Ristorante da Valentino, Turf City

This return to Valentino's (200 Turf Club Road, #01-19, tel : + 65 6462 0555) was way overdue. We've been wanting to come back for ages since the last visit, but somehow it never materialized until today. I was actually pretty excited. We drove and got lost on the other end of Turf City before finding the new location.

This was an order of fresh figs, Parmigiano Reggiano and what tasted like very fresh salami. Perhaps they were made here. Nothing surprising about the flavour of the porky salami, salty and milky chunks of Parmesan nor piquant olives, but the figs were excellent. Soft, sweet and pretty juicy. These are so difficult to come by.

The other starter which the server recommended was the grilled octopus leg which was really amazing. The leg was sliced upon serving and the fragrant aromas of the grilled meat were the first to hit us. Some parts of the octopus were unexpectedly tender while the other parts were a tad chewy, but all of it had that very fragrant exterior from the grill which made mouth water. The circumferences of the suckers and the thin end of the tendril were roasted to an aromatic crisp. Very impressed.

Here's a half portion of their squid ink fettuccine in tomato cream sauce and crab meat. As it was from the first visit, we were still quite blown away by it. This time round, we detected another layer to the flavour of the sauce. It was spiciness from red chilli which worked in an almost subtle role in the backdrop. The crab meat were chunky and freshly sweet.

Yes, we also fell back into another item which we liked from them - tenderloin in Gorgonzola sauce. It was as good as we remembered and the meat was also as small as I recalled. Haha....not complaining here. The flavour from the sauce had the same intensity from the blue cheese as we had remembered. This time round, we noticed that the accompanying vegetables and new potatoes were scented with rosemary.

Dessert was a chocolate crumble. Chewy innards with crumbly exterior topped with vanilla ice cream. I think I'll stick to the profiteroles the next time.

Here's where I say we'll be back again.