crab squid-ink linguine in pink sauce

daughter organised an early father’s day dinner at valentino on 11.6.2015. ^^ youngest daughter leaving for london tomorrow & wife joining her later on 19.6.2015.

i asked to dine at Valentino as i had not been to valentino for many years. my impression had been that food is good here, but just too pricey & not justifying the quality of food. this evening was no exception, nothing to change my mind.

focaccia

we had a complimentary focaccia. it was warm, & good! 🙂

amarone

we had a bottle of amarone. we were told S$145, but when the bill came it was S$168. we assumed it was a misunderstanding, and the server actually served a different bottle of amarone for some reason maybe assuming that we wanted a better bottle though we did not have a clue ourselves? anyway it was father’s day dinner & wine was good (a non drinker like me also heard of the name amarone before…hahaha!). we just paid up.

burrata S$45 – liked this & the veal best!

i remembered the burrata was a very good dish here. & it was! ^^

very light & went well with the palate. i thought there was prosciutto accompanying the dish, but there wasn’t. i must have confused with another place. i thought parma ham would complement well the burrata & bring out the flavours more.

burrata S$45 – liked this & the veal best!

later i found on my earlier post that senso indeed served it with parma ham, however my memory had been that valentino’s was still better!

beef carpaccio

we added a beef carpaccio. it was good too. sweet, tasty cut.

beef carpaccio

& just great with the parmesan cheese & rockets.

crab squid-ink linguine in pink sauce

& i always love the crab squid-ink linguine in pink sauce.

crab squid-ink linguine in pink sauce

it was still very good, and i guess i still liked it. it was very creamy, a lot of crab meat, and linguine was done well, al dente! 🙂

but for me it has lost a bit, or maybe most of the wow factor. i do a pretty good creamy tomato myself, and my wife’s crayfish pasta in pink sauce is just plain awesome, just lightly cream with nice tomato taste, where this was like all cream. i would prefer that to this 10x over.

my daughter, who is rather discerning with food & has a better palate than i, though liked this quite a lot. goes to show taste is a very individual preference. 🙂

that it was a very good pasta & the price was quite ok is not disputed.

carbonara

the carbonara – my first taste was that it was good. but then immediately, i agreed with my youngest daugher that it did not taste like the usual carbonara.

carbonara

yes, valentino’s was a good pasta, the dry creamy kind & tasty maybe from the cheese. but i think i like the alfresco gusto version of carbonara with an egg much better.

parma ham porcini cheese pizza – good

i liked the parma ham porcini cheese pizza – good!

parma ham porcini cheese pizza – good

nothing so special but just a good pizza.

pan fried veal – loved this & ordered a second

what was a very pleasant surprise was the pan-fried veal with parma ham, about S$37. it w2as the best dish of the evening, and we ordered a second.^^

pistachio panna cotta – bad!

for me, the pistachio penna cotta was a complete flop. we all said it tasted like a poor chinese almond jelly. & it cost S$15.50. i was not expecting lake como’s pizzeria balognett standard, but this was just plain poor dessert.

overall we paid like S$528nett for 5pax. the wine alone cost like S$195, so about S$325nett for the food for 5pax. it was not cheap but i guess that was not overly pricey either. however that i feel was because we asked the price of every dish that was the special not on the menu. the only thing that ws less clear was the wine, which we were told S$145 but served a different wine S$168? anyway that was ok.

the prices of specials though like S$258 for 1kg T-bone steak & S$168 bisteca florentine steak were just not on for me leh! ….al borgo used to serve the florentine steak at S$60, maybe it is S$80 now??

there was no lobster pasta this evening & the special was king prawns at S$58. i guess i woud order it if i have faith in the restaurant where transparent pricing & mathcing the food is concerned. well, i didn’t. i guess i will call it just my personal lack of faith.

c.h.e.f andy