To celebrate the end of the year my faculty decide to go out and have lunch somewhere. I suggested La Bella Italia as it is closish to work and they having parking and free parking on the street. We had to book and the place was booming with people and waiters everywhere.
Rissotto of the Day
I was actually going to order a pasta dish but the risotto special sounded really good. It was a cream based risotto with salmon, another type of fish, squid and mussels. Two colleagues also order the same and when all three dishes came to the table, I was surprised to see how different they looked. One was loaded with mussels and the others were not, which was disappointing. Obviously they cooked all three lots in one pan and then just dished it out. Overall the taste was very nice but under seasoned. I did have to add quite a bit of salt and pepper. I also added a bit of chilli oil to give the dish a bit of a kick. The serving was very generous and I was so full afterwards. I also did count how many mussels I got and I only had two in the whole dish. Disappointing!
Patate Fritte
As a group we also order some hand cut fries. These were the opposite to my risotto and I felt were over seasoned. They were nicely cooked, the aioli was nice and they make their own tomato sauce, which was different, a nice difference to the dish and went well with the slightly over seasoned chips.
Overall this place is good, especially for groups and I do suggest that you book. The menu has a lot of variety and there is basically something for everyone. The size of the servings are generous and everyone at the table was happy with their meal. The only one thing that someone on my table was not happy about, was his drink was spilt over him by the waiter.
Website; La Bella Italia
Address; 10 Nevis Street, Petone, Wellington
Trencherman's Travels 