GOURMET

NEW SPRING MENU AT RISTORANTE FELLINI FEATURES LATEST ITALIAN FOOD TREND AND A TWIST ON TASTY DISH FROM PAST SEASON.

WORDS: PHOTOGRAPHY

Recently crowned Queensland’s best Italian restaurant by the Restaurant & Catering Industry Association of Australia, Ristorante Fellini has sprung into spring with an exciting new season menu. 

 

Featuring seven delightful dishes that burst with colour and flavour, the new menu celebrates the taste of spring with the freshest local ingredients complimenting premium produce including Atlantic salmon, red emperor fillet, duck breast, baby clams and macadamia nut encrusted veal. 

 

Created by Ristorante Fellini co-owner and head chef Richard Burt, this year’s spring menu blends traditional ingredients with current innovations; new twists have been given to popular dishes of the past and some exciting new trends in Italian food have been included.

Mr Burt said smoked pasta was a new trend in Italy that Fellini was following to offer their distinguished diners the latest tastes in Italian cuisine.

 

He believes Fellini could be the first restaurant in Australia to smoke their own pasta, which he said was partially done in a wood fired oven to enhance the smoked flavour and darken the colour of the pasta.

 

“Our pasta of the day this spring features smoked spaghetti served with baby South Australian clams cooked in garlic oil, chilli and parsley,” Mr Burt said.

 

“Another dish on the spring menu was first created over two decades ago for a national competition that celebrated local produce, but this year we’ve given it a new twist.

 

“Our regular diners may remember the Crudo di Pesce; local line-caught wild snapper rolled inside Atlantic salmon fillet with chives, thinly sliced carpaccio style. 

 

“It was originally paired with capers and lemon zest, but this year we’ve enhanced the flavours with a gel beetroot consommé and orange zest.”

Always looking at ways in which to weave a little of his culinary magic into every dish, Mr Burt says he’s excited to add new flavours to their popular dish  Pesce in Padella, the fish of the day.

 

The fish of the day this season features red emperor fillets cooked with heirloom cherry tomatoes, baby snow peas and imported Ligurian Italian olives, capers and white wine.

 

Another spring offering is Vitello aromatizzato; veal tenderloins rolled in lavender and macadamia and served with watercress and a browned butter sauce and topped a colourful garnish to celebrate spring.

 

Fellini co-owner Carlo Percuoco said he was proud to present the new spring menu to Fellini’s valued diners.

 

“Spring is a time for new beginnings and Ristorante Fellini is proud to be offering Gold Coast diners a taste of the latest cuisine that is trending in Italy right now,” he said.

To make a reservation, phone (07) 5531 0300 or email [email protected].   Ristorante Fellini has been owned and operated for more than two decades by partners Carlo Percuoco, Richard Burt and Raffaele Di Benedetto.   The partners’ modern take on traditional Italian cuisine handed down through the generations has won Ristorante Fellini more than 100 industry accolades since its inception.

 

They were most recently awarded best Italian restaurant in Queensland by the Restaurant and Catering Industry Association of Australia’s 2019 Awards for Excellence.   Ristorante Fellini is located at Marina Mirage, Main Beach on the Gold Coast. More information can be found at www.fellini.com.au or by calling (07) 5531 0300.