Wednesday, July 04, 2012

Lana's delicious magical Italian home-cooking

If you have read my previous reviews I often criticise food if it does not taste right so I believe this may be the reason not many restaurants have dared to ask me try their foods or it was wrong timing and I could not make it.

This was my first formal food tasting session not organised by OpenRice.

This restaurant was on my wish list so I was really happy when Lana invited me to try her dishes.

I arrived there and was seated by their waitors who recommended some dishes to me.
The restaurant was really nice and there was lots of glass elements and some water filled glass elements hanging by the window.
Although it was an Italian restaurant, it also felt mystical and rustic because of the decor.
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It was really good there was sparkling water to start off with to refresh my palette and taste the food properly.
The first item that was served was bread and accompanying it was basil and olive oil, balsamic vinegar, tomato sauce and a roasted garlic clove.
All the condiments were nice especially the balsamic vinegar which was slightly sweet, and I mixed some of the vinegar with the roasted garlic and it ended up tasting like black garlic (fermented garlic).
The garlic was lovely and soft and came out of the clove easily.
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Insalata di Burrata - Homemade Burrata cheese with Heirloom tomatoes
I was really surprised the Burrata was made by themselves and I loved it.
It was lovely and soft inside with creamy burrata cheese in the middle oozing out, I liked the way it was unsalted because the basil oil complimented it really well.
The Heirloom tomatoes were not only decorative, there were five different types of tomatoes there!
There was the green zebra, purple-black tomato, yellow tomato, red tomato and the orange cherry tomato.
My favourite had to be the green zebra and the yellow tomato.
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Insalata di Arancia Rossa e Finocchio - Fennel and orange salad
I have never eaten Fennel as a salad because usually I find it in curries, but the fennel and orange was really refreshing.
The fennel tasted like a cross between a raw onion and garlic and it was lovely and crisp.
I wasnt sure if it was meant to be served with blood orange, but the orange seemed to be the usual orange and tasted just right, not too sour or too sweet.
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Carpaccio di Capesante e Tartufo Nero - Carpaccio of scallop and black truffle
The scallops was lovely and tender and the truffle was the freshest truffle I have tasted.
The truffle I tried before were either dehydrated or hard but the truffle slices here were grated to serve.
The delicate scallops and the truffle was delicious.
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Fiori di Zucca - Zucchini blossoms with Mozzarella and Ragu
These Zucchinis are not ordinary Zucchinis, they had the flower attached which was stuffed and coated with batter and fried.
I was so amazed that each of these Zucchini were individually wrapped to keep its freshness.
Anyway, I am not a person to like flowers such as rose/lavender tea/cakes but this was my first time I ate a flower!
There were two different fillings inside the flower, one was mozzarella and the other was ragu.
I preferred the ragu because the mozzarella taste was not strong, if the cheese was different, it may have tasted nicer.
However there was tomato sauce served with the zucchinis so it tasted nice together.
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Mandilli de Saea con Gameri Rossi di Sicilia - Sicilian Red Prawns pasta sheet
Out of all the pastas on the menu, I would have wanted to try this one because not many places serve pasta sheets and they were homemade too so it had a slightly more al-dente texture than other pastas.
The sauce was surperb because there was generous amount of herbs and they were sliced so finely that it gives out its full aroma and the herbs were not overcooked that you could still see its greeness.
As well as the herbs, the sauce had a really rich prawn taste which was sweet and almost the strength and taste similar to lobster.
The prawn head which was served was delicious because the sauce inside the head was a thousand times more concentrated that the sauce which was so delicious.
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Risotto con Tartufo e Funghi - Truffle and Wild mushroom risotto
After the scallop with truffle, I knew this was going to taste good because their truffle was fresh.
The risotto was bliss because it was creamy and cheesy with crisp pieces of occaisional onion in it.
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Porchetta - Roast boneless suckling pig with chestnuts
This dish was also amazing it was served on caramel chestnut sauce. The taste of the caramel was really rich without being too sweet. More sauce please! It was great!
Not many places offer this dish because alot of pork is wasted to produce this, only the finest parts were selected.
The pork was extremely tender and moist and the skin was so light and crunchy without any excess oil dripping out from it.
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Veal's knees with saffron risotto - Osso bucco
As well as good food there was good presentation here, the veal was served on a shallow bowl plate with a cow.
If you have read the other reviews the chicken soup was served from a hen pot!
Osso buco is Italian for "bone with a hole" which was exactly what was served but the yummy bone marrow was still there. I have always wanted to try the bone marrow.
The sauce was really rich and not too heavy or gamey because the beef was really fresh.
The fatty bits of the beef had also been removed.
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Finally the dessert, it was a perfect ending because it tasted good as well.
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Tiramisu
I loved the tiramisu especially because of the sponge in the middle which was soaked in alcohol.
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Creme Brulee
The creme brulee was served in a cute bowl with a rabbit and the texture of the brulee was really silky.
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All in all, there was nothing I did not like and I ate everything which is an indication it was delicious, I do not usually eat beef or pork but it tasted so nice here that I had forgotten I did not like pork or beef.

During the meal, Lana would come out and see how the customers were liking the food and she is willing to take comments and suggestions.

If you are an Italian you would know that the menu is not as simple as it looks, it features dishes from various parts of Italy and the the dishes have been set out so that whatever combination you pick it would taste good together.

The food and quality was so good that I felt guilty I was so lucky to get the opportunity to try her food.
But anyway I will be back to try their lunches soon which are around $68 before the crowd comes, but with a sweet tooth I am more tempted to try the afternoon tea because the desserts look good on the other reviews especially the granita and trifle.
really cute must have pots n pans
really cute must have pots n pans

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