This fun, stylish Italian mixed with Japanese restaurant is hidden away at the Morrissey. Although you can see part of it from the roadside, to get to the entrance you would need to saunter up the curved drive of the hotel.
The Interiors are rustic, but comfortable and the restaurant is half indoors and half outdoors. My one regret is not taking photos of the inside during the daytime. I really fell in love with the eclectic way they managed to capture being inside and out and detach themselves from the busy city life on the other side. There are cafe style tables, wooden benches, gazebos, rocking chairs, suspended hammocks and they all work perfectly together to make up this quirky place.
We chose an outdoor table on a summery Friday night. A great choice. The weather was not too hot, not too cold and Friday night meant we were treated to a live band, who were excellent. They bashed out hits from Bruno Mars (he was super popular in Indonesia when we were there) and it added such a great vibe to the whole evening.
All the food we ordered was freshly made and tasted delicious. At first I thought it would be weird to be on an exotic South East Asian Island and sitting down for an Italian but it was just as good, if not better, than if we were to have one back home in Manchester. Better comes from the fact that as Indonesia is a muslim country, we could for once indulge in any of the meat and chicken options offered up on the menu.
Food done, we moved onto dessert. We were not disappointed. My dessert I have to say was a bit interesting, not in a bad way, but I’m a bit of a fussy eater and when I have an idea of something I want I’m not very accepting of someone putting a creative twist on it. I ordered a trio of Crème Brule’s (the word trio should’ve tipped me off right away that this wouldn’t be plain) and each pot, beautifully presented, was a different colour and flavour. There was orange, coffee and lime.
They were all lovely, but I am really boring when it comes to my sweet tooth and love everything to be vanilla, so personally I didn’t enjoy it as much as the ones we had in France. Mo however had ordered chocolate indulgence and to this day argues it is the best dessert he’s ever had. Chocolate profiteroles and a divine tiramisu we’re definitely the best choices we made all night.
A relaxed and satisfying evening and our first meal costing us over 1,000,000 (not pounds) but it was worth every cent. Every time I picture it, I hear the upbeat sounds of Bruno Mars echoing in my head and I instantly feel uplifted. I love it when something like a simple evening meal out, can leave such a good lasting impression.
http://www.ochaandbella.com/
