A Room With A View

Nestled at the most scenic portion of the Sentosa Golf Club, Il Lido, with its 180-degree panoramic views of the South China Sea, picturesque Tanjong golf course and stunning sunsets over Indonesia's Riau islands, may have one of the best views in Singapore. It offers an al fresco option; its balcony area is sleekly furnished with Philippe Starck Perpex chairs. And, to cope with Singapore's humid weather, the balcony is equipped with many modern-looking pedestal fans.

Indeed, its romantic setting also makes Il Lido one of the most popular places to pop the question – one of my friends who has recently proposed at Il Lido informed that there were at least 4 other proposals going on at the same time. Under such lovely setting, coupled with such extraordinary selection of traditional Italian food (and of course a pretty diamond ring), it would be hard for a girl to say no.

Il Lido, inspired by Venice's Lido Island, is operated by Beppe De Vito, former head of the Garibaldi restaurant group in Singapore. Opened in February 2006, Chef de Cusine Michele Pavanello, formerly of Pontini restaurant in Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore, has done an excellent job in serving fresh, interesting dishes that are much better value than some of the other high-end fare in mainland Singapore. Indeed, Michele has over twenty years of experience in some of the finest establishment in the world including Antica Locanda Montin in Venice, aboard the luxurious cruise liner Royal Princess, Bice London, and The Palace of the Lost City. Michele has also worked alongside world-class Michelin starred chefs such as Gualtiero Marchesi and Stefania Moroni.

Il Lido offers a "modern" set menu – a 5-course meal that ends off with a cup of coffee or tea – at $150 per person. The menu certainly looks enticing - with diver scallops, wagyu  beef check, white peaches in moscato gelee – but due to unfortunate lack of budget, my partner and I decided to settle for the cheaper option of ordering from the ala carte menu. (For vegetarians, there is also an equivalent set menu at a cheaper price of $100 per person.)

Between the two of us, we shared an appetizer, 2 main courses and a dessert. While we did not have any wine, we understood that Il Lido's wine cellar has more than 400 labels, of which about 80 percent of which are Italian.

Like in any respectable restaurant, we were served a yummy basket of bread before the appetizer. In this case, Il lido's bread is an interesting crostini bread – thinly sliced baguette that has been baked with Italian herbs, sea salt and olive oil. My partner and I readily polished off the entire basket (and had it re-filled once) before the appetizer even reached our table, but if you are not as big and fast a eater like us, I've heard that you can ask the sever to pack the bread for take-away!

Our appetizer was a generous portion of beef tenderloin carpaccio with black truffle, parmigiano cheese, artichokes and celery heart ($32). We only had one word to describe it – delicious!

For the main courses – primi piatti or secondi piatti – my partner and I, being big fan of carbo, ordered two pasta dishes: spaghetti with sea urchins and spicy zucchini ($35) and homemade tagliatelle with wagyu beef tenderloin and foie gras ($45). We were delighted when the server took the initiative to split the portion for us so that we each had two half-portion of the dishes on our plates. Thumbs-up for the service!

Both pasta dishes we ordered were cooked to perfection. I particularly liked the wagyu beef tenderloin tagliatelle. While I was not very sure that there was a big difference between the wagyu beef and any other normal beef, the pasta was very flavorful, and at the same time, not too heavy or rich. The sea urchins pasta was much lighter, and had a more subtle taste. It was still, nonetheless, delectable and lip smacking.

For those who prefer proteins, Il Lido also has a rather wide selection of secondi piatti that is weighted in favor of seafood. If you really do need meat, I also spotted some yummy-sounding meat dishes in the menu like the braised wagyu beef cheek, black truffle mash potatoes and tarragon ($50), and two ways pigeon with pan roast breast and confit legs, roast figs and sage mashed potatoes ($68).

To end off our meal, my partner and I, rather unadventurously, decided to go with the ubiquitous molten lava dark chocolate cake, white chocolate & coffee gelato ($15). While we did not expect much surprise from this dish, we were particularly taken by the refreshing white chocolate gelato. It was certainly a nice end to the remarkable meal.

All in all, we had a fantastic meal at Il Lido. While the slightly pricey menu will not allow us to visit as often as we would like, Il Lido is certainly a place that we would go for special occasions, or when we just feel like pampering ourselves.- PY