Cutest cone ice creams

Are these the cutest ice cream cones you have ever seen? These baby gelato cones come in 12 mixed flavours and are perfect to serve after your next dinner party. The flavours include strawberry, chocolate, apricot, vanilla, spearmint and for the true child at heart - bubblegum! The cones are crisp and the gelato simply yummy. Find the Giotto gelato in 150gm tubs at Togninis at South Bank where children are lining up to enjoy them as a treat after visiting the library or GOMA.

If you want to be a bit more grown up, there are also zabaglione filled mini cannoli and hazelnut gelato baby profiteroles. All in the freezer, just waiting for you at Togninis!

Chilli Mud Crab Feast

Wow, what a way to end the year! Our Chill Mud Crab Feast on Boxing Day was a lunch to remember with crabs flown down from Mackay especially for the occasion.

Mark did the cooking with plenty of helpful advice from Narelle and Tracey.

Mark says it was an effort getting all the spices (see the recipe) together (he had to source the cinnamon quill and Chinese Shao Xing wine from Chinatown) but the result was well worth it.

Mark also suggests having two people involved in the cooking as it helps when ingredients need to be added quickly into the wok. And it's great to cook with a crowd to watch!

Congratulations to Sirromet's Executive Chef Andrew Mirosch who published the Wok Fried Muddies with Chilli and Ginger recipe in his Q Weekend column in The Courier-Mail.

Narelle served a Mango Salsa with pan fried green prawns on a bed of watercress - seasoned with chilli + coriander and her world famous Asian Noodle Salad with the crab. Yum! The Noodle Salad includes Chinese cabbage - shredded, capsicum -sliced, red onion, shallot, bean sprouts, snow peas, roasted peanuts and coriander. As a variation, Narelle sometimes makes it with Chinese BBQ pork sliced through. The Chinese deep fried noodles are crumbled in last

What the experts say

2008 is well behind us and we are looking forward to an exciting 2009. We've got lots of plans for the year so stay tuned for all the action.

Here's what a few of Brisbane's food reviewers have to say about Togninis.

Brisbane Times

Fromers

Your restaurants

Christmas elves at work

Things are getting busy at Togninis. The pudding elves have been in store busy , scraping , trimming and wrapping Tognini's delicious handmade puddings ready for your Christmas table.

The fruit has been marinating in juices and grog for the past three months - now it is almost time to eat! Each pudding is hand made, lovingly hugged and then boiled for eight hours - hung overnight - rested - scraped and retied to look perfect. On Christmas Day you simply reheat and the job is done. Don't forget to pop in some silver sixpences for the children and young at heart. Serve with Tognini's Brandy Cream or Vanilla Bean Anglaise.

Order yours now for a special treat on Christmas day - 1.5 kg puddings are $60.00

Pictured are Narelle's Auntie Myrl, a Christmas pudding elf of longstanding, and her friend Lynda (not sure that this elf wants to come back next year).

Christmas Cheese Box

We've had a few requests for our fabulous Christmas Cheese box so here it is again! A great selection of delicious cheeses delivered straight to your door, plus some extras that will make Christmas even more special. We've included our new Tognini's carrot marmalade, which goes exceptionally well with cheese - just wait till you try it!

Here's the list:
1 kg Australian Farmhouse Brie
150 g La Roche Blue
100 g English Red Leicester
41deg South Tasmanian baby Salmon
12 x Tognini Blini's
Tognini's carrot marmalade
Tognini's Fennel , fruit + nut log
6 x fruit mince pies

Cost $110.00 + delivery or pick up (Spring Hill store) on December 23.
Orders close December 15

Call Tognini's on 3851 5300 to place your order.

Champagne tasting night

To start off the festive season the right way, we hosted a Champagne Degustation night at our Spring Hill venue in last week. A great night was had by all and copious amount of beautiful champagne was consumed. We must thank all of those in attendance, our host David Cross from Moet Hennessy and our wonderful team of staff at Tognini’s for an exceptional evening . In all, six fine champagnes were tasted from the Champagne houses of Moet et Chandon , Veuve Cliquot and Ruinart. We finished the evening with my personal favourite, the 1996 Dom Ruinart Blanc de Blanc. This will certainly be an annual event for us. Stay tuned to the email newsletter and blog site as we will certainly have a few more evenings of food and wine events in 2009.

Tapas time

If you love tapas, you'll be pleased that Tognini's at Spring Hill now offers a tapas menu from 10am - 3pm on Saturdays. The line up includes herb crumbed 'arancini' balls with bocconcini, poached quail meat balls filled with pancetta and green olives and Italian meat balls with spicy tomato relish.

Try the dates stuffed with blue cheese and wrapped in san daniel prosciutto.

Seafood offerings include bacalao cigars (crusty fried salted cod) with lemon and aioli, seared Hervey Bay Scallops in the shell with fennel and anchovy butter and calamari ripieni stuffed with farro and chorizo. Yum!

You can enjoy a Mezza Platter like the one above, for two or a pizza big enough for two - proscuitto and buffalo mozzarella or grilled sweet potato and caramelised onion and fetta.

Find it all at Tognini's Spring Hill in Turbot Street.