Amici Italian Bar & Restaurant (Holland Village)

I had the luck to be given their member card, the Granton card, as the buyer of the card didnt want to go so I made a booking for 2pax on a Friday night to try out the 1-4-1 main course and also redeem the bottle of wine which the card entitles me to.

Layers of sliced eggplant filled with mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil ($12.90) - this was really really good. The eggplant was in generous slices and not overcooked, the fillings were all good, and it came sort of in a tomato base which mixed very well with the melted cheese. I miss this already! (there's an option to have this as your main for $19)

Grilled green shell lobster with extra virgin olive oil served with pasta ($39.90) - the lobster was surprisingly of a good size and came with baked cheese on top - simple and nice! The pasta serving was almost too generous as a 'side' and came perfectly al dente but was overly doused in cracked pepper for me. Still good though, just that I needed plenty of water to go with it. Oven baked black cod crusted with herbs and served with garden greens ($36.90) - I had a bite of the black cod and it was firm and fresh without the need for any over-seasoning. Redeemed white wine - came chilled and was refreshingly fruity and extremely easy to drink.

Service was poor as the place was obviously understaffed for a Fri evening although the seating capacity was not big. Staff hurried to take orders, pour wine, serve, and present bills and sometimes can be quite curt. Most of the crowd had the Granton card too and were obviously enjoying the deal as I was. Guests were turned away or asked to wait starting from about 8pm onwards so make reservations if you plan to come.

The prices reflected were after the 1-4-1 so it will obviously be alot pricier if you're dining without the Granton card.

Pardon me for the very dark photos - blame my iphone and the fact that I felt camera flashes there didnt do very well for the almost too cosy atmosphere.

Amici, which means friends in Italian, has been around for quite a while but we've never really gotten down to trying it even though there have been quite a number of favourable reviews circulating around on the internet. That changed when we popped by the Holland Village area to buy some baking supplies and decided to give Amici a shot.

Finding the place takes some navigation skills as the place around it seems to be under construction which makes it hard to see the place until you actually walk near it. There is a small al fresco area but I wouldn't recommend that especially if you go in the afternoon and with all the construction going on. The seemingly narrow air conditioned interior lets loose a cosy vibe but watch out for the too close for comfort table spacing and the unforgiving air circulation system which will have you smelling of food within minutes.

Complimentary Bread - We got off to a nice start with the warm and crusty complimentary bread that had pockets of what seemed like cranberries. Mildly sweet and comforting.

Carbonara - The carbonara wasn't al dente but on the upside, it didn't come across as too rich which toned down the nausea inducing factor. The plentiful bacon pieces were a plus as well.

Squid Ink Pasta - Apparently a specialty at Amici, the squid ink pasta was the drenched in squid ink variant, not the made from squid ink kind, of which the latter I personally prefer. I could make out a noticeable tartness in the pasta ( I assume they probably tossed the pasta in tomato sauce first before dunking it in squid ink) which did make it more appetising. What caught my attention was the delectable pieces of cod fish that were crisp on the outside and exuded a natural sweetness from within. There was also a generous serving of squid rings which served to up the chewy factor.

Tiramisu - The desserts were certainly the stars of the evening and it started with tiramisu, which had a great sponge to mascarpone ratio. The sponge wasn't overly soaked in coffee but where's the alcohol?! Still very good though and if there's any reason I'll return to Amici, this would be it!

Cappuccino Cake - I'm no big fan of coffee but this dessert surprised me. 5 layers of sponge compacted with a thin layer of wafer in between - firm in texture with a sweet hint of coffee. The ice cream that came alongside didn't gel with me though, seeing that it was literally milk solidified and came across as overpowering.

Through the use of a voucher, we had the cheaper main course free, which brought our bill to a more manageable $56 for a 2 pax lunch. Reasonable I may say, but I'll probably only be back for the desserts. Service was decent but then again, the place wasn't packed so it's probably not a good gauge.

See all my pictures here.