Mezzalira Italian restaurant, CBR CBD for dinner. Upscale Italian place in Melbourne Building. They do ala carte and set menus.
We were a group of 8, so we thought we’d do Ala carte, because the restaurant policy was groups more than 8 have to do the set menus. Then after a few rounds of drinks, the general consensus was we’d do the set menus instead. Then after a few more rounds of drinks, a few opted to do Ala carte instead and a few opted to not eat at all. The restaurant policy was set menus were ok, only if all members in the table did the set menus. Because we had a split group, we all went Ala carte.
The restaurant vibe is cool and relaxed, but it was bit too loud for my and my other dinner companions liking. Someone in my dinner party did say that this place sounds like a pub.
We started with a table order of rosemary and sea salt focaccia with whipped ricotta and chestnut honey. It was mind blowing. The whipped ricotta and chestnut honey was the star of the dish. Sweetness of the honey was well balanced by the ricotta. The focaccia was a nice vehicle for the cheese dip.
As a vego, there were a handful of options that I could go for. I love eggplant, so I thought I’d do the wood baked eggplant parmi for entrees. The wait staff read the specials from the board (not in the menu) and a certain item from the specials caught my attention. More on that latter.
Because I had my eye on one of the specials, i chose not to have the eggplant parmi and ordered the Caprese with heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, basil for entrees.
For mains, I went with the wait staff recommendation from the specials board - lasagne with zucchini flowers, spinach and cheese. It was a great dish and I was happy that I went with this. The lasagne was done really well, well balanced, cheesy with the right amount of cheese. The only minor negative was that everyone that ordered the lasagne remarked that the serving portion was small for a mains. A slightly bigger portion would have hit the right spot, size wise.
As the mains were smaller, we dis a table order of rosemary potatoes to add a bit more body to the mains.
As always, I asked for a serving of fresh chilli to go with my entree and mains. They did not have fresh chilli, so they gave me this chilli sauce - which was the best Italian chilli sauce I have ever had. Admittedly, I have had Italian chilli sauce only twice so far, and this one is by far the best.
For desserts, went with the TORTA AL CIOCCOLATO FONDENTE. Tasted amazing
Will order this again.
