Friday, December 24, 2010

Dolce Vita

My birthday meal for 2010 and yes, an entry which I fail to get it published shortly after the meal. Not that the meal was not memorable but rather January has been a busy month (In fact the 1st entry of Jan was actually a Chinese New Year Special).

I haven't been to many Italian restaurants so I can't comment much about the food. All I can say is that I love the ambience of this place and that the service was fantastic with a good selection of food.

For evenings, the interior of Dolce Vita is warmly lit with white ceiling and an open kitchen at the other end of the restaurant. The full height white trimmed window presents a view of the poolside that is set against the stunning views of the Singapore Flyer and Ritz Carlton Millenia. Since it was near Christmas at our point of visit, the entire restaurant was decorated with a huge Christmas tree, a vintage ham cutter and lots of poinsettia.


Tartare di manzo

Tartare di manzo ($28++) caught me by surprise as I didn't know what tartare was. Anyway, this finely chopped raw Angus beef tenderloin surprised me with the absence of the "bloodly" taste. I am not sure how to describe it but I recall voluntering to finish the raw beef with the finely shredded purple potato chips.


Complementary Salmon Appetizer

This was served to everybody prior to the main course and I appreciated the simultaneous serving of the appetizers, main courses and desserts (respectively) to all diners at the table. The warm and attentive service makes me feel like a privilleged diner but yet not feeling stressed at all.


Merluzzo al pesto

Merluzzo al pesto ($38++) was what I have ordered since I was craving for Chef Sandro's risotto. The prime seafood-saffron risotto was not as good as how I wanted it to be but the roasted cod fish (served with sauteed baby spinach and homemade basil pesto) was a delight for the succulent texture. My only complain? The fish is a little salty.


Branzino alla griglia

Branzino alla griglia ($38++) was Yuan's order. A grilled whole sea bass Italian style with baby spinach, sauteed potatoes and natural jus. The fish has been deboned and the meat has been well-seasoned with herbs. The concept is lovely but the meat becomes mashy without the bones, making it a messy affair. Yuan would have preferred the beef tenderloin which one of my friends have ordered and the pan-fried foie gras that came with it was good.


Torta die Mele

In a way or another, I had birthday celebrations in 3 of the restaurants of Mandarin Oriental last year, namely Cherry Garden, Melts - the World Cafe - and Dolce Vita. The hotel does serve a complementary chocolate praline cake for dine-ins.

Apart from the chocolate praline which I have shared among my friends, we have ordered two recommended desserts, namely the Torta die Mele and the Italian tiramisu.

This slow baked golden apple with puff pastry is something that I will order again for the strong fragrance of the caramelized apple. Unlike the regular crisp pastry, the puff pastry tart shell is soft and when eaten together with the calvados ice-cream and Tahitian vanilla sauce, the overall combination with the alcholic kick was simply ectastic.


Italian homemade tiramisu

Italian tiramisu is a simple espresso soaked sponge with mascarpone cheese filling, coated with dark chocolate. Simple as it looks and the overall combination was well-liked by Yuan.

I am eyeing at this place once more for our 11th anniversary.
YUAN, saw my hint?


Dolce Vita
Mandarin Oriental, Singapore
5 Raffles Avenue
Marina Square
Singapore 039797
Tel: 6885 3551

Operating hours
Lunch - Noon to 2:30pm
a la carte Brunch (Weekends) - Noon to 3pm

Dinner - 6:30pm to 10:30pm
Website

For my own information, this post was only typed on 17 February 2011 but I have decided to publish it on my birthday itself.

2 comments:

red fir said...

Awww happy belated birthday! Your flickr photos led me here. Your meal especially tiramisu looks good! (:

Now I know the story behind the
"steak tartare" comment on fb. Mind if I ask why 11th anniversary? Sounds so long away... make that an every year promise!

Fen said...

Thank you for the belated birthday wishes =)

I was contemplating whether to blog about it given how long this meal was. Decided to since this blog is meant to be a diary. =)

Haha, I ordered the steak tartare without knowing what was it but enjoyed it pretty much as it wasn't as bad as I expected "raw meat" to taste like. In fact, the meat was so fine and tender that it does resemble shredded sashimi. Yuan had a good laugh when he read this post and I thought I sounded silly.

11th anniversary refers to 22 June 2011, will be together for 11 years by then. Yuan sets high priority for that date and tends to be more generous. In fact, he would prefer to celebrate on that day than our ROM and customary.

An every year promise would sound good but that would mean I will have lesser trump cards to try other restaurants. >.<

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