Being exhausted after a long train ride and a long weekend, we ended
up dining with just the three of us around the corner from hotel in
downtown Leeds at BIBI's Italianissimo.
Upon entering we were greeted by decor fixtures, disco balls turning,
columns of black and white glass lit from inside and enough to blind
anyone. There was a sign posted at the door about proper dress being
required. I really wonder what that means as men came in with shorts
and flipflops, but most people were dressed nicely.
We were seated on an upper level closer to the window and away from
much of the blinding glitz and Samuel promptly asked for Pizza (which
has meatballs, but he took them on the side). The pizza was a god size
one and he at every last bite, but it was truly a typical mediocre
pizza parlour type edition, no thin crispy crust a la Italia (or even
Two Amy's at home) here. I later tasted one of the meatballs and they
were mostly filler and extremely dry.
We ordered a bottle of delicious MAN VINTNERS PINOTAGE 2008 from
Coastal South Africa which had subtle spices and was probably best
with Will's PAPPARDELLE al CAPRIOLO e PORCINI, wide noodles with
Venison (he had some trouble finding the small amount of meat),
Porcini Mushrooms and a Parmesan Cream. It seems that most of the
pastas are Parmesan creamed and it results in a bit too much of
gloppiness. My PAGLIA e FIENO con SALMONE e RUCOLA were both Spinach
and Egg Pasta with some super SMOKED SALMON on top and Poached SALMON
within. The same parmesan cream resulted in a blob of pasta glop, and
the Rocket (Arugula) Pesto the menu said topped off the dish was
nowhere to be seen. Upon my first bite, I grabbed the huge peppermill
on the table and repeatedly dumped pepper on the dish as it had
virtually no taste save for the smoked salmon. I later mentioned this
(having left half of the huge portion in my bowl) and they did remove
it from the bill, but did not ever apologize or say a thing.
A side of Summer Sauteed Veggies was decent, but the side of SPINACH
in Garlic Olive Oil & Chllies seemed to have no garlic or chillies and
was, like my pasta, totally bland and unseasoned.
You can bet your bippy that BIBI's won't be in our book again.
