Ciao Italia @ Perth, Australia

This post is longg overdue but just thought that I had to share with you guys this awesome pizza place in Perth, Australia. If you have followed my earlier posts, Panda and I spent the first few days of our holidays at Western Australia by exploring Margaret River, south of Perth before headed back to Perth for a few days. So, Ciao Italia is an Italian restaurant located at South Perth. If you are planning to walk ( which we did !), you will need to catch a ferry at Barracks Street Jetty at downtown to cross Swan River to reach South Perth. It was a smooth ride and we enjoyed the sceneries very much:)

Barrack Street Jetty,  Riverside Drive : Ferry to South Perth 

South Perth : View of Perth CBD and Swan River

Once reaching the opposite side, walk along the park, but just to let you know that Ciao Italia is located about 3km away (burn some calories before chowing down a pizza !). Take this moment to enjoy the sceneries,  people and the houses along the river…a really awesome feeling :))

Nice park along Swan River (South Perth)

This restaurant has good reviews; hence the crowd gets pretty huge so make sure you get there early. Tips : To 'cut' queue, one can just order a take-away rather than lining up like crazy to get into the restaurant. When I was there, I took a peek around and the place is really not-that-big and noisy…yes…not your romantic Italian dining! So, we ordered garlic bread, a pizza and tiramisu as a take-away. 

This what was awaited us when we finally reached @__@

Cut the queue and just order a take-away !

Once we received our take-away, we headed back to the park. It was already getting dark but that made it even more romantic ! We sat at a bench along the park, eating our dinner peacefully and enjoying the night view of Perth CBD. Just blogging this made me think of the wonderful time we had !

Garlic bread ($5.50) : Super delicious ! 

Siciliana ($27.50) : Tomatoes, mozarella and ricotta cheese, italian sausage, bacon, olives and mushrooms

Ok, this doesnt do justice to the tiramisu but at this condition it was already fabulous ! Lols 

Garlic bread and pizza were superb. It was not too greasy and I felt that the ingredients used were fresh! It was too bad that we were too full to enjoy the tiramisu and ended up bringing it back to our hotel. Since we walked back to our hotel at downtown ( yeapp…that was almost a 6km walk @__@), it melted by the time we got back. It did taste good though with a tinge of liquor ( can't remember what was it though). Pizza doesn't come cheap ( especially if you think of it in Malaysian ringgit!) but then again, prices were more or less there when it comes to food here so, stop converting !! lols….This restaurant has lots more variety in their menu and reviews on them are really good as well. 

Address : 273 Mill Point Rd South Perth, WA 6151

Website : Ciao Italia

An Italian dinner @ Chianti's Cafe and Restaurant, Saskatoon

I always thought that Chianti's was an Indian restaurant ( not sure why but the name probably ? ). Anyway, I met up with a friend here for dinner on a cold  Sunday night. They have quite a good deal where all of their freshly made pastas are only $8.95 all day on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.  Reservations may be required on these days as they do have quite a number of customers at peak hours. I wouldn't say that this is Italian fine dining but from what you can get in Saskatoon, this is considerably not bad. 

Baguette and oil, balsamic vinegar dip as an appetizer. Always tend to overeat this and ended up being too full to finish the main entree @__@

I ordered the Du Chef ($11.95) which was spinach fettucine with smoked salmon and mushrooms in creamy pesto sauce. Forget how fattening it is, I just love my pasta in cream ! Serving was huge and it did look so delicious. Even better with some cracked pepper and shredded cheese~! The combination was exceptionally good. I can definitely tell that the pasta was home made; it being slightly thicker then processed pasta. However, I would have prefer it slightly softer. It was kinda hard to chew on it but I finished the whole plate ! Satisfaction :))

My friend had the Al Pacifico ($11.95); penne with smoked salmon, onions, peas and sun-dried tomatoes tossed in olive oil and pesto. Seemed to be a much healthier option than mine. Apparently, she had this before and said it was so good that she had it for the second time ! Too bad we did not have room for dessert after that, probably next visit….

Overall, if you are yearning for a good Italian meal ( apart from cooking it yourself !), Chianti's is a good place to be especially on the pasta deal days !

Address :102 Idylwyld Dr N Saskatoon, SK S7L0Y7

Website : Chianti's Cafe and Restaurant

Italian lunch @ Al Porto Ristorante, Vancouver, BC

Al Porto Ristorante is located at the historic Gastown in Vancouver. It specializes in seafood and traditional Italian with a rustic Tuscan ambience.  After our Big Bus Hop-On Hop-Off tour of Stanley Park, my mum and I had lunch here. This restaurant is easily located on Water St, just a couple of steps away from the Big Bus Welcome Centre on Water St.

The usual bread and butter as starter while we browsed the lunch menu. Mum had the lovely Grower's Peach Cider ( $5.95) while I had Lemonade ($3.25). 

For starters, we had their specialty salad, Insalata Nicoise ($15.95) with a choice of chicken, prawn, smoked salmon or tuna. The portion was just nice as a starter, with fresh vegetables and well-grilled tasty chicken.

Insalata Nicoise:potato, green beans, egg, tomatos, olives with lemon-oil dressing

For entrees, I had the Linguine Vongole ($13.95) which came with a very generous portion of fresh clams. The brodo ( liquid/broth) tasted just right, not too salty nor bland but felt that I like it better with lots of parmesan cheese, cracked pepper and table pepper! Mum had the seafood risotto ($13.95) but since she wasnt a fan of sea shells, she requested for just the prawns and scallops. The portion was really huge and as expected, she was not able to finish the whole serving by herself! The prawns and scallops were super huge, fresh and well-prepared! Totally epic ! However, we felt that the risotto was a little bit uncooked on the inside; not all but probably some of them.

Linguine Vongole : clams, white wine, brodo, butter

Seafood risotto : Prawns and scallops only upon request 

Seafood risotto : Huge scallops and prawns !

Loved my Linguine Vongole !

Too bad we did not have room for dessert; having had an ice cream each during our tour earlier and a hearty Italian meal. I would have loved to try their tiramisu! Overall, this restaurant is worth a visit. Service was quite fast and waiters were really attentive! For the ambience ( we had a table by the window) and food quality, the price was acceptable for me considering its at such a tourist-y spot as well!

Address : Al Porto Ristorante, 321 Water St, Vancouver BC, V6B 1B8

Website : Al Porto Ristorante

* Reservations are welcomed and handled by OpenTable. Totally convenient as cancellation and changes can be made online !