Best Italian Pasta: Otto Ristorante

I am really grateful that I spent 7 years of my prime age in Sydney. Not only it has given me a degree from a prestigious university, it has also introduced me to an amazing eating culture. I have grown to appreciate good food and wine, venture new dining places, and enjoy foodie buddies. So when one of my foodie bestie came to Singapore, her first question would be around this line: "so, where is the next fine dining we want to try?" .

I should probably explain that we enjoy fine dining in Sydney and probably dine at such restaurant 1-2 times a month. The reason, apart from the obvious motive to eat good food, is because the price of normal meal in Sydney is AUD$10-20 while fine dining cost $95 - 180 per person for 10 courses. That and Sydney does have a culture of eating in fine dining restaurant. I think I have reviewed some of my favourite, or I will soon, I promise.

Anw, so when my friend came in April, she booked us at an Italian restaurant called Otto. As usual, I read tons of reviews before I decide to go and this place seems to only have a positive review. I went with 5 friends and was seated at the only table catered for large crowds. The rest of the tables are for 2 people. We ordered primo, secondi, and dolci. A primo in Italian restaurants is usually pasta while secondi is usually a main course dish (like steak, or grilled fish). Yeah, when I first heard that on my trip to Italy as a kid, I was in shock. Anyway, the food is really amazing, I craved for it the next day.

So when my sister came, I brought her to the place to enjoy the pasta. I didn't think the main course was memorable enough so I didn't order it again plus we weren't that hungry.

Otto signature dish has got to be their Sea Urchin pasta that they have in their menu every season. The one I liked the most was wagyu beef and foie gras tagliatelle but they didn't have it when I went back so I settled for veal tortellini with osso busco sauce.

This meal turns out to be the most memorable meal for my sister during her trip here.  Here is some pic of the food

Otto ristorante:
28 Maxwell Road,
#01-02 Red Dot Traffic Building, 
Singapore
+65 6227 6819

Reservation recommended. 
Meal Price: $$$

Sea Urchin (uni) Pasta

Veal tortellini in Osso Busco Sauce

Amuse Bouche - Mushroom and Parmesan

Excuse the messy chair, we had our shopping before the dinner.

A trip to the land of goddess

This is an extremely late post as it has been sitting for almost 7months lol. Anyway, in november last year,  I probably have tasted the gate of heaven or at least how my limited brain imagined it to be.

I was in Bali for the weekend and stayed at W retreat, Seminyak. Of course, being part of the luxurious W chain, the place has so much to prove. W Seminyak was built last year in March 2011 to answer the need for a modern touch in Bali. W offers many things from bar, restaurants, designer boutiques and most importantly villa. But for me, the best thing about the place is the view, the feeling and the service. You are seriously treated like a King here. Best service hands down.

Me and my other half booked the 1-bedroom private villa. All part of the "atas" feeling, as my bf calls it. Well, it is our anniversary trip so I didn't complain about anything plus I liked to be treated like a royalty too anyway. *grins*

I would say that the place is indeed the best resort I have ever been to and the room is the so good, I secretly telling myself to remember every single detail and build my future house like one. The bed is so HUGE, i mean bigger than King size HUGE and you are spoilt with pillow options (swans, feather, latex,etc - actually I dont even know the difference). But with a motto that they will do anything for you as long as it is within their capabilities, I expect nothing less.

We reached quite late at night and bf has been in a very bad mood, with all the travelling and bad traffic jam otw to hotel so we decided to dine in the hotel restaurant. Luckily, I made a booking at their restaurant, Starfish Bloo. Food wise: not the best I have eaten in my life. In fact, I would prolly give it 3/5 because I remember I couldn't even finish what I ate. Price wise: reasonable if you have lived in Australia but to think that this is Indonesia, its definitely overpriced (and for the quality they delivered, but oh well 5star hotel). I do, however, love love love their dessert. It is some crunchy ball with chocolate inside, definitely one of the best choc dessert I have eaten in my life.

Gardens by the bay

Last year when I just graduated and had pretty much nothing to do, I decided to blog. Much to my surprise, I got a job 3 months after graduating and has since been in a roller coaster ride and therefore, the rare post.

Anyway, my sister came 2 weeks ago (and yeah this too is a long overdue post) and I thought "just about time to do touristy stuff". That and the fact that I have just invested in a DSLR. bought a CANON 60D 18-135mm f3.5/5.6 (more on this later).

Gardens by the bay is the latest addition to Singapore tourist attraction. Having living in Singapore for a year, it is such a shame I have only discovered this little gem recently. Without my bf around (i.e. no one to drive me around), I had to take the public transport. Luckily this place is reachable with the MRT, take the circle line at stop at the Bayfront. The signs are very prominent and it would lead you there easily.

at the dragonfly bridge

The first thing that you would notice when you arrive is the dragonfly bridge, where you can take a picture of that funny looking thing at the back of me.

The gardens itself is divided into 2 domes and 1 public area. It's free to roam around the gardens but you do need to pay to get to the domes. My sister and I took some pictures at the public gardens. They divided the gardens based on the different races in Singapore, i.e. Chinese Garden, Indian Garden, and Malay Garden. Yet another proof that this country respects the different races. We didn't really roam around in the outdoor garden because:
1. It's too hot
2. We were thirsty and we went to the gift shop where we found the booth to the domes and got to the domes straight away.

As said, GBTB has 2 domes, i.e. flower domes and cloud domes?
Here is the view when you just entered the dome. To my delight, the whole place is air-con! WOOHOO

Entrance to Flower Dome

It's very pretty, isn't it? I was pretty surprised too. The last time I was here was because I had my birthday dinner over at pollen but it was too dark to see anything. Hence, it doesn't count as a visit.

The dome roams with lots and lots of tourist from different part of the world but it was still very spacious if you want to take pictures. I actually spent a good 3 hours inside the dome taking pictures of pretty much everything. They have flowers from different part of the world, such as: Australia, Mediterranean, Netherland, and ofc, Singapore.

From the flower dome, we head to the other dome. A word of advice is to keep your camera in your pocket prior to entering. why? Because you would be welcomed by a gigantic waterfall. Pretty but splashy. (also the reason why I didn't take any pic, my new baby is so precious). I did managed to snap some picture when it get less wet as we moved on to the inner part of this place.

 

 

 We managed to take some snapshot after we exit the place. There is a beautiful lawn just before exiting the place where you can take some picture. (As you can see, my sister was having lotsa fun)

 For more information about Gardens by the bay, visit:
http://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg