Il Tempo

Il Tempo is an Italian place in Degraves st. Like many of the cafes there they are very cramped inside but they have two stores. A walkway separates the two.

I have been on two occasions. One to try their pizza and the other to try their pasta. Both times they were friendly. One of those times was on a very busy Friday night where I sat outside and needed to use the bathroom. The bathroom is in the store with the champagne and drinks bar.

The service was friendly with a smile and both times it has been cozy.

The carbonara was good and very cheesey. There wasn't much egg in there though. There was lots of bacon down the bottom.

The pizza with feta, mushrooms and oil was really great and very filling. Here the base was doughy but not too bad.

I would have stuck around for dessert after pasta but I felt like the hotcakes across the road at the Big Umbrella. And the dessert would have cost me an extra $15.

Soul Origin

RNIS received a few vouchers to try out this place.

Soul Origin is a new lunch/dinner place in Melbourne Central. Here they focus on fair food as well as sandwiches and salads.

Their vouchers which we received

They do breakfasts and ok coffees. I had a soy latte and it was ok. It was a bit burnt. But I really like their sandwiches and bagels. Here I had a really fresh salmon baguette which had lots of avocado and onion as well as fish.

On launch day they handed out free pumpkin soup which was creamy and not too sweet.

They have a good range of salads and their staff are really friendly with their customers. They have tubs with the smallest one being $8.95 for two salads and $9.95 for three salads. I had the vegetarian pasta and beetroot with feta salad. Oil can be added free of charge and my salad was really nice with the oil in there.

What's also nice about them is that they are freshly made without the dressing and you can taste the freshness in the salad. The pasta is al dente

Do come by this place for your healthy goodness in the food court

Il Nostro Posto

RNIS dined as guests.

We have been here once before. And its in some little cozy laneway called Hardware Lane. Here they have been around for 11 years and have not been found.

We loved sitting in their cozy dens whether it is upstairs or down. This time I liked downstairs very much. Here we got to see the good wines on offer. Some of their wines are imported from Italy.

Their wines are really great and they have a long wine list. I loved their red wine and it worked with the entree and the main. The red wine works well for winter and mushroomy dishes.

Here we had the aranchini to start with. It was good and very cheesey and the salad worked well. But I would have liked a little more.

The penne pasta was the best highlight of the night. It was al dente and the sauce is just like what my mum makes at home. It worked well with the red wine. Pity though that my friend had coke as Italian food always works better with wine or a campari or two. A campari is an Italian cocktail which can be sweet or sour- whichever way you make it.

Mushroom pizza

The mushroom pizza was equally just as good with the red wine but I could not understand the tomato sauce. I would have thought that like Ladro's they had a white base. But my friend and I enjoyed it with the chilli sauce.

For dessert I had cannoli with a moscato. I was a little bit tipsy but I wanted to try a dessert wine since the Italians love their desserts with dessert wine and the wine never failed me. It was sweet and crisp in taste. It tasted like apple.

The cannoli is made in house. Here I loved the freshness and the sweetness of it all. I didn't like a lot of the chocolate sauce by my friend did.

Rating: 15/20- good food, good service. Do book as they are bound to get busy on Friday nights.

Fatto

Fatto is a great Italian place and they have been up and going for a few years now. But they have always been too expensive for us students. That is until their $10 pizza deal came up and their $5 Birra Moretti. Birra Moretti is an Italian beer which is pale in taste, but its also very wheatey in smell and taste.

The bar is always busy and the bathrooms are in the restaurant area.

Here it worked well with the mushroom pizza. Normally pizza is $20 but here it is only $10 for a plate of 400 Gradi. The mushroom pizza does not come with tomato sauce- hence it is blonde.

But the other food in the restaurant is much better. Here you can get 2 courses for $45 which is not bad. I was always a fan of the spaghettini as I saw many good pictures online of it. Here I was not wrong. The pasta was al dente and the crab was fresh. But they put too much lemon flavour in it which overpowered the dish a lot.

I loved the ricotta ball. It was a nice start to the meal. It was very light on the palate and that paste worked a treat!

Then for dessert it was cheese again. This time it was French brie and lavosh. I enjoyed the quince paste with the brie.

Rating: 15/20- enjoyed a good meal and was full at the end. The service was friendly but a little bit pushy at times. Towards the end of the night they let us sit and chatter away but not at the start where things got busy. Luckily I booked ahead.