Basso Cafe, CBD, Melbourne

So exciting, my first entry for 2010!  Happy New Year to all my blog readers.  I am so looking forward to trying out some new places this year and telling you all about them. 

Having had a week or so off during the Christmas and New Year, I am now getting back into eating out again.  And today, I was off out for lunch...

Love thin crust pizza?  Looking for a good lunch option for under $10?  Then look no further than Basso.  For under $10, or $9.80 to be precise, you can pick up two square slices of pizza AND a glass of wine or a soft drink.  Now that is a bargain in my book!!

This place is located just inside 'The Georges Building' on Little Collins (on the East side of Swanston Street).  Recommended by a friend for a cheap lunch option, I decided it was too good an opportunity to miss. 

Walking inside The Georges building, my friend led me past the ground floor tables and chairs of the Basso cafe and towards some steps just off to the right hand side.  To the left at the bottom of the stairs, we were faced with a slightly robust looking statue of a round faced lady wearing an old-fashioned Victorian style chefs hat holding a chalkboard prompting diners to, 'Take a voucher for your free drink'.

After picking up a voucher, we proceeded to the long counter lined with large rectangular trays of pizza after pizza.  Here, they serve traditional neopolitan style pizza's which are freshly baked on a daily basis.  The selection is huge and they all looked utterly enticing. 

The chalkboard on the wall lists a choice of different pasta with an array of sauces, risottos, salads and mains including t-bone steak and parmigiana.  The choice really is immense.

Having chosen our pizzas, we gave our order to the guy behind the counter who gave us each a piece of paper with the number '21' written on it and our chosen pizza slices.  We went to pay at the end of the counter, picked up our free drink and proceeded to our designated table - number twenty-one.  All we had to do now was to wait for our heated up pizzas to be brought to us.

My friend went for a slice of 'Meatlovers' (on the left below) and a 'Feta and spinach'.  Both of which looked good. 

I chose the 'Volcano' which is topped with capsicum, olives and chilli; and the 'Calabrese', which is topped with mild calabrese salami and olives.  The 'Volcano' was surprisingly rather spicy, more so than I expected it to be actually.  So if you can't take spicy, then I would avoid this one on that basis.  The 'Calabrese' was scrumptious with delicious slices of salami and black olives.  It served as a nice non-spicy follow on to the Volcano slice. 

Basso is a great place for an 'express lunch' for under $10 and other great Italian options too.  It was pretty noisy during this busy work day lunchtime between midday to one-thirty, so if you want a more serene lunch hour, I'd recommending getting here after one o'clock or before midday for an early lunch. 

Basso Cafe
The Georges Building, 195 Little Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC 3000
Tel:  +61 (0)3 9650 0077 

Mon-Thurs: 7:30am-5pm
Fri: 7:30am-8pm
Sat & Sun: 8am-4pm

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