Piccolino Restaurant, Birmingham

Last night, I had a chance to try out an Italian Restaurant near the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham called the Piccolino. My evening begin with their complimentary bread and a bottle of wine white, followed by a fresh fillet of cod, and ended sinfully with what we sometimes call, a molten lava cake. I didn't have any starters because I wasn't really up for any anti pasti or soup, and when he asked if I wanted salad, I (so naturally) screamed out 'NO!' and let out a loud eww too. I felt embarrassed because I really need to act more ladylike. But I'm not that kinda girl that would order salad on a date - or on any occasion. 

Piccolino is situated at a good location along Broad Street, only 2 minutes away from the Brindley carpark and although we paid £6 for about 3 hours for the parking, I couldn't complain! For a Sunday night, the restaurant wasn't too full. We were seated at exactly in the middle of the restaurant. It was quite disappointing to know that the restaurant had only 2 waiting staff on a weekend dinner service. I could see that our poor waitress, Aina, was swamped with orders. But still, she was such a sunshine. She kept smiling and she was really helpful.

Our food didn't take too long to come and I really did enjoy my Merluzzo Piccante (17.25). The roasted cod  was so fresh and the sprouted broccoli was cooked just to perfection, 'al dante'! I thought the piccante (spicy sausages) was an odd throw in with the fish at first, but it actually complimented the fish like butter with bread! Cod fish can be a bland dish, and although it has been infused with a thick salty butter sauce, the piccante brings them together.

The host recommended the dark chocolate almond tart for desserts but the (other) waiter (which looked as delicious as my dessert tasted) told me that the tart was made with almond extract and it tasted strong - something that I dont know how to appreciate YET.

So I went for the safer bet, warm chocolate fondant with vanilla ice cream. So.. my amour, it tasted as good as the waiter looked like. Don't get me wrong, Aina was a very beautiful waitress, but I can't help asking for the waiter with dark brown hair and deep set eyes. I wanted to strip them open and let the inside pour out, but of course, I only did it on my dessert. The hot lava poured out so beautifully I took awhile before I started digging in. The vanilla ice cream was quite different than any of the vanilla ice creams I've ever had. I wouldn't say it was the best, but it was good. It was different. A good change. But I can't go deeper into that, I was too caught up with my love sauce.

Tortino Al Cioccolato (6.25)

I would definitely go back again. All in all, Piccolino served proper food priced averagely (Birmingham rate) and request for Aina, she knows the menu like the back of her hand and she could recommend like she has eaten everything on it. She's Spanish btw, and she so kindly attended to our curiosity by showing us how to operate the ham machine.

Until the next time,
A.