Senso Ristorante and Bar

C says:

Senso is another place that's taken us way too long to finally visit. Part of the problem is that they're always full on a Friday night when we make a last minute decision to try it. We decided to come on Thursday, rightfully expecting it to be a bit less crowded.

For those who like al fresco dining, there's a lovely courtyard that takes centrestage, but we still can't bear the heat so we opted for one of the indoor tables surrounding the courtyard.

There's a white asparagus promotion on at the moment, so I had the green and white asparagus salad with pork rillette and crispy skin. I must confess that I don't quite understand the appeal of white asparagus, but the pork rillette was really good. The crispy pork skin could unfortunately have keen crispier. The surface was crisp but the insides were a bit chewy.

A ordered a classic - the parma ham-wrapped mozzarella. This was really good, as expected, though you can't really go wrong with this combination.

A's main was the lobster taglierini, a thin hand-made pasta, in a light tomato sauce. The lobster was tender and perfectly cooked; overall this was a very good plate of pasta.

Unfortunately it totally paled in comparison to my Duo of Risotto. This was one of the best risottos I've had, period. The white is a reduction of white wine, and the black is squid ink, topped with grilled squid. Flavours were awesome, the squid was tender, and the risotto had the perfect consistency, bite and ooziness. Note to self: forget everywhere else, and just come here whenever I have a risotto craving.

A's dessert was a winner - the tiramisu revisito, which I assume is a reinterpretation of tiramisu. There's a Baileys milk shake, a ladyfinger biscuit with mascarpone cream, and coffee mousse. Everything was great, in particular the mousse, which was as light as air.

My dessert was a sampler of black truffle ice cream, chocolate mousse, brioche and a macaron. The truffle ice cream pretty much overpowered everything else, and not really in a good way either. It was a bit too pungent for dessert, and I found the slightly grainy texture a bit disconcerting.

Still, it was an awesome meal. Their set lunches look pretty good too, as does their Sunday Prosecco brunch, both of which we want to try at some point.

Service is a bit erratic, with either very good senior waiters or very blur junior ones. Do take note that there's a 15% discount with Standard Chartered Bank credit cards (on a la carte orders). Ask for it because they may not necessarily remember otherwise.

A says:

Awesome. I always avoided this place because I thought it was a bit fancy schmancy, plus the clientele is largely ang moh. But once you get in, the atmosphere is fairly relaxed (note that I say relaxed and not casual, i.e. don’t dress too sloppily). A few waiters may be a bit blur, but the maitre d’ treats you very well.

Best of all, this is one place where the desserts are as good as the mains. Although really, I don’t think I could order anything besides the tiramisu revisito. Awesome.

Senso Ristorante and Bar

21 Club Street

Tel: 6224-3534

www.senso.sg