Lately, I've been on an Italian food craving spree. I alternate mostly between Italian and Japanese, and once it hits me, I HAVE to go to several Italian restaurants consecutively! It's in my blood, I can't stop it.
It has come to my attention that there are a few Italian restaurants around Duxton Hill, kindly recommended by Lifang and her friend Alvin. So I decided to try them out.
I'm going to review two restaurants: Etna and Pasta Brava because they are within the same price range,a nd I find them to be comparable on the general scale. Also, they have similar scores on hungrygowhere.com......
Although....
I was much more blown away by Etna.
I know reviewers out there like to talk about the decor, the service of the crew and the whole experience. For me, it's really just about the food.
We chose the favorite appetizer at Etna, burrata cheese with cherry tomatoes and arugula.
I wish I had taken a picture of the cheese when I cut into it. The cheese literally oozes out in liquid form. It was a moment of pure bliss. The burrata is airflown in from Sicily every three days. And you can so taste the freshness. It's literally like drinking fresh squeezed milk, yet light at the same time. The tomatoes were sweet and delightful (a hard find in Singapore), and the arugula was soooo fresh ( another hard find!)
I had a craving for gnocchi and chose the pumpkin gnocchi in four cheese sauce. The gnocchi was home-made, and the manager had to go to the kitchen to make sure they still have it. And I am perhaps the world's most critical judge of gnocchi. I generally hate gnocchi that are not home-made, because it has this peculiar chewy texture, and does not soak up the sauce one bit. I hate the texture, it's like eating frozen dumplings. It's been a long time since I've had decent gnocchi (the last time, it was in Tuscany), so imagine my surprise when I bit into the first mouthful of gnocchi and experienced......heaven. Pure heaven, when the gnocchi melts in my mouth, with a subtle flour and potato taste (and a hint of pumpkin), followed by the divine richness of the cheese sauce. Little pillows of love, I call them. I cannot express how impressed I am with the gnocchi.
Deron had the crab linguine in a lobster cream sauce. It was really tasty too, not too heavy, but it wasn't as impressive as the gnocchi. Seems like the normal kind of standard you would expect from a good Italian restaurant, so for crab lovers, this should hit the spot.
Pistachio tiramisu. The pistachio really adds a depth of flavor to the tiramisu, strongly recommended.
This meal really brought me back to Italy, I felt. Finally, the reviews on hungrygowhere did not disappoint! :D
Next up, is Pasta Brava.
We had the foie gras in the porcini sauce and burrata cheese to start. The foie gras was cooked properly, and the sauce was tasty, so in all, a good dish. I don't really give high points, because foie gras is so fatty that it's really hard to make it taste bad (other than overcooking it).
As you can tell, the burrata cheese was served with two slices of tomato and some vegetables. I find the dish terribly underwhelming. The burrata cheese was slightly sour, with no flavor at all, and the vegetables and tomato slices were very blah.
Next up, I had one of the fresh pasta dishes. It was a minced beef ravioli in a gorgonzola sauce. This was pretty delicious, the sauce was very well balanced, but I have to say that the portion was really not very filling. Also, the filling wasn't cooked completely, which is fine for me cuz I like my meat bloody, but this could be a concern for others. I know I eat a lot for a human being, so maybe this would be a good choice for those who don't eat very much.
In general, I have to say that Etna was a much more authentic meal, and perhaps slightly cheaper than Pasta Brava. Strongly recommended! :)
