Milanese Risotto

Things don't happen if you don't make it happen. That applies to writing post on the blog as well. Life happens and other things had higher priority or, were prioritized, I must say. I am aware that this has been a little been neglected. But here I am again with Milanese risotto that I made a while back.  I normally make other type risotto like mushroom risotto, but this time I was determined to make use of the saffron that I have for a while. So glad that I did. 

Dinner At Baffo, Chicago

It was not my intention and plan to have dinner after we arrived in Chicago that afternoon. I thought, we just grabbed a light meal or salad for the evening, especially since we were going to fit into our dress on Saturday. But. Sometimes. Circumstances just forced us to change our plan. Italian food would not be my first choice as well. Again, we ended up here, in an Italian restaurant for dinner. 

Here we were, the three of us. Our mouse bouche was Savory Cannoli and we cleaned them up well.

We ordered two appetizers, burrata (above) and polpo (octopus) - below. All were small portions and both were good.

The mains were Triangoli (beef cheek, black truffle, castelmagno),

Risotto (whose else but mine!) (fontina, artichoke, black truffle)

Tajarin al nero (frutti di mare, breadcrumb, herbs )

Our dessert was Crema, salted caramel, saffron, apples, sesame. With these many small dishes and drinks, the three of us were very full indeed. Delicious food overall. 

 

Sopra Dinner, Jakarta

Sopra is an Italian restaurant at Pacific Place, Jakarta. This restaurant would not be a place to pick for a meal for me, but as I was just one of the few people in the group. Simply joined them. There were seven of us and we had a few different dishes here. Here they are:

Prego Lunch

 

From time to time we revisit Prego, mostly for lunch. The whole team minus one went there back in June to celebrate an early Father's day. 

We had Calamari Fritti (Fried Calamari) and Parmigiana di Melanzane (Baked Eggplant  Parmigiana) for Anti Pasti.

 

 

We had two seared fish dishes, a pasta and risotto. Dessert to share was Tiramisu.

Penne Tartufate (Wild Mushroom, Truffle Cream Sauce)

Risotto Frutti di Mare (Seafood Risotto)

 

L'Angolo di casa, Milan

We had dinner at this place upon the recommendation of our hotel's Concierge. It's located within minutes on foot from where we stayed and it was good, because we were still exhausted from the traveling time and jetlag.  The food they serve didn't make good-looking pictures but they tasted great. The staff there were also accommodating to my company's special requests.

 

We had Fritto Misto  as starter. They were a little bit oily but the seafood was so good!

I had Milanese Risotto with Osso Buco. Delish! I enjoyed every bit of it. 

 DH's tonight's order was his usual Seafood Pasta. I believe it tasted great too.

Jamie's Italian, Westfield London

We took Central Line Tube from near our hotel to Westfield in Shepherd's Bush, London. The mall is very big and has interesting shops. They also have many restaurants, one of which is Jamie's Italian. We planned to have lunch here after we browsed the mall a little bit, our reservation was 12:30PM.

 

 

We ordered their assorted bread to share. My main entree was Wild Truffle Risotto.

DH had Squid Ink pasta with Scallops which he enjoyed. 

There are some shelves with Jamie's products near the entrance/exit.

Lunch At Ochre, OC

It was a lunch buffet that I originally hesitated to go to, because I really did not want to end up over eating. I tend to be tempted to try many things when I have a buffet meal. We did go anyway, because the restaurant, Ochre, had the option for us to have Antipasti Buffet only. We did not need to have a main course and could stay away from the desserts.  Ochre is located on the 11th floor of Orchard Central.

I loved their grilled vegetables and fresh salad much more than their pasta. 

The pictures above and below are Burrata with Tomato salad inside. It's my first try and I liked it. 

Set out down here is Crab Risotto which was quite good too.

Sava's, Ann Arbor

About two to three weeks before our arrival in Ann Arbor, Miss L was invited to have dinner in this restaurant. Its location is in downtown Ann Arbor, right around the campus, right across from Totoro, in fact, How handy! She was thrilled to have us try the food there as well.

I love Calamari and tend to order one when I see them on the menu, especially when I have many companies. This particular one, however, was not the kind that I like, particularly the gravy that was already served on top of the fried Calamari when they came at our table.

I have to give credit to DH for choosing Pan Seared Sea Scallops,it was the best dish of the night. The dish was served over Mushroom Risotto and Spinach.

I indulged myself and my companies with this Steak and Potato Salad. After digging the salad that was served on the bowl, for a little bit, I realized that I could not find any potatoes inside. Apparently, they were forgotten. After asking, the waiter brought  them in a small plate. They were cubed and fried. Nothing impressive, but it's interesting to have potatoes instead of croutons.

Miss L was looking for Arancini that she had before, but they did not have them on the menu anymore. She ordered Pan Seared Salmon instead. The salmon was served on couscous and topped with corn salsa. The salmon was eaten, but most of the couscous was left untouched.

Miss K, who always missed her pasta, had Mac & Cheese. It was simple, straight forward and the plate was cleaned up really well. I guess, it must have been quite good.

Finally, we shared this rainbow cookies. There were three layers of Sponge Cakes inside, coated with chocolate at the top and bottom. They were served with whipped cream and milk, if my memory serves me right.

Il Cipriani Bistro, Seoul

This was our first meal out in Seoul on our recent trip. We were at Shinsegae in Myongdong and we thought of trying whatever was in front of us. The department store has a floor of food court and another floor of restaurants. Of course they have many other floors in which they sell everything from clothes to kitchen gadgets and all the typical things that most department stores carry. We decided on Il Cipriani Bistro to have a taste of Italian cuisines in the country.

It was a little bit past 1 PM, the restaurant was not to crowded and we were seated immediately. We were served with a couple of bread and one piece of sweet potato and another piece of regular potato. Interesting selection! I felt compelled to order a plate of Calamari as appetizer. Not so great, but edible! 

It was no brainer for DH even after he looked through all the available selections, he went for homey meal, Fettuccine Carbonara. It was very rich and creamy. If I were to guess, the dish probably used at least a cup of cream. At least!

I was in the mood for Risotto, they had the one with wild mushroom and prawns and it came slightly different than the most restaurants would serve. It had some slices of courgette and I can't remember what else. The taste was not something that I was familiar too. I was given a small plate of pickles. Now, that's the Korean way?

I don't think this is the place that we'd like to come back, but it takes trying to know.