Tipo 00
Tipo 00 is an Italian restaurant located on Little Bourke Street. This petite 40 seats restaurant is renowned for its exquisite house-made pasta dishes. One of the popular places in the city which is constantly packed with happy diners from midday to midnight.
The atmosphere of Tipo 00 is causal yet relaxed. The concrete floor, small square wooden tables and bentwood chairs which gives an impression of an almost cafe-like venue. However, the dark blue cupboard full of wines at the back wall plus the elegant marble bench top at the bar area have definitely injected a stylish feel to the room.
The one-page food menu has a good selection of seafood, meat and vegetarian dishes from starter, pasta, risotto to secondi. Here are the dishes we truly enjoyed.
Asparagus with parmesan mousse, watercress & rosemary - a healthy vegetable starter with the love of parmesan. Just delicious and my fuzzy little girl loves it!
Pan-fired calves liver in balsamic sauce with polenta chips - if you love liver this is a must-try dish. Tender liver cooked with onion & balsamic vinegar. My husband has been craving for a good Italian style calves liver dish since we left Europe. He is totally adored this dish.
Risotto with white truffle - a special dish of the day. This is the 1st time I have eaten white truffle... the subtle flavour is delicate but yet distinguished in a way. Definitely there is a slight different taste from the black truffle. The creamy risotto was perfectly cooked to accompany the truffle. Spot on!
Gnocchi with braised duck, porcini & pecorino pepato - the famous house-made gnocchi. Perfect textured gnocchi with the perfect combination of duck & porcini and topped with freshly shaved pecorino pepato. You have to try it to understand why this dish is so good!
Roast lamb rump with board bean & pomegranate - apart from the nine selection of pasta, gnocchi & risotto dishes to choose from, the two secondi are beautifully executed too. The slices of lamb are tender and moist. The pomegranate added the nice texture and flavour to the dish.
Blue eye cod with celeriac caponata, capers & olives - the other secondi on the menu. Beautifully cooked cod with the classic sweet and sour caponata, capers & olives sauce. There is no complaint from nonna for sure!
Polenta fritta - thick cut polenta chips with rosemary & parmesan. These little baddies are so addictive... photo worthy!
Warm chocolate mousse with raspberry & hazelnut - this one is for the chocoholics. The smooth chocolate mousse that you have possibly dreamed of... topped with fresh raspberry and crunchy crushed hazelnut. Keep dreaming until you tried it!
Pannacotta with passion fruit, mango & honeycomb - what a refreshing tropical pannacotta. The combination of the silky smooth pannacotta goes nicely with the slightly acidic passion fruit and sweet mango & honeycomb. Yum yum!
Tipomisu - the famous tiramisu from Tipo! The coffee infused chocolate sponge cake with mascarpone and chocolate sauce. It's heavenly good!
The wine list at Tipo as you can imagine is heavy on Italian vino of course. From prosecco to white, rose, and red. Be adventurous and try some regions you haven't tasted before. This white I really like on the day - Tenuta Terre Nere from Mt Etna region.
My favourite savoury dish - risotto with white truffle
My favourite dessert - Tipomisu
We had a wonderful meal at Tipo which made it to our list of top three restaurants in 2016. Good solid Italian food cooked to perfection with high quality ingredients and amazing flavours. Beautiful food, good wine list and friendly staff... an unpretentious place to spend some good time with family and friends. Hope you enjoy the food there too!
Tipo 00
361 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9942 3946
