Enoteca L’Operetta – Dinner

This is my final stop for Restaurant Week.

The restaurant is located in Boat Quay, which isn’t quite ideal. Firstly, you got to know your roads well. Keying in “Boat Quay” in the GPS will not help as there’s only parking along the nearby Circular Road. The restaurant is located at the extreme end of boat quay, near the bridge which links to Parliament House.

Secondly, Boat Quay isn’t the typical place where locals would hang out. The whole stretch was filled with foreigners, tourists and seafood restaurants (which locals avoid like plague) trying to tout for business.

I’ve read about how this Japanese owned Italian restaurant attained certification for their Neapolitan pizza and I absolutely love how pretty the décor looks.

Definitely looks like a good choice for a romantic dinner.

There are outdoor seats too, which looks lovely, overseeing the quay.

The 4 course dinner menu cost only $35.00++.

We ordered wine by the glass. I had Moscato D’Asti ($16.00++) and my dining partner had a Merlot ($22.00++).

The Moscato D’Asti tastes no different from other Moscato D’Asti I usually get from wine shops. The Merlot was very full bodied though.

The bread was served warm. The server would go around with a big basket of bread and top up our bread upon request.

The herbaceous pesto was kind of weird. It wasn’t like the typical basil pesto and I couldn’t make out what it was. But it actually got better as I had more of it.

Amuse Bouche – Minestrone Soup

The complimentary amuse bouche for today was minestrone soup. My dining partner was delighted as he wanted to order this initially but we didn’t. I would say I liked this. After all, minestrone soup is one of my favourite kinds of soup and this sure didn’t fall below my benchmark.

Capesante di Hokkaido al Forno con Burro Aromatizzato

OVEN BAKED HOKKAIDO SCALLOPS FLAVOURED WITH AROMATIZED BUTTER

We both choose the Hokkaido Scallop for our antipasti.

The Hokkaido Scallop was served in a cute little cocotte, identical to the one at Le Saint Julien holding the mashed potatoes.

The size of the scallop was huge! Maybe 5cm in diameter? The butter cheese sauce was heavenly cheesey (my weakness. Anything with cheese and butter will somehow taste good).

“Rigatoni” con Salsa Pomodoro e Crema e d’Anatra Affumicata

RIGATONI SMOKED DUCK WITH CREAMY TOMATO SAUCE

My dining partner had this as his choice of main course. Rigatoni is similar to the more common Penne. Both are ridged pastas but the difference is that the ends are cut straight in rigatoni, instead of diagonal in penne. The length might be different too.

He claimed this was better than the duck from Le Saint Julien we had earlier on. The tomato cream sauce was deliciously strong in flavour. Tasting and seeing this rekindled by craving for pasta, unfortunately.

Saltinbocca

PAN-ROASTED VEAL WRAPPED WITH PROSCIUTTO SERVED WITH MARSALA WINE SAUCE

I spent a long time deciding what to get for my main course and I regretted my choice. Not that there was something wrong with this, I just felt like having pasta after seeing the pasta my dining partner had!

I wish I had ordered the fettucine with kurobuta pork.

Anywaym the veal was thoroughly wrapped with parma ham. 2 layers perhaps. The flavour of the parma ham has infused well into the veal, and it tastes like pork chops! Even when I removed the parma ham layer, the veal still tastes like pork chops. The veal was tender, so it resembled pork chops even more. It’s not a bad thing, as I am a fan of pork chops.

The semi mashed potatoes were decent but it can’t compare to the perfect mashed potato I had for lunch.

Dolci del Giorno

DESSERT OF CHEF’S SELECTION

Today’s dessert was just ice cream. A pity it came partly melted, resulting in such ugly pictures. On the left was plum and on the right was vanilla. I liked the vanilla more.

*****

Ambiance: 8.5/10

Food: 8.5/10

Value: 8.5/10 (restaurant week menu)

Overall: not the best place for Italian food but one of the better ones I had for restaurant week! I wouldn’t mind returning as the décor was lovely and the experience was pleasant. I would love to try other dishes too.

*****

Enoteca L’Operetta

78 Boat Quay

Singapore

Tel: 64382482

*****

Mon–Sat:

11.30am–2.30pm

6pm–11pm

*****

Getting there:

By Car: