Grossi Florentino, Melbourne - fine Italian dining

Extraordinary black risotto with Moreton Bay bugs and parmesan foam.

One of the few leading restaurants of Greedy Girl's youth that is still trading today is Florentino, at the north-eastern end of the city of Melbourne. An impressive low-rise building, it's home to three establishments - the Cellar Bar, bistro and, upstairs, the fine dining restaurant.

Now called Grossi Florentino after its chef/owner Guy Grossi, the dining room upstairs remains dominated by the Florentine murals, timber panelling, wall sconces and damask tablecloths. In short, it's olde worlde luxe. While the chef has made his own mark on the food, there are also dishes that have stood the test of time.

Back in the days when gluttonous husband was an, ahem, interested suitor, he invited himself along to Greedy Girl's birthday dinner with a girlfriend. On learning of Greedy Girl's particular fondness for chocolate souffles, he swept us off in the car to Florentino - famed as having one of the best such desserts in the city. Sadly, it was closed that particular evening. Still, it was a nice touch. Greedy Girl was always going to have the souffle on this particular evening but, she's getting ahead of herself.

Like Iggy's in Singapore, Greedy Girl had ticked Grossi Florentino off her list of places to dine. This stemmed from a particularly uninspiring Valentine's Day dinner many years ago, where the starters were fabulous, the mains were dull and the dessert was a disaster. It was probably the last time she and gluttonous husband ventured out on that night for lovers (see the blog Whining and dining here). Foodie friend Miss Divine had recently ventured there for some pre-Christmas cheer and pronounced it delightful. Looking for another little surprise for gluttonous husband's birthday celebrations, Greedy Girl immediately booked a table.

With a Christmas party in full swing next door, the dining room was rather noisy as we took our seats in the early evening. Undeterred, we settled in with a bottle of Henri Giraud Brut Grand Cru and perused the menu. Given we'd been to Brae the day before, we opted not to have a tasting menu here, instead choosing different antipasti, first and second courses so that we could do our usual practice of sharing - in effect, our own version of a degustation.

To nibble with the first sips of champagne, we were given ricotta and spinach croquettes, grissini and black olives. Delish.

Once we'd made our selections, we were also treated to a cool asparagus soup with creamy eggs - a little amuse bouche. Again, very tasty. We were primed.

The waiter had apprised us of the fact that the restaurant was in possession of some white truffles (from Alba, naturally). These could be added to various dishes. Greedy Girl's eyes gleamed. She uttered a fervent 'Si, grazie' to liberal shavings on her first dish, asparagus with veal sweetbreads, smoky potato and sugo grasso.

While the dish was absolutely yummy, Greedy Girl is going to cut straight to the chase. Despite the almost religious fervour that surrounds white truffles, she prefers the flavour hit from the black variety. Having said that, every last skerrick of this dish was mopped up.

Gluttonous husband began with tuna.

This was yellowfin tuna with garum dressing (a traditional Roman fish sauce), fennel, apple, leek, prosciutto and Jerusalem artichoke crisps.

It was perfectly fresh and delicious, with great flavours and textures. Greedy Girl (being well, greedy) wished she'd started with the tuna and then moved to the asparagus (rather than the other way around) because she would have appreciated the quality of this dish a lot more.

And so to our 'starters'. Greedy Girl had the 'risotto venere' (a black rice and the dramatic picture at the top of this blog) with parmesan sabayon and Moreton Bay bug tails.

This was a substantial dish and very flavourful. Greedy Girl enjoyed the firmness of the rice (although gluttonous husband commented he thought it was a little too 'al dente') and the parmesan foam was tasty, if a little heavy on the palate after a while. We both relished the bugs but agreed we'd have preferred them not to be battered. Still, a very good dish.

Gluttonous husband had the special ravioli, topped with shavings of the truffle.

OMG. So simple, so luxe, so delicious. Greedy Girl waited impatiently for her 'half'. All that she really needs to say about this dish is demonstrated by the following photo.

Wouldn't have needed washing.

And so to main courses. We were both feeling slightly full, having also partaken of delightful warm crusty bread and mopping every trace of sauce on our plates.

Gluttonous husband took the fish.

This was 'Glacier 51' Toothfish, AKA Patagonian Toothfish or Chilean sea bass. Apparently it is fished sustainably in Australian antarctic waters. It was served with spiced salt, peas, pine nuts, colatura (again, an Italian fish sauce) and Warrigal greens. Gluttonous husband commented the firm white flesh of the fish was a mild flavour. Greedy Girl tried it and thought her piece was slightly overcooked but the middle of the fish was perfect and flaked apart beautifully.

Greedy Girl opted for meat.

This was a Sher Wagyu rump cap with onion, rosemary and walnuts. The onion was filled with a cheese fondue that made the dish extremely rich. The walnuts were a nice touch in terms of flavour and texture.

We almost passed on dessert, but Greedy Girl was intent on exorcising the demons from the last dessert disaster where a tiramisu was just a sloppy mess. We asked if we could share the signature Valrhona chocolate souffle.

And what a lovely sight this was. Generously, instead of bringing out one plate for us to share, the kitchen had split the souffle mix and baked two mini souffles for us, with our own jugs of deep chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream and hazelnut praline on the side.

Absolutely delicious. Gluttonous husband rounded out the night with a glass of Pedro Ximenez Cardenal Cisneros sweet sherry. He smacked his lips with every sip of the deep, dark liqueur.

Despite splashing out on the truffles and some excellent champagne in honour of the birthday celebration, the standard menu price here is very reasonable and great value for money. Greedy Girl will be keeping an eye on how the menu changes with the seasons.

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