Whatever you say about dinner at Ristorante da Valentino, you can’t say they aren’t generous with their portions.

From the hearty appetizers (we should’ve ordered fewer of them) to the rucola-covered pizza to the superlative Fiorentine bisteccona (grilled steaks, enough for 2-3 persons), we had easily enough food for eight people at our table of five — and that was before we ordered dessert.

The food itself was impeccable.

• Steaks — exquisitely marinated and grilled.
• Pasta — swirled (not slathered) in homestyle sauce.
• Pizza — tip-top, saith Ondine, who is difficult to impress.
• Rucola — abundant, perhaps too much for Cowboy Caleb‘s liking, but I love me my rucola.

For dessert, I took LMD‘s advice and went with the profiteroles covered in chocolate sauce. Actually, with chocolate sauce that good, it doesn’t matter what you serve with it — it’ll taste damn good, good enough to induce a nosebleed, hallucination or whatever other choice of extreme physical response you prefer.

I can’t believe it took me that long to finally try Valentino’s (it opened slightly more than a year ago), but now I know it’s completely worth the hike up to Bukit Timah for insanely good Italian food. Actually, the location helps because it’s nestled in a quiet residential neighbourhood at Jalan Bingka, so you don’t have to fight traffic and crazy car park situations to get to dinner.

We’ll just remember to go easy on the ordering next time. I don’t think we’re going to eat red meat for a week.