Birthday #1: Ristorante Da Valentino / Dinner

Pardon my longer than 2 week hiatus, I've been crazy busy with a few birthday celebrations and of course my trip to Korea with my family! School officially resumes today and my holiday flew by like a breeze.. sobs! Here's an update - starting off with the birthday celebrations! 

Bernard brought me for a surprise lunch.. literally felt like I was kidnapped because he didn't want to tell me where he was bringing me but once we hit Bukit Timah, I knew!!! HE WAS BRINGING ME TO RISTORANTE DA VALENTINO!! I randomly said (a few times lol) that I've been wanting to go back to this lovely and super cosy Italian restaurant which was previously located at Binjai Park locale. It was like "the secret" restaurant cause it's in the estate areas super far away from the city and you'd have to make a reservations like two weeks in advance to get a table. Now that it's located at The Grandstand (Turf City) with a much larger premises, we scored a nice cosy table overlooking the whole restaurant! Perfect! 

Seriously, I don't even know where to begin with the food. EVERYTHING WAS SO FREAKING GOOD and expensive. The bread was fresh and warm, perfect with the olive oil. The very nice waiter recommended the Buratta Cheese with parma ham as a starter and initially, we didn't think much of it. I was rather dubious just looking at it.. a chunk of cheese with strips of parma ham and some cherry tomatoes but BAM!!!! IT WAS THE BEST THING I'VE EVER TASTED! MAJOR MOUTHGASM! AND I KNOW I SHOULD STOP TYPING IN SO MUCH CAPS BUT YEAH YOU GET THE IDEA, IT WAS THAT GOOD. Even the cherry tomatoes were good. A great mixtures of savoury, sweet and sour. I swear the picture doesn't do any justice on how amazing it tasted. k but we didn't ask how much was it cause it wasn't on the menu and the damage is: $46. forty six dollars for a starter is a real burn in the pocket cause that's a cost of one meal for the both of us but damm... it's worth every penny. 

So that was just the starter. We ordered two mains to share, the Squid Ink Fettucine with crab meat and Beef Ravioli. The fettucine was a dream! It tasted amazing - the tangy and creamy tomato sauce with generous chunks of crab meat. The Beef Ravioli on the other hand was slightly disappointing. It had a very earthy taste and I expected a lot more since everything else tasted so good! 

Panna Cotta with a birthday candle for a dessert. We were just talking and all the waiters gathered, came forward and screamed a birthday song. Literally the whole restaurant broke out into singing hahaha it was damm loud and scary!! 

Total damange which includes still water, bread, a starter, two mains and a $10 tip: $160 for two. This is indeed a full service restaurant with amazing, friendly, funny and attentive waiters! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! 

Thank you baby, for lunch, for planning the entire day, for splurging, for loving me, for spending twenty-sixth November with me for the past five years, for being my everything! We're a tad bit late but we are going to celebrate our 4th year anniversary in a few days, you are simply amazing and everything to me. Love you!

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Birthday dinner at Food for Thought with my amazing friends. Thank you for coming out to celebrate and surprise me despite being in the midst of exams and submissions! Truly appreciate your sacrifices, love you all and those couldn't make it <3