Mister Bianco
14/20
Italian$$$
Mister Bianco? An Italian laundry powder or a town in Sicily? A welcome addition to Kew dining? The answer's all three - and they're linked here in the spotless white tablecloths and the sparks of Sicilian flavour. Mister Bianco, sibling of the city's Mezzo, is a generous host, starting with stuzzichini - think meatballs, curls of semolina-dusted calamari, golden arancini. There's risotto and pasta (all house-made, like spinach and ricotta gnocchi with sage brown butter), and good char-grilled steaks. Mains show the excitement of the cooking, little twists of flavour turning the familiar into the enticing - a salted nut praline contrasting with the smoothness of rich red-wine-braised lamb neck, for example. A hearty veal cotoletta is dressed up with green peperonata and black garlic dressing, heirloom tomato salad enlivened by the addition of fennel, orange and radicchio. The mood is unpretentious, noise levels lively but manageable, the service friendly. And if tiramisu's on the menu, it's one of the city's best.
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Original URL: https://www.theage.com.au/goodfood/melbourne-eating-out/mister-bianco-20120901-2ac23.html