Zambuca Italian Restaurant & Bar

Established members from the Makansutra Forum organized a year-end dinner at Zambuca Italian Restaurant & Bar on 18 December 2006. It was the first time that I joined the dinner gathering and was glad to be joined by 2 of my makankakis, LB & ST. It was a huge event as there was a total of 102 people!

While waiting for the dinner to start, we drank wine with fellow diners at our table. We were seated with Chihuahua, CHH's hubby (aka Original Chubby Hubby on Makansutra Forums), Honeygal, Highlander & gf, Verilog, Hotmale & wife. We had fun sharing wines and chatting with the other diners. My makankakis & I brought a bottle of Chateau Soutard. I figured that since I would be the only one drinking, if we brought 3 bottles there might be too many at the table. I guess the company was great because even the 2 teetotallers, LB & ST, drank a little to help bring warmth to a cold and rainy evening.

I had never heard of this Chateau before 18 Dec 06, when my friend Ed recommended it to me. I trust his taste in wines and so I bought the bottle. I was glad I did because it turned out to be a nice bottle of wine and apparently is pretty well-known. Umami's hubby - CW, BM & BL told me a little more about the wine. It's great to learn about wines from fellow diners at the event.

After most of us had downed at least 3 glasses of wine each, dinner commenced. This was our menu for the evening:

Menu

Il Zuppo

Broth of Forest Mushrooms with Porcini Oil

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L'antipasto

Carpaccio di Manzo

Beef Carpaccio with Parmesan Cheese & Quail Eggs,

lightly drizzled with extra virgin olive oil

OR

Garlic Tiger Prawns
Tiger prawns flashed in a hot pan with sliced garlic,

finished with Devon cream,

placed on a bed of shredded spinach served in a hot iron terrine

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Il Primo Capelli di Angelo con Rucola
Angel Hair Pasta mingled with fresh chilies, pine nuts,

arugula and roasted capsicum pesto with white wine in Napolitana Sauce

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Il Secondo

Snapper
Pan fried baby snapper loin served with green pea mash with caviar and prawn bisque

OR

Beef Tenderloin
Grilled Beef Tenderloin, served with wilted baby spinach, mushrooms,
garlic mash and root vegetables cloaked with black truffle jus

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Il Dolce

Chocolate fudge cake with fig & honey ice cream

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I did not enjoy the Broth of Forest Mushrooms because I found it too bland for my taste thus I neither finished it nor did I snap a picture of it. I prefer to have a creamy mushroom soup.

LB & ST had the Beef Carpaccio, I tried a small bite of it from ST's plate. It was reasonably tasty.

I had the Garlic Tiger Prawns which was a much nicer starter than the Beef Carpaccio though the sauce was just a tad too salty. We also noted that the prawns were not resting on a bed of shredded spinach but was topped with shredded spinach instead.

After the starters, the diners started mingling again and visiting each others tables for a toast. By the time I was done with my lesson on Chateau Soutard, almost all the diners at my table had finished their Angel Hair Pasta dish. I was still starving so I didn't bother to snap a picture of the dish but proceeded to eat it. It was quite tasty but I would have preferred something with a lighter sauce.

ST & Honeygal had the Snapper. ST said the fish was too dry and bland. We sampled small nibbles of the snapper and had the same verdict, we had to get more sauce for the 2 girls to add to the dish. The green pea mash that came with it was such a strong shade of green (it was scary looking) that it looked toxic and we wondered if the Incredible Hulk had prepared the dish.

LB & I had the Beef Tenderloin. It was a good thing I asked for mine done Rare because it arrived Medium-Rare, which is still acceptable. The beef fared better than the fish and the garlic mash was reasonably tasty. A few of us were happy to note that there was wilted spinach under the beef. A few diners mentioned that the food was a little better during their previous visits. I guess its difficult for restaurants to maintain a high quality when they need to plate and serve 102 guests at one go.

Dinner ended with a serving of Chocolate Fudge Cake with Fig & Honey Ice Cream. The fig & honey ice cream was a delightful palate pleaser. The chocolate fudge cake was delicious and not exceedingly sweet. Unfortunately, I was too stuffed to finish the cake. I wished I had not eaten so much of the previous courses so that I could have enjoyed the dessert better.

Considering that I'm not a major fan of desserts & love savoury food, my friends know that for me to actually wish I had neglected the previous courses in favour of the dessert, would mean that the cake is pretty darn good!

Zambuca Italian Restaurant & Bar

The Pan Pacific Singapore,

7 Raffles Boulevard,#03-00,

Singapore 039595

Tel: (65) 6337 8086