With the intention to have cakes at k ki after lunch, we went to Da Paolo at Club Street.
For $28.00++, you get a 3 course set meal with amuse bouche and coffee or tea.
The downside however, was that options were limited. For the first course, there’s only an option of appetiser or soup. The second course would be pasta, risotto or fish. It changes daily so in a way, there’s no way to find out what you’re going to get. It seems like they changed their old practice of having 5 appetisers and mains, and 2 desserts to choose from.
Amuse Bouche
It was just a piece of cold zucchini. Nothing amusing here.
Salad with Foie Gras
When I heard that today’s salad was salad with foie gras, I was expecting terraine in cubes or something, but when I was presented with a whole slab of it, I was pleasantly surprised.
The salad was pretty decent and I enjoyed it as I typically like salads with oil or vinaigrette dressings.
The foie gras was decent as well. Not the fattiest, melt in mouth version, but good enough to settle my long time craving for foie gras! Who would expect to see foie gras like this as part of a $28++ set lunch?
Crema di Crostacei – $22.00++
Langoustine, lobster, crab, cognac liquor
As my dining partner loves lobster soup, we tried this. This is quite different from the usual lobster bisque. It is obviously more creamy. Small shreds of lobster meat can be found all over the soup, not that I’m complaining. The whole soup was quite aromatic and they definitely used truffle oil in it.
Pan fried Salmon
For my main I chose the fish of the day which was salmon. The salad was essentially the same as my appetiser, except that I could detect truffle oil in it. The salmon however, was not satisfactory. An unmistakable fishy smell greeted me upon the first bite. It was dry and over cooked as well, and the only saving grace was the slightly crispy skin. I really wished I picked the risotto, which was the Risotto di Piselli con Aragostelle, which has sweet peas and crayfish.
Pasta
My dining partner had the pasta of the day. It was just decent, nothing special at all. I’m not sure what’s this called.
Chocolate Cake
The dessert of the day is fixed and I did try my luck trying to change it to their famous tiramisu but it failed. This chocolate cake was quite tasty but texture wise, it could really be moister.
The coffee or tea provided was just the standard type with no choices. I had the English Breakfast Tea.
Overall, the food here is just decent. The best part of the meal was of course, the unexpected foie gras. The lobster soup was also above average. The mains and dessert we had today were quite forgettable though. I regretted not choosing other weekday set lunches at Ember, Nicholas Le or Boathouse. For good Italian food, I’d rather you try La Strada or il Lido instead.
*****
Ambience: 7/10
Food: 6.5/10
Value: 7/10
Overall: not the best Italian food, but decent.
*****
80 Club Street
Tel: 6224 7081
*****
Mon – Fri: 11:30-14:30
18:30-22:30
Sat: 18:30-22:30
Hungry Bird 