Il Fornaio, St. Kilda

Il Fornaio
2 Acland St
St Kilda, 3182
(03) 9534 2922
Website
Google map

I had a short stint at Lau’s kitchen when I just got out of uni and needed extra cash and saving up for a house. Il Fornaio is just located next to Lau’s but I’ve never had any interest in trying it out. And of course it didn’t help that I worked in the evenings and it’s closed by the time I got in. But even with the lunch shift that I had, it didn’t seem appealing at that time. Or maybe I was just a poor graduate that was trying to save up money for a house so anything that looks fanciful would have been to expensive for me

Move forward to 2010, hangover and dehydrated from a night’s out of fun, Billy, Mister and I made the effort to finally pay this a visit. Our visit was definitely motivated by the fact that this place has been recently acquired by St. Ali and Philippa Sibley is rocking their ovens. (View article from Daily Melbourne)

I was very tempted to get a Bloody Mary but cannot envisage having anymore alcohol so resorted to a Virgin Mary instead. Mister ordered a orange juice as grapefruit was unavailable. Actually, I think the wait staff wasn’t too sure but no effort were made to ask the kitchen or bar. We were too hangover so can’t be bothered with her bad attitude.

Virgin mary and orange juice

And Billy had a nice long macchiato. Doesn’t the pattern vaguely looks like a heart? He quite liked the super creamy latte but thought that it may have a little too much milk.

pretty latte

Billy was feeling adventurous that day and decided to order the blood sausage frittata on toast and with a side of tomato relish.

“Never having had blood sausage before, it was something of a revelation. The sausage in the frittata was tasty and dense. I could have dealt with more caramelised onions, and the egg was a little rubbery, however. Thankfully, the relish on the side held the dish together, which otherwise would have been pretty dry.”

black pudding frittata

I love black pudding. It may be yucky and overwhelming for many who knows what it is but to me, it is so moorish. There was no disappointment with the big and think round slices of black pudding. It is one of the best that I’ve ever had! I could see chunks of fats in it. It also had nice dose of spices through it. The eggs were well poached. However, the sourdough bread didn’t do it for me. Maybe it just need some kind of sauce or relish besides the googey-ness of the eggs? Too dry!

Poached eggs with black pudding

Mister ordered Eggs Benedict. He didn’t have much to say that day when I asked and I forgot to try it. But when I asked again the day before I wrote this post, he actually said if he went back, he would ordered it again. The hollandaise sauce was superb. It was creamy, buttery and eggy taste as it should be with a nice touch of lemon.

Eggs benedict

I had a pineapple donut to take away for afternoon tea. It was delightful. Not too sickeningly sweet. It had the essence of the pineapple and topped with a gold leaf. The donut itself was very light and moist. I’ll have a dozen if it wasn’t priced at $4.50 each.

Pineapple donut

The only disturbing thing that day is the service. Maybe it was a bad day for that particular waitress. She accidentally knocked over a glass of water while cleaning our table and didn’t say sorry? And there were just little things. It just seems that we were an annoying bunch to serve? No biggie but a smile is always good.

Please head over to read what Billy had to say about our waitress that day. He remembered and took more notice than us. We were just trying to nurse our very sore heads.

**** And please click HERE to view a ‘Just One Question” that I did with The Internet Chef *** I am truly honoured!

Please share your bad experiences with wait staff?