the side was a light but great addition to help balance out the chocolate.

On top of this dish we also had an extra scoop of tiramisu as I already knew how good it was and couldn’t resist, I would definitely recommend both desserts despite not normally being a sweets person.

The venue is quite impressive with a small open kitchen and a nice cafe area out the front, I was amazed to hear that the kitchen could actually cater to a fully packed restaurant with minimal staff. Definitely a great Italian restaurant with very competitive prices especially in the CBD.

The Food Diary dined as guests of Bertoni & Polkadot PR.
All views and opinions expressed in this post are our own.