“Hey. How are you doing?”
“Doing ok… hanging in here.”
“Haven’t seen you for ages!”
“Yah. I know!”
“Do you wanna have dinner some time?”
“Sure, let’s do it!”
An inaccurate transcript of a msn chat between me and FC – a friend of mine from high school.
It’s really been a long time since I’ve seen her last time. As people get older, it seems that everyone has his/her own things to do, errands to run. We often have to make appointments long before the meeting day. The “yes, sure, let’s do it now” is quite rare.
Looking forward to seeing FC again after all these years. The restaurant of the night was Tutto Bene, an Italian restaurant located on Yonge Street in Thornhill. Very close to Dante’s. If you drive from the GTA, head north on Yonge, it’s on the right side…near a LCBO. If you see Extreme Fitness on the right side, that means you have gone too far.
Around 6:50pm. I took this picture outside. I thought I’d be a bit early, but FC was already there :p She’s always so prepared.
Looking at the menu, I like it. Not too many options, but all looked pretty good. I’d rather get a few good dishes than getting many options but so-so quality.
Besides the regular menu items, they also had a few specials of the night. I ordered from the menu, while FC got the specials. As for the wine, we got half a litre of 2002 Rief Carbernet-Merlot.
So, here’s the Lobster Bisque for FC. Forgot to ask for feedback. Look is great. (FC, feel free to comment on this if you see this post.)
Here’s my applewood smoked salmon salad w. maple mustard dressing. Really felt like seafood/fish that night. And I like smoked food. The salad was good. Very aromatic.
Entree for FC – Clam linguini with garlic, basil sauce (not 100%, again FC, feel free to correct me). opps. cut off FC’s thumbup. They did put quite a lot of clams in there.
Originally, the “Grilled seafood medley with bouillabaisse broth” caught my eyes – but that was only an appetizer, so I ordered this linguini marinara – with seafood and plum tomatoes. Oh… I have to say… I haven’t had such a good seafood linguini in a long time. The seafood were cooked just right. Very flavourful. The linguini’s texture was great – wondering if it’s made in-house. I haven’t been to Italy, so I can’t say if that’s authentic. I can only say this is really good. Portion was filling.
After the starter and main course, I was quite full. Chat chat chat and finished off the wine. It’s interesting to talk to someone whom you’ve known from high school… when you were younger. After years of school and work, everyone’s kinda developed personal taste and perspectives. We shared quite a lot of common topics and it’s just such a good feeling that you can learn more about a person and feel the click. I guess we may even have more to talk about now compared to 10 years ago.
Finally, we ordered the desserts. It was interesting how the server (or boss?! an interesting Italian guy) asked us once and never came back to take the order. I kinda liked that he was totally not pushy, so we could take our time to chat and drink, but yah, he should have followed up one more time.
Anyhow, here’re the desserts – key lime pie lemon meringue pie – VERY refreshing; and tiramisu – it’s airy and heavenly. FC’s friend was right. I think they make pretty darn good tiramisu. AWW… so full after.
Everything you see here + wine + tax & gratuity. Totally was about $120. It was a very good dinner at a cozy place. Overall servers are really friendly. Overall food quality was very good. Thank FC for suggesting this 😀
FYI: Tutto Bene
8133 Yonge Street, Thornhill, Ontario
Tel: 905-764-0199
I had a very good time, too. Sometimes I think the company enhances the dining experience and makes it that much more enjoyable.
The lobster bisque was quite good. It wasn’t as heavy as some that I’ve had at other restaurants, which was good because the flavour wasn’t overwhelming even until the last few spoonfuls.
There was also white wine in the sauce. Again I think the sauce was done just right — flavourful but not overwhelming! Like you said the texture of the pasta was also excellent. We really should’ve also taken a picture of all the empty clam shells.
One last thing, I think that was a lemon meringue pie!
Thanks Flo! Yah it was lemon meringue pie 🙂 Everything was good that night I’d say… which I haven’t had in a very long time.
Sounds great to hear you enjoyed your visit to Tutto Bene! My father is the head chef there, so I’m quite happy to hear that! =)