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2013-09-18
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So it was a birthday dinner for my dad.The Italian-American restaurant launched alongside Festival Walk in 1998, no wonder as I think back, I realized I’ve been seeing it even before entering high school... But the strangest thing is I seemed to have never dined there until that evening.The atmosphere was great — lamps that come in many different designs gave out warm glow; crowded tables sat with happy people, and attentive staff who worked really quite quickly, with taller ones carrying HUGE p
The Italian-American restaurant launched alongside Festival Walk in 1998, no wonder as I think back, I realized I’ve been seeing it even before entering high school... But the strangest thing is I seemed to have never dined there until that evening.
The atmosphere was great — lamps that come in many different designs gave out warm glow; crowded tables sat with happy people, and attentive staff who worked really quite quickly, with taller ones carrying HUGE platters in and out of the kitchen seemingly effortlessly.
Dinner started off with a basket of Fresh-baked Bread, where the one with moist and airy interior (maybe ciabatta?) was my favourite.
Soft Shell Crabs with Lemon-thyme Aioli was appetizing. I love it, I really love it!! Warm and crispy, especially savoury when dipped into the sauce that was well-balanced between garlic and herbs.
Mussels Bagna Cauda Style is one of the most famous dishes, simply mussels in white wine sauce. Large shells with fat smooth flesh, thick sauce that smelled extra good with heat, and also the garlic bread are great things about it, but the one or two mussels that tasted cold and stale had undoubtedly dragged down its scores.At that time Lemonade was ready, chilled and refreshing to stimulate our senses. Many other tables ordered wine, but since dad had to drive we ordered this instead.
Spaghetti Carbonara came afterwards. Thick creamy sauce, even better after added in shredded cheese (YES, it’s not cheese powder!) I believe it’s not made with traditional recipe but it’s fine as at the end we knew it’s fusion, and it’s tasty anyway.
By that time I was pretty stuffed already but we still had Rosemary Roast Chicken — one of the specialties of Amaroni’s. Meat was tender and juicy but it’s just lacking the scent that it should had… funny was since we couldn’t finish the dish we brought them home and lightly pan-fried to warm the them up on the next night, where the scent of herbs were finally waken up to nicely complement the chicken…
These were what we ordered, and since the staff knew it’s my dad’s birthday they gave us Bread Pudding. It looked yummy but I knew instantly that I was not able to eat it as its colour told me how it’s so FULL of cinnamon, ingredient that sits atop of my list of Most Awful Food, no offence — and trying hard to be a professional food blogger I still had a scoop, you can imagine how my face transformed…I was surprised though. Bread puddings elsewhere never have such heavy amount of cinnamon and they had dried raisins (which I find almost equally awful). So this really differed from usual ones. In fact I’d made this dessert once, excluding cinnamon and raisins and still tasting amazing.
In short, the place offers a friendly atmosphere that feels authentically Italian-American but having tables too close to each other can cause discomfort — physically and mentally when it gets packed and too noisy. Food come in satisfying quantities yet average quality, meaning it’s better to visit with a bunch of friends for casual dining so everyone can taste a bit of everything.
I have a feeling of revisiting and kind of “giving it one more chance” since it might be coincidence that I hate cinnamon and therefore the Bread Pudding. I guess I should try its enormous pizza and signature Tiramisu next time.
题外话/补充资料：
$100 charge on your own birthday cake, which they will help store and deliver to your table after the last ordered dish is finished. And if you happen to be as low-profile as my parents, you can ask the Manager beforehand to skip their iconic birthday song-singing part.
(以上食记乃用户个人意见 , 并不代表OpenRice之观点。)
张贴
