Restaurant Week, 2014 edition: Truffle Gourmet

 

Our 2nd stop for restaurant week is Truffle Gourmet, chosen by a dear friend/colleague Stella. Given my special liking for anything with a dosage of truffle, esp truffle fries, I was gamed to try out this new place. Furthermore, Stella is a foodie as well so her choice can't go wrong :) So, we aimed to end work on-time & headed to the restaurant. I love the location, since it was near our workplace and can be reached by walking for less than 15 min. We don't even have to spend time looking for parking lots, lol!

Located at Club Street, opposite where Platters used to be, I almost walked past this restaurant without noticing it. I was half expecting the place to be full, since most of the angmohs were standing outside with several bottles of beer/wine. To my surprise, the place was relatively empty when we walked in apart from 3-4 tables filled with diners. 

 

We were shown to our table near to the kitchen and had the privilege of witnessing the live actions in the kitchen. The chefs all seemed to have chemistry with one another, working silently alongside with the rest of the kitchen crew. 

 

We were served with bread freshly baked from the kitchen. Oh, I love the crispness of the grissini. They were so good that I was tempted to ask for 2nd helpings.
 

We started dinner with Zuppa Toscana, toscana style soup with cabbage staffed with sausage meat, onion, light tomato and light cream. 

 

It was soon followed by Plin Agnolotti, homemade beef ravioli with beef reduction sauce and sprinkled with truffle oil and black truffle cream. I hereby declare this as one of my fave dish! The aroma of the truffle oil reached my nostrils before the dish arrived on the table, making me almost jump with excitement.

  

2nd main course was Tagliata Di Maiale Iberico Pluma, grilled Iberian pork served on a bed of sauteed potatoes, onions, peaks, marsala sauce and black truffle. Coincidentally, we had braised pork cheeks a few days ago at ETNA. Personally, I prefer this dish for the fact that it was grilled (instead of braised pork) and also, the overwhelming truffles used to bring out the taste of the dish. 

 
 We sat for almost 3 hour in the restaurant, enjoying our food and chatting :) So much catching up to do!

We ended the course with Torta Al Cioccolato, Italian chocolate cake with truffled whipping cream. I was sold by truffled whipping cream and it was the perfect companion for chocolate cake (^^) 

Truffle Gourmet
49 Club Street
Singapore 069426
Tel: 62225996

Restaurant Week, 2014 edition: Etna Italian Restaurant

 

Another weekend flew passed so quickly that I'm starting to wonder if there is an invisible hand somewhere that is set to quicken the pace on weekends and slowing down the pace on weekdays :( Too much drama-mama that I think I'm hallucinating as well, haha! A quick entry before I head over to mummy dearest place for the usual Sunday family dinner :) This year, we kick-start Restaurant Week with 3 reservations during priority booking and ended up with almost 5 at the end of the period, heehee!

  

Initially, our 1st stop was at Latteria but I had to cancel our reservation for we brought parents-in-law out for a meal instead. Thus, our first stop was dinner at Etna Italian, a cozy restaurant located at Duxton Hill. Named after Italy's most iconic volcano, the name ETNA is also a clever play on the words "Every Table Needs Attention" which is the focus and pride of this restaurant. 

We arrived shortly after 6.15pm (parking woes!) and were shown to our table immediately. The manager reminded us gently that they needed the  table back by 8.15pm for the 2nd seating - this was fine by us since I predicted that we'll be done by 1.5hrs since we were both feeling quite tired from a long day out.

Pour your own olive oil dip from the bottle that is placed on every table.

       

We started the meal with grilled scallops in champagne sauce. The scallops were presented on a bed of rocket salad, topped with fresh cherry tomatoes. It was an appealing sight. The scallops were succulent and juicy and I couldn't get enough of it even though I had already devour 5 of them. 

 

Even Chef Leecher thought this dish was well-executed. Leecher had double helping of rocket salad since I dislike the slight bitter taste and in exchange, I get one more scallop, yippee!

 
For mains, we had braised pork cheek with truffle potatoes puree. ETNA's restaurant week menu was kind of restricted and patrons did not have any choices to choose from. Perhaps, this helped to keep their standard consistent?

 
Honestly, I wasn't a fan of pork cheeks as it was slightly fatty for my taste buds. 

Dessert came in the form of nougat parfait. Service was indeed attentive at our table - the waitress took time to explain the ingredients & cooking methods for each dish. This little gesture was much appreciated, for it allowed me to gain an insight on the dish. Her explanation added a little colour to my imagination as I pictured the chef working his magic on the dishes.  

ETNA Italian Restaurant

50 Duxton Road, Singapore 089513

Tel: 6220 5513

Opening Hours: 12 noon till 2.30pm, 6pm till 10.30pm (Mon to Sun) 

Wedding Celebrations: Joshua & Yanni

 

Another wedding entry of our dear friends ~ Kaiwei & Yanni. Kaiwei (also known as Joshua, but somehow, both Leecher & I tend to call him Kaiwei instead) and Yanni tied the knot last July. For those who may have noticed, Kaiwei was Leecher's best man when we got married. Wa, the BFFs took turns to be each other's best man, lol. 

 

Being the best man, Leecher headed off to perform his duties early in the morning. I woke up later and headed straight to church for church reception. It was drizzling slightly when I stepped out of the house. I was worried about not being able to grab a cab (we all know how difficult to get a cab whenever it's raining!) but thankfully, one cab stopped in front of me and I hopped on immediately :)

 

Reunited with Leecher, lol! He was performing the best man duties while I took a walk around. We have always drove past this church while heading home but I never had the chance to enter the compound to take a closer look. 

 

The church wedding reception took place at Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the oldest Catholic church for the Teochew community in Serangoon. I sat together with a couple of Kaiwei's friends and one of them actually recognised me from SSL's wedding - small world indeed!

Presenting the lovely couple as they walked down the aisle! Yanni looked absolutely gorgeous in her wedding gown! Instead of the usual princes wedding dress, Yanni opted for the mermaid dress. Her vintage gowns (morning and evening) were hand-stitched by her mum.

A picture with the lovely couple before we adjourned for lunch reception.
 
 Leecher was very on-the-ball that day. We stayed till the end of lunch reception & Leecher ensured that everything was in place before heading back home to change for dinner reception. 

  
Church interior after everyone left. 
 

A change of outfit later, we headed to Mandarin Oriental for dinner. MO is certainly one of my favourite place for wedding for they served really good food :) Leecher said the standard has dropped over the years but it still tasted good in my opinion. 

  
Meet lil Kiera, 2nd precious daughter of HuaiQin and Sheena. I haven seen the little kiddo since her birth and she has grown so big now! I'm always amazed at the rate kids grow up nowadays. 

Lil Kiera was on her best behaviour that night. While she was in her good mood, we played musical chair with her (each one of us took turn to babysit her) so the parents could eat their food. I had to resist myself from pinching her chubby cheeks. 

 
With the lovely Jacq ;)    
 
The couple rock-and-roll their way in for the 2nd march-in, much to everyone's surprise!  
 

Leecher giving his best man's speech. Knowing how lor-sor (long-winded) Leecher can be, I had to remind him countless times the night before to keep his speech short and sweet.  

   

Congrats and happy marriage :)