I was planning to go to Banoo for this dinner this evening, only to find out that Banoo has closed down. Therefore, we settled on Brazilian instead.

On a first look, the restaurant was quite empty given a Wednesday evening. There were a few customers sitting outside, we were the only customers sitting indoors.

I've frequent Carnivore at Vivocity several times, solely because of the convenience for big groups, but yes, this is somewhat better than Carnivore.

I tried once of each of whatever was served. Everything I tried on the beef section was great, tender, juicy, tasty. Perfecto. I'm not too keen on the pork sausage, thought it was too dry, so was the ham. The pineapple was my favorite, caramelized on the outside, juicy on the inside.

The service was above average, perhaps because of the crowd (or lack of) that the waiters were very attentive. One thing to note is that they say they don't serve tap water here, only bottled water. My partner and I had one bottle each. I ordered a second bottle of water, and strangely enough, the second bottle arrived with a 'unlocked' bottle cap. The water tasted very 'tappy', not too 'mineral-like'.

I have been to at least five of Singapore's churrascarias and my preference is clear - Mamma Lucia.

The food is served at your table by real Brazilian passadors. They have the joy of life in them, and pride and skill in their work. How's that for ambience? [update Jan 2008 - the 2 Brazilian brothers have gone back to Brazil for now]

There is a wide selection of about 18 cuts, which I consider to be the most extensive among its various competitors in Singapore. The various cuts of beef are excellent, as is the lamb. You can also get mussels, prawns, surprisingly good garlic bread, chicken, chicken heart, pork, fish, pineapple... I have never actually had all the cuts at one go, although I have been here at least 10 times.

Although for certain cuts may be done better at other churrascarias, e.g. char siew at Negara on Claymore, chicken at Carnivore, I still rate the overall selection of meats (including quality and taste) at Mamma Lucia to be the best.

There is also a very affordable wine selection that goes very well with all that red meat. You can choose wines below $40 a bottle as well as the more expensive varieties. They don't serve tap water but sell bottled water at an affordable price. I'm quite happy to pay this because the total bill size is lower compared to other churrascarias that give me free PUB water and fleece me on the wine - my total bill for 2 with one bottle of wine and water comes up to about $140. [update Aug 2008: they now serve tap water]

Yes 5-8 dollars a bottled beer but when we got to our final bill, there was a big hooha amongst the "boyz" as to why the restaurant charged full price . You cannot have cut price drinks with food! Nothing is said in the menu and the waiters were typically clueless about anything beforehand.

My fren had the cuts and though it tasted fine the fact that the manager was arrogant and antagonistic towards "ang mohs" put us off that place forever.

I had a haircut about two days back and my barber told me not to eat too much meat as it was causing too much hormones and hence my out of control dandruff. I have no idea where he got such an out of whack theory but it was still a good laugh anyways and I told him that I will try my best to keep that in mind and stick to the fruits and vegetables so that my raging hormones would not go out of hand.

Well, that out went out of the window two days ago when tt was the eve of National Day and after a long day of work, my colleague was wondering where we should have our dinner. We debated among a few places for steak and finally settled that we should try Mamma Lucia at Mohammed Sultan. For $38++ a meal, that was value. The restaurant however, was smart to serve the cheaper meats first, like the chicken and the pork whilst leaving the good meats (like the Tenderloin) till later when one is full. The one gripe I had about the menu was that it stated lobster tail and prawns but neither was served. Compared to other churrascarias, I found the food very average. Service, however was quite good as the waiters took time to explain the food. I only wished that they didn't pile up the food so quickly that I lost track of what I was eating.

Now to desserts. When asked about the existing Citibank promotion, the waiters sheepishly denied it but thanks my quick instincts to check HungryGoWhere, my colleague knew that the promotion for free desserts for Citibank card members existed and proceeded to call the manager. We got our free desserts. I had the Tiramisu but after such a meaty meal, desserts weren't a priority.