This is an Italian-Japanese restaurant, located along Alexandra Road, at The Alexis. This building is a low rise private apartment with shops on the ground floor. It is located directly opposite the Cycle and Carriage showroom. As it is not located in a mall/ near an MRT station/ bus stop, you will miss it if you are not looking out for this restaurant.
I came here for lunch and the restaurant was packed for lunch. The tables were mostly occupied by Japanese housewives with a table by two businessmen.
The restaurant is helmed by Chef Takada, who lends his name to the restaurant. He has previously worked in several Michelin-starred restaurants in Italy and Japan. His many years of experience in Italy is shown in the food he prepares and his Japanese heritage is shown in the presentation and ingredients used. For example, the fish he uses in the menu is imported from Tsukiji market three times a week and he also uses Sea urchin (Uni) from Hokkaido.
The lunch sets start from $38 and I opted for the $48 set lunch (appetiser, pasta, main and dessert).
Here are the highlights of my meal:
Amuse Bouche
- Mushroom soup. Served in a tea cup with foam over it. The soup is light and you get bits of button mushroom in it. You also get to taste the mushroom flavour in the foam that sits on top of the soup.
Appetiser
- Burrata Cheese & Parma Ham with fresh French Tomato: You get half a burrata cheese with two pieces of parma ham and 2 slices of red and yellow French tomatoes. The burrata cheese is nice and soft. Eaten together with the parma ham, it was a perfect balance of saltiness and creaminess. The tomatoes were fresh and juicy.
- Shirako Japanese Radish Bagna Cauda: +$6. This will add an additional $6 to the meal if you take this option. The Shirako is plump and had a nice gratin coating on it, making it crispy on the outside and smooth and creamy on the inside. The Japanese Radish Bagna Cauda topping added a nice flavour to the dish. A pity I was sharing this with my lunch partner, as I could eat this all by myself! Nice!
Pasta
- Tagliatelle Amatriciana: This was flat pasta cooked in a creamy tomato sauce. The tomato base sauce is cooked from scratch and the chef actually have two pots of tomato sauce simmering and he mixes them together for each order. The tomato sauce is the quintessential element of every Italian Restaurant and this dish showcased the chef’s capability to create a good base for all great dishes.
- Squid ink Tagliolini Peperoncino with Hokkaido Sea Urchin: +$6, This will add an additional $6 to the meal if you take this option. It is well worth it. Home-made squid ink pasta, and cooked with fresh uni from Hokkaido. It was absolutely divine. I wished the portion was bigger, cos I shared this with my lunch partner, and I couldn’t get enough of it. Its good!
Mains
- Iberico Chuck grilled with Balsamic Sauce: The portion is much smaller than the usual pork chop that you will usually get when you order pork chop at restaurants. However, the taste and tenderness of the pork far exceeds any other pork that you would have had. It’s perfectly grilled and the taste was wonderful. Must-try!
- A4 Kagoshima Wagyu Steak: +$18. This will add an additional $18 to the meal if you take this option. The beef is worth the additional money to ‘upgrade’ the main. The beef is just one grade down from the top grade A5. The beef was juicy and tender. We asked for medium rare, and when you cut into the meat, you don’t get bloody juices flowing from the steak. Must-order!
Dessert
- Petit 4: Served on a 2 tier stand, you get madeleines, meringue, cookies, ‘Royce’ chocolate cubes and fruit.
- Tiramisu: Served in a cocktail glass, it is perfect for 1 person. The sponge was oozing with liquer and the mascarpone cream topped with cocoa was lovely.
After your meal, you have a choice of either Nespresso coffee or tea.
The quality of the food is good. I look forward to coming back here again.
Highly recommended!
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