Casa Tartufo

Truffles have been one of the recent rages in the foodie scene. I'm half expecting McDonald's to come up with truffle flavored fries anytime soon, if they can come up with a "macaron" sundae, surely they can come up with a mass produced "truffle" flavoring.

I admit I'm not really a foodie and my taste buds are not as discerning and I've also just recently fallen in love with truffles when everyone else has already been raving about it. 

As part of the restaurant week celebration, we tried Casa Tartufo last Sunday, it's also known as the "House of Truffles" so I was excited to try truffles with more than just fries. 

The restaurant is located at the ground level of the Forum in Orchard.



I loved the overall feel of the restaurant. It was very homey and welcoming, it also helps that everyone was very friendly. The owners even went out of their way to make little conversation and even took the time to take our photo.





They have an extensive wine list but sadly I'm really not a drinker and I know next to nothing about pairing so I just had water. We were first offered a bread basket while waiting for our soup. The first course is a choice between the soup of the day or deep fried sardines. Em-J and I decided on the soup. Actually, we ended up ordering the same thing for the three courses.



I forgot to ask what the soup of the day was and for the life of me, I couldn't quite figure it out. It was just alright. 

We had the porcini stuffed ravioli with mushrooms for our main course. I liked this dish and while we initially thought the serving was a bit too small, it ended up to be just right. I just felt that the ravioli was a bit overcooked.



Our dessert of truffle ice cream was very interesting. The owner explained the process of making it so our curiosity was piqued.



It was very good, my favorite part of the meal. Your first bite hints of vanilla sweetness, as you continue to savor the spoonful of dessert, an explosion of truffle goodness hits you. Too good for words!

I'll be back for this dessert alone.

You can check the website here and their regular menu here.

Special set lunch menu price for restaurant week: $40++, $10++ for the still water.

Restaurant week happens again in October, you can register early here to be able to reserve two days earlier than the rest.

Potion Bistro & Bar, Nostalgia Hotel

I was able to catch the tail end of Restaurant Week last weekend with Analyn and Em-J. I chose Potion for Saturday lunch because I was curious about it, I actually thought that the restaurant specializes on molecular gastronomy. I tried reading about it online but not much has been written about it so we didn't really know what to expect.

Potion is the in house restaurant of Nostalgia hotel in Tiong Bahru. I haven't been there so I was looking for a tall hotel. Analyn whipped out her phone to help us out, it turns out that we've already passed the place twice.



Adding to our confusion, we saw that the restaurant is outdoors but the entire place is being hosed down. Chairs were all turned over and moved to the side, workers were all over, wet and dirty.

We decided to enter the hotel and we were asked by their gracious front desk staff if it's alright for us to have lunch inside instead. This is actually a blessing since it was too hot outside.

The place is a bit cramped, I felt that they can do with a couple less chairs but it really wasn't a problem since we were the only ones dining in at that time.





Here's the special menu:



I ordered a lychee drink to cool me off a bit which was really refreshing.



We started with potato soup which was good.



Analyn had the chicken for her main dish while I had the salmon. The serving was pretty filling, not what I was expecting. I loved their mashed potato, I haven't been a fan but I nearly finished my heaping serving. The asparagus was also good. Sadly, the salmon was overcooked, a little burnt and dry but the sauce made up for it.



Dessert was pear gelato which I was expecting to be served in a martini glass. When we were finally served with it, we were surprised and delighted. The effort in the preparation was not lost on us. The pear flavored and shaped ice cream was dipped in chocolate. It's center resembling the pit was a dark chocolate bonbon and the protruding stem, mint chocolate.





They sure know how to end a meal.

Restaurant Week special price: $25++, $4.50 for the drink.
All photos taken with my phone.