365days2playThey say that when it comes to food in Singapore, the choices are unlimited. This is technically true if you consider every single establishment in Singapore. However, when you want something quick, fast and within like walking distance from the office, the choices are whittled down. And when it comes to places that you have never tried before, you’re pretty much lost for ideas, especially after a long and hard day’s work.
Yesterday, we finally decided to try Sapore Italiano. This Italian restaurant has probably been around for about a year but we just never had the urge to try it out. In fact, I had mistakenly read the name to be Sapporo Italiano when the place first opened. As a result, I was under the impression that it was a kind of fusion Japanese Italian restaurant. Or perhaps an Italian restaurant serving lots of beer? That’s about the only thing I know about Sapporo!.
Anyway, we finally decided to give it a try. The menu looked really promising. There were lots of pasta dishes and pizza dishes. I was particularly pleased to note that they had a number of gnocchi dishes and ravioli dishes on offer too. You seldom see gnocchi around, but I suppose I am comparing them to non-Italian restaurants that happen to serve a lot of pasta.
As you can see from the pictures below, I couldn’t stop myself from ordering the Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli, and the Partner ordered the sliced beef salad. Unfortunately, Sapore Italiano didn’t have the exact dish that I wanted, which was meat ravioli in cream sauce. They had a meat ravioli in tomato sauce and they had vegetarian ravioli in cream sauce, but just no meat ravioli in cream sauce!
The ravioli I ordered turned out to have a very interesting taste, which I think many Singaporeans may not like. Firstly, the ravioli was mostly Ricotta, so if you hate Ricotta, don’t ever take a bite of it. You might think the spinach taste would cover the cheese taste, but the filling is mostly cheese rather than spinach. The Partner tried a ravioli and had some trouble swallowing it. Luckily for me, I have no problem with Ricotta so I quite enjoyed the ravioli. The walnut sauce was very interesting to me. There was no hiding the nutty taste of the walnut. It was very distinct, in addition to the crushed bits of fine walnut mixed into the sauce.
As for the Partner’s beef salad dish, he found the beef tasty but a little too salty.
I think pizza lovers would like Sapore Italiano. Most other diners had ordered pizzas. The ones here are the thin crust type, and they look really humongous and cheesy. I’ll get a pizza the next time I dine here, or I’ll get the Partner to get the pizza while I get the gnocchi.
Finally, a comment on the decor. I didn’t like the decor very much. I happened to be facing 3 very large portraits of what I thought were rather ugly women trying to look sexy. The chairs were also not very comfortable given that they were oddly shaped. I am extremely particular about chairs because of my back problems. Lastly, I thought the lighting was a little too dim for the type of restaurant that Sapore Italiano is. Sapore Italiano looks like a place where groups of friends can hang out, and is certainly not a place for a romantic candlelit dinner. Click here for Sapore Italiano website.
