Cuisine: Italian

Address: The Grandstand, 200 Turf Club Rd, #01-19, Singapore 287994
Nearest MRT: Sixth Avenue (Downtown line)

Ristorante Da Valentino is an Italian restaurant in Singapore managed by Chef Valentino and his family, together with a team of dedicated staff. Started in July 2005 and located in a residential area along Rifle Range Road, the Restaurant relocated to its current location, The Grandstand, in July 2012.

Having relocated to its current location, Ristorante Da Valentino is now a 134-seater restaurant with 3 private rooms, 2 semi-private rooms and 5 cozy ‘mini caves’ that can seat up to 4 people. Despite the larger capacity, Ristorante Da Valentino manages to maintain its Italian ambience and continues to take pride in serving classic Italian food with Chef Valentino’s touch and creativity. The restaurant also serves seasonal dishes just like restaurants in Italy. Valentino would import seasonal items directly from Italy, usually in small quantity, and serve it the day that it arrives in Singapore so that customers could enjoy the freshness of the seasonal dishes.

The interior of the restaurant looks like a cavern and the restaurant was particularly full on a Friday evening. Luckily, we had made a reservation.

For appetisers, we ordered a Mixed mushrooms ($24.90). The mushrooms were served in a thick sauce, tossed in butter and garlic sauce. The portion was quite small and for this price, it was not really worth for the mushrooms.

Upon the waitress’ recommendation, we got the Burratta cheese 80 grams ($20.90). The cheese was air flown from Italy so it was fresh and creamy. We went for the smaller serving of cheese as we were not sure if the cheese was to everyone’s liking at the table. It was served with some warm foccacia bread and vinegar sauce.

Valentino has an extensive drinks list, from imported Italian wines to cocktails and beer. These two drinks are the Pink Mojito ($22.50) and Strawberry Peach Cooler ($15.50), which my friends ordered without alcohol. Even though there was no alcohol, the cost of the drink was still the same as the cocktail one.

Shortly after, the main courses arrived. This is the Risotto with truffle ($38.90). It was so good that we ordered a second serving. The smell of truffle permeated the air. The risotto was very tasty even though there was no meat in the dish.

Another crowd pleaser is the Inkling stew Octopus ($35.90), with the squid ink pasta served with stewed squid. The pasta was really tasty and the stewed squid was cooked to perfection. The only thing lacking was the portion of pasta which was too little.

For those who enjoy fish, this is the Crusted Branzino fillet ($39.90) which was the daily special. As the waitress told us that there was only one portion left, we hurriedly ordered it, only to regret later. The fish was average only, with a nice plating of pumpkin sauce and a serving of salad on the side. The dish was pretty much forgettable. The salad was served on a heap of spinach leaves.

This dish is the Ravioli Porcini mushroom ($35.90). As with most of the pasta dishes, the ravioli was homemade and the truffle oil was sprinkled abundantly on the dish. The porcini mushroom had a slightly sour taste.

The last of the main course is the Strozzapreti Spicy sausage pasta ($28.90). The spicy sausage was homemade as well, but based on the dish served to us, it was more like minced meat than a full sausage that we envisioned. The spiciness of the sausage gave the dish an extra kick, but other than that, it was also an average dish.

There is always room for desserts. We started off with the Panna Cotta Vanilla ($15.80). It is a classic Italian vanilla milk cream pudding. We had fun making the dish wobbly and the milk taste was quite strong. We enjoyed this dessert the most as the dairy cream was fresh and delicious.

Next, it was the molten lava cake ($18.80). It was served with a pathetic scoop of vanilla ice cream. The lava cake was oozing some molten chocolate slightly when cut open, and the cake was not overly rich.

Last but not least, according to the advice of the waitress, we ate the tiramisu ($15.80). This is a classic Italian dessert that I can also do it at home. The tiramisu was considered too sweet for my friend. It had the right hints of espresso and mascarpone cheese. I wished they could serve the tiramisu in a more presentable dish instead of the coffee cup.

Overall, we enjoyed the meal at Valentino’s. However, we would not purposely make our way down to this Italian restaurant around Bukit Timah. The prices are too high, even though the family vibes of the restaurant are strong and they are friendly. We made the mistake of following the recommendations of the waitress, for which most of the dishes were not on the menu and we did not know the price until the bill arrived. For a fraction of the amount that we spent on dinner, we can easily get a delicious Italian meal with more filling portions over at some restaurants in town or in the East.