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2013-02-09
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It takes something more than tasty dishes to have a memorable Valentine’s Day dinner. Impress your loved ones with heart-warming plating is perhaps as good as giving her a bunch of flower, especially to food lovers like me. Le Creuset is one of the kitchenware brands that actually contribute to the dishes atheistically. To own a whole set of Le Creuset stuff may be too expensive, but having a decent dinner with them sounds really attractive. Divino is currently launching its Valentine’s courses
Divino is currently launching its Valentine’s courses with Le Creuset. Instead of offering default dinner sets, Divino allows a range of courses to be chosen from. I am more than happy to try these beautiful and hearty dishes last week.
To begin with, we had an appetizer platter that had mini caprese, smoked salmon filo and fried olive. I had the fried olive at Divino Patio and it was still my favourite. The filo was so thin and crispy while its avocado fillings were creamy. The appetizer also went with a basketful of warm bread. The Focaccia, which was crispy outside and with a superbly soft “heart,” was everyone’s favourite. More herbs would make it perfect.
The first course was duck liver crème brulee with smoked duck breast salad. The crème brulee was soft and buttery. It was full of egg and duck liver flavour with a lovely hint of sweetness. The smoked duck breast contained more fat than I usually have, but the gentlemen loved this and even contemplated to ask the ladies to “share” the fat with them. It looks a lot better than it sounds, I promise. See the pictures.
After sharing “fats” (after all, this is the purpose of the Valentine’s Day feast), we have an “Artisanal Square Spaghetti ‘Chitarrina’” tossed with langoustines and Indian spices. Among the different types of pasta offered by the extremely creative Italians, spaghetti is the least to my liking. My preference notwithstanding, I actually liked the “Chitarrina” I had at Divino. The homemade-spaghetti was chewy and went well with the thick langoustine-tomato sauce that had infused with stimulating spices. Langoustine, better known as scampi, belongs to the lobster family. You can tell from its seemingly “stronger” claws. It was not as crunchy as shrimp but much stronger in flavour. Simply cooking it with fresh tomato was good enough.
While most restaurants served chocolate desserts in their Valentine’s Day menu, Divino offered passion fruit soufflé. Again, soufflé was not my favourite, but this one did please me. Needless to say, its texture was perfect. What impressed me most was the pairing of soufflé with passion fruit. Unlike most passion fruit desserts, it did not come with the unwelcomed bitterness. The fresh passion fruit and yuzu yoghurt came along with the soufflé strengthened its structure and added complexity to the whole. I asked if this would be served on the regular menu, but the answer disappointed me. If you love desserts as I do, this is the must-try item and you have to be quick.
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