Buono

Despite making our weekly rounds every Saturday and/or Sunday night, I do in fact detest heading to town for dinner. The chaos. The waiting. The parking. The crowds! And to think our population has only reached 75% of what our government wants.

Also, I've been overexposed to my "city campus," by the time weekend rolls by, I'm just dying to veer away from Orchard Road and City Hall. That's why it's good to discover restaurants such as Buono, which thrive like wild mushrooms off the beaten path.

Consider it "second time lucky".

The first time I called to make a reservation, I was told very very politely by a staff member that the restaurant had been booked for a private party and no, we couldn't crash the party (hey I was just testing my luck!).

Second time I called, which was less than an hour from our supposed time of reservation, I was lucky enough to score a table for 3. "The last table" I was told. So it was off to Buono at yes-there's-a-restaurant-there Lichfield Road.

We received a warm reception alright. The minute I entered the restaurant, I was greeted by a blanket of cool but stale air. I don't know why I didn't pick up the lack of AC from reviews I've read. If I were dining with other people, it might not have mattered but Dad's kryptonite was heat and the first thought that came to my mind, "Crap.. Dad's gonna hate this place...".

We asked the waiter about the AC but he mumbled something about the fans. Dad brushed off the unnecessary mollycoddling and settled into the first of many glasses of ice water. Suddenly, much to our relief, the folks at Buono placed a fan right beside us. *Adds a point for service.



Screw the Miele oven, I wanted a wood burning oven at home. To begin, we were served garlic bread literally served fresh from the oven. Sure it wasn't the most imaginative of breads but at least it was pipping-ouch-hot.



We could see the Chef work on his signature Buono pizza, a bed of mozzarella cheese and cream sauce, topped with pork sausages, mushrooms and rocket salad. The grass is definitely greener on this patch. The Buono took us through a most enjoyable ride of creamy but well-matched cream sauce and mozerella, steered by the heady aroma of mushrooms and slightly spicy pork sausages that masked the bitter hint of the arugula carpet



Our appetizer, the Crudo di Scampi was late. It only arrived minutes after we were done with our pizza. This was rather odd for it seemed like orange-cream-sauce-dribbled prawn and pesto-dressed calamari, topped with a heap of arugula, didn't seem all that time consuming to prepare. Despite the lavish cream and pesto dressing, the flavours were surprisingly muted.



The Mixed Skewers was a hearty fare of beef tenderloin, chicken, lamb and sausage, served with a potato-cheese-layered cake and greens. While they were minutes overgrilled, the meats had a well-appreciated char-ry aftertaste.



I never thought much of Italian dessert especially if it is "imported". None of the other sorbets, lava cake (isn't that French?) or traditional desserts (tiramisu) appealed to me so I adopted an uncharacteristically hands-off approach to the dessert. That being said, the double-whammy-twang of limone sorbet sat well with my parents, at least my dad (for mum was not-so-secretly eying the coconut sorbet... Next time mum!).



This is Buono. Straightforward, what you see is what you get. None of that belly-sized Chef's ego or designer furniture (though they did have very questionable leopard-print seat covers). FYI: I've already thought of what to order on my next visit.

HELLO to Shanti, Peihua and Farish! haha...green for global warming.