Saturday, July 21, 2007

Al Forno Trattoria, Goldhill Centre


Clad in a cosy and rustic interior and hidden out of view from the main roads, Al Forno Trattoria (203 Thomson Road, Goldhill Centre) felt like a hidden find. The restaurant whipped up some pretty good pasta in generous portions. That was on top of the other options like pizzas, salads, seafood & meat that they also serve. My only gripe was that most of their pastas had boring tomato based sauce which I usually avoid. That's just me. I hear that this place has been around for quite a long while and that they do a nice rum infused Black Forest Cake which was available in a few days of the week and something I was curious about. We were actually served a complimentary starter of a warm slice of toast before we've even made orders for the food. The toast had  toppings I couldn't fully identify beyond bits of onions, garlic, gherkins and probably olive oil. Wasn't bad too.


Pappardelle alla Veneziana ($22)

This was pretty enjoyable. Pasta was served piping hot. It was essentially pappardelle with scallops and prawns in a rich creamy saffron sauce. Pleasantly surprised that the prawns weren't tiny shrimps and that they were crunchy. Scallops came whole with their 'wings'. This was probably the most interesting pasta on the menu.

Lasagna Emiliana ($22)

I've never been big lasagna. This wasn't bad. Just me not being so much into tomato sauces. From the menu's description of two cheeses, I was hoping that it would up the cheese factor of the lasagna by a notch. It was sadly not the case and turns out to be typical.


This was be the rum infused Black Forest Cake ($9 a slice) which I had mentioned earlier. Delicious chocolate cake. Wouldn't recommend passing on it if you like chocolate. Dense & rich chocolate cream and chocolate shavings over the top. The only gripe was that I had expected more rum than just a bare hint.

2 comments:

  1. They have been around for almost 10 yrs or so if i m not wrong. They first started in a small shop opposite Novena church b4 moving to the current location.

    Hows the pricing? I lived in that area for almost 20yrs but have yet stepped into their place. Looks expensive.

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  2. If the small place you mentioned is currently a restaurant call Vines or something, then I think I do recall having been there a really long time ago. But that must have been more than 10 years ago.

    Most of the items on the menu looks to be in the 20s for the mains and the teens for starters if I remember right.

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