Dinner at Vino Rosso was a pleasant experience especially when fronted with Chef Boby who has 13 years of professional experience in the kitchen. After his endeavours in UK, Chef Boby took over the restaurant a few months ago hoping to give the restaurant a revamp and is currently undergoing some changes in menu, website and interior design. The restaurant is located close to the Phoenix Shopping Centre. Do note that the restaurant can be quite difficult to locate and couldn’t be seen easily from the main road since the premise was concealed behind the BP fuel station. However if you turn into the complex you'll be able to find it next to Snap Fitness.

The venue is quite large and could easily house a decent number of large or small groups of patrons. Over in the corner was the bar with many bottles of spirts and alcohol and while we didn't sample any alcohol that evening, it makes sense that it's there since the venue caters for large functions too. Vino Rosso advertised that the premise is able to house up to 100 people comfortably and so far Chef Boby has done a couple of functions for 60-80 people in the building.

Tuesday night was a quiet night at Vino Rosso but Fabio our waiter for the evening still served us with excitement and glee. Without being too brash, he regularly checked whether we had any questions or if we were ready to order our meals. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to sample the pizzas as there was a technical problem with the wood-fire pizza oven and that it was currently undergoing repairs. That meant we had to skip the pizza menu and moved on to the pasta menu straight away. We had a platter of antipasto consisting of prosciutto, sundried tomatoes, chorizo, garlic bread, cured meats and bocconcini, while we were reading the extensive menu. The platter was a good starter to share and it makes a good entrée for 2-4 people.

Smoked salmon & prawn linguine

Spaghetti Amatriciana

I chose the simple spaghetti amatriciana with bacon, onions and chili in a tomato sauce. The sauce for amatriciana was fresh and I could taste the chili in it, which I was really happy with. The tinge of spice complemented the dish very well and it was tasty. Hubby went for the fancy smoked salmon and prawn linguine that consists of white wine, dill, cream and grana padano shavings. The thin strand was absorbing the flavour well and it was a chockfull of rich flavour but not too overly creamy. We were given free parmesan cheese and hubby was really pleased that he didn’t have to pay extra for it. Both pasta had a lovely springy texture that we both really liked. The portion of the pasta was good and I gave my leftovers to hubby to finish, which he happily accepted.

We were so full but I was keen to try the dessert so I went for a good palate cleanser, ricotta and pistachio cassata (ice cream). The cassata came in a form of triangle, it was served with strawberry and cream. It was a decent dessert and the serving was good, but I’d love to taste more pistachio in it.

We shared the restaurant with three other groups and two of them have little kids on high chairs. We also saw a good flow of customers who ordered takeaway meals which I could do in the future since it was only 10 minutes’ drive from my work place. After a chat with Chef Boby, we certainly could see the pride in what he’s doing. Admittedly the décor when we visited lacked any real distinct character or quality however we're hopeful that with the planned renovations going forward will change this. On the flipside, the food was enjoyable and the servings was enough to make us full but not bloated. We're keen to come back for another visit to try out their pizza range.