Restaurant Review: A Taste of Italy!

Paolo the chef strikes a pose with the satisfied guests at Enrico & Stefano's Ristorante a Casa :p

Just kidding~ it's not a real restaurant review. But needless to say, the experience eating there was similar to one! :)

On Saturday morning I received a Whatsapp message from Stefano inviting me to an Italian dinner at his & Enrico's place at 930pm. I was out really really late the night before and I was still pretty exhausted. But getting an invite to an Italian dinner hosted by Italians~ this I cannot miss. So true enough, I spent most of the afternoon resting in bed just to muster enough energy for the dinner.

Stefano and Enrico live approximately 1.1km from school~ just 2 blocks away from Intercontinental Hotel. I was pretty confused when I entered their building because I couldn't find the elevator immediately. Turns out, this door that looked like a submarine window was the elevator lift. I came around 940pm and was one of the first guests to arrive.

Possibly tastier than the tapas I have outside! Great job guys!

Their flat is characterized with its extremely long corridors and high ceilings. It was a 4-bedroom flat but only two of them stay there. I especially loved their living room. It was so spacious (the living room is probably larger than my entire flat) and nicely decorated (ultra modern with nice color combinations.... everything was awesome less their vintage TV lol~ but they say the owner might replace that).

The living room had this pretty large photo of a forest (see main photo above). It was pretty cool~ totally adds character to the place. I met Paolo and Giovanni in the kitchen. Later, Khadija and Nadine arrived... then soon Hani, Katie and Veronica.

It was essentially a mini-A3 party but I was fortunate enough to be invited to join the dinner. We were served with a predominantly seafood / vegetable pre-course... which, was basically tuna and olives on bread as well as tomatoes with cheese (nice!).

There was also cheese and ham served. I love cheese~ and so I actually placed more slices on my plate when nobody was looking (this worked when people were busy talking with each other lol).

Veronica looks on as Stefano passes the pre-course dishes from one side of the table to the other~

I only know a handful people from A3 and so I thought it was pretty nice to be able to talk with some of them that evening. We listened to their stories of A3's OB professor (whom I heard was really good) as well as some stories about their work groups. I also fondly listened as well to Veronica's stories of Paolo at the gym... and how he was the only guy in dance class (ratio of 25 to 1). Apparently he was very popular with the girls... one girl once turned around, winked and waved at him midway through the session (Guys, if you're reading this and you're single, you know where to go~ lol).

After the tapas were cleared out~ the main course was served.

Farfalle pasta on a cream base with salmon, thyme and a hint of lemon! I totally came to the right place!!!

The pasta was awesome! I've had homemade Italian food many many times before~ and this was topnotch stuff. What I especially liked about it was that the cream sauce wasn't the usual heavy stuff you would get from these Italian restaurants run by locals. Instead, it was light with the right consistency. Salmon, as we know, is a very "delicate" fish~ and Paolo managed not to overpower it with the other ingredients. It was a great balancing act... just the right amount of salmon, just the right amount of cream, just the right amount of lemon. Amazing amazing. I would have had seconds if my stomach could accommodate more space~

Homemade panna cotta! Really~ you can make this at home? WOW

Then, there was dessert! And y'know what~ they made panna cotta from scratch. They essentially simmered together cream, milk and sugar. Not entirely sure whether they added gelatin to the mix~ I'll likely ask them about it next time.

It was served with chocolate and forest fruits. I went with the forest fruit option~ it was awesome! It was a really light, refreshing dessert. Stefano had seconds and went for both options.

So there. Had a really awesome dinner :) I'd probably rate this dining experience a 9 out of 10 (It would be a 10 if I could have more pasta hehe).

We left their place around 2am. I just walked back home since it was practically a kilometer away from my place. I have yet to try the carbonara recipe Stefano shared with me before. I think after this culinary experience I'll give it a shot! :)