Poor Italian is launching a new menu and I was lucky to score an invite. There are lots of new dishes to sample so let’s get started!
Because the event lasted three hours long, dishes came out in random. I’ll present the dishes in a more orderly timeline. First is their Caprese Salad – skewers of baby mozzarella and grape tomatoes, in a pesto sauce with basil sprinkled on top. Very easy to pop into your mouth. The juicy tomatoes were a nice contrast to the smooth and dense mozzarella.
Doesn’t this look like an advancing army of deliciousness? The servers were so patient and posed for lots of pictures from all of us food bloggers.
What you see here is a Crab Cake with a Giant Scallop on top. I ate the crab cake first and then the scallop. I think it’s better because you really got the best taste of each of the ingredients. The crab cake was loaded with crab, not filler, and the scallop was sweet and juicy too.
The brought out a Short Rib and Mushroom Risotto next and boy, fork tender short rib nestled against a scoop of risotto, heavily scented with gorgonzola. I doubt you’d get this meat to pasta ratio in the regular serving, but it works well here!
Another army platter of food…this is their Shrimp and Scallop Pasta, made with Seattle-sourced quinoa pasta. Classics made modern for today’s dietary needs.
The first thing you notice is curry aroma with additional spices from North Africa. The curry is hot, not mindnumbingly so, but definitely packs a punch. The texture of the shell pasta is perfect, not mealy or mushy as expected, due to it being made with quinoa.
The Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli was next. A classic combination paired with a nice tomato sauce.
See the grooves in the pasta itself? Really helps with the sauce adhering to the noodle. Plump and pretty, this dish is a lovely to look at as it is to devour.
This is a Paccheri Pasta with Lamb Sausage – a noodle with quite the history. Read about its scandalous pasthere. Sitting on top of this pasta was a tasty lamb sausage. It’s definitely a knife and fork dish. The noodle was really smooth and the freshness was undeniable.
We also tried the carpaccio crostini, with a few greens and a mild creamy sauce that seemed to be there more for texture than for taste.
Three assorted Bruschetta were next, a Mushroom one on the left, a tuna one in the middle and the classic pomodoro on the right, with a sliver of grano pandano on top. The mushroom was the most flavourful with the pomodoro second. The tuna seemed out of place for some reason.
This is their take on a canelloni, I know, it doesn’t look like one, right? Essentially, it’s a sweet taco, with a ricotta cheese topping. It’s a fun bite, but sweet enough to be a dessert per se.
The other dessert was a Lemon Millefoglie. Rather than making a mess by serving us sliced up portions, they featured the lemon meringue cream in a little cone. The tartness of the lemon did counteract the sweetness of the cone quite well.
So if you haven’t been to Poor Italian Restaurant before, or in a while, give their new menu a try. And of all the dishes I tried, my favourite was the Paccheri Pasta with Lamb Sausage.
Written By: Grace Cheung (@gracecheung604) www.gracecheung604.com
