Ristorante De Parma

Seragoon gardens is a place i've worked at for about 2 years and i'm ashamed to say, i've never tried anything here apart from the fish bee hoon from the hawker centre, Pow Sing chicken rice, Jumbo restaurant and Mcdonald's. So now that i'm revisiting the place as an outsider, its quite interesting that there's so many places i've yet to try. Ristorante De Parma happens to be one of them and i had to pay it a visit after a friend gave me a nice discount voucher to play around with.

Located along the same stretch of shophouses as Icecube and Frolic, this unassuming and quiet restaurant is located all the way to the far end of that stretch. Its difficult to miss with its soft ambient music and overall soft demenour. Classy table setting and warm lighting embrace the patrons who venture forth while unintrusive service makes the meal pleasant and relaxing.

Complimentary Bread (Foccacia) - The focaccia is served first to quench the hunger of waiting for the fresh pizza to be served. I suppose its a 1 piece per person serving since there were only 3 pieces. We were, however, delighted when a second serving was provided when the first was exhausted. Taste wise, the upside is that the bread is fluffy and warm while the downside was how dry the bread really is. The olive oil and vinegar combination helped somewhat, but not enough.

Lemon tea ($5.80) - At the time, i didn't notice the cost of this but now as i'm writing this. 2 lemon teas cost us $11.80 ???? Overpriced most definitely covers what i feel about this order. Its normal home brewed lemon tea with sugar syrup and no, its not justified in terms of cost no matter how it tastes.

Pizza Margherita ($16.90) - Tomatoes, mozeralla cheese, basil and dough. Simplicity can sometimes be the best option, even when it comes to food. The crust is paper thin and charred at some areas but otherwise fragrant and light. The toppings blend perfectly to provide a moist and juicy layer of bliss. Very enjoyable even though its one of the most economical items on the menu.

Deparma's Smoked Salmon Pizza ($28.90) - Introduced by FZ as one of the must try pizzas in this outfit, i have to say, i'm not too impressed. Suffice to say, ordering an item not on the menu is an interesting change, the price of this is once again, like the lemon tea, bordering on ridiculous. The paper thin pizza is still a wonderful idea but the salmon has an obvious fishy smell about it that really detracts from the experience. Although i like the combination of peppers, raw salmon and what i suspect to be mayonnaise, the pizza was cold when served and didn't appeal to me much further.

Tiramisu ($12.90) - Thankfully, the meal ended with a bang with this lovely dessert. I'd go so far as to say its one of the best tiramisu's i've had in Singapore. A balanced mix of mascarpone cheese and sponge without the overarching wetness of alcohol even though it lingers in each bite. Nicely done.

The bill came up to a whooping $91.52 before discount from the voucher. Which reduces it to about $60 . Judging from the sheer amount and variety of food, its still a rather steep price to pay.

Ambiance: 7.5/10 Service: 6.5/10 Food: 7.5/10 Value for money: 6/10 Overall score: 6.5/10 (7/10 for Margherita and Tiramisu)

Last word: The food is great when it works. And honestly, shrug off the salmon pizza, pop in another hot pizza and i'll be singing praises of this place as my favorite Italian restaurant. Still, factor the price and its around the same league as Spizza in my books. Although it does much better then Spizza in many respects. As of now, i still prefer to frequent il piccolo simply because, being financially challenged is the order of the day nowadays.

It was a Sunday evening, we arrived early to beat the anticipated parking problem but realised the restaurant only opens at 6pm. I called up and asked if we could wait inside while they were still doing their setting. The person who answered hesitated but agreed to it. When we entered the restaurant, a more senior waiter (I supposed) apologised and asked if we could wait outside instead cos they were still busy and the restaurant was not ready. We declined and did some shopping that Watsons instead and returned at 6pm sharp.

The place for ready for business and we took the table nearest the entrance. A young chap served us and asked if we would like iced or warm water. The menu came, as this the first time for me and hubby at the restaurant, we asked about the soup and dessert of the day for the set menu. The waiter was prim and proper, really polite and though he seems really young, he was really helpful and kinda know what he’s doing. Their famous tiramisu was not part of the dessert of the day, but still I asked him if I could have tiramisu if I take the set menu. In the end, we topped up $5 for the tiramisu.

This is what we had :

Set Dinner ($49.90 ) (checked the bill, seems that they dun charge GST) which includes : - Smoked Salmon Salad Generous serving of salmon. Nicely smoked, not too salty. Honestly speaking, if hubby wasn’t there I could have finished it all by myself :OP - Potato & Leek Soup Creamy and flavourful. Nothing like those from supermarkets. Came with a bread stick. Cute! - Mussels and Clams in Tomato Based Sauce The pasta looked and tasted only so-so when I took a few bites, but one thing I liked was the tomato based sauce. Not acidic nor sour. It was mildly sweet and refreshing. I think they made the sauce themselves. By the way, the serving of mussels was generous. - Tiramisu I had high expectations of this as it was supposed to be one of their best, and I was not disappointed. I cannot describe how it tasted, but even with full stomachs, both of us finished it off in seconds. It was that good… - Premium Coffee This came last and though it was really fragrant, I was so full that I couldn’t take in anymore.

On top of the set dinner which we shared, hubby also ordered a magherita pizza. The crust was thin and nicely done, the cheese, tomato, mushrooms and other ingredients were baked to perfection. The pizza was really huge, we had to packet 2/3 of the pizza in the end.

Plus points : - Waiters were really polite and attentive. - Gave us complimentary fruit juices for the mistake they made earlier on. - Tucked away at one corner of the Serangoon Gdn stretch, environment was cosy and comfortable. It was our wedding anniversary and the whole ambience felt somewhat romantic yet not artificial.

Minus points : - Nothing to complain on the food… probably only the waiting time for the main courses were a little long.

Asked if I’d go back again? Yep!