capricci

Taking over the space of the former Oso restaurant along Tanjong Pagar Road, Capricci is a self styled restaurant serving Italian food of the hearty home-style variety. Decided to pay a visit after work one day after reading raving review from Wong Ah Yoke on the Sunday Times. Half expecting a busy restaurant , I walked into a virtually empty dining area. And while we waited for the rest of the party to arrive, several of the staff came over to chat with us, though it was really more of a *nudge nudge wink wink* to order some wine. Later, even the chef came out to greet us (one of 2 tables being served at that time). After some awkward chatting with the staff, we ordered and were ready for some big flavours and generous servings (as was promised by the staff during the short and numerous chats earlier).

I started the meal with the parmesan and wild mushroom souffle with melted fontina cheese which was excellent. The cheese and mushroom flavours were robust and well balanced, but really, it's hard to go wrong with something cheesy and creamy. The souffle was followed by king prawns sauteed in grape and rosemary sauce with caponata. It sounded really interesting on the menu which was why I had ordered it. The prawns were well grilled but I didn't get the grape sauce.There was no synergistic value in the pairing, neither creating great contrast nor blending into a coherent whole. I'm not sure if this is a traditional recipe but lemon would have been a better (if more boring and obvious) choice if the intention was to add a bit of acidity to the dish.

The meal ended with the Crema Bruciata of madargascan vanilla and pumpkin, which was basically a pumpkin creme brulee. Unfortunately, the texture of the pumpkin custard was inconsistent. It was grainy on top but smooth and creamy at the bottom. The custard itself was rather underwhelming and there was general consensus around the table that the juniper flavoured berry coulis at the side was actually more interesting than the custard itself.

Cappricci straddles the weird zone between being an exensive downtown dining establishment and a hearty neighbourhood joint, and ends up not quite making it on either side. The food was good but it still fell short of my expectation.


Capricci
27 Tanjong Pagar Road