Saturday, November 9, 2013

Zafferano @ Ocean Financial Centre

Located at Level 43 of Ocean Financial Centre, 10 Collyer Quay. This place is near Clifford Centre and Republic Plaza. My friend parked at Republic Plaza II on a Friday evening, after 7pm and parking was $3 there. Or one can choose to park at Ocean Financial Centre. Was informed by the restaurant staff that parking there is about $6.

Reservation was a breeze via online reserveit.sg, or one could just call up the restaurant. Got a call from the restaurant to remind and to confirm the reservation on the day of visit. Not bad.

One gets the ear pressure when going up to the 43rd floor (240m above ground). The restaurant is quite spacious. Indoor dining area is quite lovely, but rather noisy.

centerpiece
table setting

To start off the evening, we got ourselves a glass of prosecco at $8++ during happy hour (till 8pm).

prosecco with a red sticker (to indicate HH glass?)

If one is interested to bring own wine, the corkage charge here is $45 per bottle. That amount could nett you about 5-6 glasses of prosecco during happy hour.

"Sparkling or still water?"

"Just tap water."

regular tap water

The food menu has tiny fonts and can't really read much since I didn't have my spectacles so left the ordering to my friends.

Meanwhile, let's munch on some bread. Warm loaf of bread that's soft but leaves so much crumbs when cutting it. Request for balsamic to go along with the olive oil.

warm bread by the loaf
lovely bread
olive oil with balsamic vinegar

Amongst the five of us, we had 2 loaves of bread! Didn't order any appetiser and restaurant staff did inform us that the waiting time for the mains to arrive is about 15 minutes.

While waiting for the food, went exploring its alfresco area. If the weather is good, then one can choose to have dinner or drinks at its outdoor area.

outdoor seats

susceptible to weather conditions
view from Level 43

Ordered 4 main courses to be shared amongst the 5 of us. But that's because one of the main course, feeds two.

risotto al nero sepia (squid ink risotto)

Would've preferred if the risotto can be cooked that bit longer. Felt that the taste in the rice was somewhat lacking. Baby squids were nicely done though.

Guancietta di maiale Iberico (slow braised iberico cheeks)

Loved the taste of the slow braised iberico cheeks. Tender, warm and comforting. Very much home-styled cooking. The bright yellow polenta stack was interesting too. Thought it was a bit unusual to have the polenta served in its tin container?

We're very fond of meat. So another meat dish, which is the Filetto di manzo, grilled U.S prime beef tenderloin, pan-fried goose liver, celeriac puree and orange scented morels.

Filetto di manzo (beef fillet with foie gras)

Ok, what are morels? Fungus. See that black thingy that's sitting atop of the mashed blob. Has texture like bamboo pith but denser. That blob tasted very much like pureed liver though...I must be hallucinating!

medium rare

The meat dishes portion were rather small. Fortunately, our last main course, Astice allo busara was of a good enough serving for 3 pax.

Astice allo busara (Boston lobster with chili tomato sauce, pine nuts and raisin pilaf rice gratinated with creme fresche)
best dish for the night

Liked the pilaf raisin rice smothered in gratinated creme fresche. Prefered this much more than the risotto, texture and taste-wise. Lobster meat was firm and fresh. The sauce was sweet, thick and has a slight seafood umami to it.

We were there to celebrate our dear friend's birthday, and the restaurant kindly allowed us to bring our own cake. Ontop of that, Zafferano gave the birthday girl a complimentary birthday dessert. Nice gesture and thanks!

bursting with sweetness (both the cupcakes and birthday girl)

birthday dessert, complimentary

Overall, service was good. Water was topped up every now and then. Dinner was a leisurely affair, and we stayed till late, catching up with each others lives. Happy Birthday Cherlyn, the youngest in our group. Have a good year ahead! Cheers~

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