A lovely meet up lunch with my long time buddies of nearly 10 years, dining at Olivia Italian Restaurant @ Arab Street. My muslim friend suggested dining there since its halal, although they serve alcohol. And it is kind of weird hearing a halal restaurant serving alcohols, but my friend isn’t that picky about it so we decided to give it a try due to good reviews on web. My apologies for the shitty quality of the photos as they were taken using my own hand phone camera.
Italian Olivia Restaurant
Tuck in the midst of the crowded Arab street, I almost missed it while looking for it. And initially I was a little apprehensive going in because of the lack of customers and I wonder if the reviews on the web are true. It was already past 12.30pm so I was expecting some crowds but no, when we came in, there was only a couple sitting nearby. But still, you may never know right?
A step into the interior of the restaurant has already got me into a very comfortable mood because of the gorgeous furnishings and in one look, I can tell that the decorations they used is from IKEA. Kind of a random thought here but I have a fondness for lighting displays, so their lighting displays caught most of my attention. The warm light created a lovely ambiance and somehow, it feels so cozy that it feels right at home! Flipping through the menu, one could see that Olivia serve authentic Italian cuisine, which include pasta, pizza and desserts.
Roasted Chicken Pasta
My friend ordered roasted chicken pasta with her choice of penne. I love the creamy sauce which is thick and savory that make you yearn for more bites! The roasted chicken was quite tender, and my friend even said that the pasta was good!
Seafood pasta with white wine
However, I am quite disappointed with my own dish, which is the seafood pasta with white wine. The fact is that I couldn’t taste any wine is not a bother for me but the pasta itself was very bland. If not for the Tabasco sauce which “rescue” the dish and adding some flavor to it, I wouldn’t have enjoyed as much.The only thing that tasted great is the seafood itself so I guess probably the chef didn’t add enough salt or wine to make the dish less bland. A friend who ordered the same dish as me, also agreed with me that the noodle were rather bland and she herself couldn’t taste any wine.
And of cos, there is always a space for dessert!
My favorite part.
Flourless cake with Vanilla Ice cream
Look at the chocolate! What a heavenly bliss to taste something so savory and yet so sinful! I like the cake with the chocolate sauce, but the downside of the dish is the ice cream which was really bad. The taste of the ice cream tastes so much like ice instead of ice cream, and I reckon that probably the ice cream was kept in freezer for so long that it practically turn into ice.
Overall, the food is good and service is great as well. However, some improvements have to be made especially the seafood pasta since it tasted really bland.
Oliva
Kampong Glam Shop Houses
#01-00, 34 Arab Street,
(S)199733
Tel : 6291 2297
