Olive Trees @ Intercon Hotel
The food is just too good to let it pass. My friend invited me to have a dinner in this Italian restaurant at Hotel Intercon, which I had a hard time finding--it only proves how good you are in directions! :) 
We started with a white wine on our hands. The wine glass was filled with a Chablis...how do you pronounce that again?? I was actually feeling awkward when I was pronouncing the wine Chablis, it came from France so I should pronounce it with a French twang, and from what I remember, French people seldom pronounces the "s". In my case though, I just silently whisper the "s" part.
I prefer this type of white whine than the Chardonnay. The Chardonnay is more bitter and approached my taste buds stronger. Chablis is softer and as my friend says..fruitty! I still need to learn alot about wine drinking.
We were first served with a loaf of bread coated with butter. It was presented together with a balsamic oil (i'm not really sure of the name, i'm just guessing it.) There's nothing unusual with the bread, but once it's spread with balsamic oil, it becomes a miracle bread. Although if you're expecting a sweet bread, then you're going to be disappointed--Were you?
The bread is free of charge. Well, they should make it free!
I forgot to mention that the name of the restaurant is Olive tree--no wonder there's alot of Olive oil bottles around!
We ordered salad/appetizers first. My friend ordered them for me because I'm not really so familiar with the items on the menu. Come on dude, don't act so harebrained!Grilled Californian asparagus with goat's cheese and balsamic oil
I love the asparagus. Actually, I first discovered the exquisite taste of asparagus when my boss brought me to his friend's japanese restaurant. There's something salty and corn-ish to its taste that is far different from the green vegies that I've tried. The asparagus is mixed with nut sprouts (they're like the sprouts of nuts and not the beans)--hmmm....is that the real name?!.
What I love about this is the combination of goat cheese and the asparagus. In fact, just this evening, I tried to copy this salad and let my housemates taste it, although I didn't have olive oil, fresh pepper and cheese.
Slice of Akami Tuna, haricot beans, vine ripened tomatoes, kipfler potatoes, onion
I love the fresh pink tuna, although salmon dances better on my tongue, or maybe if there was wasabe on the table, it would have gone better--not that I'm saying it's not good. "As a matter of fact, it's really really good."
During the meal, I'm actually just munching anything that I see on the plate. But now that I'm writing an amateur review about it, I realized that the ingredients have funny names like haricot beans, kipfler potatoes. I know that the green long ones are beans, but I didn't know that it's from haricot, or it was planted by Mr. Haricot...and Kipfler who? Is that from the Kifler theory?
It's Kepler and his laws about planetary motion that supports the Copernican theory although he said that the orbits are elliptical and not circular. Thanks google for the quick search result on Kepler. :) Here's a photo of a Kipfler potato -->
The last meal, since the restaurant is Italian, mediterranean place, I ordered a fettucini pasta with dried ripened tomatoes, chicken, prawn, mussel and toasted bell pepper over a creamy and cheezy sauce. The dried ripened tomatoes add the sour kick on the palette. The meal was so heavy on the stomach and I was so noisy and busy talking stories that I was the last person to finish the meal...I didn't really finish the meal. It was too much for my small tummy--yeah right, and what are you implying? The sauce wasn't too thick and wasn't too watery. It was just right. The roasted bell pepper was good and the clams and the prawn were BIG--no wonder I couldn't finish the whole plate.After the first glass of wine, my friend asked me if I wanted a Riesling, which, from the books that I read, is meant to be a desert wine, but the healthy buff kicks in again so I asked for a mango juice instead, which I forgot to snap a picture. Though the mango tastes fresh and is not just from some mango purees.
VERDICT: It was Friday night. I'm meant to entertain the social part of my life, though it only comes once or twice a month. I had fun, my stomach had a different meal to digest, my taste buds experienced a delightful taste of Meditteranean cuisine, I was able to practice my convesational skills--
since when did you become a conversationalist? Oh, just last Friday! I gave my liver a different slap of alcohol and touched my heart with a different warmth of white wine. I would probably never step into a restaurant like that--unless someone invites me for dinner again. In plain simple terms, I had fun and that's all that matters.
:)
, and I find it interesting and informative. I would definitely recommend it!
