Palio (Hotel Michael)

It was with great pleasure that last week I had the opportunity to attend a lush 5-Course Winemaker Dinner at Palio Retaurant in Resorts World.

To read the full article with photos, please visit the Citynomads site

If you haven’t had a chance to visit Palio, it is located at Hotel Michael on Sentosa. It is not the easiest place to find…in a nutshell, when you arrive at Sentosa gateway, turn right, then go all the way until you get to where all the hotels and Casinos are located, then keep a good lookout for the sign for Hotel Michael. It’s the last hotel in the row. Once you’re outside the hotel, Palio is pretty easy to find.

So, it has to said, I am somewhat of a sucker for Italian food, and seriously, who isn’t? It’s easy to see why it’s one of the world’s most popular cuisines. The meals oozes with Italian culture…Truth be told, whenever I eat Italian, I have to restrain myself from plunging into a realy bad Italian accent where I’d sounds more at place as an extra on te Sopranos.

Upon entering Palio, you can really see the effort that has gone into the design and atmosphere of the place. One thing I personally love was the open-style kitchen. What this means of course is that guests can walk by and take a gander at the Chefs at work, rolling dough, tossing pizzas etc etc. Good show! Although a very large restaurant, there seem to be a number of private areas, which is what us wine-diners had for ourselves.

After being seated, the local importer and our host for the night, Giovanni of Amphora Wines gave a brief introduction to Professor Piero Mastroberardino (Yes, when he’s not making world renowned wine, he’s a University Professor and Writer!).

After a wonderful introduction, and with my tummy rumbling with Pavarotti renditions, the first course arrived, a beautifully presented Beef Carpaccio topped with Truffle scented Gorgonzola fondue. This was in turn paired with Mastroberardino’s White Falanghina Sannio 2009, a Roman grape. It had a quality, light golden colour, and from first swirl, I had a feeling I was going to like it. Floral aromas presented as did peach and pear, a little citrus in the mouth and a nice, tart finish, which was surprisingly long. As for the beef, the quality of the meat was obvious, the truffle flavors were fantastic in their own right, but slightly overpowered the subtly of the beef in my opinion. Nonetheless, the matching with the fine was fabulous and really accentuated the depth of flavors of both wine and cuisine.

Next up on the menu was “Fegato d’Oca” (Pan fried duck liver ‘foie gras’ on toasted Ciabatta with grape compote and balsamic caramelized pearl onions. This paired with the White Fiano 2009. On first approach, I didn’t like this wine as much as the first – much lighter on the nose and the finish was a little shorter. Having said that, after some ‘air-time’ the flavors really started to come out and the wine developed a wonderfully light creaminess to it. They say actions speak louder than words..I quickly noticed that I’d finished draining this glass entirely whilst the first still had wine remaining. For the Fegato d’Oca, I was impressed with the texture balance, the subtly of the flavors and the delicacy. It paired well with the wine and brought out a nice sweetness when combined. Usually I would think more of a sweet-wine pairing with duck liver, but this was a pleasant surprise.

The third course of the night was sublime. Not to sing the Chef’s praises too much  but upon finishing this dish, I promptly left the table and personally thanked the Chef. It was a Carnarolli Risotto served with Cod morsels, candied orange zest and thyme scented eggplant caviar, and paired with the Rose’ Lacrimarosa. THIS was my highlight of the night. What made the risotto so good? For a start, if you’ve ever made risotto, you will know it’s actually quite a hard dish to master. And this plate in front of me was nothing short of perfection – creamy, rich, fragrant, excellent balance of flavors. The Cod pieces and the Eggplant were an excellent choice of ingredients as well. 

For the main event, was a Wagyu Beef Ribeye steak “Tagliata” style, served with Rosemary crushed Potatoes and bluberry sauce. The wine paired with it, which for me was THE wine of the night, was the Red Naturalis Historia 2005. The beef dish was quite small, but superbly flavored. What impressed me the most was the softness of the meat, beautifully cooked, it hardly needed cutting. The bluberry flavoring made a nice, if somewhat strong addition, although when I tried the food with the wine served, I understood the need for the strength. This Red Naturalis is a quality wine but it is a big boy. To start, the nose is extraordinary! Rich, dark currents, balanced with an earthiness. I will be bringing home a few of these for sure.

Finally up to finish was a traditional espresso and of course, Tiramisu (Venetian style). It was delicate, light and fluffy. A gentle finish to a fantastic meal.

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They serve set lunches on weekdays – 3 course for $18++ and 4 course for $25++. They claim to be an Italian restaurant serving authentic Tuscan cuisine.

This is possibly one of the cheapest set lunches you can find for a 5 star hotel’s restaurant. (but anyway, I have doubts that Hotel Michael is really worth 5 Stars) 

The bread was very normal

Cream of Pumpkin Soup served with Julienne of Sun Dried Tomatoes

The soup was my choice of appetiser. I love pumpkin soup, so this was an obvious choice for me. I enjoyed this soup! It met my expectations of pumpkin soup.

Crabmeat Salad served with Avocado Mousse and Fresh Cherry Tomato. This was the extra salad available for the 4 course set. There was no other option for this course. This salad disappointed me. The crab meat tasted like tuna in mayonnaise.

Pan Seared Swordfish Loin served with Braised Leek and Marsala Wine Sauce

I had the swordfish, and I really wished that they served it raw in sashimi form instead. I love swordfish sashimi but felt no love for this. The flesh was very tough and tasteless.

The Lemongrass Scented Crème Brulee served with Fresh Berries

This was the most outstanding this for this meal! The lemongrass flavour blended in perfectly with the custard! And the burnt sugar was done perfectly. It was crispy but not burnt and didn’t carry that burnt charcoal taste. The custard was cold, so there was no burning of my throat or tongue. In fact, this was one of the best crème brulee I’ve ever tried.

Coffee or tea was included as well. I had TWG French Earl Grey, again!

This meal was very filling. Save for the bad extra salad and main course, it was actually quite worth the price.

please skip mains when you're here and just order the dessert. for the mains, i would no recommend this place at all.

After hearing rave reviews from a friend, I finally decided to check out Palio.

A simple informal set-up, it is an ideal dining destination for families looking to have some pastas and pizzas to share.

I started with the Crema Pomodori ($12) which was a tasty thick tomato puree based soup with shrimp.

For the pasta I tried the Pici Aragostelle ($26) which is a prawn based pasta with lots of cream sauce. The pasta was really fresh, made in-house and the dish can be quite filling. Generous portions of lobster too.

For the pizza I tried the Nera Pizza ($18) which is squid ink thin crust pizza with once again generous portion of crab meat and squid.

For desserts, I had the Tiramisu ($14) which had a nice mix of mascaporne cheese, cocoa and cream.

All in all, a pleasant dining experience with no frills.

Was staying at the hotel as part of the company retreat at RWS and so came here for the American Buffet Breakfast.

The cafe is nicely decorated and well lighted with a team of friendly staff. The ambience was great and cosy with some soft music being played. We were ushered to our seats instantly.

The spread of the buffet was quite good. The main items included a good variety of breads, muffins and pies, bacon and ham, porridge, hashbrowns, sausages, nasi lemak, steamed and fried eggs, salad with lots of vegetables, fresh fruits and juices, coffee and tea etc.

Staff was efficient in clearing used plates and refill our coffee/tea regularly. They were full of smiles and dropped by a few times to ask if the food was okay.

We did enjoy our food here and will return for its lunch or dinner next time!

went to palio over the may day week end, at the same time we checked the casino (we didn't go inside though, 5 of us would have costed 500 bucks just to go in!!).

it was my aunt bday so we decided to treat her to italian food. having tried a few italian restaurants in singapore, i can say we can have much better quality food and service say at dapaolo or al dente even, especially for the price!!

I was given a choice of dinner venue for my birthday on 24 Apr 2010, and after reading some positive comments online about Palio at Hotel Michael, I decided to have dinner there.

Service by the Filipino waiter who first attended to our table was amicable, friendly and attentive. We ordered the Seafood Pizza (can't remember the exact name) to share and four pastas each for our mains.

Somehow, the staff who attended to us after the main courses were served was changed from the friendly Filipino to another waiter SR and we would have been perfectly fine with it if the service had been consistent. 

The "new" waiter SR cleared our plates without asking if we still wanted our food, in which case, we were already quite full although there was still some food left on the table.  What frustrated us was that he didn't even ask.  He made such a fanfare (and noise) out of the table-clearing that we had to stop our conversation until he was done.

The little plate-clearing incident would have been forgotten if he had not come back, stood far back from our table (nearer to the next table, in fact), and interrupted our conversation without the courtesy of an "excuse me", and asked "You want desserts?" with furrowed brows, minus smile.

Soon after, he started to clear another table near us after the guests left, creating a din just like before. He dragged (Note: dragged, not moved) the chairs around to be rearranged, and repeated the same to the two baby chairs from that cleared table to the stack of baby chairs right next to our table, and created such a din stacking the baby chairs back that he was almost throwing the chairs back onto the stack.

We paid up and left without desserts.

It was a nightmarish dinner with a waiter from hell and Palio can be rest assured that my first (and my last) visit was an unforgettable birthday experience indeed.

Had a wonderful birthday dinner at Palio on the 1st. I booked a day in advance after a friend recommended the place because the former exec chef Gabriele from Senso had moved there and she said he was very very good. So trusting her judgement, since she too is quite the foodie, I decided to give the place a go to celebrate my big day. What a wonderful time I had. The food was lovely, the staff got me a birthday cake and all in all it was probably one of the best birthdays ever!

A huge thank you to my dear friend for your wonderful recommendation. Chef Gabriele was lovely, very sweet and handsome and made my birthday so very special.

This is a very unpretentiously charming restaurant to visit!

I had a very lovely lunch recently at the Palio Ristorante. A few girlfriend's and I got together after ages and we had a wonderful time. The food was really good and so was the ambiance and it was a great surprise to see the chef of Senso, Chef Gabry there as well. 

All in all, I would definitely go there again with my friends for a relaxed luncheon filled with lots of girly talk :)

I went to Palio on CNY, and it was fully packed (and not have to say that half of the Singapore was at Resort World). It also looked like they were short handed so i thought the service must be terrible. To my surprise, the staff was so attentive and pleasantly nice. And I would say it is much better than many of the good restaurants in Singapore. 

The food was great, with a decent spread of antipasti (15-25$), pasta (20-30$), main (30-40$) and pizza (20-30$). I thought it was reasonably priced considering that it was in a hotel. We ordered 2 antipasti and 1 pizza; the portion was more than enough for both of us to share. The pizza was nice, it was wooden baked so there was a lovely smell. The bill came out S$65.

I definitely will go back to this place again. For those who want to check out, reservation is highly recommended especially now that everyone wants a glimpse of Resort World.