Spizzico Ristorante Italiano

Lynn bought this groupon mainly because of it's cover picture. It was a photograph of a steak, with a foie gras on top of it. From the photo, it appears that the foie gras is as large as, if not larger than the steak. So we bought a $20 for $40 worth of food groupon.

It's location at UE square is quite accessible to both of us, but very quiet on a weekday night. The restaurant was relatively quiet with only a few other tables of guest. Service was very good, and the waiter was very attentive, stopping by often to ask us how's the food, taking photos for us, giving us his opinions etc.

We were served very normal bread with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. We finished it, but didn't request for more as we browsed through the menu. Because of the tempting photograph, we knew what one of our main courses will definitely be. So it was a matter of choosing another one, and some sides or starters. They have several dishes that are our usual favorites, so decisions were made pretty quickly.

Bread and vinegar and oil

I have absolutely no memory of how the escargots were. So I guess they weren't fantastic, nor were they horrible. Just pretty average escargots that we didn't rave over nor complained about. The caprese itself was good. The tomatoes were very fresh, as was the mozzarella. The basil dressing went nicely with them. However, we found a few yellow and wilted leaves in the mixed greens at the side. Lynn wasn't very happy about it.

Escargots

Caprese salad

We decided on squid ink risotto, after the very good experience we had at Amici with their squid ink pasta. Spizzico's had a lot of stuff in it. Although everything was black and it took a while to figure out what's what, we found clams, prawns, squid rings and scallops. The squid ink was aromatic, and the risotto cooked just nice. It was a little on the sweet side though, and we agreed that it would have been too cloying if its eaten by one person. Thankfully we shared it.

Squid ink risotto

The main attraction - the tenderloin with foie gras. The foie gras was really as big as the steak. Their tenderloin was a pretty thick cut, and we found the centre of our medium rare steak a little cold. So smart alec Lynn complained to the attentive waiter and asked if we could have it warmed up. They did, and returned with a steak closer to medium well. We got back our respective halves, and as always, found that I ended up with the rarer piece of meat, when actually she's the one who have a greater love for bloody steaks. The foie gras was also a little cold, but given how melty it is, we knew it wouldn't tolerate a reheat. They probably had the plate out for a while before bringing it to us. But the foie gras did hit the spot, giving us several moments of closed eyes blissfulness.

Beef tenderloin with foie gras

We did enjoy the food for most part. But again, it just wasn't impressive enough to warrant a wish to return. But we did take the opportunity to walk to nearby Robertson Quay for some souffles at Laurent Bernard Chocolatier.