Menotti

I have been busy. Hence the lapse in posts. Here is an overdue review of several lunches I had at Menotti. (Raffles City Shopping Centre, #01-17)

I went there a couple of times and had a variety of dishes. The sandwiches looked promising but were a letdown, especially the pesto mushroom which was way too oily and lack the oomph of the basil. Also, you can't mix and match the fillings and breads - rather annoying little detail. The soups were also not worth mentioning - watery and rather tasteless. A friend had the chicken soup which was a poorly homecooked broth. Another friend had a spinach and crab which was just cream and whizzed up spinach.

Well, it's not all bad. I like the ravioli (pictured above) which was squid ink pasta with cod filling and saffron cream. The play of colours was a riot and the taste was a wonderful mix of creaminess (from the sauce), richness (the cod) and fragrance (from the saffron) and was all satisfying. D had the crabmeat linguini in creamy tomato sauce which he liked. The pastas are served in deep bowls and are enough for two. One time, we ordered a bottle of wine and with it came a complementary thin-crusted margarita pizza. A very nice touch.

For desserts, I liked the cannoli - which was a deep fried chocolate tube pastry filled with ricotta cheese and mixed citrus peel. The slight saltiness of the cheese took the otherwise cloying sweetness away. As for the molten chocolate cake, it wasn't 'molten' enough. In fact, it was rather dry; not very good at all. I do liked the range of affogato available though - hazelnut, chocolate, even a 'black forest' one, among many other 'espresso inspired' desserts in a glass. I liked that they used Victtoria Coffee as well - strong, aromatic and dark roasted.

Overall, menotti is a reasonably priced lunch spot for decent Italian cafe eats. Its not going to blow anyone away with its food or service (which I must add is rather inconsistent at times) but its pastas at the $15 range and lunch sets at $19.90 is quite a steal.

Perfect for a lazy weekday afternoon.