It’s been awhile since I celebrated my birthday with a group of friends, so I decided to do that this time. I forgot how fun it was and should probably do it more often!
Anyways, I was wanting to go to a nicer place but didn’t feel like heading downtown. Trattoria was a good option since it is owned by Glowbal Group and is large enough for groups. The only thing I didn’t like was that they charged a cake cutting fee of $3/person ($3 x 15 = $45 extra) so we did my birthday cake somewhere else afterwards.
We were given a semi-private room for the fifteen of us, which was pretty nice. It was separated by a glass wall and a floor to ceiling wine shelf. Throughout the night, we had our own designated server as well.
Smoked Salmon Radiatori, $18.95: Originally, I had my mind set on their pizza… but after reading this on the menu, I changed my mind. It was absolutely delicious. If you love smoked salmon and dill, this is the dish for you. It was very creamy and came with a good amount of smoked salmon.
The only negative thing was that four of us ordered the same dish, and the portion sizes were not consistent. For example, two dishes were noticeably smaller than one of them. Pictured above is the smaller portion, while the other dish was at least 25% bigger!
Cheesy bread, $5.95: This was ordered as a side dish, and omg it was amazing. It was a garlic bread with lots of melted cheese on top. You seriously can’t go wrong with melted cheese.
Fried vegetables, $10.95: My friend ordered this and immediately regretted it after a few bites. It was definitely not worth $10.95 for a few pieces of vegetables. As well, they did not have any seasoning so it was quite plain.
Risotto of the day, market price: The risotto of that night was lobster. It looked really good and my friend said it was delicious!
Pasta platter, $23.95/person: Two of my friends split this, which was a really good idea. If you’re indecisive, you get to try four different types of their pastas! It comes with the truffled spaghetti & signature meatballs, gnocchi, garganelli pollo, and the linguine gamberi.
Cake: As a bonus, Trattoria gave me a complementary slice of tiramisu cake! 🙂 Thank you!
Overall I had a great time at Trattoria, and the food was good. There were a few hiccups with forgotten drinks but service was consistent and friendly. They have pasta specials on Tuesday so I would love to come back and order the smoked salmon pasta for a cheaper price!
Yay!
Classic hummus: You can’t go wrong with classic hummus. The hummus was creamy and flavourful. There was also a hint of garlic in this one which added a nice touch.
Roasted red pepper: This was the boyfriend’s choice! It was the same flavour as the classic hummus above. The difference was that there was some red pepper in the middle, which we ended up spreading around to mix the flavour.
Meen Puttu Steamed Ling Cod: This was quite interesting! I would describe it as shredded fish mixed with shredded coconut and spices. I enjoyed the savoury spices with a hint of sweetness from the shredded coconut. The only negative was that I found it to be a bit dry.
Dosa: First time trying a dosa! It was pretty good, similar to a crepe but a bit crispier. There was a dallop of spiced mash potato inside which I loved.
Mangalore Curry: Mmmmm, this was so good. This was a full flavoured chicken curry with many different types of delicious spices and chili peppers. The chicken was so tender, soft and marinated really well. It packed a good amount of spice. I enjoyed the side sauces, most notably the yogurt-style one because it helped cool down my mouth in between bites!
Fish curry: The boyfriend’s fish curry was delicious as well! Very aromatic too. Compared to my chicken curry, his fish curry sauce was slightly sweeter and a tad less spicy. His curry also came with the same side dishes. We were both really full because the curry was quite heavy.
Gulab Jamun: A classic Indian dessert. It is a milk solid, soaked in sugar syrup. The texture reminded me more of bread than a milk syrup. The boyfriend really enjoyed this dessert but I found it way too sweet! But I also don’t have much of a sweet tooth.
Mango ice cream: This was described as hand churned and Indian style. Not too sure what Indian style entails, but I found it to be deliciously creamy and full of strong mango flavour. The mango flavour tasted more like real mango as opposed to artificial mango. It was the perfect dessert to cool down a spicy meal with.
Spanish paella, $22.50: This sounded delicious on the menu so I had to order it! Actually, three of us did! It looks big in the photo, but it was actually smaller than expected. The sauce was quite creamy which made it filling though.
Hand pressed burger, $14.50: The boyfriend’s burger was big and filling, exactly what he wanted after a long day at work. I had a bite of it and the patty was juicy and grilled nicely. No complaints here!
Crispy mash, $5: This is not on the menu but it is quite popular! The crispy mash is essentially a deep fried spring roll with garlic mashed potatoes inside. A few of us ordered this as an additional side because it is delicious.
Ravioli with lobster cream & grilled prawns, $24: Cocoa’s dish looked delicious and she said it was! Although the portion looked a bit small, the lobster cream was heavy enough for it to be filling. It also came with fresh dill.