Here's part two of my birthday celebrations. Yet again, we ventured out to another restaurant I haven't tried - Bellagio ~ serving hearty and authentic Italian cuisine. One of my family member's had previously been to Bellagio and returned with good feedback, so i didn't mind going here :). This time we booked a table for Dinner, when we did arrive at the restaurant it was surprisingly quiet with a couple of tables filled with customers. However, that didn't put us off settling in at our table. The interior of the restaurant was very elegant and classy, dominated with red all around. We dined in a group of six, and had ordered 6 starters, 5 mains and 3 desserts. We decided to share everything that we had ordered as a few of us were already quite full from eating earlier in the day. This post will be full of pictures like always so i wont blab on too much. (or do you prefer that?)Rollata di Salmone Affumicato (£7.50) - Rolled smoked salmon filled with crab and prawns. This was nice, but i personally think the salmon wasn't that fresh. Avocado Diverso (£7.50) - Avocado served with crab meat with marie rose sauce, smoked trout with horseradish and sun blushed tomatoes. Tasted well seasoned and you can definitely taste the smokiness from the trout. Yet again, would of liked it better if the crab tasted more fresh. Calamari Fritti (£6.99) - Deep fried baby squid. I love deep fried squid, and this tasted like any ordinary calamari you could find to be honest. It could of been seasoned with salt & pepper a slight bit more. Homemade Chicken Liver Pate - Served with cranberry sauce and bread. My guest had said the pate was slightly bland and the portion of bread was too much in comparison to the amount of pate you get.1/2 Dozzina Di Ostriche (£7.50) - Six fresh Oysters served on a bed of ice. Love Oysters! I wouldn't say these were the best I've had but they were meaty and the red onions went well with it, although i prefer having it with Tabasco & some lemon! Mussels (£6.99) - Served with a cream/tomato sauce. We chose the cream sauce with our mussels, this was served in a medium sized pan and it was filled about halfway with delicious mussels, it was probably one of the most popular starters between us. The sauce was so yummy that we ordered a portion of bread to dip in the remaining sauce mMm
An overview picture of our mains - Foooooooooooooooooood! :D Salti in Bocca Alla Romana (£15.65) - My guest ordered this and reviewed that it was very flavorsome, well balanced flavours from the sage and parma ham, but it overpowers the taste of the Veal. I had a bite of this and it tastes more of parma ham than veal itself.Bistecca Alla Boscaiola (£17.50) - Pan fried sirloin steak with porcini mushrooms, smoked parma ham with red wine and a touch of cream. The sauce for this steak was delicious! I've never had a sauce like this before, it was really rich in flavor and went well with the steak.
Spaghetti Vongole E Gamberoni (£12.99) Spaghetti with clams and tiger prawns in a tomato, chilli and cream sauce. One of the best dishes of the night! So flavorsome! Never had clams in spaghetti before but it was worth trying for sure.Giant prawns and scallops in garlic and chilli (£23.50) - Very well seasoned dish and was one of my favorites of the night. Mixed Shellfish (Royale) (£24.99) - Roasted giant prawn, langoustine, crevettes, scallops and mussels with garlic butter. I thought I'll save the best till last.. YUMMY! The size of the prawns and langoustines were well worth it.
Best dish.As you can see we had a feast, but we still managed to fit in these desserts & a cheese board to finish off our night. We had Creme Brulee, Vanilla Cheesecake and a cheeseboard with grapes & Celery sticks. I opted for Creme Brulee, and it was my first time having this served cold? it was OK, we were told its supposed to be served cold, but I prefer it warm. The cheesecake and cheeseboard tasted fairly nice but we were disappointed of the options of cheeses.I've been very spoilt this year with these fantastic birthday meals, and it was a great opportunity to try out these new restaurants. I would round up Bellagio to a 6.5 for the food, the service wasn't particularly great considering that the restaurant was on the quiet side. The limelight of the dinner were the seafood dishes, definitely give them a try if you ever visit. Thank you guys for these meals! :) Castlegate Park, Birmingham Road, Dudley, West Midlands DY1 4TA
Angela xo