Own Time Own Target

After 2 consequtive disastrous meals in Cafe Cartel for the food and Pine Court for the service, I felt that I deserved a good meal at a good restuarant.



So when E asked how I wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day, I decided to try out Dolce Vita (meaning "Sweet Life" in Italian) @ Oriental Hotel on Leng's recommendations. Of course the crowd-hating-practical woman that I am, we went on 12-Feb :D


The Mediterranean restuarant was located pool side on Level 5 of Oriental Hotel, and has bay window/ doors on 2 sides, with tables both indoors and outdoors. We chose indoors for it was a quiet night in the restuarant, and the wind was simply too stong outdoors for comfortable dining. They showed us to a table in corner next to the pool and in view of the glass-enclosed open window. Nice!

I started with a Riesling and E a Tiger while we studied the menu. Everything looked good, in the end we went for the 6-course sets.

While waiting for the food, they served us warm pita bread cut into quarters in a towel-covered basket, together with a tomato paste thingy and pesto paste thingy, which you can mix in a small dish with olive oil for a dip. Delicious! So delicious that E ended up eating 1 1/4 of them through the course of dinner. :D

Dinner is Served!

Cant remember the full details but they consisted of:

The $75 set with

• King Crab salad with shiso-ice
• Veg Soup w truffle oil and cheese
• Lime sorbet (to cleanse the palate)
• Suckling Pig Confit and apple pie thingy
• Chocolate Cake w caramarised banana + Ice Cream
• Coffee/ Tea

The $100 set with

• Crustacian Symphony (1 bite size serving each of Oyster shooter, tuna belly, lobster salad, smoked salmon w roe, scallop)
• Chicken Soup w mushroom and fruits
• Lime sorbet
• Beef w wild mushroom
• Cupcake thingy + Ice Cream
• Coffee/ Tea

The loving couple that we are, we shared EVERYTHING, so that we can taste all the different food lah.

As each beautifully presented dish was served, the server gave us the name of the dish, the ingredients and even the type of sauce (drizzled artisically around the plate) and bade us a good dinner every time.

And when each dish was done, the server asked for our permission to clear away the dishes and utensils, and noiselessly took them away. Serious, not a sound of fork/ knife clanging against the porcelain plates.

E finished his beer and wanted a red wine. I told him Pinot Noir is very in nowadays.
He ordered "A red glass of Pinot Noir"
I laughed and asked him why did he order like that?
He sheepishly said he actually wanted "A glass of red Pinot Noir", not a red glass.
I told him Pinot Noir (a type Black Skin Grape) is always red.
He insisted that he saw from the wine list that there was indeed a Pinot Noir under White.
I suspected it was Pinot Gris (the white variety of Pinot Nori) and true enough, he found that term in the wine list.
Oops.

So cute the man right? giggles*

I asked for an earl grey to end the evening with and E asked for coffee. The server proceeded to clear away all the utensils and plates. Just when I thought that the only mis-step was the bread crumbs left on the table, he came back with a blade thingy to clear away the bread crumbs on a plate too. (see? I have low expectations but I KNOW what is good service, okay?)

The Earl Grey came in a HUGE teapot (probably enough to serve 4-5 cups) and with no tea bag in view (so duh when you pay $5 for a pot only for a restuarant to serve you a tea bag with hot water right?)

It was a relaxing and blissful meal lasting almost 2 hours. After that, we loitered outside the restuarant to take in the Singapore skyline in the night sky... bliss.

I am content.

but the little bit that marred the rest of the evening was that we had to drive our own cars back, instead of me being chaufeurred. :p

Happy Valentine's Day!

Labels: to Eat Drink Party