Radii Restaurant

Address: Park Hyatt Melbourne, 1 Parliament Place East Melbourne
Phone: (03) 9224 1211
Website: http://www.radiirestaurant.com.au/

This is a nice restaurant with a funky, haphazard seating layout and fantastic service. Their kitchen is open, so you can walk past and eyeball the chefs' preparing your meal with fresh ingredients.

Appetizer/Soups

Pictured below: Mushroom soup with truffle oil and sauteed wild mushroom. This was a suprisingly good soup - the taste was just perfect, not too creamy, could taste the mushroom and those red herbs in the middle (looked like saffron) gave it added texture. Bellissimo! P.S. don't mind the blue tinge in the plates & food - it is a reflection from the ceiling.

From the Wood fire Oven: Corn-fed chicken breast, soft polenta, garlic spinach with madeira sauce (pictured below). This was my main and it was AMAZING! I ate everything on the plate and was tempted to lick it clean... the oven-baked chicken was obviously brushed with a marinate beforehand, giving it a light & crispy coating. The breast fillet was succulent - together with the spinach, polenta & sauce - heaven!

Main Course: Chorizo, calamari and saffron risotto (pictured below). This was not my main, but I was tempted to order it. The chorizo was kind of soggy and I really think there was too many fats & oils for a risotto which should really be light & fluffy with a flavoursome sauce base. The calamari did give an interesting texture to the risotto, and saffron added an aroma.

Dessert: Chestnut and chocolate truffle cake with marscapone cream (pictured below). A very interesting chocolate dish. The taste is almost like a bitter chocolate, the chestnut definitely changes and tampers with the conventional cocoa taste. It is only a small serve, and for good reason - but made fresh and definitely worth a try if you are not into your painstakingly-sweet chocolate desserts.

It is always a gamble with restaurants at hotels - even though it might be a 4 or 5 star hotel, the corresponding restaurants could always be a mile off, or nothing special at all. Dining at Radii was actually a real pleasure, the food was fresh, amalgamation of flavours constant and thought put into each dish. Thumbs up!