Posts Tagged ‘Caprese’

Arossa Wine & Grill

April 13th, 2014 365days2play

I haven’t had many opportunities to visit Scott’s Square, one of the newest kids on the block along Scotts Road so I was sure glad to be given the opportunity to review Arossa Wine & Grill. If this place sounds or looks vaguely familiar, that’s because they did a revamp of the restaurant and had a change of name from La Luna Rossa to Arossa Wine & Grill. The wooden floors and brick walls have been retained to exude the rustic charm.

Arossa Wine & Grill (2)

Pricing wise, Arossa caters mainly to the business crowd, what with the table cloths and wine glasses. Strangely though, there are attempts to appeal to the masses by doing away with napkins and also serving brunch on the weekends.

Arossa - Charcuterie of Pate de Campagne, Foie Gras Terrine, Proscuitto $32 (2)Charcuterie of Pate de Campagne, Foie Gras Terrine, Prosciutto $32

We started off our meal with this mouth-watering plate of chacuterie. Seeing slivers of ham, pate and terrines never fails to lift my mood up. It’s also a very good way to distract customers while they wait for the mains to be prepared. I particularly liked the Foie Gras Terrine, which went really well with the complimentary bread. Had to control myself or I would have eaten more and had no space for the mains. The Pate de Campagne was also quite interesting as it had nutty bits in it, something that is not too common.

Arossa - Pan Fried foie Gras with Caramelized Apple $30 (2)

Pan Fried foie Gras with Caramelized Apple $30

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STREET 50 Restaurant & Bar

February 24th, 2013 365days2play

STREET 50 - Crabmeat Istimewa (Stir-fried sambal rice with crabmeat, onion and green peas accompanied by satay, chicken wings, achar, prawn crackers and fried egg) $16

If you’re ever lost for what to eat when you’re at VivoCity or HarbourFront, you may just want to consider hopping across the road to the 1 year old Bay Hotel. STREET 50 Restaurant & Bar just opened last month, taking over the premises of the former Indonesian restaurant Rumah Rasa. STREET 50 offers diverse flavours ranging from Italian, French and American to Vietnamese, Indonesian and Singaporean with interesting twists.

Now every restaurant likes to say that they’ve added an interesting twist or a something special to their dish, but a lot of the times, the tastes are still pretty predictable. At STREET 50, I’m quite sure you will be in for a surprise when it comes to some of their signature dishes.

STREET 50 - Caprese (Selection of interspersed vineyard tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella with aged balsamico and fried basil) $12

Caprese (Selection of interspersed vineyard tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella wrapped in parma ham with aged balsamico and fried basil) $12

We started off the meal with a delightful Caprese. I love Caprese and I always want to order it when I’m at an Italian restaurant. However, as you can see it is quite substantial for a starter so I end up always having to give it a miss. It was great to be able to indulge in a bit of Caprese at this tasting. Love the sweet tomatoes wrapped in the salty Parma ham! The buffalo mozzarella was a little tough though.

STREET 50 - Hazelnut Escargot (Slow-baked Burgundy snails stuffed with hazelnut butter and flambed with brandy) $14 (3)

Hazelnut Escargot (Slow-baked Burgundy snails stuffed with hazelnut butter and flambed with brandy) $14

Escargots! Another one of my favourite foods! We were in for a special treat because these Escargots were also flambéed in Brandy. I’ve seen flambé of numerous steaks, and even a flambé Pencai, but never before, flambéed Escargots!

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In love with Il Lido – Super Weekend Set Lunch

March 11th, 2012 365days2play

Il Lido has always been etched in my mind as a really top notch restaurant, not least thanks to my ex-boss, who so favoured dining at Il Lido for business lunches and special occasions, so much so that the staff remember his special requests. In fact, I partook in one of those special occasions, the boss’s birthday(!), and that eventually became my 1st ever food review on 365days2play!  (In case you are wondering, that was way back in 2008, and I subsequently resurrected the blog again in mid 2010.)

Back in those days, Il Lido had these colourful plastic chairs, and my 1st impression upon stepping through the front door was “You must be JOKING. My boss finds this place ATAS?” The food and service quickly changed my mind. I was glad to find that in my recent visit in January 2012 that they’d gotten rid of those unbecoming chairs. They still have those chairs at the al fresco area, which I think is more appropriate given that it is outdoors.

Il Lido Sentosa (3) Looks quite fine, don’t you think?

So in late Jan 2012, thanks to a DBS birthday treat coupon which gave us a 50% discount, we were able to sample the delights at Il Lido again. Actually, it’s not terribly expensive to dine at Il Lido. Mains are about $35 – $60. Appetisers are about $20 and desserts are in excess of $10. Contrary to popular belief, I am not a big eater, so I almost never order an appetiser and dessert all on my own. Set lunches/dinners are different as the restaurants kind of scale down the size of the food anyway. And of course, for buffets, I bring my other stomach, you know the bigger capacity one.

Back in January, they were having this wonderful weekend set lunch menu, which comprised of FIVE appetisers and FIVE mains, FOUR desserts and coffee/tea for $68+++. I mean seriously, is this a good deal or what??? The portions are all smaller than usual, but still, the total amount was sizable. I really love menus like these. I don’t know about you, but I have the perpetual problem of not knowing what to order. Usually it’s because there are so many attractive dishes I want to order, rather than the lack of something interesting.

So….presenting the appetisers! Portions are for 2 pax

Il Lido Sentosa Goose Liver Goose Liver

Il Lido Sentosa - Octopus Terrine Octopus Terrine

Il Lido Sentosa - Parma Ham Parma Ham

Il Lido Sentosa Caprese Caprese

Il Lido Sentosa Calamari Calamari

Phew, 5 appetisers man! All of them were super delicious. My personal favourite was obviously the foie gras. Just can’t go wrong with that. Also loved the texture of the octopus terrine. Don’t believe I’ve ever had an octopus terrine before and I really loved the bouncy feel. The Calamari also had a nice bouncy texture and didn’t taste oily at all. Parma Ham and rock melon was another winning combination. In fact, for a cheese lover like me, the caprese was the least outstanding, which goes to show how good the other appetisers were.

Next up, the Main Courses. Portions are for 2 pax.

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Capella

July 31st, 2010 365days2play

If there’s one thing any food blogger shouldn’t do, it’s to blog about food before breakfast, lunch or dinner! Lunch is not going to arrive until 45 minutes later and blogging about food is not helping! I was going to do a quick cook up of some sardines in olive oil and chilli, to go with lots of steamed rice. But can you believe that we’ve run out of rice, just at this crucial moment?

Anyway, the in thing for me right now is Italian Restaurants. Been wanting to revisit some of my favourite Italian Restaurants such as Garibaldi’s and OSO Ristorante, and will do so hopefully in the next 1 month. The other day, just before the Partner flew off to NZ, we dined at Capella at Chijmes. Cappella seats 110 diners, of which only 45 are indoors. It was only half full on a Thursday evening when we got there, but more diners arrived later. If you ask for the table nearest to the kitchen, you can even watch the chefs at work in the stainless steel kitchen thanks to the glass partition.

Between the 2 of us, we ordered an Caprese Salad, Mushroom Gnocchi and Cod Fish Tagliatelle.

Capella - Caprese

Insalata Caprese $23 – Tower of Italian buffalo mozzarella and tomato. Served with
masculine salad.

Masculine salad eh, I suppose they meant “mesclun”? Anyway, I just love this dish. The tomatoes were refreshingly cold and firm, and paired nicely with the buffalo mozzarella. I just love buffalo mozzarella. If I could I would order this appetiser every time, but I can’t because as you can see, the quantity is substantial and just this alone already fills me up half way.

Capella - Porcini Gnocchi

Gnocchi con Crema di Porcini $26- Italian potato dumpling in porcini cream sauce
and baby spinach

I know this looks like something the cat let loose. That’s the downside to ordering Gnocchi, it just doesn’t look that appetising. But if you go beyond its looks, it’s actually very good! I love Gnocchi, and Gnocchi on its own is quite bland, so it needs a good sauce for the dish to perform. Capella did well in this area because the mushroom sauce was indeed flavourful and so rich.

Of all the Gnocchi dishes I’ve had, Capella has the best. The sauce was great, the Gnocchi was firm to the bite and bouncy, if I may call it that.

Capella Cod fish Tagliatelle

Tagliatelle Merluzzo e Pomodorini $28 – Thin egg pasta tossed with cod fish, garlic, chilly, olive and white wine In cherry tomato sauce

Lately I seem to be seeing a cod fish resurgence, with cod fish appearing on the menus of many restaurants. Cod fish with tomato pasta is a rare treat and a really wonderful combination. But this dish would delight vegetarians more than cod fish lovers as there was very little cod fish in it.

 

Capella
30 Victoria Street, #01-29A, CHIJMES, Singapore 187996
Tel: 6334 9928  Fax: 6334 9927
Email: capella@starworth.com.sg

Monday to Friday:
Lunch 11.30am to 2.30pm
Dinner 6.30pm to 10.30pm

Saturday
Closed for Lunch
Dinner 6.30pm to 10.30pm

Closed on Sundays

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Posted in 1.1 Hotel Restaurants, Capella Sentosa Tags: , , , , , , , 2 Comments »
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