Bf and I went for our romantic Valentine’s Day at the most unromantic venue… Lau Pa Sat! The first time when I heard we’re having dinner at Lau Pa Sat on V-day, the first thing that came to my mind was “We’re having satay there?” Hehe… before you really dismiss it off as an unromantic venue or think that we’re eating satay, think again! We had it at a very cosy restaurant called Etna Restaurant & Pizzeria.
This restaurant was recommended to Bf by his colleague (an Italian no less), so I told him that food should be quite good there if his colleague says it’s nice.
They had a set dinner for V-day which we had a look-through before we went to the restaurant. However, after arriving at the restaurant, we were informed that we could also order a-la-carte if we wanted to. Going through the menu and calculating the costs, we decided that we were better off eating a-la-carte since we are both small eaters. What we ordered for sharing was the Salad Rugola (S$18), Tag. Nero Seppia (S$22) (squid-ink pasta), Grigliata Carne (mixed grill) (S$32), 2 glasses of Prosecco (S$18) and 1 San Pellegrino (sparkling mineral water) (S$6). Our total bill came up to S$113 for everything.
We were also served an entree of cured meat, cheese, salami and bread sticks (complimentary). Food came quickly and service was great!
The Salad Rugola (rugola is also known as rocket salad) was served with thin slices of parmesan cheese and a good dash of balsamic dressing. The cheese was not overpowering and the balsamic dressing tasted great on the palate. Overall, a good choice for a starter.
Then we had the Tag. Nero Seppia – better known as squid ink pasta to the uninitiated. If you’re thinking squid ink as yucks, think again! I don’t know what other herbs or spices they added to the pasta and squid ink but it was very flavorful. Within the pasta, you could also find pieces of prawns and squid. Be careful when you have this dish – squid ink does not come off your clothes and if you get it on your skin, it will be there for quite a while.
Then we were served the Grigliata Carne – mixed grill. Since the dish came with a piece of lamb, pork, chicken and beef, we specially asked for no beef and the waitress suggested that we replaced that with another piece of pork or chicken. Good service in the sense that they asked us our preference rather than just simply dumping another piece of meat to replace the beef. So we asked for chicken. Our verdict? The chicken breast was nice – a bit on the dry side though. Pork was overcooked and it was placed under the piece of lamb, so some of the lamb’s juice went into the pork. Overall, not that nice except for the lamb which bf said was excellent. Unfortunately we did not have much space for desserts.
Overall, lovely dinner in a romantic setting (despite it being in Lau Pa Sat). Service is attentive without being intrusive and friendly (they kept pouring us our Pellegrino when the glass is half full). Value is good giving the quality of the food we had. It’s better to stick to the pasta and skip the mixed grill. Don’t worry if you are not familiar with the Italian names of the food – they have English description of the food underneath the names. If you are still not sure, you can always consult the friendly waitress/waiter there. And yes, we will definitely be back there again.
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