La Villa @ River Valley Road (Part III)

This place is just 16 minutes from my office via bus #139. Visited again to bade "Bon Voyage" to a friend before she's being posted to Cambodia.

Happy hour from 6-8pm, so we got ourselves a prosecco rizardi (@$12++) 1-for-1. But the bubbly warmed to room temperature pretty fast, so we drank pretty quickly too! Somehow, when all the fizz went flat, the drink became a little sweeter. Hmm.

real plant on the table

As usual, there'll be complimentary bread basket while we waited for the food. The foccacia was rather compact and more dense than other places. Too bad they didn't have that lovely white roll that day.

foccacia, nutty roll and flat bread

For starters, we ordered the calamari from the Bar Bites menu. It's actually the same stuff from the main menu but in smaller portion, so the pricing is slightly lower.

deep fried calamari (@$12++)

skinny sotong, yummy sauce, appetizing greens

The calamari was not rubbery but a little skinny. The sauce was piquant and whets the appetite, with very very mild spice. Nice to have that small mound of greens along with this dish.

Our mains for the night was the La Villa Antipasto. Was too stuffed from this alone! Why? Because, it has parma ham, salami, bresaola (beef), cooked ham, duck rilletes and pickles. Think this would've made a good starter for four pax, and great to have along with wine. If only, there were some cheese on this platter...

La Villa Antipasto (@$25++)

beautiful meats

My friend doesn't take beef, so all of the bresaola went into my tummy. Not too salty, and has a distinct beefy taste.

paper thin bresaola, air dried salted beef

The duck rilletes here was interesting. Tasted pepperish, and slightly luncheon meatish kind of flavour. My friend said, probably the seasoning.

duck rilletes

duck rilletes on bread, savoury

The parma ham was good. Tender slivers, and yummy with bubbly.

parma ham goodness

Ate the antipasto with bread, so between the two of us, we polished off two bread baskets. That's like at least six pieces of bread each. Wow. If the taste got too heavy after a while, alternate it with the pickled items; the black olives, pearl onions and gherkins. The olives was quite salty, but tasted nice with a sip of wine.

pitted black olives

pearl onions and gherkins

Already feeling full after breads and antipasto, but we ordered a dessert to try. Ordered the pannacotta, and my friend had the earl grey tea (by cup only).

earl grey tea (@$6++)

pannacotta with strawberry coulis (@$14++)

(trying to be) arty shot

The pannacotta was pretty looking. The texture of the pannacotta was smooth and creamy, but denser than tau-huay (not as wobbly). Tangy and not too sweet.

with passionfruit sauce

denser than tofu

Service, as usual, was courteous and friendly.

The $2.50 parking rebate and 15% discount when paying via Standard Chartered credit card promotion, is still on-going.

Here are the links to visit1, and visit2.

Osteria La Luna Rossa @ Scotts Square

Located at Level 2 of Scotts Square, this restaurant is very recognisable by its rustic redbrick facade. Was there on a Saturday evening, for a birthday celebration.

exterior

Made prior reservations a few days earlier, and upon arrival and identification, we found ourselves being whisked towards a private dining area. Nice. Although one of my dining companion did comment that she didn't get to see the rest of the restaurant...

decor in the private dining area

our table

Service from our courteous maitre d' (sorry, didn't get your name!) was excellent. Friendly, informative and un-intrusive.

menu

Was glad that their dining menu is consistent with its online version. Ordered two starters, and seven mains to share. Iced/warm water, is served here. No issue.

iced water, preferred beverage of the night

As in most Italian restaurants, complimentary bread (refillable, should you wish for more) was offered.

foccacia and walnut bread

aromatic olive oil

The bread was served warm and has a nice thin crispy crust. Do request for balsamic vinegar, if you like them with the olive oil.

foccacia

The starters came just a minute or two after the bread.

Prosciutto with buffalo mozarella

closer view of prosciutto with buffalo mozarella

First time ever, trying the buffalo mozarella and actually, it tasted rather.... plain. Had read of others who exalted the creaminess of this, and thus, probably had unrealistic expectations. Ate it with bread, and prosciutto, and this combination was quite nice.

Smoked magret duck breast, kuri, marinated mushroom salad

closer view of duck breast salad

Didn't get a chance to taste much of the duck breast, as it was gone almost in a flash! Think my table liked this dish better than the buffalo mozarella. Personally, I felt that the kuri (chestnut) and tangy mushroom tasted quite nice with the creamy cheese. 

Both starters are priced at $26++.

Took our time to enjoy the bread and starters, and once we were done with those, our mains arrived.

table-full of mains

For mains, we had five pasta dishes and two meats. Pasta dishes that we ordered were the Arrabiata, Tagliatelle Bolognese, Agnolotti, Sakura Ebi and Carbonara. The meat dishes were Iberico pork loin and Guanciale (braised beef cheeks).

Arrabiata (spicy tomato sauce penne with garlic)

close up

Arrabiata was a pretty simple dish that tasted good. Pasta done al-dente and coated with tangy sauce that packed some heat.

Carbonara spaghetti with pancetta, asparagus and black pepper

closer view of carbonara with pancetta

Being the only cream-based pasta on our table for that night, Carbonara became the top favourite amongst the pasta dishes. Its sauce was rich and creamy, pancetta was fatty and salty, and the asparagus gave some respite amongst the richness in taste. Good.

The arrival of the Tagliatelle was accented by the strong whiff of black truffles that floated in the room. An appetising fragrance.

home-made tagliatelle with wagyu bolognese, black truffle

close up

The wagyu bolognese has a good hint of beefy taste but it gets tiring after a while. Good thing that there's truffle to jazz up the taste a little.

Was surprised by the Sakura-Ebi spaghetti. Came in a hearty portion, and tasted familiar. Kind of similar to the Chinese hae-bee sambal belacan without the spice.

Sakura-Ebi (tomato cream spaghetti wth dried shrimp and brocolli florets)

can you spot the ebi eyes?

The Agnolotti Astice, was a dish of ravioli stuffed with Lobster, bisque sauce. It looked pretty colourful but sadly, the taste just didn't match up. This dish could've been better.

ravioli with lobster, in bisque sauce

Maybe it was the ravioli skin that was a tad too thick. Maybe it was the ravioli filling, that wasn't as imagined. Maybe it was the bisque, that was too salty. Maybe I was expecting a lobster bisque kind of soup instead of a sauce...

ravioli and lobster meat

some vege inside the ravioli (was it turnip?)

Then, we had meats. The carnivorous moment. Nyam nyam!

Iberico - Spanish Iberian pork loin, Acorns fed

juicy and fatty

Acorns, aren't those the favourites of chipmunks? Anyway, Spanish Iberian pork loin tasted soo good here! Pricey at $36++ for 180gms, but it is worthed it. Had it done at medium well (or was it medium?), and it turned out beautifully. Slightly fatty, oily and very much tender. Yums.

The Guanciale (@$30++), beef cheeks braised in red wine with acacia honey, elicited very vocal responses from two guys in our group! Compliments to the Chef!

Guanciale, beef cheeks braised in red wine sauce with acacia honey

tender, gelatinous meat

Beef cheek was very tender, quite gelatinous and mildly sweet. Very likeable texture, good portion but one could get 'jelak' of it after a while, especially when it turns cold. Better when shared.

The restaurant had graciously allowed us to bring our own cake. They even sang to the birthday girl, and helped us take our group photo. It was also very sweet of them to print-out of the photo, and gave it to birthday girl for keepsake.

Happy Birthday!

Had enjoyed the food, the ambiance and the impeccable service rendered. Thank you!

Yakitori Enmaru 焼鳥 炎丸 @ ION Orchard (Part III)

Was here again, for dinner, on a weekday with two friends. Their first visit.

menu

special menu

table, looking out

One noticeable difference, as compared to previous visit, was that we were offered the 'oshibori' (おしぼり) upon seated. The warm wet towel (feels comforting in a cold weather) was for us to clean our hands before the meal.

The Kirin frozen beer actually looked quite cute but we didn't get those. Got ourselves a jug (@$39++) of the regular Kirin draft.

nicely chilled glass

かんぱい！

There was another noticeable difference. We were served a small dish one each, 'otoshi' as cover-charge. Not sure what it was (cucumber or radish strips?), but it tasted salty and there were chicken bits in it and it made quite a nice snack to go along with the cold beer.

otoshi

The yakitori arrived rather quickly as well. Requested for the beef to be done medium rare, but felt that it came as medium instead.

wagyu

Basically, our table looked quite crowded at one point in time, with no space to put the next plate!

mekajiki (swordfish) sashimi (@$16.80++)

plump

Also had the unagi sushi.

unagi sushi

side view

The unagi was a little chewy due to the attached skin. Don't expect the melt in your mouth kind of texture. Still likeable and looked so pretty.

grilled hotate (scallops)

overcooked scallops

It was rather unfortunate that the scallops turned out dissappointingly overcooked. Skip this. Next, we had the bacon wrapped asparagus. The bacon could be crispier but was happy with the asparagus. Nicely cooked and still retained abit of crunch.

bacon wrapped asparagus

Ordered the Japanese style omelette, with cheese mentai from the special menu. The other flavours included natto or eel. Didn't dare to try natto, so chose cheese mentai.

Japanese style omelette with cheese mentai (@$9.80++)

yummy fluffy eggs

salty cheese mentai

Quite liked the omelette, though it was quite salty at the cheese mentai parts. Slightly quivering, yet still can be picked up with chopsticks. Best eaten while still warm. Goes well with beer!

Next was the chicken cheese sticks. Seems like the cheese here are all quite salty.

grilled chicken with cheese

grilled chicken with quails eggs

The grilled chicken with quails eggs has a smokey hint to it. Otherwise, it was pretty normal.

resting the chopsticks for a while

The jug was gone but we still had a glass full of beer, so more food it is to munch on!

chicken wings

The chicken wing was nice. Slight char on its skin, adequately seasoned and still juicy on its inside. Yums! Also had the cajun french fries. Hmm, give me chicken wings anytime!

french fries

Service staff was friendly. One observant service crew (Japanese lady) noticed that the table was not balanced and offered to quickly fix it.

This meal costs about $63 per pax.