6 November 2005

bad bellucis

| lenny
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Bellucis Woden
Where: Corner Launceston & Irving Streets, Woden
Cost: $60 for both excluding drinks
Phone: 6282 1700
Date Reviewed: 05-NOV-05

Last night my partner in crime and I decided to dine at Bellucis in woden. Let me firstly start off by saying the the service was brillant, we were seated quickly and ran through the many specials by a very sharp young man. After much delibiration we decided we would share an antipasto platter for entree and for main share a misto fritto (or something like that. It was a seafood platter apprently)- ( big mistake) .

The antipasto arrived in good time and the serving size was VERY generous. It included dips, calamari, zuchini balls, chicken and beef skewers, cheese, pastrys and the normal assortment of meats and grilled vegetables. We both thought it was nice other than the meat skewers, which were burnt and tasteless

Then came the main, I will firstly start of by saying it was the worst meal i have eaten this year. The waiter decribed the misto fritto as delicatly fried japanse styled crusted scallops, sea food spring rolls, calamari and other sea food delights in a light tempura, IF ONLY… What arrived was deep fried rubbish that we swore was the frozen prawn cutlets and spring rolls you buy at woolies. Unless pork lives in the ocean the spring rolls defently weren’t seafood and for the ” japaneese crusted scallops” i dont even think they were scallops- not that we could taste it if they were since they were about 1 inch thick in greasy batter ( the oil was dripping off them) The only thing nice was the morsel of calamari and lettuce leaf. My dining patner has this to say about the main:

Whislt i invisioned a fresh seafood bounty with an asian influence the entire platter was a soggy deep fried combination that i could have purchased for three dollars from the frozen section of woolies. The ‘japanese style crumbed prawns’ proved to be prawn cutlets. The ‘seafood dumplings’ were very procesed tasting fish by-product mush wrapped in a wonton. The spring rolls had that kind of overbearing after taste that remains with you for the rest of the evening . The calamari was more soggy batter than squid. Overall my hopes for a light frest meal were depleted by a combination with enough oil to sustain an eskimo for a year.

We were planning to have dessert there but after our main but went and brought a bag of m and m’s instead, as we thought it would be more satisfying.

After our last excellent meal at Manuka Belluci’s we were thoughly disappointed and shall not be returning, however would like to commend the excellent service and espeically our friendly waiter.

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bellucis were at curtin for about ten years and then they closed a few years ago and moved to woden

are you sure you are not thinking of the indian restaurant in Curtin, Walter?
I’ve never heard of them being any where other than Dicko, Manuka and Woden.

Can’t believe how busy these restaurants are. I guess there are lots of people in this town that like to eat mediocre food. This mob used to have a restaurant in Curtin that served a dish called Risotto Indiana, Yes thats right, curry risotto. When the turkish bread and dips thing became popular, they decided this high profit item should appear on their supposedly Italian menu. There doesn’t seem to be much integrity in this chain of ordinary restaurants. Sure they are busy, but so is Macca’s. Go figure. Oh and their coffee? What the?

I’ve enjoyed several lunches (the set $15 with glass of wine/whatever AND bread or salad)at Woden and was always well pleased – perhaps their forte is Italian (pasta etc) rather than anything else.

Bellucis (Manuka and Dickson) used to be my staple first date restaurants in Canberra, looked flash, good service, good food and not prohibitively expensive. In the last few years when I returned there with my then fiancee and now wife I’ve found it over crowded with lacklustre service and sub-standard meals. I don’t know if my expectations have just gone through the roof or if they have let things drop and are expecting their reputation to carry them.

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