Belluci's

We initially hit Gemmayzeh with a plan to try out the French/Italian restaurant across the street from Paul. Except we were bummed out to find Le Georges’ sight under construction. The disappointment didn’t last long; sharing a wall was Belluci’s. We entered the out-of-date restaurant to enquire about their next-door neighbour, only to find out that the sister restaurant offered an identical food menu. Though Belluci’s looks (and sounds) like it should be Italian, its cuisine is predominately French. The menu boasts items like escargot and steak tartar, but as we were feeling extremely carnivorous, we opted for two French beef classics, the Steak au Poivre and the Tournedos aux champignons. The Steak au Poivre was succulent, cooked medium to well, as per my partner’s request, and aptly seasoned in a creamy umber coating. The sauce of my Tournedos was just as creamy but made thicker with the addition of mushrooms. Though each portion could have fed a person and a half, we had to restrain ourselves from licking our plates. The restaurant didn’t start to fill up until 10 and we then learned that a singer and pianist were going to perform shortly, as they do every night. Belluci’s could definitely do something about the démodé décor, starting with the distracting LCD screens playing Fashion TV. But the servers were certainly on top of things. When presented with the dessert list, we couldn’t resist. The thin apple tart was perfect – the apples and puff pastry baked just right and the caramel not overly sweet. It was served with a dwarfed side of vanilla ice cream and left our night as sweet as sin.

Meal for two with a bottle of wine: LL140,00

Belluci's (01 990040/50) Gouraud Str, Gemmayzeh. Daily 1.30pm-3.30pm; 8.30pm-11.30pm.