Best Meals in Milan @ Fresco & Cimmino, Duomo Milano on 21Apr2014

vege cheese pasta was excellent

pasta alla nerano was excellent

after a very satisfying hiking & eating tour of cinque terre & monterosso & levanto, we packed up & left for milano, the last stop in our trip.

we stayed in a huge 1-bedder duomo apartments right next to duomo (“cathedral”). the agent who met us at the apartment Giuseppe (“Joseph”) recommended fresco which was just round the corner and also paper moon which we lunched at the next day.

we decided to take a stroll along the streets, walking past the many shops with famous brands at vittorio emaneule, alongside piazza del duomo & ended up at fresco & cimmino on via ugo foscolo, 4.

large grilled lobster very tasty bbq flavour.

large grilled lobster very tasty bbq flavour.

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vege cheese pasta was excellent

pasta alla nerano was excellent

vege cheese pasta was excellent

pasta alla nerano was excellent

large grilled lobster very tasty bbq flavour.

large grilled lobster very tasty bbq flavour.

the restaurant was nice & roomy with double volume high ceiling & a large LED screen showing advertisements & tourist stuff about the city.

it was a very good lunch.

we took the recommendation of the young server & picked pasta alla nerao, a zucchini pasta, which was excellent. it had grilled zucchini & shaved parmesan & the pasta taken with the broth or sauce was so tasty, and unlike those at levanto, it was not overly salty. i came back singapore & tried a pesto pasta, combining this dish & the pesto trofie pastai tried at il ciliegio.

so was the large grilled lobster, very tasty & great bbq flavour.

excellent seafood salad (euro 15 can feed 4pax),

excellent seafood salad (euro 15 can feed 4pax),

tagliata di manzo

tagliata di manzo

pasta & tagliata di manzo

pasta & tagliata di manzo

very good rigatoni

very good rigatoni

after lunch we did a stroll through galleria vittorio emaneule II & some shopping, took some photos of leonardo da vinci staring down at the piazza della scala & took a walk to the brera, which was just beyond the duomo and la scala, it was supposed to be an area full of fabulous art galleries, fun shops, excellent restaurants and small B&Bs. & along via fiori chiari, a cobblestone street, with  lined with boutiques, restaurants and antique shops. on this day though most shops seemed closed. we had some gelato & drinks at one stall.

in the evening we decided instead of travelling around looking for places to dine, to just walk back to fresco, which was like just 200m from our apartment.

and was rewarded with another excellent meal.

we had an excellent seafood salad. just euro 15, a large helping of mussels, clams, prawns & squid enough to feed 4pax, even larger helping than the frutti di mare seafood salad at levanto, we also had a very good rigatoni pasta & tagliata di manzo. excellent meal, i really enjoyed this. 🙂

c.h.e.f andy

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Forgettable Set Lunch @ La Villa on 16Jul2013

beef carpaccio with ricola salad & shaved parmesan

beef carpaccio with ricola salad & shaved parmesan

1 of the co-founders of Fundonate (a social networking charity efundraising site we started last year=see Fundonate- Share, Give & Receive) called for a lunch meeting on 16.7.2013. he decided on La Villa. La Villa is owned by Senso group (see Relaxed Dining @ Senso) and is located at the old River Valley Primary School at River Valley Road. 🙂

La Villa S$30pax set lunch menu

La Villa S$30pax set lunch menu

i had amex palate discounts but it was only 20% off ala carte orders for 5pax so we opted for the S$30pax set lunch instead.

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the ambience was great, slightly rustic with the timber trussed ceiling, spacious & bright. 🙂 not so many diners though, like many decent average restaurants in Singapore!

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for the choice of starters, the beef carpaccio with ricola salad, rockets & shaved parmesan was good. the preparation was similar to Senso, basically relying on the sweet original taste of beef (my preference would be a dash of balsamic cream, olive oil & sea salt). 🙂

the wild mushroom soup of the day & the mesclun salad with tuna flakes were quite ok too.

rigatoni with seafood

rigatoni with seafood

chicken wrapped with bacon

chicken wrapped with bacon

for choice of main course, none of us took the hawaiian pizza. the rigatoni seafood looked pathetic really, though the taste was ok (like not horrible), it was a just average, “nothing” dish & a pathetic serving in terms of quantity & ingredients. the chicken wrapped with ham looked better & tasted ok by my friends’ account. i would say confidently that i do a better pasta by miles, and a better chicken too!

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for desserts, i had a berry cheesecake.it was a good cheese cake..the tiramisu looked right & my friends said it was ok but not much liquer flavour..the mango mille feuille tower looked & tasted ok too it seemed.

overall while we had a good meeting & discussion, food-wise it was entirely a forgettable one. at S$30pax for 3-course+coffee, couldn’t really say it was expensive. but now that i am at an age where i need to be selective on the calories i consume, this would not fall within the worthwhile calories category..haha. 🙂 won’t be back, especially when there are so many good lunch deals in Singapore!

c.h.e.f andy