Stefano's Restaurant Mildura

This afternoon a group of us flew up to Mildura, located in the north western part of Victoria along the border with New South Wales, for a work meeting we are having tomorrow. Since today is my director Sean's birthday we decided to celebrate by having dinner at Stefano's Restaurant in the cellar of the Mildura Grand Hotel. Owned and run by chef Stefano de Pieri, he cooks Italian food using seasonal and fresh produce.

We had the five course Italian style set menu for $99 per person. This degustation started with fried calamari with a light rocket salad. Next we had a beautiful spinach souffle with pesto and truffle oil. It was full of flavor and my favorite dish of the night. The third course was a simple pork ravioli with a cream sauce.

Our fourth and main dish was a perfectly cooked rump steak with green beans, very flavorful roasted potatoes and an almond puree. Even after these four courses I didn't feel too full as the serving sizes were just right and they spaced out each dish so you could enjoy it. For dessert we had a really lovely vanilla custard in a cinnamon flavored small filo pastry bowl with a fresh piece of mango on top. As a bonus they brought us out some handmade chocolates to finish off the night.

Overall it was a really tasty meal with excellent service in the unique surrounds of the historic cellar restaurant. If you are ever in Mildura I would recommend eating there or at any of the other venues Stefano runs in town.