La Strada

I'm having full faith in the Les Amis Group, since all my experiences with them have been disgruntlement-free so far. From splendid Au Jardin to the unparalleled Aoki to dandy Canele Patisserie, memories remain sweet and pleasant (: Next up: their italian counterpart.

La Strada offers a set lunch at $28++ (2 courses) or $34++ (3 courses), with three selections available per course.

In the bread basket was a decent ciabatta and wedges of their wood-fired pizza crusts smeared with tomato and herbs.

Butternut pumpkin soup

Memories were blurry from the few sips of butternut pumpkin soup i took, except it not falling into the too-thick or too-dilute extremes.

Smoked salmon with yogurt dill dressing

Smoked salmon is always my prime choice; even if this was just an average-joe smoked salmon salad comprising dressed mesclun, capers, mini croutons, balsamic glaze & olive oil drizzles.... Hmmm and was there supposed to be a yogurt dill dressing?

Char grilled 70 day grain-fed sirloin beef, mesclun salad, cream potatoes

Hearing the title of a '70 day grain-fed sirloin beef' is enough to make any beef-loving human smile. And indeed, the beef-lover across me spoke only praises of his tender, well-grilled steak served with creamy mash.

Pan-fried Salmon with mesclun salad, roasted new potatoes

For a non beef eater-cum-salmon fan like me, the choice is none other than a panfried salmon steak. La Strada's execution of the mundane dish was creditable... The skin was seared to a skillful crisp, flesh kept delicate, slightly rawish in the middle & pleasurably fat-laced ooooohhh. It's been a while since i had a decorous salmon steak like that.

Tiramisu

Their puffy light tiramisu-in-a-teacup was decent at best, without distinctly stunning details.

Orange ice nougatine

The orange ice nougatine was essentially a mascarpone parfait with chockfull of nuts & candied fruits, set over a chocolate feuillete base. I liked the nutty textures and christmas-y feel attached to it... makes me wanna sing the chipmunk song haha. Eat it quick before you start to see a grossly melted mush on your plate.

Planning to return for a taste of their famed pastas.

La Strada
1 Scotts Road
#01-10/11 Shaw Centre
6737 2555

Dolce Vita

Sweeeeet Italian cuisine on my birthday.

I knew for myself how a dinner of bread & pasta would gratify so i fluttered down to Dolce Vita to effectuate it. Chef Marco Pedrelli totally charmed me over that evening with his upstanding Mediterranean fare & sincere affability to boot... Life is sweet indeed.

Dinner here can be a formal or relaxed affair, depending on your choice. Dining by the poolside bodes a calming retreat but i chose the warm interiors instead. Either way you're assured of laudable service from Mandarin Oriental's groomed waitstaffs.

The Olive bread had ciabatta's crust, but moister clingier insides. Escorted by a trio of sun-dried tomato paste, evoo+balsamic & flavored salt dips.

Amuse Bouche came in the form of cold cuts platter, sesame grissini & oil-marinated eggplant with capers. The cured meats sodium balanced in accordance to my liking. Twirl twirl twirl your Parma ham round the light grissini stick....

For mains, Linguine di Gamberi ($30) clinched an easy win. The prawns were sturdily enormous and strands spiced up in garlic-chilli olive oil glaze. I emphasize, glaze. Chef deployed a simple sticky viscous glaze to draw the dish's intensity. No sauce pools required.

My Spaghetti Marinara ($28) grasped similar execution. Seafood shelled primp & proper, glaze still as marvelous. A light coat was all it took for the strands to bloom in flavor... Every forkful released powers of evoo, garlic & savory tomato bodies yum.

Chef Marco insists all pastas to be handmade daily using a pasta machine hailed from Italy. His pasta is out-of-the-ordinary. Spaghetti comes Size L in full expansion, bearing firmer-than-usual bites... i totally took to this unique rustic rendition.

Stunning Olive Oil Macarons pre-dessert. Tender shells. Full-bodied EVOO fillings. These may change your perceptions of sweeetaphobic macarons.

Tiramisu ($14) was a literally neat slice (probably the neatest i've came across) binding firm mascarpone between thin sponge layers... there's even tiramisu icecream & almond biscotti to counter potential bitterness.

FRANGOLA- 14 year old balsamic-marinated sweet strawberries, vanilla cream, strawberry sorbet * Imagines strawberry chunks doused in black killer vinegar. oooh i got excited...

Until Frangola ($14) arrived on plateau and proved my apprehensions wrong. It was a good tart with almost-too-little yummy vanilla bean custard & toppings of strawberry slices interweaving white chocolate sheets. On the side a gummy Strawberry sorbet that pleased.

They ought to amend descriptions to "strawberry & white chocolate TART, vanilla custard, strawberry sorbet".

Then the restaurant successfully ambushed me with a slice of cake+song from the entire service team whoa before Chef's appearance with a red rose...... Really really sweeeeet of all of them!

*wish made, fingers kept crossed.

Chef & me (& rose) under unflattering incandescent lighting

This meal definitely climaxed my Nineteenth.

What can beat a birthday dinner with your favourite cuisine, a winsome chef & the person you love most in this world? Nothing comes close.

elaine had a happy, happy birthday...

Dolce Vita

5 Raffles Avenue

5F Mandarin Oriental Singapore

6885 3551

Lunching Wild (Rocket)

Things i like about chef Willin Low:

Abdicating his corporate status to pursue his heart instincts.

His unabating passion for cooking.

His courage to twine local nosh & western posh.

The unpredictability of his dishes.

Relish. Wild Oats. Wild Rocket.

I never had a boredom issue with Wild Rocket's menu. The 3-course Ala carte Lunch ($35++) is my running choice here. The cast changes periodically & newbies-on-probation often sound mismatchingly gripping. They make you go ?!! alot.

Check out: Bah kut teh wanton, foie gras ngoh hiang, salted duck egg pasta, bee tai bak, blue swimmer crab congee soup, hainan tomato relish, gong tng, sticky rice.... Slowly getting disturbing.

The foccacia bread seemed to have waned in standard. I remember it being dense & moist with savory cheese speckles dabbing its caps the last time, but now the virtues have vanished.

Five-spice Foie Gras ngoh hiang meat roll ($13.80)

How's a Foie Gras Ngoh Hiang for starter? Think French wave thwacked Peranakan Loh Bak. He swathes foie gras & five spice-marinated prawns in beancurd skin, then teamed caramelized onions & fresh granny smith sticks to cut some unctuousness. Culturally bizarre but interesting.

Pan-seared Tuna Rocket Salad ($12.50)

I thought they could have laid more semi-seared tuna, or maybe used a less canton-evoking ginger dressing to silence my grouses. Relish's got a similar version with 5 tuna slices.

Harji Pasta with Prawns ($5 supplement applies)

Fans of "har ji meen" would beam upon their special-of-the-day. The Hong Kong delicacy is done a notch classier by replacing egg noodles with fine angel hair slicked in minimal olive oil. The shrimps were crystal (my own term for crunchy, semi-pellucid prawns) but dried shrimp roe too little to shine.

Roast Chilean Seabass on light congee ($32)

On extremely rare occasions, i see grease in a different light.

Their Roast Chilean Seabass happens to fall in that pinhole. Fish oils + the oleaginous attributes of chai poh confit composed a flavor so scrumptious, that diluting it with uninspiring ketupat-like congee makes no prudent sense.

Personal note: Still loving Ember's CSB most! (:

Kueh Baulu Tiramisu ($9.80)

Kueh Baulu's versatility worked. The reappraised dessert tallies alcohol-moistened spongecakes, espresso icecream & mascarpone cream that's not unduly firm. 5 points for taste, 2 points for his witty substitute.

Wild Rocket Strawberry Cheesecake ($10)

Deconstructed food can be tricky. Consume each component individually & you're bound to condemn: Lemon mascarpone too thick, macerated strawberries syrupy sweet, maple icecream stings of saccharine (but i like it!), biscuit blocks boring.. A mouthful of any could tip the threshold.

My strategy: Take concerted spoonfuls of everything. Allow all the players to glister & flaws would conceal.

Willin conveys close-to-our-heart ingredients in contemporary makeovers, without elaborate sauces or presentations. His innovation is apparent but steep. And i'm not sure how long this risky fashion will continue to lick the boots of the crowd. One or two attempts are likely, but we cannot dismiss the tendency of Singaporeans reverting to no-frills hawker fare for best local comfort.

Even for me, i'll be more enthusiastic spending 40 bucks on a focused, less alloyed cuisine. Sad to say.

'The discovery of a new dish does more for the good of mankind

than the discovery of a new star.' How true.

Wild Rocket

10A Upper Wilkie Road

Hangout Hotel @ Mount Emily

6339 9448

Bella Pizza

Owner-chef Antonio remembers me from my first visit, just like how i wouldn't forget his swift service recovery. An enthusiastic greeting from the man pitched my second dinner at Bella... embellished by suave scenes of him helming the kitchen pans that night. Hah my thing for chefs.

The Calamari Fritti ($17) served with lime & arrabiata sauce proved cent-for-cent quality (do your translations). Looks like one whole plump squid had been sacrificed for these sizeable rings under a neither heavy nor crispy batter. Dieting squids can never evolve into such mean frittis.

I wonder how some people can candidly revel in the dark side. Bella's Tagliollini al nero de seppia ($19)= thunder lightning deepdown black to the extremes. Homemade pasta with cuttlefish, cherry tomatoes (oh how bright they were!) and black squid ink. Squid ink is tasty yes, at the expense of dining glamity.

Bella wouldn't be Bella Pizza without a reason. I struck a chord with Pizza Salmone ($20)- a highly decent combination of smoked salmon, shimeiji mushrooms and mozzarella. Base is fine between a pan-crust & thin-crust but a creamier breed of cheese would do better.

Not...Tiramisu again! Boring dolce eaters we are. This is probably the most aerated Tiramisu i've met. The mascarpone's been fully transformed into an air-pumped mousse and able to hold so well, im certain about gelatine in the works.

In situations of unabiding lightings like this, i'll rather slacken on photography to deeper focus on my meal. Antonio came over with some limoncello this time (we had champagne on the last), sensationally evaporative as a useful digestif... And all bad impressions washed away by his professionalism.

Three cheers for BellaP.

Bella Pizza
30 Robertson Quay
#01-14 Riverside View
6734 0139

Etna Italian Restaurant

Etna is impressive. Pleasant place, unbelievable pasta and a fabulous Italian PR manger overseeing your meal. I can't believe it has slipped past my notice for so long.

My meal unfolded nicely on a quiet weekday evening, where Etna's regulars soon began to fill in. What snuggled to me most was the strong Sicilian roots in their menu- expect to find Sicilian dishes, Sicily-imported ingredients and plenty of Sicily pistachio shadows here. Having Luigi to initiatively turn up the lightings for my camera was a bonus pleasure indeed.

Etna serves a basket of toasty olive-oil drizzled baguettes crunchy as croutons and embellished by sundried tomatoes & olives. I usually avoid those side salties but here they help eradicate the monotony of eating plain bread alone.

my top-it-yourself sundried tomato crostini

Spaghetti Vongole

Tagliolini Scampi

Here's the delicious homemade Tagliolini Scampi pasta which blew me away whoa. It wasn't so much the sight of enormous prawns (sadly lacklustre in taste) or undeniably vivid sauce... it was the amazing homemade Tag made so amazing. Every strand was poised of equal thinness, impeccably distinct and cooked adroitly aldente. Coats so well with the sweet robust sauce.

Love such opaque tomato sauces that drapes so naturally. And check out those fine quality strands...the best i've had so far. All in all a fantastic dish crippled by the lack of succulent seafood.

Pistachio Tiramisu

Luigi recommended the Pistachio Tiramisu for dessert and im further convinced by Etna's strength. Adding some nutty Bruno-imported green elevates the classic dessert out of its norm. The sticky pistachio layer diverts attention yet lends another dimension of richness to the vanilla-ry mascarpone. Only looking for a little more moisture here cos i prefer my tiramisus better soaked.

Taste can be a subjective matter. Anybody may disagree with my hyped-up satisfaction i'm certain i had a wonderful meal at Etna. With Luigi being one contributing factor (:

Update: (1st Sep 09) Received news from the management that Luigi has left the company.

Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

110 Upper East Coast Road

6444 9530

Da Paolo il Giardino

A little seclusion goes a long way... The discovery of this place wasn't instant. It took me several trips to Relish & a couple of gelato pickups from Da Paolo Gastronomia before i began to sniff its existence.

Deep down the side alley of Cluny Court was Il Giardino, an upmarket establishment of the Da Paolo group. Being clandestine was fully in their favour. The restaurant charms with receding privacy, complemented by capable staffs who proves to grasp their menu knowledge.

The bread basket came with little delay, housing slices of fresh baguette toasted to the brink. Baguette is baguette. I remain largely unprovoked as long as no delifrancey chewing challenge is involved. Or maybe a foccacia would jazz up better italian colors.

Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia

Black beware. Although veritably tasty of sea tang and aldenteness, the Spaghetti al Nero di Seppia ($26) had a killer black glow. Lips, gums and teeth were all unpardoned from its intense penetrating dye. The Darlie endorsers would avoid it like plague. Giardino insists, strictly a black napkin for this dish.

Tagliolini con Aragosta

I chose a clearly million times more diner-friendly pasta on my end and slurped up every pleasurable strand. Tagliolini con Aragosta ($28) featured their homemade egg pasta paired with generous chunks of lobster meat. The whitewine-sauteed crustacean and cherry tomatoes nicely incorporates with their substantially expanded tagliolini to become very delectable.

Tiramisu

When on to dessert, our boring choice wasn't as rewarding as anticipated. The restaurant's Tiramisu ($10) looked way too undersized to come from the Gastronomia and lacked most full-bodiedness the dessert should withhold.

I resorted to settling my sugar fix with a Passionfruit Gelato over at the Gastronomia. Melted real quick like lightning.

On days of hush business, this is the exemplary place to spend undisturbed with close company and italian pastas. I like this hidden nest i found (:

Da Paolo Il Giardino

501 Bukit Timah Road

#01-05 Cluny Court
6463 9628