Quattro Kits with Family and Friends

This restaurant has been one of our family's favourite restaurants for years and years. I decided to come here to celebrate my birthday a little bit early, since my mom was going to be out of town during the actual date.

It's a perfect traditional way to start any proper Italian meal...wam bread with EVOO and balsamic vinegar. Just be careful, if you indulge in too much of this, you're not going to make a dent in the rest of the menu. And that would be regrettable and unforgivable!  

Their antipasto platter isn't on the menu here, but it's definitely one of their signature dishes.  

Selection includes prosciutto, marinated peppers and mushrooms, smoked salmon, chorizo and prawns. There was also their ridiculously good radicchio and mozza cheese. You have to try this. The portion here is for two people, but for an appetizer, easily feeds three!

One of my favourites here is the lamb - it's a generous portion and served with whipped potato mash.

There were carrots and a grilled cheesy tomato slice all drenched in a fig and port reduction. Cooked to a perfect medium rare, I'm glad whoever wanted one got their own, because I really didn't want to share! 

Done simply, it's a traditional thin crust pizza with a little tomato sauce, slices of parma prosciutto and shaved parmigiano reggiano. A light sprinkling of arugula and you're done! The saltiness of the parm and prosciutto mix nicely with the arugula. It's call the Italiano, and the red parm, white parm and green arugula is truly representative of their flag! 

We also tried their Fusilli con Rucola. The fusilli is handmade and it's cooked perfectly here - al dente with lots of ridges to hold all the yummy sauce. The shaved tenderloin is great with the fusilli, as there aren't any chunks of meat to contend with here. Everything is made for spearing with a fork

With a sauce made from fresh tomatoes, there is lots of shaved beef tenderloin and arugla, with a very generous sprinkling of parmigiano reggiano. As you can see from this close up, there is a lot happening on this plate and they really like hanging out together. Every bite has fresh flavours and it's not too heavy either. 

We topped this fine meal off with two desserts, the Ciliege Filate. Sheets of phyllo pastry are layered with whipped mascarpone cheese and cream, and sour cherries soaked in a red wine reduction. It's almost too pretty to eat, but we managed to overcome that. We just crushed the pastry and loaded up with the mascarpone cheese and cherries. So good.  

The other dessert we got was something simple...just a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a chocolate straw and a biscotti. As with the ciliege filate, it had a cape gooseberry on top. The tartness of the fruit really heightens the sweetness of the vanilla ice cream. 
They also have $10 pastas three times a week (Sun-Tues) and I really can't think of a better deal for dinner. It's available for dine-in and to-go. I can't think of a better way to spend $10 for dinner, can you?