Bellagio's Terenure

The weekly expedition with Ms. K, this week no problem in where to go, Dundrum it was and mainly to buy food!! Penney's didn't even get a mention- ok well it did but we agreed on food was more important :) But before we even sat down to eat, food purchases were made in M&S- a lot of food for a great price. I'm thinking I might go there more often from now own after 6pm for all those great bargains. Some of the things on offer- mussels for two or less than 4 euro, two dessert things in a packet for 75 cent, ready made pasta meals for 1.50, long rectangular tartlet plus salad plus side of potatoes or something for 6 euro, sweet and sour chicken for 3ish euro (all had gone off dates of today, bar the tartlet 6 euro offer) But still, total steal. Damn M&S didn't have any coffee and walnut cakes left, which were less than 3 euro, 2.99 or something :P


So shopping in Dundrum, sorted, where to to save our famished tummies.. Indian, Italian, Indian, Italian, Indian, Italian, India Gate, Bellagio, India Gate, Bellagio...... Oh the decisions one has to make to fill themselves up! After long negotiations of you pick, no you pick, no you pick, Bellagio in Terenure it was for tonight. We've been there before Christmas and we had such a yummy meal it's a little surprising we haven't been there since. The restaurant was pretty empty when we arrived, just around 7pm- made it in time for the early bird menu which didn't finish till 7.30pm, but the place soon filled up pretty quickly. We were seated almost straight away, the Italian owner looking guy asked if we would like a drink, to which I replied yes some water, and he immediately said still or sparkling, to which I had a quick decision to make, very quick, shit can I say tap water................. Well those two words, tap water, never came out, but something very close to it, still, please did. Thinking to myself robbing me off fecker, totally got scammed into that one (noticed other tables had jugs of water on their table, only one other table, two tables down from us had the bottle water from Italy), the thoughts of the scene in Slumdog Millionaire where the little boy fills up empty branded bottles with tap water crosses my mind.... When we were seated we were given menus, the early bird menu didn't seem to want to know us, he was playing hide and seek and only came out of his hiding spot when I had to ask for it.


Menu for the night:


Starters: Calamari and scallops
Mains: Carbonara and pizza vesuvio (salami, mushrooms, chili)


Verdict:


Calamari: Was much crisper last time. Still tasted good though. Came with a tasty garlicy herb mayo.


Scallops: Very good. I felt that the cauliflower puree it came sitted on wasn't hot enough.
Note- The starters took very long to come. The waiter himself noticed this and came over to us to tell us they were on the way, the scallops took a bit longer to cook?? Now that's a first I've heard of that. Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you always told not to over cook the scallops!? 


Courtesy of googling- The second thing we have to be aware of is that if we overcook the scallops to the slightest extent, they will assume a texture similar to that of rubber and be quite unpalatable. Most of us are familiar with the unpleasant sensation of chewing upon a piece of overly tough steak; with shellfish, the experience is even more unpleasant.


:D:D:D


Pizza Vesy: Nice, crispy thin doughy base
Carbonara: Well what can I say but a big disappointment, fly the chef back to Italy. Nothing compared to Little Caesars at all. The chef obviously was an amateur! Scrambled egg in my carbonara! Yucky. Yes, scrambled egg. Obviously the egg yoke split when it was added in so it turned into scrambley. How could a chef, especially an Italian one get that wrong?! I don't know. Beats me. Let down.

Total cost: 50 euro plus some not ordered scrambled egg and some water fresh from the Italian taps