Etrusco

Penne Al Verde

This isn't the first time I have written about Etrusco. But seeing as the last time I wrote about Etrusco was way back in 2006 and I didn't have very good pictures, I think it's time for time for an update.

I visited Etrusco last week with a few friends and it's good to see that despite the recent economic climate and numerous businesses closing down around town, Etrusco was bustling on a Thursday night. And why shouldn't it be? Etrusco offers consistently decent food, a pleasant ambience and reasonable prices and it's that sort of consistency and familiarity that keeps people coming back for more.

Salsiccia

There are, however, a few comments I would have to make if I were to be completely honest. I have not visited Etrusco as often as I would otherwise have because of the following (personal) reasons/preferences:

1. The food, while always decent, is not outstanding. I have a few favourite items on the menu, but I can also make pretty good pasta at home. Thus, there is less motivation for me to go to a restaurant to have something I can quite easily make myself.
2. The ambience is pleasant...when it's not busy. When it's busy, for some reason the acoustics of the place just amplifies the noise and you have to shout at the person next to you to have a conversation. You also have to wait (for service or food) quite a bit if they're busy.
3. The last time my friends and I visited Etrusco, years ago, we had a snotty waitress and our experience with her was probably the main reason we avoided going back to Etrusco. All the other staff were lovely, but every time we were there, we got the same waitress. Over the years, there were numerous occasions where when we were thinking of some place to go to just for a nice dinner or to celebrate something, Etrusco came up, but was quickly dismissed because of our experience with that waitress. What can I say? Can't blame us for not wanting to put up with her again, can you?

Michelangelo

Having said all that, I am glad I went back. We had a very friendly and pleasant waiter, a really enjoyable meal and a good ol' chat among friends. I ordered the Penne Al Nono, gobbled it down very quickly because I was starving, and promptly spent the rest of the meal eyeing my friend's Penne Al Verde (which is one of my favourites and was the other thing I contemplating ordering but didn't because there's no meat in it and I am unfortunately one of those people who feels like they haven't eaten if they haven't had any meat). Luckily we all shared our food so I got a bite of the Verde and a slice of the Salsiccia, which was quite yummy (Please visit Etrusco's website for descriptions of the menu items.)

Penne Al Nono

We also had desserts: the Tiramisu, the Hot Fudge Sundae and the Gelato. Apparently the Gelato and Tiramisu were very good and my Hot Fudge Sundae was just what I needed to round off the meal. Slurp.

Etrusco

The Savoy Building

8A Moray Place

Dunedin

List Geek

This supergeek has just created two very ambitious food lists. The first is a list of restaurants/food places to visit and blog about and the second is a list of things to make (at the mercy of S's kindness and generosity) and blog about. The former currently stands at 65 places and is considerably longer than the latter. Let's not think about how much this will all cost...

Oriole

When I visited my brother in Singapore a couple of months ago, he took me to Oriole for brunch. That, my good reader, was where I discovered the delicious Garlic Prawns Bruschetta mentioned in the previous post, which incidentally turned out to be the most memorable food item of the entire trip. That last comment will probably irk my brother a little because he always makes an effort to take me to interesting/nice (read: often expensive) food places in Singapore whenever I visit, knowing what a greedy, fussy little sister he has, and Oriole was not one of the fancier or more expensive restaurants that we patronised. Having said that, it is very likely that the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta lingered in my mind more than anything else I that had in Singapore because I happened upon it soon (a few weeks) after being visually tormented by that bruschetta scene in Julie & Julia.

I know I sound like I don't get out much when I say this but I couldn't believe it when I saw the Garlic Prawns Bruschetta on the menu. I'd be dreaming about Julie's bruschetta for weeks - the scene replaying in my mind over and over and over. And there it was, right in front of me. I was finally going to satiate my craving. And ladies and gentlemen, it did not disappoint!

NB: Let me apologise for the crappy pictures and warn you that all my posts about food from my trip will feature pictures taken with the 2.0 MP camera on my Nokia 5310 cellphone - I didn't have the good camera with me.

Upon each crispy, golden brown slice of bread was a bed of tasty, seasoned, diced tomatoes - upon which sat a springy, savoury prawn, crowned with a single slice of sautéed garlic. Each bruschetta was the perfect bite-size and each bite delivered the wonderful combination of the sweet, juicy tomatoes, savoury garlic and prawns and the crispy, crunchy texture of the toasted bread. MMM-mmm-mmmmm! Absolutely delicious and totally satisfying.

Of course that's not all we had. I ordered the Philly Steak & Cheese for my main and my brother ordered his tried and true Spaghetti Prawns. Mine was alright, and his was very good and very similar to my Chili, Garlic & Prawn Vermicelli dish. The only difference was they used fresh sliced chillies and added rocket and tomatoes and the only fault was that the tomatoes were tasteless.

For dessert I had a disappointing grilled lemon cake, which had such an overpowering spiciness (I think with cardamom?) that I couldn't finish it. My brother, however, had the affogato and gave it the thumbs up. Oriole also serves good espresso - my brother should know, he had two and he's a coffee fiend. [10:38 PM Edit: Apparently he didn't really like the espresso because it was too acidic for his taste, even though that's not how I remember it and he did still have two - one espresso and one affogato.]

Verdict: Worth a visit for the bruschetta and spaghetti and coffee if you're in the neighbourhood.

Oriole

96 Somerset Road

#01-01 Pan Pacific Serviced Suites

Singapore

Tomato Bruschetta

Ever since I watched Julie & Julia, the scene where Julie Powell pan fries lovely golden brown slices of bread to make tomato bruschetta has been haunting me. That has inevitably manifested into an irrepressible urge to make (or rather, consume) said bruschetta. I managed to somewhat allay this urge when my brother took me to a brunch place, a few months ago, that unexpectedly had 'Garlic Prawns Brushcetta' on the menu - which I will write about some other time. Nevertheless, the urge returned with a vengeance. So yesterday, four months after watching the movie, I finally made tomato bruschetta with S.

Garlic Prawn Bruschetta @Oriole

I looked up some recipes online, got the gist of how to make it and just winged it, as I usually do. Instead of rubbing the garlic on the fried bread, as per most of the recipes, for half the bread slices, we mixed grated garlic with olive oil and spread a layer on each slice of bread before pan frying them. This technique of course yielded a more robust overall garlic flavour than garlic-rubbing. I also decided to exclude the cheese because I wanted to keep it light and clean tasting. Besides, I don't think there was cheese on Julie's bruschetta in the movie. All in all, it turned out pretty well - the tomato and basil topping was very tasty and refreshing. My (self) criticisms would be that I should have seeded the tomatoes and diced them finer and used a French baguette instead of Italian ciabatta. I think this one will be a winner with the folks back home, so I'll definitely be making it on my next trip back.

Tomato Bruschetta Recipe

Ingredients:

Tomatoes (I bought something called Tom Tomatoes(?) I think but most recipes recommend heirloom tomatoes)

Fresh Basil

Fresh Garlic

Baguette

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

Method:

1. Seed and finely dice the tomatoes to approximately 0.5 - 1 cm size cubes.

2. Finely chop the basil.

3. Toss basil and tomatoes together in a bowl and season with salt, pepper and olive oil.

4. Grate or mince garlic and mix in a bowl with some olive oil.

5. Slice baguette diagonally, about 1.5 - 2 cm thick.

6. Spread a layer of garlic & olive oil mixture on to each slice and pan fry, oily side down, in a hot (dry) pan.

7. As one side of the bread is browning, spread garlic and olive oil mixture on the top side of each slice, then flip over to brown.

8. When both sides are golden brown, remove from pan, assemble on a serving platter.

9. Use a spoon to scoop the tomato and basil mixture, ensuring that you drain any excess liquid off the spoon.

10. Spoon tossed tomatoes onto each garlicky toasted slice of bread.