Senso Ristorante & Bar

I have nothing but praise and more praise for Senso Ristorante!

Excellent service right from the start, our waiter was attentive and knowledgeable about the menu. Classy and romantic ambience perfect for a date, so why was I there with my girlfriend haha. Fresh and well executed Italian cuisine, it was a flawless meal and I enjoyed every last bite of it.

We started with the complimentary bread basket and a fava beans with eggplant caponata amuse bouche. I skipped the bread as usual but the girlfriend polished off more than her share of the focaccia. Starter of pan-seared tuna and more of that delicious eggplant caponata was thoughtfully served in two individual portions since we were sharing it (more restaurants should learn that neat little trick to win the hearts of diners).

I still look back and think of my roasted cod fondly, so plump and juicy (her comment that ”the oil will burst out in your mouth!!” makes me laugh lol), happy sighhh. Note to self: ask for less mash and more puree next time. Her seafood linguine is nice too if you are into pasta (I’m not, unless it’s ravioli/tortellini). Contrary to popular belief, girls do not like to share desserts so we each ordered a tiramisu (never say we girls can’t eat). Smart choice it was, as the tiramisu was too lovely to be shared! And we were surprised with two glasses of sweet dessert wine on the house, so dinner ended on a super sweet note!

Mediterranean Tuna ($26++)
pan-seared tuna medallions with sesame seeds on eggplant puree and eggplant ‘caponata’

Cod Fillet ($40++)
gently-roasted cod served on potato mash, eggplant puree and green asparagus

Linguine ($30++)
pasta with mixed seafood in sardinian vermentino white wine sauce

Tiramisu ‘Senso’ ($14++)

Senso Ristorante & Bar
#01-01, 21 Club Street
6224 3534

Read Full Post »

Dolcetto by Basilico

I really like Dolcetto by Basilico!

Housed in a quiet corner of The Regent Hotel, Dolcetto is the sorellina of popular Italian restaurant Basilico, in town yet far farrrrrrr (especially if you walk from Orchard MRT) away from the hustle and bustle. Though it’s operating as a takeaway gourmet deli, there’s comfy tables and chairs strategically placed outside for customers who wish to dine-inout.

I’ve been lusting after the squid ink panini for ages, and the real thing didn’t disappoint! Sure, the fillings of king crab and prawns were downright miserly, but the splendidly black sandwich was extremely fresh and tasty. Another savoury hit was the spinach gorgonzola torta rustica, hearty and robust. I was really happy that we chose this even though quiches and cheesy tarts are never high on our foodie wish list!

Don’t leave Dolcetto without desserts, please. That will be too cruel. There’s plenty of pretty pastries and cakes on display; take your pick! Petite hazelnut aragostina was impossibly flaky and crispy, with lusciously smooth ferrero rocher-ish cream within. There’s also a version piped with pistachio cream, I want that next!!

And saving the best for the last, there’s an unpretentiously moist and lovely fig cake that’s absolutely a must-try! The other day, while I was editing the photo of the fig cake, my sis walked past and suddenly exclaimed, “I want to eat that again!”~ I guess that nicely sums up how we feel about this simple but no less delicious buttery treat!

Squid Ink Panini with King Crab and Prawns ($13)

Spinach and Gorgonzola Torta Rustica ($10)

Fig Cake ($8)

Hazelnut Aragostina ($2.25)

Dolcetto by Basilico
1 Cuscaden Road
Lobby Level The Regent Singapore
6720 8000

Read Full Post »

La Pizzaiola

I wanted to like La Pizzaiola but I didn’t.

Rather bland and oily, the pumpkin ravioli was nothing compared to Pasta Brava’s wickedly gratifying version. Pizza was not bad with a thin crust, though I’m bothered that they don’t do boring smoked salmon here, haha. On hindsight, getting the specialty whole grain pasta was not too smart; the same pizza crust covered a medley of cooked brown pasta, potatoes and lots (and lots) of cheese. If that’s not an overload of carbs and cheese, I don’t know what is.

Tortelli Di Zucca ($13.90++)
hand-made pumpkin ravioli, butter, sage, parmesan

Pizza Mortadella ($17.90++)
tomato, mozzarella, Italian cured sausage

Pizzaoccheri Della Valtellina ($13.90++)
hand-made whole grain pasta, butter, sage, potato, cheese

La Pizzaiola
15/3 Jalan Riang
6282 5031

Read Full Post »

Bella Pizza

Google “best pizza in Singapore” and you will likely come across Bella Pizza.

I wonder why though, as the pizza salmone ($22++) was so-so, hmm…

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

Read Full Post »

Stiff Chilli

When I received the tasting invitation from Stiff Chilli, I thought the name sounded familiar. Turned out there really was such a restaurant a few years ago! Reopening in Singapore again after a 3 years hiatus, Stiff Chilli is actually an Italian chain originating from Bali.

Because we tried so much food and had food coma at the end, there’s understandably bound to be hits and misses…

Dinner started with the classic Neapolitan eggplant parmesan, so so delicious that I single-handedly finished this! In fact, I think this was my favorite that night. I usually don’t like heavy cheesy stuff, but I requested for less cheese this time and hit the jackpot! Tuna salad was boring, even the most culinary-challenged can easily replicate this at home with canned tuna. Far from being watery and diluted, the mixed seafood soup had plenty of rich flavours, niceeee.

I seldom rave about pizza, but the hand-rolled in-house crust here was incredibly paper-thin, almost like Skinny Pizza! My vote went to porcini (can’t resist anything with truffle, heh); his to speck, the house signature. We like the briny squid ink pasta unanimously; the rest was nothing memorable. The only main we tried was the salmon interestingly paired with pink lobster sauce, but pity it was a tad overcooked so I won’t say go for it.

Out of all the desserts served, I love the molten chocolate cake most. Soft tender cake encasing a generous flow of liquid chocolate, I haven’t had such a good lava cake in a long time! Oozing decadence it was, ahhh. On the other end of the spectrum, we took a bite of the tiramisu and it was enough. Hope I don’t need to be any more blatant than that, haha.

Parmigiana di Melanzane ($13+)
baked eggplant, basil, parmesan cheese, tomato sauce

Insalata di Tonno ($12+)
mixed salad, tuna chunks, onions, olives, capers, extra virgin olive oil

Zuppa di Pesce ($12+)
mixed seafood soup

Speck ($21+)
double smoked mountain ham, gorgonzola, mozzarella cheese

Porcini ($21+)
pesto, porcini mushrooms, truffle olive oil

Frutti di Mare ($22+)
tomato, mozzarella cheese, mixed seafood

Tonarelli all’Inchiostro ($18+)
homemade squid ink pasta, smoked marlin sauce

Cappelini AOP e Petto d’ Anatra ($18+)
angel hair pasta, garlic, chilli, duck breast

Ravioli di Zucca Burro e Salvia ($18+)
stuffed pumpkin pasta, butter-sage sauce

Ravioli di Mare all Moda ($18+)
stuffed seafood pasta, seafood reduction

Filetto di Salmone Cremolato ($24+)
pan-fried salmon, mixed salad, pink lobster sauce

Homemade Gelato ($7.50+)
mangosteen sorbet, chilli chocolate

Special Gelato ($9+)
coconut and mango, chocolate and vanilla, pineapple sorbet

Tiramisu ($10+)
coffee, mascarpone cake

Stiff Chilli Lava Cake ($10+)
molten chocolate cake, vanilla ice cream

Special thanks to Kelis for the kind invitation!

Stiff Chilli
279 Jalan Besar
6297 5509

Read Full Post »

Peperoni Pizzeria @ Greenwood

Pizza time at Pepperoni Pizzeria! I can always count on restaurants under the Les Amis Group for a good meal~

XXL family – prosciutto & funghi (ham, mushroom); salmon (caramelised onions, capers)

Pizzas here are divided into medium (9 inch, $19++), large (12 inch, $23++) or family size (21 inch, $50++), and it’s great that they allow 2 flavours per pizza.

Thin crispy crust, generous fresh toppings, no wonder this place is such a hit!

Large – pancetta (cured bacon, sliced tomatoes, soft egg); frutti di mare (prawns, clams, scallops, squid rings)

Peperoni Pizzeria @ Greenwood
6 Greenwood Avenue
Hillcrest Park
6465 6556

Read Full Post »

Ochre

With the 1-for-1 coupon from last week’s Sunday Times, our 4-course dinner ($68+) at Ochre was great value for money!

Excellent service as well; we were well pampered from start to end.

Started with the complimentary amuse bouche, mini seared tuna.

Marinated salmon with anchovies.

The spaghetti aglio olio with prawns and mussels was nicely al dente. Ravioli and tortellini are the only type of pasta I really like so it’s a surprise that I actually finished the whole dish!

Default fish dish on the menu: barramundi.

My request to change it to cod was approved, yay me and the chef!

It may be hard to believe, but I haven’t had a tiramisu for weeks! Craving finally satisfied here.

So-so vanilla panna cotta.. More firm than melt-in-the-mouth soft.

Admittedly, the food was just alright, nothing especially memorable. I was very calm throughout; no squeals of excitement at any one time, haha. But really, for that kind of pricing, one could do much worse!

Ochre
#11-03 Orchard Central
6634-0423

Read Full Post »

Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

I celebrated my birthday at Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria a few days ago. Food was good in general, company was even better! The best, actually

The complimentary olive bread had a kueh-like texture that I like!

We were a table of 4, and 3 of us voted this homemade panzerotti pasta with porcini mushroom stuffing ($22++) as our favourite! The cream sauce ain’t too heavy and the portion was perfectly manageable.

The one lone vote went to the scallop linguine in a pink lobster sauce ($24++), haha.

Etna’s pizzas can easily feed 3 to 4 people comfortably and interestingly, there’s a choice of either ”red” (tomato and mozzarella cheese base) or “white” (minus the tomato).

I picked a white one topped with cured tuna roe, scallops and smoked swordfish ($32++). Seemed good on paper but ahhh, it was sodium overload. Tooooo salty!

Etna’s tiramisu is different from others. Here, it’s a pistachio tiramisu ($10++), a specialty from Bronte in Sicily. I love this, from the layer of pistachio cream in the middle to the sprinkle of nuts on top! Of course, the regular tiramisu is also available but why not try something new for a change?

We also tried the molten chocolate lava cake ($10++) since one dessert is never enough, hee.

 Sadly, nothing oozed out when I cut it open and the centre was barely molten. Just plain old chocolate cake with plain old vanilla ice cream.. And you know how I feel about vanilla ice cream without any real vanilla beans in it, don’t you? It’s just not right~

I’ll give this a pass next time. For there will be a next time!

Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria
49/50 Duxton Road
6220 5513

Read Full Post »

Procacci

I’ve been wanting to go to Procacci at Customs House since last year but this popular restaurant is always full to the brim! Learn from my mistake please, don’t even think of securing a table without a reservation! Anyway, I finally had a chance to taste see what’s the hype is all about when I received an invitation to try out Procacci’s new ala carte menu recently.

One will surely be spoilt for choice by the restaurant’s comprehensive wine list! No surprise, really, since Procacci is brought to Singapore from Europe by a group of wine connoisseurs.

The new menu offers plenty of options under antipasti (appetisers, from $15++ to $30++), primi (pasta, from $28++ to $50++), secondi (meat and seafood, from $34++ to $75++), and dolce (desserts, from $15++ to $18++). I tried two from each category and most were good, a couple was forgettable, but none was bad.

Lunch started off unexpectedly well with an octopus carpaccio ($32++).

Now, I have an aversion to all things chewy (read: squid, octopus, abalone etc) so I was already expecting myself not to like it.

But wow, this elegant starter topped with crunchy carrots and caviar blew my mind away! Texture of the thinly sliced octopus was so sooo tender and soft, nothing rubbery at all. If there’s a dish I’ll come back for, this may be it!

Compared to the carpaccio, the tuna tartar ($25++) came across as ordinary though it was very fresh. Love the bed of tangy artichoke salad underneath and I wish there’s more of that to accompany the raw tuna!

 Read my blog often enough and you’ll know that I’m not a rice person. So for me to say that a rice dish is good means I’m suitably impressed. And impressed I was by this rich and creamy risotto flambé with white wine, lemon zest, mascarpone and grilled scallops ($33++)! It’s exactly how I like my risotto to be — firm and a little on the hard side so there’s still some bite to it.

On the other hand, I pretty much left the whole lot of taglierini with spanner crab meat ($30++) untouched on the plate. Somehow, the flavour of the bisque sauce didn’t agree with me and the handmade pasta was too tough.

For mains, there was the marinated grilled scampi served with spinach souffle and salad ($75++). I couldn’t ask for anything fresher than those delectably sweet scampi and the spinach souffle was interesting! Think of the filling in quiche sans the pastry; a little eggy and so well-seasoned, absolute YUMS~ 

Then there was the blue-eye cod ($42++) served al cartoccio — wrapped and baked in paper with mussels, capers and olives. I didn’t even need to chew since the fish was meltingly tender and just disintegrated in the mouth. So simple, yet so good!

P.S. It’s actually supposed to be red snapper on the menu but I was offered the cod instead as the snapper was unavailable that day. Lucky me!!! I may be wrong, but I don’t think a red snapper will yield the same melt-in-the-mouth result as the super oily cod.

For desserts, you can’t go wrong with the my favourite tiramisu ($15++).

For something more unique, we also had the vanilla semifreddo ($17++). Though the texture was smooth with crunchy bits of almonds, it was really hard like a frozen block of ice cream.. I definitely prefer the classic tiramisu!

Yay, another good Italian restaurant found in Singapore! Gonna bookmark this place for future noshing outings

My sincere thanks to Melissa, marketing manager of Procacci, for the invitation!

Procacci
70 Collyer Quay
#01-04 Customs House
6532 9939

Read Full Post »

Cacio e Pepe

I was prepared to like Cacio e Pepe after a close friend recommended it to me and after reading several positive reviews online. Well, Cacio may have won many diners over but too bad, I’m not one of them since the food is just average to me and not worth going the distance for..

I was extremely disappointed with my crab and lobster stuffed pasta ($25+)! The homemade marinara sauce was terribly salty, sigh.

Squid ink spaghetti ($22+), another salty one. 

This tagliatelle tossed with scallops and prawns in truffle cream sauce ($24+) was the best out of all. It’s very flavourful and rich, and tends to get a little surfeited near the end.

I needed sugar to neutralise the overdose of salt on my palate so tiramisu ($12+) it was! Unfortunately, I had to mark this down cuz it only had one layer of mascarpone cheese and ladyfingers.. Prefer at least two for more contrasting texture!

Cacio e Pepe
4 Rochdale Road
6281 1905

Read Full Post »