Lunch @ Linguini Fini

Looking for somewhere to have a casual lunch, we strolled up to the L Place to see what was available. The  restaurant we wanted to go to originally was not open for lunch and since there have been so many good reviews on Linguini Fini, we decided to pop in to try it out.

Up on the first floor, the elevator opened to reveal a laid-back casual dining atmosphere with quite a rustic fit out. You could tell it was child-friendly as there was a big play pen for kids to occupy themselves while the grown-ups enjoyed a lazy brunch.

We went up to the host to ask for a table for two, and it actually took him a few minutes to um and ah over what table to give us even though there were quite a few empty tables. Strange.

Anyway we were seated eventually, and looking over the concise menu, we ordered a caprese salad, eggs benedict and the aglio olio to share.

The food arrived quite quickly, the caprese salad was big in size with hefty slabs of mozzerella cheese layered with fresh tomatoes and adorned with a tiny drizzle of 30 year balsamico. It looked great, but when I cut into it, I already knew we were in for a disappointment. The cheese was stiff and relatively hard for mozzerella and it had a very rough feeling in the mouth. The tomatoes were at least fresh, and while the flavour of the balsamico was very good, they could be more generous with it.

A lot of people rave about the eggs benedict here so I was looking forward to try. Toasted homemade muffins with mortadella and softly poached eggs served with a generous pouring of ‘nduja hollandaise sauce’. I actually quite enjoyed this, and although the hollandaise sauce was lurid orange in colour, it had a spicy kick to it which was something different. Worth trying~

Our aglio oilo arrived last as a tangle of spaghetti, and since Linguini Fini prides themselves on their homemade pasta, I had quite high expectations. Unfortunately it was very disappointing, overly oily and yes, I know pasta is best when al dente, but it need not be to the point where it was still half raw and slightly crunchy.

Although the pasta was sub par, I did enjoy the eggs benedict, and the freshly made pizza looked very appetising too, so maybe I will return for that.

Disappointing dinner @ L’Altro

Met up with friends for a Friday night dinner at the newly opened L’Altro situated inside the L Place. Headed
by the two star Michelin chef Philippe Leveille, we were anticipating something quite different as promised by the menu to be Mr. Leveille’s interpretation of Italian cuisine between ‘tradition and new’.

The decor of the restaurant was very modern decorated with stark colours of white and grey. It had quite a futuristic feel which gave me an odd sensation that I was about to be served a meal of something created entirely from gastronomy rather than Italian cuisine.

The menu had two set menus and a selection of dishes for a la carte. After much consideration, and a little negotiation with the person who I assumed was the manager to swap Miss and Mr. K’s original entree for something else, we all decided on the second set menu.

A bread basket was served shortly after placing our order. There were four varieties, woodfired Italian bread, lavosh, olive roll and foccacia. Normally, there would be olive oil and balsamic vinegar for the dipping of the bread, however the waitress explained that the chef wanted diners to appreciate the flavours of the bread in its natural state so they do not intially serve it unless requested. Well, after taking my first bite of the wood fired bread, I decided I did need the condiments as not only was the bread served disappointingly cold it was also bland. However, I must commend the quality of the olive oil as it was full bodied and very smooth.

The amuse bouche was a seared tuna hamburger served with lemongrass foam. This was quite good, the tuna was still semi-raw, with a meaty texture and it went surprisingly well with the creaminess of the fragrant foam.

For entree, Miss E and myself had the scallops which was original selection on the set menu. The scallops were cooked in two ways, where one side was cooked rare and the other to a medium rare. Atop was a slice of fried bread with a stalk of tempurared asparagus. The accompanying sauce was an aromatic dressing which consisted of white wine, vinegar, tomatoes, carrots and celery. The result of this method of cooking was a very tender piece of scallop which melted in the mouth and the aromatic dressing was quite tangy and rich in tomato flavour which went very well with the dish.

Miss and Mr. K were served fois gras for their entree since they had replaced the scallops with this. It came as a seven layer terrine and was served with a slice of toasted brioche. I did not try this, but I gathered this was only so so since neither of them finished this.

There was a second variation to the fois gras dish, from L-R it was a piece of crumbed fois gras, chocolate truffle fois gras and smoke fois gras with sweet wine. Judging by Miss K’s attempt to eat the crumbed fois gras, it was probably fried too long as the coating seemed to give her slight difficulties in chewing it as it was quite hard. There was not much comment regarding the chocolate fois gras and they both did not seem to enjoy the smoked fois gras and sweet wine.

Our pasta dish that night was home made spaghetti with vongoles, capers, tomato confit in a sea water emulsion. The spaghetti was cooked well enough and the flavour was decent with a sour tang resulting from the capers and tomato, however we all agreed that it was overly salty. They should also work on the presentation of this dish as it was not visually appealing at all.

Our meat course was the one side grilled pigeon atop diced squid and chorizo with an accompanying fois gras sauce. When the waiter was taking our order, he had suggested that as a recommendation from the chef it was best that the pigeon be served quite rare. Well after hearing that, we decided to leave the decision in the capable hands of the chef. How wrong we were. The pigeon really arrived extremely rare and in Miss E and Miss K’s case, there was quite a lot of blood water oozing from the pigeon. Mr. K’s and mine fared better as parts of ours were cooked more thoroughly. From the parts that I could eat, it was actually quite tender, but afterwards, my whole mouth had an unpleasant taste of blood. It was extremely off putting. So, I would recommend others to opt for medium rare if wanting to select this dish. I also was not a fan of the squid as even though it was cooked to a good texture, the fishiness of the flavour was quite unpleasant.

And finally to dessert. The gelato ‘Miramonti’, a home made gelato which was prepared and served at the table. I was quite looking forward to trying this, as there have been some good comments about the unique taste of the gelato. The waiters scooped blobs of gelato off a small gelato mountain into martini glasses and spooned a warm compote of strawberries on top. It smelled delightful, a very crisp yet refreshing vanilla scent with a hint of citrus zest. The gelato was so smooth and creamy that it just glided on the tongue and the taste really was quite special, everyone seemed to think it tasted different, but in a good way. My friends came to conclude that it tasted like the ice-cream inside those blue ramune ice-blocks you can buy at the supermarket, while I was so sure that it tasted of yakult. Nevertheless, I really really enjoyed this dessert~

Lastly, we were served their selection of petite ‘six’. From L-R lime financiers, raspberry (red) and coffee (blue) macaron, dark chocolate truffle with balsamico, green apple geraldine, meringue and profiterole. I only tried two of the items, the lime financier which I really didn’t like, the lime flavour just did not taste right, and the cake was a little soggy with not much butter flavour. I did enjoy the truffle though, seductively dark, it just melted in the mouth and the intense sweet yet sour flavour of the balsamico was quite enjoyable. According to the others, the meringue and the green apple geraldine were very sweet and pretty average.

I must say their coffee was quite good, my latte was done well, but the foam on Miss K’s cappuccino was so thick and stiff that it was a slight obstacle for her when she was attempting to drink it.

In general, I can conclude that none of us were particularly entranced by the dinner experience, the pigeon was definitely a bit shocking and quite literally left an unpleasant taste in our mouths, but the scallops and especially dessert provided a little saving grace for the restaurant. However, L’Altro is still very new on the dining scene and maybe just needs some time to co-ordinate itself properly. Service was hapharzadly attentive, they were always asking about how we felt about the dishes, but at the same time neglected little things like re-filling our cups of water.