PaiGu

Despite the huge variety of food in hawker centres, sometimes it’s nice to take a break from food-court cuisine in the form of more upscale dining. Here’s a different look at eating in Singapore.

Lunch at a Chinese restaurant near work.

I didn’t get pictures of our first dinner, which was at Jumbo Seafood Restaurant and included such memorable dishes as the jumbo chili crab, deep-fried beancurd, steamed fish, liang ban jellyfish, prawns with cabbage, and seafood fried rice.

Dinner at Otto, an upscale Italian restaurant, the next night.

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Bar Italia is one of many Italian restaurants in Little Italy of Toronto. This is what I love about Toronto – how far do I have to travel for authentic Italian food? Not far at all.

I arrived at the restaurant early and before I knew it, I was waiting at the bar with the most aromatic coffee I have ever had, on the house. Although this restaurant was more modern than homely, Italian servers almost always end up treating you like kin no matter where you are. Service was impeccable.

When my friends arrived, it took us a long time to order, but the server’s interruptions were well-timed and warranted. It took a while for everything to come after we ordered, or maybe that was just my hungry stomach talking. The cold, awkwardly-sliced bread with olive oil and vinegar was barely enough to share at our table and not nearly appetizing enough for me.

We shared an antipasto plate to start, which I forgot to take a picture of. The cured meats were average, the marinated vegetables a little over-marinated, but the bocconcini was quite nice.

When the food finally came, I knew I had ordered exactly what would satisfy me on this cold winter night.

The rigatoni was, of course, made in-house, and it was quite firm and chewy, although slightly over-cooked. The rose sauce was perfect, not too strong and not too bland. The sweet sausages were heavenly, and the portobello mushrooms complemented every ingredient. I was unsure whether I would enjoy the rapini, but they turned out to be all right. There was a nutty flavour to it that contrasted with the sweetness of the rest of the dish, and only a hint of bitterness. The portion size was just right, and I enjoyed every bite.

One of my friends ordered the Roasted Chicken Breast, which was aromatic in an entirely different way from my dish.

The chicken breast turned out to be more of a chicken quarter plus breast. The skin was glistening, golden, and lightly crisp. As always, my complaint regarding the chicken was that it was too thick. While the meat under the skin and around the bones were tender and flavourful enough, the rest of the white meat was bland. The peppercorn jus was a very interesting complement. Roasted vegetables were well-done, and lightly flavoured. The mashed potatoes had clumps in them, which is how I like them, but no hint of garlic.

Our other friends ordered the Insalata di Bresaola and Capellini. No complaints there, although the Capellini seemed a little bland. It was basically a salad sitting on top of capellini, with barely any sauce. (No, olive oil is not a sauce.) Am I the only one surprised that this is even a dish?

For impeccable service, not kicking my friends out even though we lingered far beyond what would be considered polite, and my satisfying Rigatoni, I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Not sure how I feel about the Capellini, but there are certainly plenty of other great options on the menu.

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Late Saturday night, my friend and I found ourselves on the east side of Dundas St. looking for a place to go. I almost didn’t notice the Amici beside Zen Gardens, but when I saw it, I realized it was the Italian place another friend had been raving about. So we decided to give it a shot, and boy am I glad we did.

Before I get into the details, let me just say that the moment I walked in, I felt like I was transported to Italy. The atmosphere of the restaurant could not have been more perfect. There were fake grape vines hanging from the ceiling, the walls were a rich cream colour, and there was a large party happily celebrating someone’s engagement. I could not have asked for a better scene. The restaurant was small so it was hard not to notice the noise of the engagement party next to us, but I didn’t mind at all. Just seeing their laughing faces as they bent towards each other to share some funny anecdote was enough to lift my spirits. The waiter was attentive and friendly to the perfect degree (i.e. not annoying), gave us plenty of time to make our choices, and never interrupted us in the middle of a conversation.

And the food! Oh! It was superb. We started off with the insalata di casa (house salad), which was a unique mix of fresh greens with red onions, mangoes, gorgonzola, pine nuts, and sweet Marsala vinaigrette. The Marsala vinaigrette was amazing. The best vinaigrette I’ve ever had by far. And the pine nuts were a great touch to add that subtle crunch.

Then came the entrees. Oh, my, God. My veal marsala was topped with the most amazing, juicy sauteed mushrooms. There were two pieces of veal, one of which was a little on the thick side, but overall, cooked to perfection.

My friend had a salmon entree:

For dessert, we picked tiramisu. Surprisingly, it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be. A little bit too sloppy and more cream than coffee flavour.

We were the last ones in the restaurant, and the waiter was very patient even though we were there past closing time. Conclusion: I will definitely be going back for more!

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