Dinner at Casa Verde @ Botanical Gardens

1 Cluny Road, Botanical Gardens Visitors Centre, Singapore 259569

Tel: 6467 7326

Casa Verde, meaning "Green House" in Italian, is a casual fine-dining restaurant under the Les Amis Group, and situated in Botanical Gardens. It was formerly know as "Cafe Les Amis". To read about my dining experience at Au Jardin French Restaurant (also under Les Amis Group), read here.

Located in Botanical Gardens, surrounding by the luxuriance of greenery, offering casual chic indoor dining or breezy outdoor seatings, this Case Verde offers wholesome, affordable pasta, Italian sandwiches and wood-fire pizzas. Besides that, it also has a daytime menu comprising of a fusion of many local , Asian and Western dishes, making it a very versatile dining place for families, couples and friends alike. The table setting is lovely in a casual manner and the beautiful orchid forming part of the decor is real / fresh!

I took a short walk around the long expanse of the restaurant and chanced upon the open kitchen where the fire blazed ferociously in the wood-stove and the chefs were hard at work. Casa Verde also sells picnic baskets consisting of many delicious goodies if one would like to have a picnic in the park! The service crew was friendly and non-pretentious.

After we ordered our food, the service crew brought us a basket of mysterious bake that resembled fruit cake - slightly yellowish in color, dotted with reds and greens. Upon tasting, it was savoury and we were informed that it was focaccia with olive and sun-dried tomato. It was delicious, with or without dipping into the olive oil served on the side.

My main course was the Merluzzo al Forno (SGD$30.00) - oven baked fillet of cod with black olive crust in a sweet bell peppers coulis. The skin was crispy and the flesh was very smooth, and tender. However, the fresh sweetness of cod is lacking herein (not to say the cod used here ain't fresh) - I was looking forward to the distinctive notes of sweetness that usually comes with cod meat. A fine layer of mashed potato and sweet bell pepper coulis filled in the taste for the rather bland dish.

The Beau had the Cabonara pasta (SGD$20.00) - spaghetti tossed in egg, butter, bacon, parmesan, and cream sauce. The pasta was cooked to a nice bouncy texture, and the cream sauce was not overly rich. The taste was good overall, and they were rather generous with the bacon pieces.

For the dessert, we had wanted the Sliced Taihaitian Ice-cream Cake but it was sold out, unfortunately. Hence we settled for the Mango Parfait (SGD$9.00) - mango parfait topped with diced mangoes and strawberries. The taste of the dessert itself was good - the mango's fragrance and flavor came in very strong, much to our delight. However, we were disappointed to note that the "parfait" was in actually ice-cream in mango flavor, not like the usual creamy, soft, panna-cotta-like parfait that we usually enjoy at other restaurants.

We spent a total of SGD$59.00 for two people (tipping aside), since this restaurant does not levy the 10% service charge. Overall, the food, ambience and service is  not bad, as we loved dining where we are surrounded by nature.