Valentino’s

C says:

A and C are back with a vengeance, heh. We’ve been a little lax in the posting department, because lately we’ve been going to places that we’ve already written about, and haven’t tried anything new there. We went to Valentino’s at Rifle Range on Sunday night, and I thought we wouldn’t have anything new to post, but we tried a couple of new dishes so will give a quick comment on them.

We had one of the starter specials, the one which we missed out on the last time we were here. I was thrilled that they had it again on Sunday. It’s a round piece of cheese wrapped with parma ham, and grilled till the parma ham is almost crisp, and served with a mixed salad dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. It looked a little boring when it arrived, but yumm…. it definitely more than made up for it in taste. The cheese and parma ham were perfectly paired; I’m not sure what cheese it was, but it tasted like a slightly richer yet milder version of brie. Eaten on its own, the cheese packed quite a punch but the saltiness and slight crispiness of the grilled parma ham provided a perfect contrast. Because it had been grilled, the cheese was melty in the centre and was deliciously oozy and runny.

I had the Bismark pizza, because for some reason I had a craving for it. It was pretty good, but after seeing (and smelling) plate after plate of the lobster pasta making their way from the kitchen to the other diners’ tables, I’ve decided that I just have to order that again next time. A had another special, the osso bucco, which was meltingly tender. My only grouse is that the portion was inordinately tiny.

Of course, A had the tiramisu for dessert, and I tried the panna cotta. Both were excellent but best shared, because each on their own can be a tad gelak.

I’m also happy to report that Valentino’s is doing really well, and is even expanding. When we were there on Sunday night, we had to take the first seating at 6.30pm (second seating is at 8.15pm) , and even at that time it was packed, both indoors and outdoors. They’ve also acquired another unit next door, and named it Pasticceria Da Valentino. This is supposed to be a traditional Italian bakery, and sells his sister’s delicious cakes, pastries and desserts which are also available at the restaurant. When we popped in after dinner, they seemed to only have packets of biscotti and whole cakes, rather than individual pastries. Maybe those are available earlier in the day.

A says:

Parking’s a bitch and sometimes, even the local wait staff are hard to understand, but I love everything else about the place. Definitely the best place to have Italian in Singapore.