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2.5
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22 Lorong Mambong
Holland VillageSingapore
Postal code: Show postal code
Category:
Nightlife » Bars & Pubs
Restaurants » Italian
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Overall Rating:
264
Decided on this place for a Friday chillax evening, partly because I've never been here so wanted something refreshing amidst the crazy HV crowd.
The non-existent crowd here at 7pm should have been a sign, whereas Tangos and Wala Wala on the other side of the road was packed to the brim. They serve Archiepalego beers but strangely enough, no happy hour for them at all. They have a 1-4-1 on wines using Amex cards but that's about it.
Beers $10 for sampler & $14 for 1 pint) - Nice Archiepalego beers especially the Summer Ale. The Belgium Wit was too light for me; the Bohemian Lager was good. They also have a sampler of their 4x tiny portions of their main brews for $10 which is a good start if you are unsure of what you like.
Country Steak Sandwich ($26) - Huge portion of steak with ciabatta-style bread complete with a mountain of soggy wedges. The steak itself was really just steak and bread - didnt see any other greens in it.
Pizza (Seafood Mushroom) ($24) - thin-crust base but it was burnt and had a little biscuit-like bite at the edges. You can pick 2 halves of different flavours for this price - the mushroom came with aged brie cheese and rocket leaves which was a nice blend of flavours. The seafood one was disappointingly sparse with small bits of squid, prawns, and mussels.
The crowd only started coming in about 8pm. Ambience is quite nice actually, with a live band which starts around 9:30pm-10pm. But I think the quality is not there yet and the menu generally is a little overpriced. Plus no cheap beer either, which is quite a shame - they should really buck up more on being competitive.
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144
Dubbed the “Bohemian enclave” of Singapore, Holland Village is a curious mix between old and new. Traditional coffee shops and a wet market jostle for space aside swanky wine bars and fine dining restaurants. And in the space of one week, I was fortunate to take part in this dining culture twice. And in both occasions, I was indulging in the pleasure of the rich Italian cuisine. Situated at the corner among a cluster of shophouses is Al Dente Trattoria.
At Al Dente, one can choose to dine al fresco or indoors. Unfortunately, although the candlelight adds an amorous atmosphere for the diners, frequent passer-by walking along Lorong Mambong seeks to blemish it, thus our choice to venture indoors.
We were served by an over-enthusiastic service staff that we felt pressured to order more than we should (apparently ice water was a choice of sprinkling or still, and I ended ordering the ice-peach tea instead). He was also quick to note down the order of the Antipasti Sampler Platter – which we haven’t agreed upon – but felt obliged to since he already wrote it.
Thankfully, the appetiser turned out to be pretty fine. A platter of premium salami slices, grilled mushrooms, tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, ham with melon & cold seafood cuts on fresh garden greens was a harmonious dish that suited all three of us. While both my friends went for the Linguine Marinara, or the seafood of lobster, shrimps, clams, mussels & cod fillet tossed with linguine pasta in a wine seafood stock, finished with a robust herbed tomato stew, I was encouraged yet again by the service staff to go for the Penne with Scallops, or the tube pasta with fresh Australian scallops & zucchini slices, sautéed in a light cream sauce, infused with brandy.
The scallops were indeed juicy and fresh, and the taste of zucchini was refreshing as I haven’t had it since my Perth days. The only fault that I would pick on would be that the cream sauce was too rich, such that one cannot taste the hint of brandy in it.
You can view more photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.
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