I nearly could not make it for this year's Annual Food Bloggers Dinner. But thanks to some last minute rescheduling, I was taken off duty for my YOG Volunteering work and I could attend the dinner!
The dinner this year was held at Michaelangelo's at Chip Bee Gardens. It's such a nice cosy place and I realized I have not been here before!
The organiser this year is Ivan. (Thanks Ivan for all the hard work organizing it and being so accommodating too!)
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I was in Rome in June and because we had to eat there, I had to learn how to order. Here are a quick FYI. The Italians really take their time to eat and they have many courses!
They start with an "L'antipasto" which can either be a cold or hot appetizer. Then after like what seems like eternity, they then proceed to have their next two courses! The first course is known as "Il primo". It's usually pasta or soup. The second course is known as "Il secondo" which is also the main course. It's where they have either meat, game, poultry or fish.
If you have lots of time, we did since we were tourists, you can order sides dishes known as "Il contorno". Usually some vegetable dishes. Then it's "Il dolce" - desserts! The few days we were in Rome, we learn to appreciate food by eating really really slowly! Now that's a short 'for your info' segment.
Back to the food bloggers dinner, it was nice to meet a few other bloggers that we have gotten to know via twitter. We finally met and we were all surprised when we met the real person!
The funniest comment I heard was: "hey, I thought keropokman is a 40 over year old man probably with a big tummy!" Are you sure you are keropokman?
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Let me interrupt with the food that interrupted our conversation.
We were served these lovely sundried tomato bread. It's so good that I just was just eating it without the hummus, olive oil and balsamic vinegar that was served. The crust were crispy and yet the inside were soft and warm.
We were served a piece each. This basket that you see here, we 'borrowed' it from the server to take photo. It was so funny. We wondered if we could have more but dared not ask! In the end someone did and we were so grateful to whoever it was that asked for it!
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L'antipasto
Our starter:
Crabmeat Cake with Avocado top with Mesclun Salad, Beetroot Paint & Balsamic Reduction.
When it was served, the smell whiffs pass and you know for sure it's something really good! It was indeed good! One bite into it and you can taste the delightful crab meat that has been conveniently shelled for us. This savoury protein goes well the slightly tart beetroot paint and slightly sweetish balsamic reduction.
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Il primo
Our pasta:
Short Tube Pasta with chunks of Tuna in Homemade Tomato Sauce with Capers, Olives, Chili, Garlic, Basil, White Wine & rich Fish Broth
For the first course, we had pasta. The chunks of tuna was marinated on one side and it rested on the very hot pasta. (I was told the tuna was raw, but because we were all busy trying to take photographs of it, the tuna was 'seared' by the pasta! LOL)
If you are a fan of tomato based pasta, this is definitely for you! The sauce was not too heavy and the cold tuna and hot pasta gives it such a nice contrast.
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Il secondo
For the second course, we had the choice of either Veal or Sea Bream.
This was Momo's second course:
Sea bream blanket with crispy Brick Phyllo on Butternut Pumpkin Puree top with Tomato Salsa
She liked her "Italian style fish popiah".
I had some, it was nice. I like tomato salsa so I thought it was satisfying. But I thought it was the sea bream was a tad too salty. Momo argued it was not. Yeah, she loves salty stuff!
My second course:
Breaded Veal Scallopine pan fried in Butter glace with Veal Jus, Cherry Tomato Salsa & Lemon Wedge.
Don't you think this is nicer? I thought the veal was really charming! But the ladies on the table disagreed and said the fish was way better. It was tender inside and depending on your taste, you might just love the veal jus like I do too!
If you are wondering where Eevon who posed for a few of us, have her manicure, ask her!
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Il dolce
For our dessert:
Pistachio Financier with Strawberry Salsa & Mint
I think most of us could not really appreciate our dessert. We were already so full!
If you are wondering what is a financier? It's similar to madeleines in texture, but it's not madeleines (yes, the madeleines that you get from Delifrance) and it's usually made with almond flour.
It's sweet, really sweet! For once, the food bloggers agreed in one thing! But the strawberry salsa was a tinge sourish so it was ok if you had it together. I must apologize to the chef for not finishing his food! I only had two mouths and I was way too full to eat anything else.
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I got a surprise! In the lucky draw, I won a food slicer! It happened to be the grand prize too! The rest who got prizes got an elegant tea pot with a warmer.
I must thank the fingers of the Pantry Pursuits folks who picked my name!
You know what my mum said when she saw this? We can try to make some home made bakkwa! Slicing it will be easy! *laugh so so loud*
It was a great dinner with great company with these great folks!
DimSumDolly Divine Essentials A 1/2 Food Blog eevon.sg food.recentrunes.com The Hungry Cow The Baker Who Cooks AromaCookery Foodie-ah Miss Tam Chiak The Importance of Salt Wen’s Delight Camemberu The Dirty Stall M Eats
Michaelangelo’s
44 Jalan Merah Saga
#01-60 Chip Bee Gardens
Singapore 278116
Tel: 6475 9069
2 comments:
Great photos and informative post about the food :D! And of course it was good to meet up with you!
How old is keropokman then? ;-)
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