Italian food in Singapore

Christmas parties are everywhere. And I’ve been attending some since the start of December, and honestly, if I see another attempt to kiss under the mistletoe, I’ll surely puke. Seriously, how old are we guys? Those kinds of things only happen when you’re in high school anxious to have your first kiss. Now that we’re old, that’s called desperation. Good thing that these parties serve great food. The other night, one department party that I attended was serving Italian food.

Wow. There was so much food at that party. Gone are the days when office parties mean a cup of iced tea and a wrapped sandwich. These days, the more food they have, the better. Some of these parties are even catered. Aside from the exchange gifts and raffle prizes, food is one reason why I attend these parties. Plus, it’s always nice to see your superiors getting drunk.

My friend and I were discussing during lunch today what we should do for our group’s annual Christmas party. We always do themed parties every year and my friend and I are always in-charge of the food. We’re eating at this nice Italian restaurant that’s known for its wood-fire oven pizzas. I also heard that all their ingredients are flown from Italy. I don’t usually to around this neighborhood since it’s far from where I live, but I love eating here because they really serve good Italian food.

For an Italian restaurant, the prices here are a little bit higher than where we usually hang out. I did order their salad with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. My friend and I just shared it because we’re making room for the pizza and pasta.

What I like about Italian food is that you can recognize the ingredients. I mean, if it’s mozzarella cheese, you’ll see a mozzarella cheese. They don’t hide or pretend to be something else. I was a little bit disappointed with their gnocchi. I couldn’t really taste them with the tomato sauce and the mozzarella cheese. Their seafood pizza was the usual. What I like about the pizza more than the toppings is that you know that the dough was freshly made.

I think we both agreed that we’re definitely cramming for this party. Finding a caterer who’ll say yes last minute will be a nightmare for the both of us. And still we couldn’t decide if we’re doing classic Italian food or western, or maybe we could go Indian this time? By the way, no one told us yet what the theme of the party is.

Whimsical Italian Food

This is what the owners of this restaurant want us to believe. That dining in their restaurant means catering to our utmost desires of Italian food. We were so intrigued by it, and honestly for all my years in Singapore, this is the first time that I’m eating here. It was supposed to be a great gastronomical experience.

The restaurant is found at the Tahjong Pagar area. My friend reserved for us, because we don’t want to go all the way there and finds out that we don’t have a table. It was lunch time when we arrived. They only open at specific time so for people who are interested, make sure to have your reservations. I’m lover of Italian food. I eat and breathe anything Italian. I can’t say that I’m an expert, but when it comes to pizza and or pasta, I can honestly say that I can distinguish great pasta to a second-rate one.

The place is nice. Shabby chic is what I would describe it. It has a homey feeling, even though everything looks so expensive. I get it why Italian food in Singapore is very popular. Aside from it being simply delicious, it has a sexiness appeal to it. Just like this restaurant, it looks like everything is put up together in a way that it’s not too over-bearing.

We were looking at the menu and it was simple. They do have a degustation menu, but we’re not here for that. I love their prawns and avocado salad. A nice touch for something rich was that they used citrus-based dressing.

I came here for pizza and pasta, and I ended up ordering risotto. I haven’t had risotto in awhile and I keep on forgetting that part of Italian food is risotto. Italians make the best risotto. The one with the pan-seared scallops was really divine. The risotto was cooked perfectly. It was creamy and the lemon zest was a nice touch.

My friends ordered Tagliolini Primavera, squid ink fetuccini, and Sous-vide cod fish. The fish wasn’t dry at all. I actually got to taste each dish, and yes, it’s true that the Primavera was a little bit on the average side, but the squid ink fetuccini was beyond expectations. Because I’m used to tomato based pasta sauces it would really take a phenomenal sauce to knock me off my socks.

Overall, the experience was ok. If you ask me, wherever place you’ll bring me, as long as it’s great Italian food I’ll be there, regardless of what the surroundings look like.