The Lighthouse at Fullerton

Hello all!

I'm back with yet another food review of The Lighthouse at Fullerton. We really love this place a lot and Gabriel and I always celebrate our special occasions here.

We came back here to celebrate our third anniversary! We celebrate our first anniversary here as well and you can read my blog post about it here:http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/11/how-we-celebrated-our-first-anniversary.html. Since the last time we came here, the food portions have changed.

For a change, we decided to head here for lunch. There are set lunches here but we didn't opt for it and went for their ala carte menu instead.

We had their Lighthouse Signature Antipasti Platter. It looks really different from the last time we had it. We were a little disappointed because there used to be more stuff in this platter in the past. 

They no longer serve the Capaccio and Astice (sweet marine lobster) in this platter anymore. 

The portions of the Prosciutto, Smoked Scamorza Cheese, Burrata and Frittura Di Paranza (fried seafood) which you see in the above picture were slightly bigger though. The Prosciutto paired with the Smoked Scarmorza Cheese remains to be my favourite.

Still, i was disappointed that there wasn't as much variety in this platter as i had originally expected.

Both Gabriel and i had their Tonnarelli All'astice each. This dish was fantastic! It came with lobsters and they were rather generous with it. The lobsters were also really fresh! The squid ink pasta was al dente and perfect too.  This dish was paired with a tinge of chilli, fragrant garlic and tomatoes too. I would definitely order this again if i'm headed to The Lighthouse again.

The ambience is still fantastic and there's a whole different vibe during lunch as compared to dinner. It's more quieter during dinners, whereas the atmosphere during lunch time was light and casual.

Overall, it was a rather good experience dining here. Still a little disappointed with the changes in the menu. Also, nothing in their set lunches/ free flow appetisers appealed to me. Nonetheless, i'll definitely still come back for more of their food.

Thank you for reading my honest review of this place!

Our favourite italian place! & Leaving for Sydney...

Can't believe it's finally time to fly off for my student exchange. I'll still update this blog regularly and still have quite a few posts about some of the nice cafes/restaurants that Gabriel and I have been visiting though.

I'll be flying off in about 8 hours? I'm so excited and yet nervous at the same time. I'll really miss my family, Bethany and Cutie. I pray that God will keep my loved ones safe and also guide me during this new phase! Other than that, i'm excited to experience what studying in a new country is like. I'm excited to soak in the culture and of course, celebrating my birthday and Chinese New Year overseas!

Anyways, on the last day of the year, Gabriel brought me to my favourite italian place– Bruno's! The food here is really fantastic and after having italian food here, i can't seem to find any place comparable to this! We've been going here quite regularly until the manager recognizes us. We've been here for valentine's day and so many other occasions.

Here's a picture of me while waiting for the food. The place was so crowded on new year's eve so i don't really recommend going there on a public holiday. Since it was a public holiday, we had to wait a little longer for our food but don't worry, they serve a complimentary bread basket in case you're too hungry!

Awww <3

This was our first time ordering an appetizer at Bruno's. Since it was new year's eve, we thought we should do something different and we decided to be more adventurous? We ordered their parma ham platter… but we were disappointed.

I think you should give their appetizers a miss at this place. Our parma ham platter did not look appetizing at all, and it was too much ham for two people. We had to eat this with the complimentary bread we were given too. We actually thought that the parma ham platter would be accompanied with some rockets? Sadly, we were literally served with only parma ham.

Parma Ham Platter

I can't remember the price for this? I think it was 23+ for it.

We ordered this vegetable pizza. It has cucumbers, zucchini, peppers and mozzarella cheese. Just looking at the pictures here is making me hungry! This pizza looks simple but its surprisingly good! We saw that the bunch of girls sitting beside us had ordered this too. The pizza was not moist and wet even though the toppings consisted of vegetables. I'll definitely order this again. It's one of the cheaper items too. It costs us $22.

Lobster and Crayfish Pasta 

This costs us $25. It was the best pasta i ever had in my entire life! I'm not even kidding. The lobsters were so fresh and sweet and they were so generous with their crayfish too! If you're a seafood fan, this is a must get! The sauce had a tinge of smokey flavor to it and yet it was slightly tangy at the same time. Overall, this was a sweet tomato based creams sauce. You can't get it on the menu but they have this dish on their menu boards so do look out for it!

Their crabmeat pasta is perfect too. I don't have a picture of it because we didn't order it that day but we usually get their crabmeat pasta as well. I prefer the lobster and crayfish pasta just by a little bit though. I think they're pretty comparable and probably the best pastas i've ever had.

Seafood risotto

This costs $26. This had a slightly more tangy sauce than the lobster and crayfish pasta. This had fresh tomatoes in it as well as an assortment of seafood like squid, cockles, crayfish, prawns, fried fish. They were so generous with their seafood i felt like i was just eating a bowl of seafood. There wasn't too much risotto as well (which is good since i don't like too much of carbs.) The consistency and texture of the risotto was just right. This dish is good as well, but can't be compared with the above two pastas i mentioned.

Look at all the remains of all the seafood we had that day. This probably gives you an idea how generous Bruno's is with their ingredients!

This is a perfect place to go for excellent italian food. I thought it wasn't too pricey for the quality and taste you're getting. Remember to call to make reservations as this place is sometimes quite crowded!

Bruno's Pizzeria & Grill
344 Tanjong Katong Road
Singapore 437113
Tel: 64404525

So this marks the last post before i leave for Sydney. I'll definitely update this space as soon as i get wifi over there. Goodbye Singapore!

Christmas day

Back with another post detailing what happened on Christmas day itself. We went to church for Christmas service and after that, we headed down to the new Orchard Gateway. Okay, maybe not new but it's one of our first few times there!

We walked around in Orchard central before that and decided to take a few photos with the Christmas decorations.

We decided to eat at Supply & Demand as we knew that the food there would not disappoint us! The place is just as pretty as the one at Esplanade! The decorations are pretty similar and gave a very rustic feel to it.

This is the interior of Supply & Demand! There are seats outside too and we were seated outside. It was a pretty good experience too because it was less crowded.

Well we ordered their house pour and it wasn't very satisfactory. But that's alright! Because for every a glass of wine ordered, we were entitled to a free flow buffet of turkey, artichoke, olives, cheese and breads. Such a good deal right? Of course, Gabriel ate a lot of turkey. Protein is always good for guys, right?

Some pictures of the view from where we were seated!

We both ordered chicken ($18). We just had to! Especially since it left such a good impression the last time we were at the Esplanade outlet. This came with grilled vegetables like tomato, cucumbers and capsicums. The tomato was so fresh and juicy i really wonder how they did it! The chicken was grilled, so it was really healthy! This came with some salad tossed in vinaigrette dressing. The potato mash wasn't just your ordinary potato mash. It was truffle mash and so delicious!

Supply & Demand is really one of our favourite places to go to. Considering that it was a public holiday, the service was pretty fast and efficient! We were seated quickly too and the staff were all very responsive.

For more details on the dining experience at Supply & Demand, do also vist my other post at: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/12/im-fan-of-supply-demand.html

Ending off this post with an outfit of the day. Till then!

Great Italian food at Etna

Back with a post on a place Gab and I recently visited. We went to Etna along Upper East Coast since Gab stays really near there. The service was impressive. We were created by a warm welcome the moment we reached there and shown to our seats. We reached there pretty early so it was relatively empty. It got crowded later on so i guess it's a good idea to reserve a place here.

The interior of the restaurant is lovely. It's really warm, quiet and private. The seats are so comfortable was well. Sadly, i was severely underdressed so i didn't take photos of myself in this place.

There's a black chalkboard listing some of the specials for the day. I almost got the angel hair seafood pasta but ultimately decided against it. It sounds good and i might get it the next time i'm here.

We had ordered a bottle of still water. This costs us about $6 i think? Hahaha. Gabriel wanted me to have a complete experience of the restaurant and he didn't want to just order plain water.

Like most italian restaurants, we were served with complimentary bread.

Ravioli di Ricotta e Spinach in Salsa di Pomodoro con Stracciatella ($24)

Wow! This has such a long name. I really enjoyed this dish, although it wasn't mind-blowing. It was a rather decent meal for the price. Each ravioli consisted of handmade ricotta cheese and spinach. I think there were about 8 ravioli in this dish and definitely good enough for one serving. The tomato sauce also consisted of stracciatella cheese. I thought that the sauce was so creamy and so rich in tomato.

Norcina Pizza ($28)

I really love this pizza! This was incredibly good! Its a pizza with Italian truffle paste. I love anything truffle. This did not use truffle oil but a truffle paste and the truffle taste was so strong! This was topped with mozzarella cheese, porcini mushrooms and homemade pork sausages. Just looking at the photo here and describing this pizza makes me want to get one to have right now. It is that good.

Moscato d' Asti ($13.50) and Passito ($16)

The Moscato (on the left) was a 2011 bottle while the Passito (on the right) was a 2009 bottle. I like the Moscato! It's a lot sweeter than the one at Lighthouse (See my review here: http://doriateo.blogspot.sg/2014/11/how-we-celebrated-our-first-anniversary.html). This tasted like sweet apples and apricots. The Passito was a little sweeter and heavier. It is fuller and richer. This tasted like plums with a taste of pear. 

At first, we were very amused by the great disparity in cup sizes and couldn't help laughing about it. But we realized that the serving sizes were just perfect in the end. The Passito was really rich and we just couldn't imagine having anymore of it.

I caught Gabriel in that blissful moment enjoying his wine. Heh.

We didn't order any dessert so they gave us some complimentary biscuits! How thoughtful. As i have mentioned, the service here was really great!

This meal costs us over $100 including the GST and service charge.

Etna Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

110 Upper East Coast Road

Tel:  68846884

https://www.facebook.com/EtnaItalianRestaurantPizzeria

New hangout at Alt Pizza!

It's almost been a week since i last updated this blog! Exams are coming in a week's time and both Gab and I have been busy preparing for it.

I can't wait for exams to be over and i'll be free. I can't wait to start on my fitness regime again. And after that, we're headed to Australia for exchange! Oh and of course, who could forget that it's time for Christmas!

We headed to Alt. Pizza on our last day of school and surprisingly they serve very interesting flavors.

Menu

You can see from the menu that everything is pretty affordable! It's not too pricy unlike Skinny Pizza and definitely a better choice than Skinny Pizza!

I love the interior! They have a huge banner of all the Singapore icons.

What is this structure?!

Before our pizza came, one of the waiters placed this weird looking structure on our table and we were wondering what function this had…

When the pizzas came, we finally knew what it was for! It's such a clever idea, especially since our table was pretty small.

Garth Fader ($12)

I guess for $12, this was super affordable. The base was a generous spread of cream sauce. The pizza was topped with two different types of cheese– smoke cheddar and mozzarella. It came with roasted onions, artichoke and tomatoes. There was also pine nuts, which gave this pizza a crunch to it.

I can't get enough of their pizza base. It's thin crust, but not thin/biscuit like texture/crunchy like that of Skinny Pizza's. It's made up of a very thin but chewy dough and tasted so much more like a pizza crust.  The sauce of the pizza didn't drench the pizza base and the pizza base was not soggy at all. I guess they got their recipe right. The crust is perfect.

The pizza was sliced into 6 slices. I would say an average guy would probably eat 5 slices of this? Gabriel and I couldn't finish two pizzas on our own. We had over ordered!

Lean & Green ($14)

This tastes way better than it looks. The base was covered with pesto sauce. It had a good mix of two cheeses as well– Feta cheese and mozzarella. This pizza also came with bits of broccoli, baby spinach and roasted squash which provided somewhat a sweet flavor to it.

This is probably one of the most unique pizzas i've ever tried. And it tastes so good that i'm definitely coming back for more! Even if you're not a vegetable lover, you should try this. Trust me, this tastes nothing like vegetables. It was so flavorful and good.

The exterior of Alt Pizza

Alt Pizza wasn't that easy to find. It's at Suntec (near Marche) and you actually have to exit the building to locate it. Although it isn't that easily accessible, thank goodness there was a taxi queue just right outside and you can hop on a cab after your meal!

Credits to Alt. Pizza for this picture

One more thing, they're having a student promotion now from 2pm-6pm if any of you are interested.

Thanks for reading this! I'll be back after my exams and updating this blog with all other food hunts!

Alt. Pizza
Suntec City Tower 4
#01-602
Singapore 038983
Tel: 68369207
http://www.altpizza.com.sg/
https://www.facebook.com/AltPizza

How we celebrated our first anniversary

Me and Gabriel celebrated our first anniversary at The Lighthouse Restaurant. I was introduced to this place by my cousin. Surprisingly, when we reached The Lighthouse, we realized that it had won numerous awards. 

The view on the way to the Lighthouse

I can easily say that this is the best restaurant i have been too. It comes with a heavy price tag though but for the ambience and good food, why not?

I was very intrigued because we first had to proceed to the 8th floor of The Fullerton Hotel and then take a another private lift that leads all the way to the doorsteps of this restaurant. The Lighthouse is an extremely exclusive place and a perfect choice for an intimate dinner.

Since it was still early, we decided to explore their rooftop bar as well. It is just right above The Lighthouse and the setting of it is extremely casual. Think, alfresco. 

Going up the staircase which leads to the rooftop bar

View from the rooftop bar

The view is absolutely gorgeous. You get a perfect view of the whole Marina Bay. The weather was especially good that day too and it was in the evening so that was a cool breeze that was blowing. And Gabriel is holding the book he made for me. :)

What i wore

This is one of the rare few times i actually doll up. I stole my mum's pearl necklace for this date and paired it with pearl earrings too. I think dolling up is the best part about going on dates… well of course the good food that comes with it too. :P

Our view at the table was perfect too. You can request to choose a seat near the window, which is what we did. It was a good choice because we got to see the sun setting down and the night view was simply breathtaking.

Moscato Wines ($18/glass)

Gabriel and I are avid fans of wines and we had chosen Moscato wine to pair with our meal. At first, we were rather disappointed that we were served with a 2009 bottle of wine. We would have very much preferred an older bottle of wine for the price we were paying. But after drinking the wine, we had absolutely no qualms. The wine was superb. Probably the best wine i have ever tasted.

We were served with bread to start off our meal. There isn't anything special about the bread, then again it's complimentary so i'm not complaining.

Lighthouse Signature Antipasti Platter ($29)

This is a definite must try. If i were to visit this place again, i would definitely order this. It comes with a whole range of all the antipasti they offer. I like the idea of it because you get a whole variety of everything.

It came with their Fritto Misto, a  crispy fried seafood with smoked pepper sauce. I thought that this was alright, nothing special so i would not recommend ordering it.

Next up, we tried their L'insalata Misticanza. The grilled vegetables and marinated tomatoes in balsamic dressing was nothing more than normal. You should give this a miss.

We also tried their Burrata, an imported buffalo burrata with tomatoes and sweet basil and extra vigil olive oil. This is worth ordering. The taste is really light so you need not worry if you don't like the taste of cheese because it tasted nothing like that. The cheese was of excellent quality and well mixed with fresh cream.

Their Capaccio is probably one of the best appetizer that we had. The thin sliced beef tenderloin was perfect and it melted in my mouth. The wild mushrooms, roasted pepper with rocket which accompanied this dish was a good combination too.

We also had a taste of their Astice, which consisted of sweet marine lobster with roasted peppers and basil. The lobster was really fresh but nothing spectacular or mind blowing about it.

My favorite out of all was their Prosciutto, the 18 months langhirano aged ham with smoked scamorza cheese and preserved eggplants. It was a bit on the salty side but the flavors was perfect, especially if you have the ham together with the smoked cheese. It is absolutely mind blowing and quite like nothing i have every tasted before. Probably the best dish i have ever tried.

Clockwise (from top left), their menu special crabmeat pasta,  Deliza Al Tartufo and the complimentary chocolate cake we received
The light was getting dim because the sun had set and i did not bring a good camera that day. So the quality of the photos isn't that good and that's why i had combined all the pictures into a collage!

The pictures certainly don't do justice to the food. For our mains, we had ordered their crabmeat pasta (which was their special deal of the month). I don't think you can get this on the menu anymore but it's a good thing because i thought this didn't quite make my expectations. The Bruno's crabmeat pasta was so much better, and so much more affordable.

The Deliza Al Tartufo is a must try though! Its a mini ravioli with truffle and mascarpone cheese inside. The sauce is a thick truffle based sauce too. It's perfect. The exterior is soft but not soggy, neither is it as hard as al dente pastas. The moment you taste the ravioli and bite into it, everything just crumbles and melts inside your mouth. What's more, the interior consists of a warm, smooth and good stuffing of flavored mascarpone cheese. It's the most perfect pasta i have ever tried.

Unfortunately, the only draw back of this pasta is its prize. For 6 of those mini raviolis, i paid a hefty cost of $28. But trust me, you won't regret it. It's the best thing i've ever tried!

Later towards the end of our dinner, we were surprised with a complimentary cake! It was so sweet of the staff and it really made our night. It was a huge slice too and probably caused around $15? The service i must say is fantastic! The service staff were all patient, gave good recommendations and fast with their service. The moment we finished one dish, they would clear our tables and serve the next dish immediately while it was still piping hot.

I would definitely recommend The Lighthouse for a special celebration. Gabriel and I have even made it a personal commitment to visit this place again for every anniversary together. But since this place it just too good, we'll probably be heading back there again this December after our exams. I'll definitely update this post with much better pictures then!