Degustation Meal at Il Lido

It was my spouse birthday last Friday. No, I didn't make any cake for him this year. Mainly because, he didn't fancy my cakes. That's quite an irony isn't it? He encourages me to bake, however, he doesn't take my bakes. Anyway, that's alright, as long as someone else (my helper) eats them.

Having gone through so many birthdays together, 19 to be exact (courtship to marriage), I decided to buy him a good dinner. Afterall, he has been such a wonderful companion for the past 11 years of our marriage. Definitely, he deserves something good once a while, or at least, once a year. Also, it feels good to be paying for him. *wink*

We decided on an Italian restaurant, Il Lido located at Sentosa Golf Club. I've convinced him to try the Degustation Meal, priced at $148++ per person. With DBS credit cards, you get a 1-for-1 for the set menus. It's a good deal, isn't it? Furthermore, we have decided, no more buffets for such an occassion. Got to watch our waist line as grow wiser each year! Hahaha...

Entrance to Sentosa island sets you back by $6 per vehicle. The restaurant is located at the left exterior of the building. You walked through a pathway of wooden planks before you reached the main entrance. The restaurant can accomodate more than 100 persons. There are outdoor and the indoor sitting. It will truly be nice sitted at the outdoor and enjoy the seabreeze. However, I chose to sit indoor to prevent myself from perspiring.

I ordered Shirley Temple to start with, while he ordered a glass of Merlot. We were served a bowl of Zwieback bread, where it was very crispy and nice. The bread was spread with some butter and herbs before toasting again. The serving for this bread was rather generous!

Our six-course dinner started with Chef's compliment of Pan Seared Tuna. The presentation was truly fantastic. The sauce that was used tasted sweet and a slight sour, something like plum sauce? I can't make out what it was though.

First course, Scallops with Confit Cherry Tomatoes, Roast Garlic Cream and Crispy Prosciutto.  The scallops were thick and juicy. It goes well with the cream mixed with the juicy arising from the grilled scallops, which made it sweet. Crispy Prosciutto was just...crispy?

Our second course was Pan Roasted Goose Liver with Apricot Compote and Walnut Salad. As much as I don't want to go for this specially, I had to eat this as it was part of the menu. The goose liver was very soft, toufu-like. However, taking too much can be a bit of yucky. The apricot compote was sweet and goes very well with the greens and walnut. The walnut was slight bitter while the compote was sweet, it was quite a nice combination to the palate.

 

The third course, our favourite was Fettuccine with Spiny Lobster and Spicy Tomato. The fettuccine was nicely done, eaten with the sauce really satisfied our tastebuds. The sauce, we concluded that, was made using lobsters or alike. It tasted very similar to lobsters bisque. Sweet basil leaves were added too. The chunk of lobster meat was equivalent to half a lobster. At least enough to taste the freshness and sweetness of the lobster. We finished up the sauce.

 

Our final main course, US Prime Beef Tenderloin with Spinach Cake, Garlic Sauce and Barolo Reduction. We ordered it medium well. It came in the way I like it, no blood. It was tender and juicy. The black sauce tasted something like soya sauce with vinegrette. I wasn't sure what it was. The Garlic Sauce was creamy. The spinach cake was really wonderful. One look, you might think it's hard, but it's not! You can taste the very fine spinach with some cheese. I've not tried cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. I suspected it was mixed with either one. This spinach cake is very special. The shape stayed when you cut it, however, the moment it touched your tongue, it disintegrated completely! How special is that!

 

I requested the restaurant to prepare a small cake for my spouse. They did! They served us a chocolate mousse cake with a lit-on candle. The staff asked if we wanted a birthday song to be sung, my spouse was shy and decline politely. I jumped in and said okay. Heehee... So the few of them gathered and sang him a birthday song. After that, we took some photos, blew out the candle, then they removed the cake from us. Huh? No cake cutting, sorry.

 

Dessert was Molten Lava Milk Chocolate Cake in Hazelnut Crust with Vanilla Ice Cream and the Chocolate Mousse slice. The presentation, as usual, was very appealing. The hazelnut lava cake was warm, coupled with the fragrant hazelnut and the flowing chocolate was an indulgence. The cherry was juicy with liquor. The vanilla ice cream didn't soften or melt a bit even though I had it after I've finished my lava cake. You can see dots of vanilla seeds on the ice cream. Very authentic, very vanilla. The chocolate mousse cake was rather sweet. There were pieces of crunchy pearls in the mousse cake.

 

You can't have desserts without Coffee. Coffee was strong and bitter. I didn't finish it even though I tried to add more milk to it.

By the time we left, which was just half past eight, the restaurant was barely 25% filled...

This degustation meal was a good experience for us. It was also value for money (with the 1-for-1), as in one meal, we got to taste poultry, beef and seafood. It was all quality food. One might think that with the tiny quality portion served, it might not be filling. However, I can assured you that, it was full enough for both of us. (Don't forget we had lots of the bread too!)  It's good fun to go for such a food once in a while, while we can afford. It's special and you'll derived more satisfaction from it too (minus the hole in the pocket!) The most important thing, don't forget to take advantage of credit card discounts or similar.