Located along the quieter part of Tanjong Pagar Road, next to Play Club, this Italian restaurant is known for their fine Italian cuisine, impeccable service (the restaurant owner was at the main door welcoming his customers in) and friendly head chef (managed to catch a glimpse of him when he came out to recommend a few items on the menu to a typical Chinese "hao lian" boss who was entertaining his guests next to me).
Many choices on the menu is always a love-hate relationship with diners. You get both the freedom of choice, and the stress of decision-making.
Complimentary foccacia bread with olive oil-balsamic vinegar dip
I have never realised that a balsamic vinagrette goes so well with soft and warm foccacia bread, i think i shall have a whole portion of it with a big bowl of warm soup for one of my weekend brunches at home one day!
Appetiser: Orange perfumed Maguro tuna tartare with avocado
A common choice for an appetiser would usually either be a raw dish, or a light seafood dish (as further affirmed by my waiter who said i made a good choice), so between the raw tuna and raw beef, i chose the former. However, i wasn't too amazed by this dish, as the tuna didnt have much sweetness on its own to begin with, and was further masked by the richness of the mashed avocado. I personally didnt think i made a good choice though.
Main course: Pistachio-crusted lamb cutlets with limoncello liquor & cream sauce served with mashed potato
This was supposedly one of their famous dishes, as raved about by many online food reviewers, so i decided to choose it as my main course. Maybe after seeing so many recommendations about this, my expectations were further increased, and so i was a little disappointed with this course. For a lamb dish, it is reasonably tender, but not as tender as i wished it to be (especially after i had a pretty good lamb dish at Table 66). Coupling with a fish knife lookalike (the staff told me thats the sharpest "steak" knife they have), i had to use a little strength to cut through the lamb cutlets. However, the limoncello cream sauce helped to cut through the very slight "lamb-y" taste many people are afraid of. As i am not a nut lover, i would rather they do away with the pistachio crust (as i don't feel that it served any purpose other than adding some crunch to the not-so-tender lamb), and maybe replace it with a stronger marinade to add more flavours?
Dessert: Panna cotta drizzled with strawberry coulis
close-up of the smooth panna cotta
The panna cotta was really smooth, and slides easily through your throat. The tartness of the strawberries also helped to cut through a little of the richness of the panna cotta. However, i feel that the eggy taste of the panna cotta is too strong, making it similar to a firmer version of a creme brulee without the burnt sugar. Maybe they can play around with other flavours for the panna cotta and use soy-milk instead?
Overall, i may come back again to try the other dishes, but only with a reasonable good promotion, as i don't feel that their items are worth a fine-dining price as yet.
Capricci Italian Restaurant
27 Tanjong Pagar Road
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