Went to Ristorante Da Valentino, which, in my opinion, is the best Italian restaurant in Singapore. It is on the more expensive side, and our meal (without wine or alcohol) costs around $300.
Here’s what we got:
Ciabatta – Daily baked home-made Italian ciabatta served with homemade pesto sauce
Burrata e Pomodori Datterini (125g) – Milky cow cheese with sweet tomato
Porcini Pizza – Gourmet porcini mushroom and half cooked egg
Fettuccine Nero con Granchio – Squid ink fettuccine with crab meat in pink Sauce
Spaghetti Aglio Olio Pasta with Porcini Mushroom – Spaghetti aglio olio and gourmet porcini mushroom
Costata di Bue – 500g Australian wagyu ribeye marbling 4/5
Bombolino alla Crema – Ala minute fried pastry filled with vanilla custard
Summary:
I LOVED everything! However, if I had to pick just one dish that I liked the most, it would be the Porcini Pizza. I just LOVED the amazing chewy texture of the cheese together with the really crispy and crunchy ultra thin 1mm crust. The cheese was really savory and delicious, and the mushrooms were soooo juicy and flavorful. In addition, they also provided me with some *red chili flakes* which were imported all the way from the boss’s plantation in Italy!!! The red chili flakes were just SO amazingly spicy. I was honestly not expecting red chili flakes to be spicy, but man these were the spiciest red chili flakes I’ve tried in Singapore.
The burrata was also AMAZING. It’s so deliciously creamy and chewy at the same time. There was a very nice, sweet, milky taste, and also some savory flavors at the same time. It was not very sour for a cheese, and the “cheesy” taste was very minimal. It’s VERY nice and easy on the palate even if you’re not a cheese connoisseur, amazing flavors and textures all around! I liked it a lot better than the burrata from Garibaldi. (How is Ristorante da Valentino not a Michelin-star restaurant???)
The wagyu ribeye was pretty good for the price ($155). I really liked the juiciness of the medium rare steak – every bite was just overflowing with delicious beef juices/blood. The delicious buttery and beefy taste just went so well together with the slightly sour and spicy French mustard served on the side. We could also taste the slight bitterness from the charring of the beef – overall very nicely done! It’s pretty reasonably priced for the size and quality, considering it’s wagyu.
My boyfriend’s favorite were the pastas. He remarked that they were the most al dente pasta that he ever tried in his life! They were also both really flavorful and delicious. The rich, thick, and creamy sauce in the Fettucine Nero was to die for, and the pieces of crab were HUGE. The crab also tasted very nice and fresh, and its texture was perfectly stringy and chewy. However, because the sauce was soooo flavorful, we couldn’t really taste the intrinsic flavor of the squid ink pasta. But it’s only a small thing – as the overall dish was amazing.
The ciabatta was very nice and chewy, and paired so well together with the pesto sauce. Normally, I find that Italian restaurants tend to provide olive oil as an accompaniment to their breads, so I found the homemade pesto sauce a welcome, creative, and delicious change!
The bombolini was a deep fried and crispy specimen! It was a lot sweeter than normal bombolinis from bakeries in Singapore, and it was also like 100 times CRISPIER. However, despite the fact that it was deep fried to the point of insane crispiness, it was surprisingly not oily at all! It also contained a very nice and flavorful vanilla custard sauce.
Overall, another AMAZING meal from Valentinos! I LOVE this restaurant (been here like 3 times already) and I will be sure to come back again!
