Date: 5 Apr 2006
Venue: Menotti, 252 North Bridge Road, #01-17 Raffles City Shopping Centre

Menu: Fritto Misto, Seafood Platter ($26), Lobster Pasta ($23.80), Grilled Salsiccia, Grilled Scallop Pasta ($18), Tagliatelle with Seafood ($16), Lagsane ($15), Roma Chocolate Gelare ($9.5), Profiterol ($7), Pannacotta ($6.5), Limoncino Lemon Tart ($6.5), Italian Still Water 75cl ($5.30)

The Experience:
In all honesty, I didn't like Menotti's ambience at all. The structure made it very noisy and it was difficult to hold a proper conversation. It didn't help that the small lounge-type round tables didn't facilitate sharing nor conversation and the staff wasn't exactly "friendly". Coupled with the fact that we had to pay for water, which didn't taste different from our tap water, Menotti scored an all-time low. I somehow prefer its more casual and friendly counterpart, Riciotti over at The Riverside despite its smaller menu.

The food didn't redemm Menotti at all. To be fair, the food was consistent. The pastas were al denta, it wasn't too salty, sweet or sour and it was fresh. But it didn't wow. Lorraine and I were suspicious of the lobster pasta. The texture tasted more like crayfish to us.

The desserts were only ok. The gelare and lemon tart was good, rich and creamy. The profiterols were fluffy although I preferred Valentino's. However, the panna cotta tasted as though the pastry chef forgot the sugar. It was bland.

Total Bill for 5: $152

Overall, Menotti disappointed and considerably expensive. In our usual practice, we would order one of each dish to taste and well, the bill still came up to >$30 per person. Thankfully, it was the company that made all the difference.