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2012-12-28
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Happy Holidays! A bunch of my old uni buddies used to meet once or twice a year ever since we graduated. And one of them would be around Christmas when the birthdays of some of whom fall on. This year, despite the ever increasing burdens of work and family commitments, we managed to get together for a casual dinner to celebrate the festive season.I picked the newly opened Assaggio Trattoria Italiana at MiraMall (note: not to be mistaken for Miramar Shopping Centre nearby although both are run by
A bunch of my old uni buddies used to meet once or twice a year ever since we graduated. And one of them would be around Christmas when the birthdays of some of whom fall on.
This year, despite the ever increasing burdens of work and family commitments, we managed to get together for a casual dinner to celebrate the festive season.
I picked the newly opened Assaggio Trattoria Italiana at MiraMall (note: not to be mistaken for Miramar Shopping Centre nearby although both are run by the same group) based on the favorable reviews here on OR. And usually taking reviews on tasting events with a grain of salt, as a precautionary measure yours truly paid a secret visit beforehand before putting her bets.
We were surprised by the fact that the place was fully booked in the evening of Winter Solstice, an all-important day for Chinese families to get together and have a feast celebrating reunion. I guess people now want a twist from their usual fare of Chinese reunion dinners. As we didn't reserve a table we were seated at the high table, incidentally reliving one of our uni traditions back in those days.
I sipped on Cinderella ($60), one of the non-alcoholic cocktails aka mocktails while waiting for another friend to arrive. Made from orange juice, pineapple juice and lemon, I tasted a hint of savory in the concoction while no salt was found on the ingredient list, so it was kinda weird. And I could only envy as my friend was enjoying her Limoncello ($48).
Anyway, the drinks did make us hungry and it was time we began to eat something. The bread basket that came wasn't bad but we had to save some stomach space so let's move on...This time we were generous on the meats (on my previous visit I only ordered ovo-lacto-vegetarian things, to be elaborated below).
We started off with Tavolozza di Affettati Misti ($210). The Italian cold cut platter consisted of 8 hams/cold cuts and cheese, plus some Italian pickled vegetables. Don't ask me which is which - the only things I could tell for sure was some salami, and Parmesan cheese. The portion was a bit generous for us 3 ladies in spite of our relatively hearty appetites, so it's better shared among a group of 5-6.
Lamb chops ($160) weren't entirely my idea but as a lamb lover I'd be glad giving it a shot. However the cutlets were too dainty and overcooked, and the potatoes beneath them stole the show.With more people to share we decided to have some pizza. Pizza joints are all around town but calzones are not a frequent find.
A Calzone ($140) is essentially a folded pizza shaped like a huge dumpling with various fillings inside. The version here is a vegetable and cheese filling. As we (in fact it was just me) were busily shooting from every angle of it the cheerful server told us to cut the calzone while it's hot, and, here it goes:
A lovely orange egg yolk dawned from the horizon! How on earth did they put it inside? The way to enjoy it is to break the yolk, smother your calzone in it and then eat it. Mmmm...gooey and rich, it was really nice. I think it's gonna become a signature item here.A meal should never end without desserts. I was told that Tiramisu was good here but we had other plans. Our pick for the night was Apple and Pear 'Strudel' Tarte with Cinnamon Ice Cream ($60) .
The 'tart' crust wasn't exactly 'strudel' like (hey this is an Italian restaurant after all!), so we were more like eating an apple pie. I liked the cinnamon ice cream though - cinnamon is always the best friend with apple pies!Hidden away on the second floor of the mall, Assaggio is a little haven from the busy TST area.
In fact my first visit was pretty incidental after I found it when venturing into this new mall one evening. I decided to go vegetarian that meal and I was pleasantly surprised to find quite a few vegetarian options on the menu. One was Minestrone Classico ($60), here they put lots of beans and lentils in it and topped it with a piece of bread toasted with Parmesan cheese, it was actually quite filling and could easily be a meal by itself.
Yet I was attracted to the Handmade potato gnocchi with sage, butter sauce and 36 months Parmesan cheese ($110).
You'd like this one if you appreciate the beauty of simplicity and are ready to put on a couple of extra pounds. Well it's worth the pounds, except that the cook might want to cook the gnocchi maybe a minute shorter (a bit too soft).I would certainly recommend Assaggio @ MiraMall if you're looking for no-fuss hearty Italian food, vibrant ambience and friendly service if you're in the area. Do make your bookings as this place's going to get popular pretty soon!
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