Just had a late lunch with Nickypoo, as a belated anniversary celebratory meal. I took leave today but ended up working half the day. He took halfday and just woke up from his nap.
At first I had made a reservation at Flutes at the Fort, but after seeing their weekly specials (steak tartare and kangaroo!) I decided to see if Valentino's could accommodate us at the last minute. Had been meaning to check them out for the longest time, but it was always hard to get a dinner reservation unless you book weeks in advance. Lunch was a lot easier, only a day's notice.
True to all all the reviews, it was a charming Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere, modest but homely. A family run business with Chef Valentino roping in his sister, brother-in-law and parents to help with the service and cooking. The server we had knew her daily specials well and ran through the list with us, taking the time to describe each dish.
I settled on a crabmeat pasta, but changed the original squid ink spaghetti to regular linguine. Nick had a beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce and we shared one of the daily antipasto specials, deep fried zucchini.
The zucchini was coated with breadcrumbs and fried to perfection, a quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice jazzed it up a notch. There were about 5 slices, probably half a zucchini was used so though it was yummy, I found it a tad pricey at $26+ because for $16 I could have had calamari instead.
Even my pasta with crabmeat was cheaper at $24+, and it was filled with generous chunks of crabmeat and laced with a creamy tomato sauce. Nick was impressed with his beef tenderloin and the overall standard of food though and doesn't mind going again.
We were too stuffed for dessert but popped in their pastry shop Perla next door where Valentino himself explained some of the tart flavours and gave me a chocolate 'salami' to try. We bought two mini tarts, a mixed berry with custard and a chocolate crumble. Have yet to try them but am sure they will be outstanding.
Can't wait to try other stuff on the menu!
At first I had made a reservation at Flutes at the Fort, but after seeing their weekly specials (steak tartare and kangaroo!) I decided to see if Valentino's could accommodate us at the last minute. Had been meaning to check them out for the longest time, but it was always hard to get a dinner reservation unless you book weeks in advance. Lunch was a lot easier, only a day's notice.
True to all all the reviews, it was a charming Italian restaurant in the middle of nowhere, modest but homely. A family run business with Chef Valentino roping in his sister, brother-in-law and parents to help with the service and cooking. The server we had knew her daily specials well and ran through the list with us, taking the time to describe each dish.
I settled on a crabmeat pasta, but changed the original squid ink spaghetti to regular linguine. Nick had a beef tenderloin with gorgonzola sauce and we shared one of the daily antipasto specials, deep fried zucchini.
The zucchini was coated with breadcrumbs and fried to perfection, a quick squeeze of fresh lemon juice jazzed it up a notch. There were about 5 slices, probably half a zucchini was used so though it was yummy, I found it a tad pricey at $26+ because for $16 I could have had calamari instead.
Even my pasta with crabmeat was cheaper at $24+, and it was filled with generous chunks of crabmeat and laced with a creamy tomato sauce. Nick was impressed with his beef tenderloin and the overall standard of food though and doesn't mind going again.
We were too stuffed for dessert but popped in their pastry shop Perla next door where Valentino himself explained some of the tart flavours and gave me a chocolate 'salami' to try. We bought two mini tarts, a mixed berry with custard and a chocolate crumble. Have yet to try them but am sure they will be outstanding.
Can't wait to try other stuff on the menu!
1 comment:
Yummy! Happy belated anniversary!
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