It's Been A Year

Usually, in the case of my blog, an entry with such a title usually means I'm melancholic again, but not this time! This time, it's about somthing completely the opposite: my first wedding anniversary.

There's been some confusion amongst my friends (especially those who stalk, I mean, faithfully follow, my updates on Facebook) about my wedding date. Ok, for the benefit of friends who are not familiar with the customs of Chinese weddings, here's the clarification.

Kat and I got married in a civil ceremony a year ago, which LEGALLY made us man and woman. However, in the eyes of the old folks, that meant nothing and that we were still living in sin until the relatives got invited to a wedding banquet, and tea is served to the elders in a Chinese tea ceremony. That didn't happen until June this year, hence the confusion.

Due to an unfortunate coincidence, I was supposed to attend a work-related training camp on the weekend which coincided with the anniversary. Fortunately, the training was postponed and I was able to spend our first anniversary together. With that in mind, I contacted a team mate of ours who owns an Italian restaurant in Holland Village, and he promptly got back to me with a lovely set menu. Of course, I kept Kat in the dark about the dinner plan, completely intending to surprise her.


Saturday was a a bit of a rush around for us, waking up late and then pottering around the house before going for lunch with my family. I was really surprised that she didn't ask where we were going for dinner, because if I'd mentioned Holland Village, I reckoned she might suggest Amici (the Italian restaurant owned by our friend). However, even when we got to Holland Village, she still didn't mention anything, so I guess my plan to distract her by talking about the new Circle Line (we took the Circle Line to Holland Village) somehow worked. By a stroke of fortune, she'd wanted to go to the bank to get some cash, and it happened that the restaurant was only a couple of doors away. My excuse to her for walking towards the restaurant was that I'd wanted to pop in to see if our friend was there (I knew he was away for an event, but she doesn't). It was only when we walked through and I told the staff that we had a reservation for two, then she realised. Naturally, she was delighted.

After a little bit of sorting out, we were shown to our table, and it was so thoughtful: the manager opened the door and there it was, a table just for the two of us at the little balcony. It couldn't have been better because as we were walking through the restaurant, I was thinking that it's a tad crowded for a nice anniversary dinner. The cool thing was also the looks that people were giving us when the manager revealed the special table. 


The dinner started off with 2 glasses of Prosecco sparkling wine, which was perfect as the evening was a little warm and humid. For a wine that's supposed to be dry or even extra dry, it was surprisingly sweet, reminding us of our favourite Moscato wine.

Antipasto platter

First up: Italian antipasto platter topped with cold cuts. Finally! We could have our taste of Amici's food! To be honest, we were starting to get rather hungry, and we polished off the plate in no time.
 

Homemade wild mushroom soup

Next up: Homemade wild mushroom soup. As you can see, there's lots of nice chopped up pieces of mushroom, something I enjoy. I like the earthy taste of the mushrooms, which was pleasant without the need for salt. Actually, I was glad that the soup had a nice subtle taste to it as I'd tasted many with too much salt in it. Honestly, I'd read a nasty comment accusing the restaurant of using canned soup, which I thought is extremely unfair. 

Gorgonzola beef tenderloin

And for the mains: Kat had the Chilean cod fish and the red meat lover in me went for the Gorgonzola beef tenderloin. I think Kat summed it up best: she normally shys away from cod due to the taste, but she thoroughly enjoyed it! We'd thought that it must be because it was fresh, but we were surprised that they use frozen cod. Wow! We really couldn't tell! We've always had apprehension about frozen seafood because they usually get mushy when defrosted, but the one we had was beautifully flaky. I guess it's a combination of a good supplier, as well as good preparation by the chef. As for the beef, it was beautifully medium rare, and tender, the way I love it! This meat lover was in heaven!

Chilean cod fish

The award winning tiramisu!

And for dessert, it's the award winning tiramisu. The strange thing about us, is that we were never really much of dessert lovers. In fact, I tended to shy away from them because of the sugar. However in recent years, we've been partial towards cakes mainly to go with our coffee (we both love coffee). Greedy me, while Kathy was still snapping pictures of her tiramisu, I took a quick shot and got down to business. Picking up my spoon, I cut the corner of the tiramisu: mmm.. nice colour, looks moist.. let's see how it tastes. The first words that came to my mouth was "Oh my God!". Honestly, my words can barely do justice to the tiramisu. It was beautifully moist, with the lovely taste of the alcohol and cocoa, and when it goes down, you get an immediate sense of warmth in the chest and goes right into your face. Mind you, I'm not a fan of hugely sweet desserts (pavlova being the only exception), and Amici's tiramisu was in no way overwhelmingly sweet. I kept bugging Willie (the owner) to share the secret ingredient in his tiramisu, but he was tight lipped about it.


It was the perfect way to end the evening, literally on a (sugar) high. 

About the restaurant: Amici Authentic Italian Restaurant is located at 275 Holland Avenue (Holland Village), just a short walk from the Holland Village MRT station. It's a little cosy restaurant with an open kitchen, so if you like watching your food being prepared, you're in for a treat. Alfresco seating is available as well. I like the murals on the walls which has a nice feel to it. The restaurant is usually packed on weekends, so reservation is a must if you do not want to be disappointed. We were quite bemused with some unreasonable walk-ins who were actually upset when they could not secure a seat. There wasn't an available seat in sight the evening we were there, so do bring a little bit of patience on weekends, it isn't Pastamania ;) Actually, we have been to the Pastamania at Fusionopolis after gym once, and considering that there were only a handful of customers who were there (all of whom were already dining) and more than adequate staff, we weren't impressed that 2 salads and garlic bread took more than 15 minutes and 2 reminders before it was served.

DISCLAIMER: I am by no means a qualified food critic, so everything that is written here is merely someone who enjoys food, and I make no pretenses of being a food expert. This blog entry is just a recollection of a wonderful evening I'd shared with my wife over lovely food and drinks.