We went to Guilio’s on the corner of Loop and
Riebeek Street for breakfast several months ago and told you how good it was in
our article at the time. He serves breakfast and also lunches, as well as his baked products. We
were informed that he will now be open for dinner every Friday and
Saturday night from now on and we were invited to come to the media preview of
some of the food he will be serving. The invitation was for 6.30 pm and we were
told it would be over by 8.30. Not a chance! Media, especially the young and
inexperienced bloggers are often late and many guests arrived more than an hour
late. There were many dishes to try so the evening did turn into a very joyous
and fun event
One of the welcome drinks was
Aperol. It is very fashionable, but this rather bitter apèritif is not to
everyone's taste as it is quite bitter, which the Italians love
Lynne chose the rosé wine from Deetlefs.
The restaurant is quite small but they had lots of seats for the large invited
crowd
The menu. We knew, when we saw
the many courses, that we were not going to be finished in two hours
They have a pizza oven. This is
the Garlic Focaccia. We were served pizza slices for about an hour and a half
while we waited for people to arrive
The classic Margherita. Good
cheese, a light tomato sauce and lovely, crisp thin bases
The pizza chef was kept very
busy
The one we enjoyed the most,
the Parma, with Parma ham on top of the Margherita with tomatoes, fresh herbs,
shavings of parmesan cheese, rocket and a drizzle of balsamic glaze. We haven't
eaten much Pizza since we discovered Banting!
The Focaccia Caprese with fresh
tomatoes, rocket and Mozzarella cheese
Adding some oil to those edges!
A very cute gingerbread house
which was a gift to Giulio - not
available in the restaurant
The wood burning oven with a
pizza about to go in
Giulio Loreggian with Florian Gast
Try some pizza?
Cocktails of Aperol
Wines of the evening were
Stonecross from Deetlefs
The staff and service were
exemplary given the rather rowdy demanding crowd!
The Insalata Caprese, one of
the best Lynne has ever had. Not only was the Burrata mozzarella cheese
superbly fresh and very creamy inside, it was not at all rubbery, and the
flavours of the fresh and roasted tomatoes and the small drizzle of the basil
pesto oil and the yellow pepper gel just set it off perfectly. The roasted pine
nut crumble was also a great accompaniment to the tomatoes. Several were put on
each table for people to share; this is how most of the food was served
Sue-Ann Allen had arranged the
media evening for Giulio
Everybody tweeting !
Enjoying the evening with an
Aperol
Next came the Calamari. Tubes
and tentacles, in a chilli and garlic oil, with lemon salsa verde. grilled
lemon slices, and matchstick potatoes. One to return for, definitely
We also had glasses of this
very pretty bottle of Italian Valdo Prosecco rosé
which was served at the Milan Fashion Week. Very clever of the lady who showed it to wear a matching dress!
Then something more for the
vegetarians, Textures of cooked and raw Beetroot topped with creamed goats
cheese, and a parmesan net
The Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli
had been fried in some burnt butter and was served with crisp deep-fried sage
leaves and pickled red peppers, a parmesan shaving, rocket and toasted walnuts
We were on deadline, so had to
leave at 10.45 before the main course of Veal Marsala was served. Giulio
brought the dessert to the table for us to try and to photograph before we left. This
was the generous cupful of rich coffee Tiramisu
And a platter containing three
Italian classics: La Bomba di Cioccolato, a chocolate cake ball coated in
chocolate and nuts, a Cannoli (deep fried pasta tube) filled with what tasted
just like melktert, and a vanilla yoghurt panacotta with a rich cherry compote
The pastry chef
The Stonecross Cabernet
Sauvignon
And as we said our goodbyes and
thankyous, the Veal Marsala was being served. We will have to return
to taste it. MENU had to "Go to Bed" that night and we were up very
late getting it out
© John & Lynne Ford, Adamastor & Bacchus 2017
