A Trio of Italian

Hi everyone, I apologise for the lack of posts as I have been busy with work. But worry not, I have been eating well too. Just this past week saw me at three different Italian restaurants.

1) Basilico @ The Regent Hotel
An impromptu dinner brought me here and I thought the place was pretty dead on a Tuesday evening. Basilico, to me, is "neither here nor there" i.e. it does not feel like a proper restaurant nor a proper buffet. Basilico offers a buffet of appetizers and starters. You can also order ala carte, which was what I did.

The bread served was pretty generic but the cheese crackers that you have to request for, were good! Savoury and fragrant, crunchy and addictive especially so with the pesto sauce that was served alongside.

The mushroom soup ($20) was expensive but fortunately, it was quite delicious. It didn't seem to have any cream (good for the fat adversed) but was still thick like a mushroom smoothie. Of course, the (over-abused) truffle oil only enhanced the strong, earthy aroma. Nothing was gone to waste when you use the bread to mop up every bit.

The seabass ($32) had a crispy skin and firm succulent meat. Yummy! But the pan-seared cod ($28) was bland and less than ordinary. The chickpeas marinated in some sort of tomato cream were pretty good though.

2) Oso Ristorante
Quite the opposite of Basilico, you would not be able to tell that Singapore is in technical recession the moment you step into Oso. It was full house and we snagged the last table without a reservation only because of a last minute cancellation. Located in a new location along Bukit Pasoh, the ambience and service were still as warm as before.

I had the first experience eating caviar proper. The tin sat on a bed of ice and a cute little mother-of-pearl spoon just placed beside it. All the works surrounded the prized tin of sturgeon eggs- coin sized blinis, chopped egg white, egg yolk, lemon wedges, onions and minced chives. The first bite into an assembled pancake topped with the black little pearls reminded me of smoked salmon. The friend almost fainted at that remark. After the whole experience, I cannot understand all the fuss with caviar.

The nice waiter recommended the pan fried eggs with black truffle purée and mixed cheese fondue ($20) to share. The cheese and black truffles mixed with the sunny-side up yolks made the most tasty spread. Ever.

The thick mushroom soup ($14) was really thick, like a 100% mushroom puree thick. But I did not particularly enjoy the slight hint of sour.


Wong Ah Yoke tried the taglioni with monkfish and cherry tomato ($22) and raved all over the moon. Hmmmm, I wonder what they added into his dish because it was just okay.


The sea bream baked in salt crust ($34) was lovely as usual. Sweet and delicate, it was a light dish perfect after the multiple courses. The texture was somewhat mushy that night though.


The last course was plain bad. I ordered scallops with fennel and olives but I found the taste too sour. The scallops suffered from being overdone and overall, because I was already actually very full, I really did not enjoy this course at all.

3) Buko Nero
I managed to introduce the ladies at work to one of my favourite Italian restaurants. I tried the daily special soup, an organic kidney beans with scallops ($12.50). The soup was earthy, creamy and totally comforting. On another occasion, I tried his white bean soup with crab meat and truffle oil and again, it was simply delicious. I will like to say that Chef Oscar makes the unglamourous beans uber-sexy! For my main course, I frayed from the pasta dishes as I was tempted by the daily special - hamachi collarbone ($34.50). It was first fried, then braised in a miso-soy sauce and served on a bed of buttery mash. The dish definitely had a Japanese influence. The collarbone was nothing but meaty and the fish's fatty flesh was silky smooth. It went well with the sauce that was sweet and salty. All I can say is that it was a joy to eat!

It is no secret I love Buko Nero and I already booked my next meal!