Sette Bello

29th June 2012

For our end of financial year dinner the directors (on Brent's suggestion) took us out to a restaurant that featured in my Good Food Guide, Sette Bello. Having heard glowing reports from Brent about the quality of this place i was keen to see for myself whether it lived up to his hype.

However as this was an office function the normal dining experience would be slightly different. After initial drinks and casual conversation between work people and partners, we sat down to a three course meal. We were working off a slightly reduced menu from the full one but they still offered a selection of 5-6 options for each entree, main and desert. Having had the menu emailed around during the day i was already on top of what options i was going to select whilst others frantically choose their meals as the waiter patiently waited for their orders.

With everyone settled and speeches finished we sat down to our first course. I had chosen a carpaccio of very thinly sliced beef eye fillet topped with fried capers, pear, rocket and Parmesan. Nicely cooked beef and quality cut of meat and excellently balanced with the pear, cheese and rocket. Very nice flavours, well presented and a great start to the meal.

The main course arrived in a reasonably short time after (although not rushed out). For main course i went with the Porchetta. A roll of crisp skinned pork belly filled with rosemary on a bed of sauteed spinach with roman potatoes, caramelised apple and a sherry vinegar reduction. The pork belly was well cooked and delicious but was unfortunately occasionally overpowered by the strong rosemary centre. The spinach and potatoes were a great touch as was the sherry vinegar reduction. However the apple had an unusual texture and didn't fit with the other accompaniments. It could have done with just one of these elements either the apple or spinach and potatoes but not both.

The final course was a modern take on an Italian classic of Tartufo. A classic hazelnut parfait filled with a sweet cherry centre was classic Italian cooking and perfectly done. However the modern additions were crushed hazelnut praline encasing the parfait and topped off with Persian fairy floss sitting as a crown and an earl grey infused chocolate sauce. This was my favourite course, an excellent blend of flavour, texture and both modern and classic cooking.

Overall a very fun night out with work people supplemented by some quality food. The service was decent and drinks were always on offer but apart from that the wait staff were inconspicuous when not needed. Given it was a work function the value was extremely good with the company picking up the whole tab. A few mistake lead to the overall meal to be slightly below hat worthy but well worthy of a visit if you find yourself out in Glen Waverley.