Milano

Milano has always been a restuarant that I've walked right by when shopping along Queen St Mall. To be honest, I used it as a quick short cut from store to store. But then I heard they had a new pizza chef - born, bred and trained in Italy. I immediately accepted an invitation to dine here since I'm forever searching for decent Italian food in Brisbane.

Situated in the middle of Queen St Mall, Milano is an outdoor restaurant with the bar and high table seating at the front. Towards the back end are lower tables suitable for more intimate dining. Brisbane is blessed with great weather and this style dining is perfect for the bustling atmosphere of Queen St Mall.

View from the bar end of Milano 

Upon arriving at Milano, I got to speak to a few of the staff and found out some things about their new chef. Chef Pierluigi has been living in Australia for 4 and half years now and has been making pizza since his days in Italy. I've been told he has won the best Marguarita pizza in Australia. This I believe is quite an achievement as you cannot hide behind a margarita and is a true hallmark of a good pizza. All the pizza doughs are hand spun and thrown above the head to get an even consistency throughout the dough, something a rolling pin can't do. 

San Danielle – san danielle prosciutto, Buffalo mozzarella, torn basil, black pepper and freshly made tomato base.

This is a simple pizza with only a few ingredients. I could tell that the tomato base was made in house. I could really taste the fresh tomatoes in it. This was no store bought paste. I was happy with the amount of proscuitto but I would have liked there to be at least one basil leave per slice. There was only 4 on the entire pizza. But again I think Pierluigi was keeping it simple which I appreciate. The base was so soft but the crust was crispy and chewy at the same time. It was the perfect thickness considering the amount of topping. So this is what hand spun dough tastes like!

Gamberone – peeled fresh king prawns, garlic, diced fresh tomato, basil and mozzarella.

This king prawn pizza is hands down my favourite pizza to date. The prawns were crunchy and fresh, not the sort that you get at a chinese takeaway where the prawns have been brined out of its natural flavours. The fresh tomato reminded me of a perfectly seasoned bruchetta. I'm not a fan of fresh tomatoes so I was suprised at how much I enjoyed this. This pizza didn't have a tomato base but instead had garlic and cheese which added to the flavour of the pizza but didn't overpower the prawns. This is definitely a crown pleaser. 

Pannacotta – with Amerena cherries and black cherry sauce. 

 

To me, a panna cotta has always been the less impressive vanilla custard dessert. It's always less creamy than it's cousin the creme caramel and no textural wow factor like a creme brulee. So I hardly ever order it. This one however (again made in-house) was so creamy and there was no skimping on the vanilla beans. There was the right amount of gelatin so it maintained a nice creamy texture and didn't come out tasting like a cream based jelly.

I highly recommend Milano's for a great lunch or dinner option if you are in Brisbane city. It's got a great location at the top of Queen St Mall and definitely triumphs over any other pizza joint in the city. I'm keen to go back to try their pasta dishes now. While I'd love to have my meat lovers pizza from Pizza Hut any day, I wouldn't categorize that as proper pizza - just western fast food really. This here at Milano is the real thing and you have to try it.