foodwtogninis: Dining in Bellagio

First in a regular series of reports on food and wine in Italy and more from the wandering Togninis.

Bellagio June 4, 2009

Bellagio, as you will see, is simply beautiful . Mark and I have been here on several occasions and we always return to soak up the beauty. Bellagio is about a half hour's drive from our apartment in Sondrio and a short ferry across Lago Como (no sightings of George).

We went in search of a restaurant - one we had been to with Bennie and Tracey a few years earlier - on the water for lunch. After what seemed like 200 or more stairs up and 200 or more stairs down, we finally found it - La Pergola - Pescallo. Unfortunately, for us, the kitchen was closed by the time we reached it, so we convinced the owner to allow us a bottle of wine to relax and soak up the view of the

lake.

We could actually see what we wanted to eat swimming in the lake - those beautiful salmon trout in the crystal clear waters were just teasing us!

So a bottle of Pinot Grigio later and no lunch we made our way back the 200 or so stairs to the touristy side of Bellagio. This is where we found a treasure down some more stairs - you just need to take the right ones. Hidden down an alley way is Apertivo et al www.bellagio.co.nz/aperitivo

It was about 4.30 pm by this stage - no need to tell you how hungry we were after the 200 stairs (maybe I am exaggerating as I really didn't count them) .

Lucky for us there was a bar menu to our liking - Pizzoccheri , soups, cheese and an amazing wine room all only about 8 Euro for a plate. Mark chose a fabulous red from the Veneto region - so smooth, so rich - yes that was the second bottle in as many hours - I love holidays !

Life is too short to eat bad food!

For the past 15 years we have lived our dream of offering fine food to the people of Brisbane through Tognini’s Deli at Milton, Tognini’s BistroCafeDeli at Spring Hill and Tognini’s CaféWineBar at the State Library of Queensland.

So how did a builder and a nurse end up running three of Brisbane’s finest delis? We used to throw the best dinner parties our friends had ever seen. All too soon we exhausted their palates and expanded their waistlines so much we had to find a new group of passionate foodies. We began with Togninis Milton Deli Café and kept growing with the ideal of offering great food, a great experience and the opportunity to learn.

Mark says: The cheese connection started with a childhood passion for big Italian cheeses such as gorgonzola, taleggio and parmesan. I’m happiest surrounded by giant wheels of parmesan, blocks of cheddar and logs of brie, drinking in the distinctive aromas in Tognini’s cheese room.

Narelle says: While Mark grew up with pastas and ravioli making, in my home the emphasis was on traditional baking and preserving. Every weekend Mum would bake and preserve. She was a ‘Vacola’ expert. It was honest cooking where the most extravagant thing would have been spaghetti bolognaise, but I learnt the skills of cooking amongst the smell of freshly cooked scones.

www.togninis.com

Dining in Bellagio

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