Solo Ristorante - Fresh, Clean Taste and Full of Flavours

Imagine my surprise when I first step into Solo Ristorante to find that it is very crowded already on a Monday afternoon. And fifteen minutes later, it's full house. I know the reason why after a dining experience here, where I enjoy awesome food prepared in the open kitchen–one can see the head chef and his team hard at work here–and great service plus some Italian music.

And the set lunch here is pretty kind to the wallet 😉

Gamberi E Radicchio is such a beautiful dish in both taste and looks. The succulent, plump, creamy prawns are packed with the lovely briny sweetness, accentuated by the light spiciness of the seasoning, zest of the tomatoes and hint of bitterness of the onion. This is good that I bite off the base of the prawns' heads to slurp up the super creamy and briny gland in there. This is one of tastiest parts in fresh prawns.

Fluffy bread with olive oil and sweet balsamic vinegar. Will be great if served warmer.

Tagliatelle with Marinara Squid, Oregano and Smoked Garlic Cream tastes so unique yet familiar at the same time, just like the restaurant's slogan. I love this paste dish so much because of the myriad of  harmonised flavours, with a bit of spiciness for the kick. The squid rolls, which hold lots of sauce in their cores, is amazingly tender. And I like the flatter shape of tagliatelle to induce the feel of smoother texture when biting into it.

Zuppa D'astice is Lobster Bisque with orange and star anise. Very rich in taste and full of the essence of lobster, I like it very much.

Limone E Meringa has the exact right balance of sourness and sweetness. The sweetness of custard and vanilla meringue is complemented by the zest of strawberry coulis and lemon. What makes this dessert special is the consistency of the lemon curd, which is more like ice-cream than custard. I love this uniqueness, and it gives more texture to the dessert. Also juxtaposes well with the slightly stickiness of the meringue. A sweet, nice dessert to end the meal with.

Lovely white wine recommended by the staff. It becomes really sweet when eaten with the food 👍

The interior of the restaurant is a cross between lovely, quaint, intimate dining space and chic, cool bar. At the same time, there is a certain coziness hanging in the air. Great to feel all comfortable and just enjoy the good food. Sitting at the bar counter entitles one to an unbridled view of the kitchen, where all the heat of the action is. Surprisingly, while seated here, one can feel the passion of the chefs at work and have the hot piping food served straightaway from kitchen by the chefs, but will not feel heat from the stoves, ovens and grills. So one will still look and smell all good after a meal here beside the kitchen.

The service here is very friendly and responsive. A more senior Indian staff is especially thoughtful, advising me on the portions of the food since this is a huge concern for solo diners like me.

I totally love the food here and look forward to come back again.

Thoughts: Super Flavourful Dishes and Energetic Kitchen + Service Crew

45 Amoy Street

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar or Chinatown

Perks and 😑 of Dining Solo

Before my recent resurgence, I do dine by myself on scattered occasions since my dining companion at that time was too busy. Well, the history of dining by myself actually goes way before that, back to my JC days. In fact, it was a secret indulgence of mine during that time. I remember I liked the western food in my JC's canteen, so I always looked forward to enjoying it by myself, without bothering to cater to others' presence, you know, listening and replying accordingly to them. I would skip lunch and wait until the Chinese lessons to enjoy some Me and Food time. Why Chinese lessons? Because all my classmates had to attend them, I was exempted because I had passed Higher Chinese in secondary school.

I have to admit dining solo in a restaurant is a totally different experience from doing that in a canteen since there are service staffs around and I do feel I kind of stand out from the crowd by being the only lone wolf in the restaurant. Before the age of resurgence, I was of the mentality: I sure don't mind dining alone, I'm good with it, I just want to discover new tastes. Anyway, I was not exactly at a good place at that time, losing myself along the way. Writing about my dining experiences helped me to hold onto a small part of my true self. It is like my little haven, belonging to me, and me only. However, I was being reined back from fully indulging in this until now. 

Lots of things happen during Circuit Breaker, which are not due to Circuit Breaker, but due to incidents that happened to happen during this time. I decided to take a step out to make that change and so here I am, embarking on a truly solo dining journey that is made out of my choices instead of circumstances. I can proudly say that I now dine almost exclusively by myself! Now my thoughts are: I love dining by myself, I can order whatever I want to eat, I sure don't mind standing out from the crowd.

Of course the first few times I dine alone after the resurgence came with some awkwardness. But with practice comes perfection, now I'm totally comfortable with it and can catwalk into the restaurant before making myself comfortable at my seat. The great service does help too. And guess what, I saw on quite a number of occasions guys dining alone in the restaurants too–and one of them I saw recently is pretty cute 😉.

One of the perks of dining alone is obviously I can choose to order whatever I like, I do not have to care about another's budget, opinions and preferences. The downside to dining alone is that I can't try lots of dishes by myself, but hey, I rather savour 3 dishes of my choice than to try 6 dishes not of my choice.

This is just my personal experience that I want to write about. I'm not advocating anything. You just do what you truly want when it comes to dining in groups, pairs or solo. I do like dining in groups at times, just that I will not write about it since my focus will be on people, not food.

Now I just need to change my mentality from "I sure don't mind standing out from the crowd" to "I love to stand out from the crowd". Okay ... that's quite a tall order for me, but got to try 👍.