. The Tasting Palette .

. In celebration of food and dining experiences .



Interests
    Indulging myself in food porn (online or food magazines)
    Exploring and discovering new restaurants
    Dining and chilling out with my loved ones
    Baking and cooking over the weekends
    Sharing my love for food with others
Wishlist
    Desserts by Pierre Herme- Written by Dorie Greenspan
    Vanilla bean pods (one can never have enough)
    Valrhona Cocoa powder
    Valrhona chocolate
    Macarons from Laduree and Pierre Herme
    Madelines mold
    Pretty cake stands (I only have one and only one)
    YUZU from Japan! (They taste great in almost anything)
    A food tour to Italy and France
    Opportunity to study at Le Cordon Bleu



Monday, August 20, 2007

Italian dining at Prego

We headed to Prego at Swisshotel for our dinner. I’ve always liked Italian cuisine though I often rave about French and Japanese food. Italian food is very misunderstood; people only think of pizzas and pastas when they do have a lot more variety. One of my favourite part of an Italian meal is the antipasti (starters) that they serve.

our antipasto platter

The antipasti are usually cold cuts and they emphasize on using the best quality ingredients- such as parma ham and good quality extra virgin olive oil. We couldn’t decide on which antipasti to order so we settled for the antipasto platter so that we could have a little of everything.

I particularly liked the prosciutto with cantaloupe. Prosciutto is simply dry cured ham but it’s a tedious business because it’s a long process which takes an average of three years! Parma is the epitome of prosciutto and its saltiness complements the sweetness of the cantaloupe (or rock melon). I also liked the tomato served between buffalo mozzarella; I love its simplicity yet it’s awfully delicious, with the olive oil and basil leaves over it.

zoomed in photo of the prosciutto and pasta salad

The only one that failed to impress was the calamari. It was pretty tasteless and the batter did not stay on the squid.

Farfalle with salmon and peas on a vodka based cream sauce with zesty lemon


Grilled snapper with mashed potato and grilled vegetables

For the mains, I ordered the grilled snapper while J had the salmon farfalle. The farfalle was recommended in the Wine n Dine book and it was served in an interesting sauce- vodka sauce with lemon with peas. Surprisingly, it wasn’t overly creamy because I really can’t take cream-based pasta. Maybe beacuse they added zesty lemon juice which gave it some kick. This made this pasta really pleasing.

The grilled snapper, on the other hand, wasn’t that fantastic, simply because it lacked flavour, secondly, it was not fragrant enough (should have grilled the top slightly longer over higher heat). It was alright but very mediocre. My dad ordered the folded pizza, just because he is a big fan of pizza. The pizza was really good-with interesting ingredients and well- baked in the wooden oven.

We ended the meal by sharing a tiramisu because we were too full. The tiramisu at Prego is really worth eating. Much better than many places though I kinda miss the one from Pontini, Copthorne Waterfront hotel.

Tiramisu with the symbol of prego- the waiter with a pizza on his hand


This tiramisu had a layer of bitter cocoa on the top, while the mascarpone cheese center was really light, smooth and creamy at the same time; the ladyfingers were soaked with the generous amount of coffee liquor and aromatic espresso so the dessert was a hit!

By the time I finished dessert, I was feeling so bloated. I had way too much food but well, I did conclude my Sunday with a good ending and I’m all prep up for the week to come.



link | posted by simin at 11:33 PM |


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