Fiore is an Italian inspired restaurant located in the heart of South Granville. They curate a seasonal menu and wine list, and use fresh local ingredients in their dishes.
The restaurant is beautifully appointed with candles at the tables and a quiet jazz playing in the background. It is a lovely spot for a date night with some authentic Italian fare.
This is one of their signature items. They offer it in three sizes at three different price points ($20/$40/$60). We went with the $40 option.
The items on this platter are always changing – keeping with the restaurant’s philosophy of using seasonal ingredients.
The platter is visually stunning and hefty in portion size. The stand outs were the basil arancini with rhubarb mostarda and house sausage. Both were served pipping hot and the arancini in particular was a ball of delicious cheesy goodness. The grilling of the sausage added a nice smokey flavour and the crumbly sausage went well with the slices of toasted Focaccia bread.
This pizza ate more like a flatbread as the base was quite crunchy. There was an abundance of vegetables on this pizza, and the cream didn’t overwhelm any of the freshness from the vegetables. We added pancetta, but in hindsight it was unnecessary as the pieces were small and few in between and did little to add to the overall flavour of the pizza.
We tried two pastas and we went with tomato bases for both to balance out the cream based pizza.
Our unanimous favourite was the Prawn Spaghetti. The prawns were plump and fresh and expertly prepared. I love being able to pop the whole prawn in my mouth without having to worry about shells and tails. The lemon added a refreshing tart note to the pasta that I enjoyed.
At this point we were several glasses of wine in, and full to bursting. However, we decided to share the granita for a light finish. This granita was definitely basil forward, and I don’t think it would be something I would get again.
Overall, dinner at Fiore is an experience. It is not a place to go if you’re in a hurry. The service was friendly and knowledgeable. Our server explained the different components of the dishes to us and recommended a few of his favourites to us.
Fiore is a great little spot for date night. The antipasti platter is a must, and their wine selection is excellent. If you’re a fan of negroni’s, they have a Negroni lounge offering 10 variations on the classic cocktail!