Eating as a Member....Bella Collina Country Club!

A few months back we decided to join a Country Club near where we live called Bella Collina. It is a gorgeous community.  Unfortunately it does not have a lot of residents yet, so they are trying to up the attendance at the Club House.


Since we love to go out and eat; we visited to give it a try. Of course it was beautiful and the food had a lot of promise. We joined and began enjoying visiting the club.

Recently they hired a new chef, Chef Lauren. We were very excited as we were not 100% happy with the food quality we had on previous visits. We were more than surprised recently on our Christmas visit. They completely revised the menu and improved the food quality by leaps and bounds.....which inspired me to write a small review of the Main Dining Room.

Before I review the dining experience and food, I must say the Clubhouse and community itself is absolutely beautiful. It looks like they picked up a part of Tuscany and transported it to Central Florida. I tried to take some pictures of the fountain at the entrance of the Dining Room.......(They did not come out to good) but I am sure I will have another review as we move past the Holidays.

So.....for our first course we chose, Empire Fried Calamari with Jalapeno Love Butter and Hearty Green Salad. Both were very good and generous portions.

Second course was Crespelle; crepes with ricotta, butternut squash, cream and pancetta cracklings. YUM! It was very tasty we all pasted it around and enjoyed the fantastic flavor.

Oddly enough, we all chose the same entrée. The servers, Angie and LeDallas, did such an exceptional job at explaining the fish which none of us had heard of, we all decided to order it.

Pan seared Australian Hiramasa with cous cous, vegetables, fennel and a fabulous beurre blanc.  This left us all full and satisfied.

So......this Hiramasa fish was good. The staff told us information about it, and we had never heard of it. Of course, I had to research it. Apparently, it is called Kingfish or Cobia. Not to mysterious now, but at the time, I was intrigued.  Either way, I was more than happy with my entrée.

We did have dessert; a Lemon Meringue Crostata with an almond crust and crème anglaise. It had a wonderful lemon flavor with a light and fluffy meringue. But the almond crust had so hard, it was practically inedible. I wasn’t too upset though.......I was so full!

At the end.....we met the Chef; she is a fabulous person with a lot of terrific experience. I am really looking forward to see what new menus she comes up with throughout the new year.

So I am off, in search of more corks and forks…....Here's to a Fantastic 2010!!!