The first time I dined at Tosca was back when the Ritz Carlton had first opened. I remembered having to make a booking one month in advance for a table of two, but left underwhelmed by a mediocre experience, especially by their poor parpadelle dish, soft and limp sheets of pasta should really not be served at a supposed fine dining Italian establishment.
Now a year later, not only has Tosca achieved one Michelin star, the Ritz Carlton has also announced just last month the arrival of Chef Pino Lavarra to take over the reins at Tosca. Chef Lavarra, the once executive chef at the two-starred establishment Rossellinis in Italy, has promised to entice diners with contemporary and innovative dishes reflecting his love for food, and Sunday evening saw Mr. C and I there for dinner hoping to be surprised.
Service was utmost friendly, from the moment the hostess guided us to our table to every waiter/waitress that served us. Menus were given to us straight away as we were seated, and looking through it did seem to have more variety than what I saw on my previous visit. Technically we did not select our courses, rather it was organised for us, which most likely ensured that we would be served their most signature or recommended dishes.
We were offered a glass of Cristal to begin the evening, light and crisp with a hint of sweetness. My favourite kind of champagne 🙂
The bread tray is then proffered to us for selection. Neatly arranged rows of lemon rolls, parmesean topped squid-ink baguettes, flaky-looking butter rolls, rosemary foccacia and cheese and tomato brioche. They certainly looked nice, but a little lacking in the flavour department and most unfortunately were not served warm. I did however like the olive oil they provided for dipping, a little thick with a relatively strong olive aroma.
Our amuse bouche was a crumbed goats cheese on a pool of celery jelly topped with red onion. The goats cheese was very smooth, with a slight sharp kick, but the crumbed coating softened quickly under the watery yet bland jelly. This was just very, very normal.
Our appetiser of San Marzano tomato looked quite typical, bright red tomato on top of a bed of mozzarella cheese and mixed greens with a layer of crisp bread. However, it was not as it seemed. The waitress explained that the tomato was actually a casing of white chocolate dyed from the red essence of the Italian San Marzano tomato and hidden inside was a mixture of diced tomatoes and tomato sorbet. Interesting concept~ This is actually the way the chef serves tomatoes to his children, which goes to show that parents would use any method to ensure their little ones eat enough vegetables 😉 All ingredients were fresh, the mozzarella was oozy, greens were crunchy, but I think I was so occupied with the cracking open and tasting of the tomato, that I did not really focus on the flavours of the other components. However, I did notice there was a sweetness with every mouthful, but this came from the crisp bread itself rather than the unsweetened chocolate.
The next dish was what they termed as a ‘Sea Tiramisu’. Intriguing name, hinting at the use of seafood elements in the making. Essentially the focus was on a carpaccio of Mediterranean red prawn outlined with a parsley-like paste, topped with a seared scallop and a spoonful of caviar. The carpaccio albeit a little chewy portrayed the prawn’s natural sweetness while the green paste was unneccesary as it was bland with a strange rubbery texture. I loved the scallop though, seared to a semi-cooked state, it was perfectly tender~ The tiramisu itself was a base of baked cereal crumble with a cream sea foam sprinkled with tumeric powder, decorated with a dried prawn. I quite liked this, the lightness of the cream melted delicately in the mouth while the cereal had a nutty puffed rice-flavour. However I found it was impossible to eat the dried prawn elegantly as it was too tough to cut with a knife and fork, and even trying to bite off a piece took a lot of effort. Bold presentation, but was only so-so for me.
Pasta was next. A green tangle of basil spaghetti, wrapped with a thin slice of swordfish and adorned with baby squid and flower petals accompanied with smears of black olive oil. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly al dente and both the squid and swordfish were very tender. They were light-handed with the seasoning so it was just right in terms of saltiness without overwhelming the delicate flavours of the other components. Simple, but I really quite enjoyed it~
When I think of raw tuna, especially the cut where the meat is burgundy red, I always recall that it has an overly strong fishy flavour which I immensely dislike. So when we were served a cut of semi-cooked Mediterranean tuna which was still extremely red in the centre I was a little skeptical of my enjoyment of this dish. Taking a bite of the meaty tuna steak, I prepared myself for the fishiness, but was pleasantly surprised that it did not appear. The tuna itself was under seasoned, but pair it with the creamy white eggplant puree you will find all the flavours there. The potato souffle was good as well, soft and not overly heavy, while the caramelised caper was a nice touch. The most unusual item to this dish was actually the big green leaf which was described as an oyster leaf, aptly named it tasted exactly like an oyster, but I could not really sense its connection with the overall dish.
Baby lamb is in season right now and that was what we were served as our last savoury course. Presented as cutlets and lamb bacon, it was accompanied with juicy white asparagus, sauteed crunchy lettuce, a crumbed ball of lamb’s liver and drizzled with a mustard lamb jus. Only one and a half months old, you could see by the size of the cutlets how small the lamb must have been and it was very, very tender. The lamb was perfectly fine, but the crumbed liver really was odd, I bit into it imagining it would be warm and the crumbed coating would be hiding a gush of melted liver, but in reality it was a cold solid ball of mashed liver rolled in crumbs. Really quite unexpected and not in a good way unfortunately.
And then it was time for dessert.
Mr. C and I were served two different items, his was chocolate based while mine was more fruity oriented. When we asked the waitress why the desserts were allocated this way, she described that the chocolate was more heavily flavoured so it would suit the tastes of gentlemen while ladies seem to prefer more fruity elements in their desserts. I would say this is a stereotype and not necessarily true as I know that I would choose chocolate in a heartbeat, but I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
Since mine was I guess the lighter dessert, we started on this first. A bed of fruity, sherbet like crumbs adorned with strawberries soaked in sugar syrup, mini meringues, cassis jelly, dollops of raspberry jam, cream and a quenelle of chocolate gelato. Everything just tasted a little too sweet, and after a while it was a little overwhelming, but out of all the components I liked the raspberry jam which was frozen to a solid jelly like state giving a nice sticky texture and the gorgeously dark chocolate gelato most.
Mr. C’s dessert was an articulately structured chocolate box, but upon cracking open the lid it revealed a somewhat messy treasure of rum(?) infused dark chocolate mousse, cubes of coca-cola jelly and a scatter of torn sponge cake. When we tried to spoon up the mousse we were surprised to find it was very hard, and digging into it, we revealed that it had been partially frozen by dried ice. Only after had we each had a spoonful of the mousse did we discover balls of dried ice still inside. Technically, we should have been informed as dried ice can mildly burn skin due to its extreme coldness, but luckily we only experienced a slightly unpleasant sensation on our tongues. But back to the dessert, the mousse was seductively dark and rich, but the coca-cola jelly was really quite out of place.
To finish off a very prettily presented plate of petite fours. A selection of chocolates, macarons and mango jelly ‘floating’ on a cloud of fairy floss. I was actually more excited about the fairy floss than the rest of the petite fours and it was just as I hoped, stickily sweet and sugar-high inducing~ However, a problem with presenting items on a cloud of spun sugar, is that it becomes sticky very quickly and if you are not careful when trying to pick up a chocolate, you could very well upend the rest of the petite fours onto the table which did happen to Mr. C :p Just a note though, if wet towels had been given, that would have been most appreciated.
And please remember to order their latte, it really is quite good 🙂
Overall the experience this time was much better than before, presentation of dishes was more artistic and creative and there was absolutely no faulting the pasta this time. However, I did find that some of the components in certain dishes did not seem to work 100% well together, but maybe that is just my taste. Service was polite and attentive without being intrusive and everything was done with a smile which was really a positive aspect. Worth trying 🙂
Just Something About Me 