Zambuca

Leecher 难得 brought me to a nice restaurant for dinner but I have to call & make reservation myself -___-

Zambuca Italian Restaurant & Bar, located at Pan Pacific, is part of the Michelangelos' chain of restaurant. Wa, looks like I am in for a treat :P

Black leather-bound menu; classy!

Swirls of butter + warm bread = perfect combination to whet your appetite!

Complimentary appetizer; didn't really catch the name of this. Dices of salmon & cucumber soaked in oil-and-dunno-what-substance. You are strongly encouraged to polish this off in one gulp!

Time to start our 4 course meal proper :)

1st course: Cappesante - Pan seared diver scallops smothered with orange hollandaise, lightly gratinated. What a course to start the meal! Scallops were fresh & the juice oozed into your mouth with every bite. Barley was crunchy, didn't know that barley can be cooked in such a manner. Zambuca has wow-ed me for now.

Happily posting for pictures before we proceed to polish off the scallops in record-time. Yummy!

2nd course: Tortellini - Home made tortellini filled with smoked duck and duck liver in foie gras sauce.

According to Wiki, Tortellini is a variety of ring-shaped pasta. They are typically stuffed with a mix of meat. We were fooled by the words "foie gras" and ordered this dish, only to realise that it was the only foie gras we got was the sauce :(

The tortellini was quite filling, despite there were only 3 of them. Not my cup of tea and Leecher had to polish off the remaining, haha.

Leecher happily posting with the last Tortellini (think he ate 5 out of 6).

3rd course: Barramundi - oven roasted Australian barramundi with asparagus puree, grilled baby vegetables and balsamic foam.

Leecher claimed that the vegetables were crunchy though the barramundi tasted so-so, lacked the WOW factor.

3rd course: Manzo alla Grigli - Beef tenderloin grilled and served with kipler potatoes draped with foie gras jus and truffles.

Roller coaster ride so far; we started the meal on a high note with pan-fried scallops. Tortellini brought down our expectations and the 3rd courses lacked the punch. The tenderloin were overcooked though I asked for medium well; beef was kinda dry.

4th course: Warm Chocolate Cake - warm chocolate cake topped with vanilla bean creamsidedwith fig and honey ice cream. You can never go wrong with chocolate. Love how to chocolate oozed out from the cake, cheap thrill.

4th course: Crème Brûlée - Infused with Amaretto served with a scoop of forest berry sorbet.

Wiki to the rescue again: Amaretto is a sweet almond-flavoured liqueur of Italian origin. It is made from a base of apricot or almond pits, or sometimes both.

The desserts saved the day, after tasting less-than-expectations courses. Service was attentive initially, until the group of 20 odd diners came along for some company dinner. Can't really fault the waiters though, since the huge company ordered lots of wine while we asked for water :) However, we always had our plates cleared on time & had our glasses being refilled. No complaints on that.

Till the next meal @ Zambuca :)