Julio's Restaurant can easily be found through two entry points either through Hay St or Ventnor Avenue because of its ground-floor location. The Federation Queen Anne style heritage building where Julio's Italian is located was built in the year 1903.

Cooper and Oxley started the redevelopment of the building early last year and it was so exciting to see how they still housed the original brickwork and timber inside the restaurant. I was invited by Detail to have an Italian food night out at Julio's and the beautiful invitation came in a form of a herb bouquet.

Simonette the F&B Manager was very friendly and explained the full history of the building to us. She also mentioned that the original owner of Julio's dined at the restaurant and approved the authenticity of the Italian dishes that they crafted. That approval was huge because in 2008, Julio's won a Golden Plate Award for fine dining and not only that: Lady Gaga, Bono and Beyonce were among the celebrities that had once dined at Julio's. 

Once all the guests came, everyone was seated in a private dining room where the wooden table was decorated beautifully with light coloured flowers. From the start until the end of the event there was no shortage of food and it was worrying for my tummy because each dish was very tasty and enjoyable! 

Their mushroom arancini was very perfect and when I bit into the crispy skin, each ingredient worked in harmony and delivered an exquisite taste to behold. The same can be said with the highly in demand chips that was also served as part of our entree. The deliciousness of the chips inspired Andjelka from Yelp and Sarah from Detail to create a chips degustation dinner one day... ;D

With so many mains to choose from, I settled for the Wild Boar Pappardelle especially because I imagined it to be quite hearty and I love the broad size of the pappardelle. The house-made and hand cut pasta didn't disappoint at all, and it always makes me happy knowing how something so simple could taste so special. 

Lisa from Feather Horse shared her squid ink pasta with me! I was so happy that I could try that dish because it was very difficult to find squid ink pasta that was filled with so much flavour. Julio's rendition of the dish was very refreshing and light, two spoons just wasn’t enough to satisfy my palate.

There are two different gnocchi dishes that you can order from Julio's. Check out the pretty looking baked gnocchi in Napoli sauce served with mozzarella and fresh basil:

Our main meals were too delicious that I forgot that there's still the important part of the event, the dessert. Instead of letting us choose from the menu, Chef Simone Ariano served a dessert platter which contained all of Julio's best desserts!

From very refreshing and also Gluten Free warm limoncello caprese cake, open cannolo, ossolana cake with its light choc hazelnuts & milk mousse, to the jiggling saffron panna cotta served with raspberry jelly. Just like what Andjelka said, I think if allowed we could finish other people's dessert platters too... (oops).

I think Julio's Restaurant is on its way to regain its popularity after the redevelopment especially with the backing of delicious food and excellent service of their staff. I can't wait to once again hear and read some raving reviews about this Italian restaurant.