Bellagio, Terenure, Truffle Menu...

Bellagio is at first glance your typical local Italian restaurant
serving bruschetta, pizza and pasta. Neighbourhood restaurants need
to be sure they can attract the conservative as well as the
adventurous diner so yes there are (excellent) takeaway pizzas for under a tenner and you will find words like Carbonara and Bolognese on the menu but this is not the whole story.

Watch out for special dishes and events and you will find a lot more. From their Truffle festival (likely to be annual thanks to the huge success of its first outing in the Autumn of 2009) to the fantastic quality of their espresso and the fact that the pasta will always be cooked to perfection and the less conventional sauces such as Linguine with scallops and artichokes or Pappardelle with beef fillet and porcini.

The Autumn 09 Truffle evening I attended on Tuesday was extraordinary in the quality of the dishes offered. I simply didn't know that thisrestaurant could do this kind of food.

Beef Carpaccio with Baby Leaves, Shaved Black Truffle and Fontina Cheese Breadcrumbs was thick cut delicious beef with solid flavours from carpaccio deressing and the truffles and the Fontina. the Fresh Sea Scallops with Langoustine Bisque, Cream of Beans and Crispy Green
Cabbage (the small bit I was allowed to steal!) were perfectly cooked. Sweet and perfectly caramelised on the outside, barely cooked through on the inside. the creamy cabbage was perfect and the bisque added extra light fishy flavours but all was accented but not overwhelmed by
the truffle.

The black truffle tagliatelli was rich and perhaps a little too
filling but that was my greediness for eating it all. the Fillet of beef was cooked rare as requested and came with just dots of potatoes and veg. (a good thing given the food already in my belly). this is the classic Italian style - you want meat, they give you meat. ask for potatoes if you want them.

the brown trout had one slightly overcooked piece and one delicious perfectly cooked piece - I suspect it was the lights on the pass did the damage to the top piece. creamy spinach was rich and tasty with hints of truffle.

Finally 5 years aged red cow parmigiano, truffle pecorino, fontina and creamy dolce gorgonzola. The crema on the coffee seemed about a half-centimetre thick, underneath was refreshing strong strong espresso with no hint of bitter almonds.

Owner Fabio Capelli sheds a small tear sometimes when he sees three more spaghetti bolognese and a lasagne leaving the kitchen but the regular Irish customers expect certain things from their local pizza pasta places and he is happy to provide it, knowing as he does that he can occasionally offer truffle infused pecorino or the freshest
scallops and baby clams to those who understand a little more about the joys of La Cucina Italiana.

more info at http://www.bellagiorestaurant.ie/

Bellagio Restaurant, 92 Terenure Road North, Dublin 6w. Tel: 01-492 7625