Forlino's - The One with T-H-E Expensive View

It was also T-H-E one that was the hardest to get too. We had to get through a maze of passageways, lifts and stairs before we finally found it. But nothing can take your breathe away more than the view that welcomes you the minute you step into the main dinning room. The gorgeous night skyline and beautiful and splattered with a ray of lights from the neighbouring office towers, the esplanade and our latest skyline addition - the Flyer.

My favourite piece of the night - home-made Foccacia with the cute knuckles-shaped kneads in the dough drizzled with olive oil and generous sea salt. The bread wasn't the fluffy types you get but was a dense dough heavily infused with the fragrance of the heated olive oil and tastily flavoured with the occasion salt crunch.

Since our waiter could tell from the long wait of us perusing our menus without any final decisions, he suggested we opt for tasting portions of most of the house appetizers.

First up and also a favourite for me was the Eggplant & Mozzarella Cake with Tomato, Chili and Chocolate Sauce. Totally something I will never try except for that one time wild dessert of chocolate eggplant I tried at another Italian restaurant. I'm not adventurous with eggplants, but this was easy on the palette and the mozzarella wasn't too empowering.

Then we had a serving each of the “Culatello” Ham with Homemade Spicy Fruit Preserve. Generous with the fat, the ham dissolved in your mouth after releasing it's last breath of smoky saltiness, a well pairing with the fruits and sugary preserve.

I didn't really like the Amuse Broche, so was glad it came really bite-size. And scallop, was a little lacking in lustre without much juices to give it that nice fresh crunch.

Sadly, the highlights of dinner kind of ended with the appetizers. The mains took awhile to show and unfortunately the thing about greed, and hence, for Folino's, is that it takes just a few minutes to bear it's evil head. We started to feel full and I think all of us didn't really enjoy what we to come from there.

The much anticipated “Piemonte” Veal Ravioli with Truffle sorely disappointed. The juices was just sufficient, but I beg to differ on the truffle. The ravioli was cooked to perfection, but it just lacked the kick to boast the taste to divine, or something I would return for, for that matter.

The lamb chops were a mistake on hind sight. They were a little on the heavy side by this time of the night and a little lacking in flavour although the meat was cooked to a superb medium rare.

And the Gnocchi with Homemade Pork Sausage sounded yummy on paper, but failed to impress on tableware.

Dinner was a tad overpriced and I honestly think one end's up paying for the view regardless. Service was passable but I suppose bread and eggplants couldn't warrant enough for seconds anytime soon.

Forlino

One Fullerton
#02-06
Tel: 6877 6995
www.forlino.com

Lin's Mini Izakaya Party

F1 Weekend! Singapore's First F1 Night Race - Qualifying

A walk about the track on practice day...

Qualifying Day!

And the 2 teams we are respectively rooting for.

Now you don't see them,

Now you do.. Hamilton

Masa

And Webber

The SteakHouse @ Clark Quay

After Morton's, it didn't take very much to top the steak experience we had there. But I was told more then once that I had to try The Steakhouse at Clark Quay. They supposedly served a mean steak.

So on a Monday night family affair, we had our dates with the cow slaughter. Kind of creepy if you take into total effect the dim lighting, the huge open grill / kitchen and the essence of the art decor along the walls of the restaurant.

One I took particular interest in for it's dark and dramatic irony. It kind of speaks for itself!

I call her - The Self-serving Meal, comes complete with accessories and utensils. Ah, and there she is with all her other friends in their rightful charred duties.

Don't let the simplicity of the presentation full you. This wagyu steak was truly one of the best steaks I have had. Plus, her accessories were served on the side, with 3 different gravies to go along, wedges, mash and vegetables.

The porterhouse was a little bit disappointing to no fault of the chef, but more to our dislike for any meat that doesn't melt in the mouth after 2 seconds of mastication.

We devoured the fellow none-the-less, didn't want them dying for an unnecessary cause called wastage.

The highlights aside, the other 2 main courses were only average, nothing I can actually remember right now. What else were we to expect since they were fish and pork and we were at a steakhouse right?!.

The appetizers we shared on the other hand, were pretty good - scallops wrapped in bacon, mussels in white wine and french onion soup.

These little gems in blankets and the mussels were really fresh and good.

Small palatable portions perfect for sharing before the big pig - sorry - beef out to come. Finally to wash it all down with a piping hot french onion soup. Lovely!

So Morton's is definitely off my list. And the Steakhouse definitely proves that one doesn't have to pay a high premium to get a superb steak.

The Steakhouse Clarke Quay,

3B River Valley Road, #01-14(S) 179021

Tel: 6332 1010

The Sister I Am SO Incredibly Proud Of

L was featured in Vanilla! She had hoped this secret will go to the grave, but ironically representing the media, she doesn't believe in the power of it!
Anyway, B ratted her out and told us she was featured and I just had to go out and get a copy.

And who dares say this picture is ugly should be smacked, tied to a stick and slapped silly, then turned over and slapped silly from the other way!! She looks so cool. So darn proud of my big sister. Her work is finally paying off.

Some excerpts of the article published in this month's vanilla (is this not a big enough hint for you to go and get a copy yourself?! It comes with a free tote bag too, another plus point):

"In the last eight years, I have met people from all walks of life - politicians, entrepreneurs, child prostitutes, divorcees, single parents, terminally-ill patients, individuals who give their lives to a cause, tsunami victims, people living in abject poverty, environmental refugees - the list goes on. They inspire me, yes, but no one really moves me."

"After a while, statistics are my news point, people become my profiles, their stories, my visual possibilities. And you know your friends start seeing you as some unfeeling fish when, each time they tell you a tale (usually a sad one) they preface warily, "This one cannot use as story ah!" or "Don't think of them as profiles ah!"".

"But it was a 10-year old boy I met in the monastery who really moved me....That little boy touched me in a way no profile ever had. We couldn't speak to each other because of the language barrier, but there are some sentiments that don't require words. I was struck by his innocent sense of wonderment, simple faith, and eagerness to have the simple things I have always taken for granted."

If you would like a copy of the entire story, do leave me a comment, or drop me an email or sms.. you know where to find me.

Nectarie - Canele's Got A Mean Rival

The highlights of my night

Necatrie Dessert Patisserie

Blk C , The Canery,

#01-05 River Valley Road

Clark Quay

63056728

The White Rabbit that should have stayed as a sweet

The good memories of white rabbits I have, are the ever-nostalgic white rabbit milk sweets from china and the retro rabbit character from Alice in Wonderland.

That's probably the ONLY memories I will want to keep, because the visit to the new over-rated and over-hyped White Rabbit at Dempsey, was abysmal.

True to form of most establishments in Dempsey, they boast of great ambience but fail to impress even in the simplest of declared signatures from the Kitchen. Taking over the old Ebenezer Chapel on Harding Road opposite Au Petite Salut, the place oozes much charm and comes brightly alive with voices ringing through the high ceilings. So imagine my disappointment when none of the dishes that came highly recommended were above decent average. And to think this was hailed one of the "must-trys" by respected critics in the food and blogging industry. One of the "must-avoids" I say.

I normally shy from giving extremely bad reviews. I'll be the first to boldly admit I'm no food connoisseur. I sometimes eat to live more then live to spend my days eating. So when a place is really bad in my books, take a leaf from it. If people say its the teething periods of any new kitchen,... well, only time will prove me wrong I suppose.

Q and I started with the Prawn Bisque and foie gras. The prawn bisque was highly recommended, served generous compliments on the facebook group. And since I like coconut and the laksa souffle sounded so interesting, we ordered despite my allergy to prawns. The soup was a little bland, without much richness of the seafood. The coconut souffle unfortunately did not complement the broth either.

Next for our mains, we shared the white rabbit mac and cheese and and rack of lamb. The mac and cheese was the ultimate disappointment. European comfort food should be robust, full of flavour and so simple, it's an art. Mac and Cheese falls into such a category. Kenny Rogers mac and cheese could have won hands down. The cheese was sharp rather then creamy and homely, the rustic comfort glow did not come through. And it most certainly did not have that the main reason I ordered the dish in the first place - black truffles and truffle sauce - did nothing to accentuate the flavours.

The lamb did salvage a few points. But was forgettable because it was decent, not great.

Needless to say, we declined dessert. I doubt we will be going back anytime ever..