Italian dinner at Buon'eatalia- Hasselt

Buon'eatalia is an Italian restaurant situated in the center of Hasselt. It is a very big restaurant, though very cosy and nicely decorated. Buon'eatalia has been around for some time now, and I have to admit that my first impressions (some years ago) weren't that good. I visited the restaurant around 3 times when it first opened in 2016. The dishes I ordered were either okay or not that good. That is why I kind of avoided the restaurant for the last 4-5 years. Though, lately, I had been seeing more and more people posting about it on their Instagrams and their dishes looked really good. So, I went to try it out again together with my sister and dad.

I had always loved the interior of the restaurant as it is very chique but still takes you back to Italy, in some sort of way, through the black and white picture wall with Italian photographs all over it. There is also a lot of beautiful art works all over the restaurant and the lamps they use is very lovely too. We were helped by a Spanish waitress who was very friendly and enthusiastic.

For our food we ordered the following things:

• Dad: Orechiette with artisinal slightly spicy fennel sausage and spinach (€18)

• Sister: Tagliata of tuna with sesame seeds, mashed potatoes, oxheart cabbage and melted tomato (€29)

• Me: Risotto with mushrooms (€17)

We all enjoyed our dish, especially my dad who was a big fan of his pasta. For me personally, there were a little bit too much mushrooms in my dish. I know it sounds weird, but I prefer a dish to have more of the main component (in my case risotto) in it than the extra ingredients, otherwise the extras will overpower the main dish. The mushrooms were also a bit salty, which in turn made the entire dish salty. I asked my sister and dad to try it as well, but they weren't bothered by the saltiness of the mushrooms, so it really was something personal. Though, that doesn't mean that I didn't like my dish. It was still good and I would have liked it even better if there were less mushrooms in it. My sister's Tagliata was also really good and she enjoyed every bit of it, especially the mashed potatoes.

My dad and I went for a dessert as well. He ordered a Panna cotta with strawberries and I ordered a Scroppino with limoncello. Scroppino is a dessert that looks like a fancy slushie made from lemon sorbet, vodka and (optionally) Prosecco. Both desserts were yummy and perfect to end of the night. The Scroppino was very fresh and exactly what I needed. I also like the fact that if you let it sit for a couple of seconds, at the end, it turns into liquid and you just drink it.

Overall, I can say that Buon'eatalia really stepped up their game and I like their cuisine better than 4 years ago. It is the perfect place for a family dinner or even a date with your boyfriend or girlfriend.

A bientôt!

Bisous