Mezzo Bar and Grill

I love Twitter. Heck, I'm openly addicted to it. But it's amazing how useful it can be sometimes...take this one Friday night for instance. I was sitting in the car, abusing the Urbanspoon application on my iPhone and getting increasingly flabbergasted at the options. The minute you think "Ooh we could here..." another perfectly good option comes up and being fickle little ol' me, this develops into a bigger and bigger problem (especially since Brad is almost always easy going with whatever I pick, which leaves me being the decision maker).

However, in this time of crisis, I can turn to twitter, overrun with foodies and friends alike and simply ask.

@squeewubs: Where to have dinner in the CBD....

A swift reply was seen minutes later.

@ChefValvasori: @Squeewubs go visit @JosephVargetto at @Mezzobg

We didn't head straight to Mezzo this Friday, as we scoped our options and I was suddenly amazed that I didn't explore this end of Little Bourke more often! We initially tried to get a table at Punch Lane, but (in a way fortunately) they were full, so we turned to their next door neighbour Mezzo and snaked our way through the jovial, after-work drinks, suited crowd into the dining area.

I don't know how Brad and I have a knack for this sort of thing, but fortunately a reservation had cancelled earlier, so they were able to fit us in at a very cosy corner table. Perfect!

Mezzo was very chic. Oh yes she was. Yes I did just prescribe a gender to the restaurant. Swathed in understated black and white tones, with a pop of colour from the red light fixtures that hung from the ceiling that went on forever and of course, the feature accessory with a lovely warm mural on one of the walls. Mezzo Bar and Grill was definitely easy on the eyes.

How cute are the little spoon light switches?

Service was efficient, friendly and professional, we received our menus not long after sitting and before long our drinks were before us.

Brad got Peroni on tap, which is just beautiful, just light and smooth. Perfect in almost any weather.

I don't normally get cocktails these days when I go out, as I hate thinking of the additional sugary calories firstly, but I do just find them overly sweet and complicated a lot of the time. However, I couldn't go past the Mezzo Mule which had Frangelico (which I love), vodka, lime and urm. I don't remember. I just remember the Frangelico. It was well balanced though, the sweet nuttiness of the Frangelico came through but was not overwhelming as the citrus mellowed it out a bit with a bit of bite and freshness.

Since we got in early, we were given the option of having the pre-theatre dinner menu which gave us the option of having 2 courses and a glass of wine for $38 or all three courses and a glass of wine for $48. Well knowing that 3 courses each would probably be too much, we devised a plan where one of us would get the entree, the other would get the dessert and we'd each get a different main to sample. Perfect!

Whilst I was quite keen to try the meatball entree, Brad, being the voice of reason, suggested we start off with something light and fresh. I love myself a caprese salad anyway and was more than happy to oblige.

We were both pleasantly surprised with how large the serve was, it was quite generous and very cute. Not too much to not like about this, mozzarella was delicious and tomatoes cool and refreshing.

For my main, I chose the risotto of the day, which was an easy choice with aspargus, mascarpone and chives. I was tickled by the presentation, so elegant and just pretty. The surface of the plate is deceptive, there's a lot more risotto than what you're seeing as there's a nice sized bowl underneath the big rim of the plate. It was really just the perfect size for a risotto, I normally try not to order risotto just because I know the size of it is going to overwhelm me!

So this was just right and so beautifully done, creamy and cheesy as it should be (triple cream cheese, yeek! Hi gym!), whilst not being mushy, with a lovely little crunch from...something in there. Brad and I couldn't figure it out, I think it might've been thin slices of asparagus but I'm not entirely sure. At any rate, I enjoyed the crunch that contrasted against the creaminess of the rest of the rice, it added a lightness to it. I certainly indulged myself and loved this risotto.

Brad went with the panfried salmon fillet with roast pumpkin puree and what I assume is a cold salad of sorts, I didn't really get a good taste of it. I got a forkful with everything on it at once and I found the salad a bit of a shock since it was so cold in contrast to what I expected to be a lovely warm piece of salmon. But past the initial surprise, the salmon was well cooked and the pumpkin puree was delicious and smooth. They complimented each other very well, the pumpkin playing into the salmon's texture and making it feel even smoother. Quite nice. Quite nice.

And to finish off, who can deny an assortment of gelati and sorbets?! We were presented with an apricot ice-cream, raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice-cream. The raspberry was beautiful and flavoursome, the apricot, surprisingly sweet, I didn't like it at first, but the more I ate it...well...the more I ate it. In all it was a nice combination.

I really enjoyed my meal at Mezzo, the dining room though quite sizeable, filled up quickly and buzzed away. It was interesting to see all the different types of diners in Mezzo, big tables of Asian families, young couples (we weren't the only ones for once!), older couples and groups of women on a ladies' night. And even if it was so busy, Brad and I had quite a lovely romantic little meal in our corner and were looked after very well. It looks like Mezzo has managed to market itself well to a vast audience and I might try to pop by again to try out the ala carte menu next time. When a new chef moves in in the new year...

Mezzo Bar and Grill

35 Little Bourke St

Melbourne, 3000