MI AMORE has been open for only a few months, but there is already a well beaten path to its door, judging by my visit.
We dined there early on a Saturday evening and it was virtually empty, apart from a couple tables, but I had never seen so many people arrive without a booking only to be turned away.
My wife and I were sitting at a window table and quite close to the front door, so we began a game of trying to guess if the next lot of arrivals would get in or be shown the door. It was a lovely summer’s evening, so that is perhaps why people were just drifting in while out for an evening stroll.
We were no good at guessing: some people strode forward, brimming with confidence as though they must have a booking, we thought, but were on their way again in no time. Others edged in, looking rather nervous and embarrassed, but had a booking all the time.
We gave up and asked a waitress what was going on and she explained that every table was booked – pretty good for a newish restaurant.
Mi Amore occupies the site of a former furniture store, I believe, but it now has a dash of the Mediterranean about it, with some pretty hanging baskets outside. It has plenty of room inside, with three sections to the dining-room and an upper floor area with a balcony which did not appear in to be use.
The menu had a traditional Italian look to it, but it still took us a long time to make our minds up as we were torn between several attractive dishes.
I went for Brodo di Gamberetto, a broth of tiger prawns with chilli, garlic, herbs and cherry tomatoes. For my wife, it was Mozzarella Milanaise – deep-fried breaded mozzarella with a pomodoro sauce.
We both liked the sound of these dishes so much that we made a pact to share them. It’s a good job we did because my wife fell in love with the big, juicy prawns in my dish as soon as they arrived. Everything worked well with the broth, with its generous portions of prawns and tomatoes in a delicious thick sauce. It was a nice combination of tastes with a spicy kick.
In contrast, the cheese starter was a smooth and subtle beginning to our evening, nicely turned out, with the tomato and garlic sauce complementing it well.
We couldn’t help but notice that things were simmering away nicely on the table next to us with a lively debate about the Union Terrace Gardens controversy.
They were working up quite a thirst, we thought, which made us notice it was high time our empty glasses were replenished, but the waitresses tonight were not asking if we wanted more drinks and we kept having to attract their attention.
More difficult decisions for mains, until we finally settled on fillets of sea bass with fresh parsley and lemon olive oil, and Sambuca-flamed veal with asparagus and Parma ham.
My wife asked if she could replace her roast potatoes with sauteed potatoes, which were listed as a side order. The waitress said it would be no problem. I queried what I would be getting and I was happy with roasted potatoes.
Although the main dishes looked fine when they arrived, something had gone awry with the potatoes: despite our attention to detail with our potato order, we ended up with a double portion of sauteed to share – not a sign of my roasted potatoes. This seemed a bit half-baked.
The sauteed potatoes, though plentiful in number, were not quite what we expected, either. We thought they would be of the chunky, fluffy and crispy variety, but this Italian version consisted of uniformly thin round potato slices which reminded us of what you see in the frozen-chip section of you local supermarket. We didn’t say anything – when in Rome, as they say.
Despite that small gripe, I have to say the mains were excellent. I enjoyed my two plump fillets of sea bass and my wife’s veal was certainly the more exotic of the two, with a distinctive sweet Sambuca sauce blending well with the thin slices of meat.
We finished with a pair of Italian classics – a whopping portion of tiramisu for me and a mouthwatering creamy pannacotta, which my wife fell in love with.
While awaiting the bill, which came to £72, including drinks, one of the waitresses brought us a drink on the house, a couple of amarettos, which rounded things off nicely.
Mi Amore means “my love” in Italian. It seems a lot of people are falling in love with Mi Amore from what I could see.
Mi Amore, 80-82 Huntly Street, Aberdeen. Phone 01224 639198.