restaurants

la baia bar cucina

Having travelled through Italy last year, quality Italian food is something that I have grown to become more and more familiar with, especially with the exceptional range offered in Melbourne. I was more than surprised with the absolutely authenticity, decadence and all-round deliciousness presented by La Baia Bar Cucina. A relatively new Italian restaurant run by a lovely Italian couple, La Baia has a prime location over looking the beautiful beach promenade along Albert Park, making it the perfect classy meal or date night location. I cannot wait to come again and experience this truly pleasurable Italian restaurant and its faultless execution. The good fat: We had the perfect calamari entree to start – definitely one of the best-cooked calamari I’ve experienced! Fresh, tender strips that still preserved the slightest elasticity for chewing, but had hints of moisture with each bite. The Vincigrassi features multiple layers of hand-crafted pasta, perfectly textured so that it melts into the braised beef cheek whilst still maintaining individual integrity. How can you go wrong with 12 hour braised beef check? Not only were the ingredients prepared decadently, the bechamel sauce was warm, creamy and tomato-y without being too overpowering. Parmigiano layers on to provided the perfect savoury kick! Seafood linguine is an absolute must for me at any Italian restaurant – and I was always waiting to find one that could beat or live up to my first one from Thirty Eight Chairs and this linguine allo scoglio certainly is up there. Perfectly cooked prawns that fell out of its shell, a creamy yet spicy white wine sauce draining through the layers of smooth al dente linguine… how can you ask for more? After such incredible mains, dessert was definitely going to be the make or break. Wow! I’ve definitely had my fair share of great tiramisu over the past year (each one making me love tiramisu more and more!) A creamy, sweet blend of espresso liqueur soaked crumble, soft sprinkles of chocolate/espresso powder, and layers of cream in between meant it was a faultless way to end this impressive meal in true Italian style. The bad fat: The tiramisu was the slightest bit more liquid-y than I would’ve liked but it was still undoubtedly delicious! FAT-O-METER: 5/5