shutterbugISm

there's always something comforting about rainy days... the grey skies, the pitter-patter of raindrops on the windows.. the foggy images of people going about their business outside.. the steaming cup of tea and the time standing still...

It's just another rainy day in town when we arrived @ La Strada (Shaw Center) for lunch.

As I have blogged earlier, we decided to give it a try coz there's a good feeling about this place and I find the set lunch menu too enticing to brush aside. Enjoying the fresh warm dinner rolls with olive oil, we just let ourselves soak into the calm atmosphere within La Strada and waited with bated anticipation for the appetizers while sipping a 2001 Elio Altare La Villa (must recommend this great wine - very easy to drink, great bouquet and body with a very smooth finish bordering between a Cab. Sauvignon and a Merlot) while Ms Clover had a very light prosecco (which I forgot the name)

The appetisers were great. The Carrot and Apple soup was brought out steaming hot and the consistence of the soup is really smooth, not lumpy or crumbly like how some restaurants like to serve such pureed soup. The sweetness of the carrot combined with the slightly acidic taste of the apple is a very interesting combination to the taste buds. While I had the smoked salmon with vinaigrette to stay light on the meal, I decided to go for the braised pork with mash potatoes and peas for mains while Ms Clover decided on the char-grilled ribeye steak.

I would certainly recommend going for the steak coz it's really very original in taste and texture. The smokey flavor of the grill and the succulent bovine just go very well together, tender and chewy, it's quite a delight to enjoy the beef as beef itself and not with other sauce flavorings. The braised pork is good but a tad too 'chinese' but the mashed potatoes, combined with the tomato pureed sauce and peas is very good: light and flavorful.

With that, came desserts which the both of us ordered a warm banana cake and a tiramisu. My personal recommendation: skip the desserts.

The banana cake is not visually appetising nor was it soft and fluffy. It tasted like very ordinary confectionary fare and a far cry from what I would expect desserts from a place like La Strada would serve. The tiramisu I had was too wet with the coffee, too light on the kahlua and the chocolate powder is the ordinary coco powder from Cadbury. That said, the mascapone cheese mixture was quite well done: it was light and very smooth in texture but it was disappointing overall as we were really expecting better desserts than these.

So my recommendation is to go for the 2 course set lunch, order the char-grilled beef steak to go with the 2001 Elio Altare La Ville and the carrot & apple soup. The service is great and prompt with attentive staff who, even during the peak lunch hour, would still make sure you are taken care of. So discounting the desserts, it's still a good lunch experience where you enjoy your meal @ a small corner tucked away from the busy Orchard road and watch the world passes you by.

Will post pictures later on our experiences @ La Strada :)

On a side note: I have bought the Canon 5D today as a backup camera to my mainstay. Finally, the wait is over and now it's a dedicated monotone 2nd camera. Can't wait to max it out in Bali this weekend. Somehow I was expecting the price to come down a bit with the surefire speculation of a 5D mark II body from Canon but seems that the price has been very stable since last year... so decided not to wait anymore :)

Anyone wants to buy my 10D? :D


righto, here are just 2 shots coz it was really quite grey outside so it kinda made the rest of food shots look really bad but managed to salvage these 2 shots in the beginning.. (okie okie, I din really take many shots coz I was too busy enjoying the food :D)

Labels: BnW, Clover, Food, Images, Local, RICOH GrD, Thoughts, Us

Posted by ShutterBug on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 at 23:42 | Permalink