Ken's Birthday at Bel Parco

These were the suggestions from Ken as to where to go his birthday: 1. Sussex Centre food court - normally yes, but not for a birthday dinner... 2. Hooters - NO! 3. The Gentleman's Club - DOUBLE NO!!!

So Irene made an executive decision and chose Bel Parco, an Italian restaurant in the middle of Bicentennial Park. There was also a small wedding reception being held there that night so we were relegated to the "outside" tables. It was a cold night and we were all starving so we started off with some pizza crust to keep us going while we decided about our mains.

Pizza crust with garlic, rosemary & black olive paste

We all decided to go for mains and dessert with Patrick opting for entree and main.

Patrick closely guarding his freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters with eschalot vinegar and lemon

Between us we tried the lamb...

Wood roasted lamb rump with spinach, mushrooms and celeriac dumplings

the beef...200g aged beef fillet with potato gnocchi, spinach and porcini sauce

the quail...

Skewered quails, prosciutto and croutons with soft polenta and marsala, honey and lemon dressing

the salmon...

Wood roasted Atlantic salmon with cucumber. pink peppercorns, chervil and sabba

and pizza...

Hot salami, proscuitto, garlic, mushroom and onion

Although we were all stuffed by the time we finished the mains, we couldn't say no when the waiter offered us the dessert menu. Lynn and Ken both ummed and ahhed about which dessert to choose and they both ended up getting the (eggy!) berry gratin...

Summer berry gratin with vanilla gelato

Irene and Andy and Rush and I shared the dessert plate...

Bel Parco dessert plate for two with Chocolate & hazelnut torte with macademia and caramel gelato, Vanilla panna cotta with strawberry soup and berries and Traditional tiramisu

Yum!