In Italy @ Craig Road

Great place for a group dinner. The wine was rather good ( though not a bargain), and pastas was very decent and ingredients are fresh, and me being a noodle fan, loved the different pastas we had that night....

Apparently, it also hails from Tuscan Traditions.....

The Bread basket is exciting - the usual hand made breads, and also fried dough fritters, with delicious pesto sauce.... yumm...

Very liking the fact that the parma ham dish is very fresh, and the tomato there actually taste very very sweet ( good sweet), and love the taste of the drizzled olive oil.

Vongole Spaghetti - with a bit of tomatoes, and white wine, this is really a nice light dish

Frog Leg, Prawn & Soft shell crab Fritters - fried food with a yummy sauce, how can it be not nice....?

Capelletti pasta in chicken broth - this is a nice not heavy way to serve stuffed pasta, and the pastas are very al dente

Oriechiette  with sundried tomatoes and porcini mushrooms & parma ham- this is so hearty and so tuscan....love it!

Squid Ink Pasta tonerrelli - like stir fried squid ink pasta with veges, prans and tomatoes....very very nice lah. Good quality squid ink pasta with good olive oil.......

PietraSandra @ Portsdown Road

When it comes to good italian food, I am always up for it. This place is hard to get too, but the setting was indeed 'hidden' & very very charming.....
Serveurs are mainly foreign talents..but they are charming and sincere...so was quite enjoyable.

Its one of those places to go if you want another side of singapore.

This place seems to serve some food mainly from the Tuscan traditions in Italy.

Either a tomato paste for the bread rolls (below) or a pretty thick gazpacho, but really refreshing and sweet from the tomato taste

Loved it that they baked their own bread....

Chachuterie platter - with parma ham, salami, proscuitto ham, some other ham and parmagiano cheese. ( really fresh...and not too expensive)

Hand-made spaghetti with duck ragout - this is simply delicious, I could almost imagine in a farmland enjoying this meal in the rolling hills of Tuscany.

Braised Duck in Red Wine & Chocolate sauce - very rich hearty and gamey. Though I really quite enjoyed that as well

Char Grilled Pork Belly - very intense was the verdict. While the char grilled oaky flavours might be the point of the game, may not be everybody's cup of tea.

Quattro Stagione - well, though the ingredients does suggest it is one, it certainly does not look it....but taste wise, it is still pretty good.

Tuna & Cream Fettucine with truffles - very creamy and very strong taste of truffle oil. Taste good for a few bites, but i find the cream pastas tend to be a bit too heavy for my taste buds.

SQuid-ink Pasta with crab meat sauce - this is a great winner...very yummy 

Raviolis in meat sauce - I find this quite the ultimate peasantry pasta dish. Very hearty in a good illustrious way.

Yes, and after all this feasting, I couldn't possibly miss the Dolce......

tiramisu is chiffon cake light, and loved the rich liquor taste.

Valentino @ Turf Club Road

I lllurrve fine dining nights with my ex- shanghai, hkg bffs.....they happen all to be quite uncle-ish in their distinct ways...but nonetheless, dining and drinking with them is always so much fun.

This is a place frequented by apparently, some high members of our ruling elite....

Food was excellent though, the only peeve, is that it is in such a ulu place..and the only sign to go there is a cheesy sign blinking at the junction, which would have been easily mistaken as a karaoke bar.

Remember this name.......

Yummy tomato salad is simple olive oil & balsamico dressing...tomatoes are so fresh and beautifully sweet

Arugula salad

to die for octopus grilled - so tender and with the taste of char-grilled on the outside

my favourite - risotto balls with tomato paste as dressing

This is an amazing pasta dish - squid ink pasta with a seafood bisque

This is tuna, egg and cheese pizza - am not a pizza fan, but this is yum.

This is the main dish - wagyu steak.......nothing more to be said....it should be left , enjoyed in silence...

La nonna @ Holland Village

Went to my friend's place at Holland Village for a swim and decide to reward ourselves after a good work out with some nice italian food.....La Nonna seems to be in Holland Village for a long time...and its the other alternative to Michelangelo.

Food is the type of hearty italian that I like...pastas are done al dente and the sauces were flavourful while not being heavy.....though I think the prices are a tad on the high side.

Nonetheless, not a bad place for good italian food if you are feeling like in the middle of an Italian summer.

Love the bread basket with the restaurant made bread sticks......

Linguine with Crab in creamy tomato sauce. This is really yummy. You can actually see the flakes of crab meat and the I always loved this dish.

Veal Ravioli in porcini cream sauce - looks like it is rich, but it is actually light enough for a hot sunny afternoon....

Hand made Fettucine with bacon in summer truffle sauce. While the truffle sauce might be entirely from the synthetic truffle oil. I love the hand made pasta part....the only complaint my friend had was that ' not enough ingredients'..

Etna @ 50 Duxton Road

I was planning a dinner with my male BFFs whom I gotten to know in Shanghai. We always have a good laugh talking crap and sharing industry gossip. So I wanted them to try something nice, authentic, and cozy.

Etna was a place I read about in the internet...and I immediately thought that it was similar to Cenacolo near my old HK apartment...and really wanted to try if it is the same....

The feeling is similar, good hearty italian food set in a cozy setting...( main difference being wines in HK's Cenacolo are much cheaper). Etna does produce a slightly more refined taste than Cenacolo....( I think Cenacolo's standards have dropped recently). The service is prompt , and is great for dinner with friends, food is charming and exudes a warmth that is great for the soul....

one little peeve though- they don't have the classic sicilian pasta dish where fresh sea urchin is mixed with olive oil and tossed with pasta.

As with any decent italian restaurant, there should be the antipasti, primi, secondi etc etc in the menu....

Suspect that they added a bit of tomato paste into the bread dough....not bad.

Forgot the name, but its a chef special - arego cheese with foccacia bread with porcini mushrooms.....miam, who can resist a combi like this?

Antipasti Etna -Deep fried rice balls with pork stuffing and grilled vege ( a la style of a ratatouille) ...

Penne with Crab & tomato sauce - crab and tomato sauce goes so well, that when you order a pasta like this, you know that it can't go wrong....

Spaghetti with scallops & cured tuna rod tossed in olive oil.....this is really excellent, you can taste the quality of the olive oil, which makes it so reminiscent of the food you will get in Italy.

The last dish we had was pork loin wrapped with bacon. The pork was cooked perfectly, the sauce is delicious..and even the dollop of mash potato was wondrously tasty - thumbs up!

More updates from my second time at Etna - still so delicious

Penne with Baked Eggplant and Pecorino cheese - very simple but very hearty taste!!

Quattro Formaggio Pizza - usually I find the 4 cheese pizza very heavy and would give me lactose intolerance almost immediately....this one is soo light, and so very cheesy too. Needless to say - no lactose intolerance for this.

Home-made Tagliatelle with Rosemary, Prawns & lardon. What a combi....seemingly random, but actually darn delicious....

Last time I was too full to eat dessert...this time.......the molten chocolate cake....yummy

Panna Cotta - looks and taste like pudding....a little bizarre.

Creme Caramel - yeah! thats a favourite.....a bit rich for the last few mouthfuls though.....