Parco Caffe: Birthday Dinner

After our visit to Gardens by the Bay, we popped right down Parco Caffe! I made an online reservation a week before the actual day and got an email to confirm the reservation the following day!

Parco Caffe is nestled in idyllic Raeburn Park, behind the former Tanjong Pagar railway station. Also, it is brought to you by the very same team behind Spruce!! It is located 10 min away from Gardens by the Bay. The nearest MRT station is Harbourfront and there are 8 buses from there to this place!

If you drive, there's even complimentary ticket for you handed over by the staff. Just be sure to let them know you drove, but most probably they would ask. One up for service.

WOW right? Love the serenity of this place!

The place has a tasteful decor as well as great use of space. It just feels different from other cafes when you walk in.

Welcomed by the bar counter as the staff brought us to our seats!

A clear view of the place from our seats!

‘Parco’ (‘park’ in Italian) is the theme of the restaurant and you can see why. There is extensive green foliage and three indoor al-fresco areas, allowing guests to enjoy an “outdoor” experience in indoor comfort. There is also a separated room indoors which is a private area if you wish to arrange a gathering for friends. The crowd that frequents here also usually prefers a quiet setting, so you can expect a peaceful dining experience. Plus point for couples!

Busy cooks!

The menu offers both classic Italian as well as Asian food to give a balance. It's a great blend and definitely offers something for everyone.

My boy had Mojito - his fav while I tried Bellini. Bellini originated in Venice and is a cocktail made up of champagne as well as peach liquor! The Mojito is different from the ones I had as there isn't a layer of mint leaves on the bottom layer.

Minestrone soup as starters: Generous amounts of vegetables making the soup really rich! More so than the various Minestrone soups we have had. There's also pesto added which adds a tangy flavour to it.

Perfect combination with these breads! The breads were warm and are delicious on it's own! I've never eaten such nice breads before! YUMMY! We weren't sure if the bread came with the soup or is just a complimentary starter, but it definitely went down well with the soup. Not to be missed!

Our usual: Carbonara! Not the best we've eaten but it's above average. Cream was filled with bacon taste. A lil salty and we would prefer it to have a stronger egg taste. The sauce wasn't overpowering and we didn't get sick of it at all. I wish I could prepare carbonara like these...

We both felt that the calzone looked like a huge curry puff! Haha. Matched with their own special sauce. The sauce was tomato-ish and provided a good complimenting taste to the calzone. Salad was well tossed, with dressing which resembled vinegar. Really got to figure out what is this vinegar which tastes so good. The calzone had pork sausages and Parma ham which was quite good but a little heavy in portion for us. I would be interested to try the various other pizzas they have, should be a pleasant surprise too!

Lied to my boy that the calzone was his birthday cake because I didn't wanna have any desserts!

In actual fact, I've secretly ordered his fav panna cotta! :D

Panna Cotta is a must-order dish for his birthday celebrations, at least, I try to find a place which has it as much as possible. This is my fav one so far because it's mango flavoured! Really soft and you won't get sick of it! (:

The first time I had Panna Cotta was at the Spruce, which was really good, and ever since Smallhello has been questing to find Panna Cottas for me. This Panna Cotta was no doubt tasty but a little dry in texture. I'm not a guru myself and I know Panna Cottas are prepared in various styles, so probably this is one of the drier ones. I still love it though!

My birthday present for this boy who officially turned 24 on 16 July 2012! :D

Duty-free watches are really cheap by the way. You can get a good $20 cheaper when you purchase them at DFS! I got his Lacoste watch when we're coming back from BKK as I was flipping through the magazine on the plane. Was attracted by the colours and thought my boy would look really good with it since he's not like very fair nor very tanned! :P

Think the watch really looks awesome, would do a review on it when I finally get to use it! But for now..

We would definitely return to Parco Caffe for several reasons:

1) It is a great place for couples, gatherings or even business meetings (they have free wifi).

2) The staff were really friendly! Chatted with us the moment with stepped into the restaurant. As one of the staff who served us was new, he told us in advance that he's unsure with the details of the menu. It's quite a good habit isn't it? At least you don't have to keep your customers waiting by 'eee.. err..'

3) Brought us our cocktails as we decide on our mains.

4) Dishes came in the order of courses. Our carbonara came in a few moments after we finished our soup.

5) Peaceful environment with minimal disruptions
6) There's CITIBANK discount! 10%!

Lastly, I would like to thank the manager(?) for his help for making the surprise possible! He's really good in acting! He came to our table and asked us if we wanted any desserts and I told him no. Around 5 minutes later, another staff was blocking him while he lit up the candle and tada!!! The panna cotta was presented! In addition, it was on-the-house! Thank you so much!!

Double Hellos