Bombolini

Neighbourhood: Downtown
Address: 326 Broadway Ave
Phone: 204-943-5066
Entrées: $16-$22

Nestled between brick buildings, this lower level spot is the casual sibling to fine dining restaurant Amici. The food is just as impeccable, and the attention to traditional Italian fare is just as detailed. For more than 25 years, Bombolini has had a reputation for quality, creative meals.
The room is dark but welcoming, exuding contemporary glamour. Often, diners studiously attempting to choose from the menu’s inviting selection cause the room’s hushed atmosphere.

With restraint and balance, the polished menu takes a trip through Tuscany, offering incredible pastas, seafood and succulent meat dishes using ingredients of the highest quality. Tuscan-style acqua cotta is a hearty, tomato-heavy mushroom fusion that is cheesy and comforting. Expect entrées to be made with precision by chef Todd Bjornson.

The menu covers a wide scope of Italian signatures. Those in the know share a pizza before digging into bountiful mains. Pizza con frutti di mare is an eight inch pie accessorized with plump shrimp, juicy scallops and topped with fried calamari, melting lovingly with pesto and goat cheese. A crackly crust is smothered in a thin layer of semi-sweet tomato sauce that complements savoury squid.

Beautifully balanced pastas like fettuccini con pollo blend flawlessly with an enlivening squeeze of lemon. Fettuccini is as smooth as a silk handkerchief, and grilled chicken is juicy and herby.

Crunchy pieces of asparagus interlaced with a rich but not heavy dill cream sauce, sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms make spaghetti alla primavera a potential to be an autumn staple. Flavours of roasted tomato in a pesto cream sauce take center stage in salmone al pesto e pomodori. Flaky salmon vibrant in colour is a worthy indulgence.

Bombolini is open Mon-Fri 11:30 am-9 pm, Sat 4:30 pm-10 pm, closed Sun.