Gusto Italiano 2014 at Etna Italian Restaurant

Last night, I had the opportunity to attend an evening dinner given by Sphere Exhibits (Subsidiary of SPH) to Etna Italian Restaurant for a gastronomy dinner. My younger sister, Zoella, accompanied me to this dinner, and to say we both had really enjoyed ourselves there.

Etna Italian Restaurant is located at Duxton Road, where you can find rows of restaurants and bar around that area. The group executive chef was Chef Anna Borassi, the first and only female Italian chef in Singapore. She is a very friendly lady, and the way she talks to you just make you feel like you've known her for long.

Let me start off with the dishes. First they had canapés, which I didn't get a chance to photo them down. It has 3 selections, but I got to eat one of the choices only.

Main page of the event dinner menu

Menu for dinner and the wine paired for each selection

Red Snapper Bite with Warm Vegetable Carpione
Wine Paired: 2010 Falanghina, DOC

 This fish was fresh, and the sweetness of the fish goes well with the vegetable carpione. The vegetable carpione sounded so "atas". To me, the taste was similar to "Acar", or mixed pickled vegetables.

Home made biscuit by Chef Anna Borassi

This was a side dish not stated in the menu. It is a homemade biscuit by Chef Anna herself. It's not sugar at the top, but salt. The saltiness makes me want to eat more, but overall the biscuit taste is considered average.

Seared Tuna Loin with Fennel Dust, Celery Heart Salad
Wine Paired: 2010 Fiano di  Avellio, DOCG

Next was Seared Tuna. Cooked at the top, raw in the middle. I am not a sashimi lover, so this tuna wasn't in my favourite list. Zoella is a sashimi lover, and based on her reviews she said that this was good, the rasins and celery makes a good complement to the tuna.

Cannellini Beans Soup, Sage Roasted Prawn, Crispy Pancetta
Wine Paired: 2009 Greco di Tufo' DOCG

This soup was really appeasing!! The soup tasted like potato soup, and the roasted prawns give out a sweet touch to the soup, and the pancetta tasted like Chinese fried onions, which also enhance the taste of the soup. Looking at this picture is making me salivate again.

Garganelli Pasta, Porck Cheese Ragout, 24 months cured Parmigiano Reggiano, Fresh Rosemary
Wine Paired: 2005 Aglianico, DOC

 

This plate of garganelli had a very difference taste from the pasta you had outside. The pork was very tender, and the cheese had this salty taste and I would say this is a good dish! I finished them ALL.

"Menu" Black Olives Crusted Lamb Rack, Olive Oil, Whipped Potatoes, Red Onion Jam
Wine Paired: 2005 Taurasi Riversa, DOCG

This dish. This dish. Almost all made up of something that I don't like. Lamb. Olives. The potato was fine, the red onion was sweet though. I can't really take the taste and smell of lamb meat. But out of all the lamb meat that I have tasted or smelled, this was the best from all I have had. The lamb meat wasn't that strong(I am not saying that totally have no lamb meat taste, a minor smell is still there but not as strong as it is) and I had to eat it with the red onions and whipped potatoes to cover the taste away. After finishing up the potatoes, I passed it to my sister to finish up for me. :X

Etna Signature Pistachio Scented Tiramisu
Offered Liqueur: Galliano Ristretto (Coffee Liqueur)

This was the last dish, which is also the dessert served. By it's name, I guess you can tell that it will be a good dish with the "Signature" word as the name of the dessert. YES, THIS IS VERY AWESOME!!! It has a coffee taste, and also there is this greeny paste in the middle which I think is the pistachio paste, and this dessert gave me a shock. I didn't know that pistachio dessert can taste so good! I think I shall try to make this on my own.

Overall, I had a very good experience at Etna Italian  Restaurant. I supposed if this dinner was good, their daily menu should be good too. A passionate chef will whipped up a delicious meal at all time. I will try their menu some day. (:

Food Blogging (1)

Hello People,

So today i'm gonna do a bit of food reviews based on my own personal experience. No incentives were given to blog on these places.

Spuds and Aprons:

Spuds and Aprons is a casual dining restaurant in The Jewel Box (soon to be named as Mountain of Happiness), located at Mount Faber Road, one of a tourist attraction place in Singapore. The scenery there can be breath taking at night.

This is my view from my seating. I am kinda lazy to walk around taking pictures like other tourist. I was mad hungry for not having my breakfast.

View from my seating. This is a view on my left.
On my right, you could actually see cable cars coming from Sentosa.

I reached there in noon time, and i started my orders with "Wicked Fries & Gravy". It is basically potato wedges with 6 types of cheese and brown gravy.

Wicked Fries & Gravy (Steakhouse Cut Spuds with 6 types of Cheese & Brown Sauce)

It was being served in a metal pan, a portion perfect for 3-4pax. The fries tasted normal to me, if you are looking for a new flavour for potatoes, this is not worth having. Advise: Eat it quick, once it turns cold, your cheese turns cold and becomes rubbery, which is disgusting like having some sort of cheesy-gum. 

Being served next was a Berries Smoothie. It is a blend mixture of mixed berries, yogurt and vanilla ice cream. Not much to my likings because the yogurt taste was too strong that i can't seem to taste the berries sourness in it. Okay~ i like the purple (yay..)

Berry Smoothie

Served up next was my main dish. Pan Fried Salmon coated in polenta.

Pan Fried Polenta Coated Salmon
(Norweigian Salmon Crusted with Polenta, Cooked to "Pinkfection"
and served with Arugula Salad & Citrus Salsa)

This can be recommended to Salmon lovers, the taste is good. And i found some potatoes given in this dish too, under the fish. I am not a fan of vegetables, especially Arugula (or the simple name Wild Rocket) is the first vegetable that will not be on my list, i dislike the bitter taste to it. But i guess all vegetables should taste as how it should taste. Forget about the vegetables.

Okay, this dish was supposed to be cooked till medium raw, with only the top being cooked. But i can't stand the taste of raw fishes, so i requested for my salmon to be perfectly well done. The salmon is fresh, with nice salty taste of the crust. The sourness of the citrus salad was a good combination to the pan fried salmon.

This dish will be on my bill on my next visit.

Lastly, DESSERTS. 

Chocolate Cake
(Not in the menu. Apparently nothing much attracted me to
the desserts on the menu. You will just have to go over to the counter and
order from there, you can add a scoop of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream as complement.)

The cake was moist, with rich flavour of the chocolate ganache. The mousse wasn't too sweet as well. 

Overall, this place is a good place for couples, families, workaholic and tourist who is looking for lunch choices (you could just take the cable car up). 

To tourist, you could even try local delicacies offered like Laksa, XO Fish Soup, Hokkien Noodle, Singapore Curry Noodle and etc (but only between 12pm-2.30pm). After your dining, you can take a stroll at the Mount Faber Park, it will be a memorable place for your camera to capture it down. 

Before that, you might want to take a look at their toilet (Awarded as Best Toilet in the World Toilet Category on the French International Website). Haha! I sanpshot with my handphone (pardon for the bad lighting and i dont know how my pictures turned green when it supposed to be on a bright sunny day)

Look! There's a little fountain in the middle of
the hand wash basin. Haha!

That's a fat me with my geek glasses and a bloated
stomach after my lunch. 

Fun Things you could try there!

Challenge their Mountain of Happiness, by finishing 16 scoops Ben & Jerry's ice cream (8 flavours) in 15mins, and you get to go into their Wall of Fame and get a free funky apron!

Rating:

Staff Friendliness: 4.0 / 5.0

Food: 3.5 / 5.0

Variety: 4.0 / 5.0

Ambience: 4.0 / 5.0

Price: $$$

Address:

109 Mount Faber Road,

Level 2,

Singapore 099203

Tel: +65 377 9688 (Call for Reservation to prevent disappointment for night diners.)