il Lido - 14th June 2012

Our party was generally looking forward to lunch organised by Businessman at Il Lido, which we were all expecting not to be one of those lunches that was just enough to make it pass the minimum spend + just a tad better than MG’s tragic choice of hosting BML at “chef daniel’s” so as to avoid a “samolah”. Secretly, I was quite surprised by Businessman’s choice as I had an inkling that Il Lido was amongst the more pricey Italian establishments in Singapore.

As we now had 6 members to ferry (Businessman is supposed to ferry himself), deciding how to make our way to the venue was proving to be a challenge. Jon agreed to do the driving together with Dann (as he is the designated driver when Businessman is paymaster) in light that this is the first outing since Erap II’s admission into the club and we have yet to rejig the new agreed logistics. Businessman tried to pull an under-table deal with Dann offering him a free dessert if he could take a free ride with Dann since there were to be 2 cars. However, being the wolves that we were, we could smell a rotten deal the moment we saw one, and so questioned point blank on why Businessman should be getting a free ride since he was supposed to go it alone logistically for all lunch engagements. We then realised it was not a free ride per se since Dann was getting an additional dessert on the quiet. To that we countered that all other members should be given equal privileges if he were to hitch a ride. Businessman countered that he would rather take a cab then, and so off I went together with Joe in a cab with Businessman.

Upon arriving at Il Lido we were greeted by a rather stunning view of the deep blue sea basking under the immense sunshine. It reminded me a little bit of having lunch at some restaurant in Italy or Greece facing out into the Mediterranean, provided you could remove the dozen and a half large commercial vessels that were floating in the waters, which marred the picture and brought your thoughts instantly back to Singapore. The waitress asked us for our reservation, which I thought was rather daft since we were the only guests and the only 7 pax party for sure. We were guided to a private corner which provided a ship filled sea view.

Upon seating, Businessman immediately asked to double check on the 50% off offer on the ANZ platinum credit card. Ha! I knew it was too good to be true for Businessman to select Il Lido without some special deal or offer to offset the cost! We were told that the offer was for 50% off but only for bills of up to $300. So based on this, Businessman instructed all members to order up to a gross total of S$67 per pax. Although this sounded like a fair amount, in actual fact it was not. Most of the mains (excluding pastas) averaged close to the 50s and most of the starters were around the low 30s. So it was a real crappy number that we had to play around with.

Making the most of the budget, Jon decided first by selecting the daily set lunch and managed to convince Businessman to allow him an excess of S$3 on his “budget” (on the pretext that he is the club president…. real lame reason in my view, but he managed to pull it off yet again) and so selected an additional goose liver starter. Most of the other members selected the goose liver for starters or the lobster cream soup. I however selected the parma ham with burratina cheese. 

For the mains, the selections were for the saffron risotto with wagyu beef cheek and asparagus, the spaghetti chitarra and an off menu item selection of spaghetti carbonara (by Businessman). Jon’s main for the set lunch was beef cheek & mash. For dessert, only Jon had what seemed to be caramelized figs in cream, as the rest of us had run out of budget. 

We started off with the customary bread, which came with a choice of either olive oil + balsamic vinegar or butter. No complaints here, but nothing out of the ordinary as well. 

We were then served a pre-starter of what I would describe closely as rock melon gazpacho, for which Jon immediately surrendered his portion to me. He mentioned that he does not drink soup that is not hot, thus exposing the Philistine in him. I readily slurped up what was quite a decent puree of rock melon which was lightly seasoned; I suppose this could possibly be a southern Italian creation which works well in hot weather. 

Following this, they served us a fried rice and cheese ball, which was crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. You could describe it as pommosette’s (you know the frozen potato balls that you could readily find in supermarkets decades back) with cheese on steroids. I liked trashy pommosettes, and so this was quite a treat for me.

Then came the starters. I would not even bother to waste typing time on Jon’s salmon starter. 

As for the goose liver, there was all round disappointment after last week's blow out foie gras in old port sauce that everyone enjoyed thoroughly at St Pierre. The liver was pan fried well, and was tasty, but it just did not meet the standards of St Pierre both in the quality and technique in handling the foie gras. As for the accompaniments to the goose liver here, all I can say is that it was a pale comparison to the stunning old port sauce that along with the foie gras at St Pierre. The only other comment I would say is that the fried pumpkin slices were rather delicious.

The lobster cream soup however was done well and had a rich lobster taste and was slightly creamier than standard lobster bisque. The soup has bits of lobster flesh and all in all this was a very decent soup. 

The star amongst the starters however was the parma ham with burratina cheese. You can look at this dish either as a success or abject failure for il Lido. I suspect that the cheese was probably purchased from some gourmet deli, and so was the parma ham. As such, this was a dish that was assembled with the exception of the cooked peppers that formed a small bed below the cheese. So there was little skill involved in preparing this dish aside from the skill required to select the produce. Nonetheless, the selection was magnificent. The cheese was soft, fresh and delicious with a rich milky flavour, and the parma ham was also of high quality, exhibiting a rich but not overly salty flavour with a deeper red colour.

As for the mains, the spaghetti chitarra was well cooked but flavourless. It was mostly pasta and chives from the mouthful I got from Erap II. This was not what I was expecting from an Italian restaurant like il Lido. Thoroughly disappointing for a main pasta dish. 

Jon’s beef cheek was so-so, the meat was tender and well braised, but the flavour was not great. The beef cheek at Osvaldo was probably better and much larger as well. 

As for the saffron risotto, this was probably one of the better dishes. The risotto was cooked well but overall was still a little starchy and gooey.  The beef cheek pieces that accompanied the risotto was tasty (better than Jon’s), but I felt that cutting it into such small pieces was probably not what I was expecting. 

Finally, Businessman’s carbonara was probably the best main dish. It was a well-made carbonara done the traditional way without cream, but alas the party came to the conclusion that it was no match for La Strada’s carbonara.

The sole dessert (Jon’s set lunch dessert) which we had was quite good. The figs were probably cooked and caramelized slightly which made it soft and sweet. The added cream sauce was light and went well with the figs. I thought it was a pretty good dessert although Jon disagreed and felt it was not good. I would give it additional points for being a rather less common dessert. But as with all establishments, you always have to deal with the unsophisticated and barbaric sort of customer (look in the mirror Jon, yup… that’s right, but please do not think you have the body of Conan.…only the mind) who claims to want something different, but deep inside always wants the same thing like tiramisu, or panna cotta or worse… cut fruits with ice cream from a tub! And so when served something less usual, complaints that it is not good and would rather have ice-cream or what not.

We were served some decent complimentary sweets together with the bill, and the damage came to S$391 after deducting the S$150 discount that came with the ANZ platinum card.  

The best combination would probably be the burratina for starters and the spaghetti carbonara for mains. All in all, I must say that it was a disappointing meal, and il Lido is definitely a place we would probably not return to. The only justification you could get for paying such a price for such food quality would be for the ambience and view (provided you could get the ships to move out of view). Having just returned from the UK, I must say that the state of Italian dining in Singapore leaves plenty to be desired. The price we pay for good quality Italian dining is astronomical and yet, the quality is sometimes patchy. You would get far more consistency with arguably better taste and quality at Italian restaurant chains like Carluccio’s or Jamie’s Italian in the UK at a fraction of the price we pay for an equivalent meal here. I cannot wait for the day they arrive here in Singapore.

We left the venue in 2 cabs, and I asked Dann why he did not drive. With a black face he mentioned that he was done in by some goons as usual who convinced him it was cheaper to cab than to drive. I suspect that they knew it was cheaper to drive, but did not want to walk the 500m each way in the hot sun from the office to the car park where Dann’s car was parked. Dann! You should have known better! Next time ask me! ;)

PS. Followers, if the photos are not up to scratch this time it is because CC the cameraman screwed up and so we had to use his Samsung Note as the stand in camera for this meal. We have yet to decide on whether to enforce the penalty. 


By: Club Scribe