Brunei Restaurant Review: Empire Hotel Spaghettini Taste of Italy Promotion

Well known as the “prince of Milan's hotels” and a member of one of the world’s most prestigious 5-star hotel groups, the Dorchester Collection, Hotel Principe is sending two top chefs from its signature restaurant Acanto to present the fine dining experience.

Spaghettini restaurant is presenting the impeccable cuisine of Acanto for fine Italian dining experience. Highlights are the hotel’s Chef de Partie, Davide Cassago, formerly in Michelin star restaurant, Vecchia Filanda, and Sous Chef Banqueting Ivan Maffi, a protégé of celebrity chef Gualtiero Marchesi, famed as the founder of modern Italian cuisine.

It was kind enough of Empire to invite me to this prestigious event and to be able to check out their kitchen and watch the two chefs from Italy working together with out local talents is an eye opening experience for the foodie inside me.

This is where orders are being lined up and the communication point between chefs and front line staff. You could see they have a long list of orders lined up!

Chef Davide Cassago in action as he prepares the sauces ~~

Chef Ivan Maffi preparing the appetizers ~~

Chef Davide Cassago and Chef Raj smiling while the media takes pictures of them ~~

Chef Davide Cassago finishes up the seafood pasta dish ~~

A candid photo of Spaghettini Chef Ajoy ~ the creative chef of Spaghettini!

 

Now on to the food! For startes we were given the option of butter, refreshing mint butter and reduced balsamic to go with our breads.

Hmm ~~ I personally preferred the balsamic with my bread while others prefer the unique taste of mint butter!

For our appetizers, we begin with thinly sliced Angus Beef Carpaccio, served with Fig Compote to add some subtle natural sweetness and in the center ~ a parmesan cheese flan for richness and flavour. A lovely start to our taste of Italy.

Our second appetizer is this Liguria Octopus Salad, served with black olives, French beans and topped with sweet potato chips. The salad’s dressing wets our appetites for our mains!

 

The next appetizer is one of Acanto’s signature dishes~~

Acanto’s Crunchy Prawns with Toasted Almonds sitting on a Fresh Parsley sauce, served with Salsa Verde.   Oh my yummers!!

When one talks about Italy – one simply cannot miss out pasta and pizza~ You will be able to order two pizzas and two pastas from the menu.

This is the simple straight forward Napoletana pizza ~~

Their Frutti Di Mare – mussels, clams and prawns pizza ~~ naturally – the hungry me preferred the seafood pizza!

Pastas in Italy tend to be fresh tasting and making full use of the fresh produce. People who are used to strong flavours of South East Asian cuisines might find them bland but I personally love the flavours of this Clam Pasta – but others might no share my preferences.

This is their Eggplant penne, served with mozarella and cherry tomatoes – another traditional Italian pasta dish.

This is their Casoncelli Ravioli ~ with spinach-ricotta filling, served with pinenuts with butter and sage. Hmmmm ~~~

I must say I am a fan of their risottos. This is their squid ink risotto with squid confit. Oh my risotto! According to Chef Ajoy, the secret is their air flown rice just for their risottos!

This was my personal favourite of the night ~ the saffron and butter risotto with crispy Parmesan and a piece of gold leaf for that posh feel! Notice the generous portion of saffron threads as well ~~ hmmmm …. not surprised that this is my favourite dish of the night! Chef Ajoy divulges another top secret – their butter and shallots combo packs a punch in this dish!

 

This is their baked cod, which looks good already freshly out of the oven before being plated~

Oven baked cod fillet, served with asparagus, squid, capers and cherry tomatoes ~~~

This is their other main – the rack of lamb served with a side of Aubergine ‘Parmesan’ and side veggies.

A close up photo of those delicious lamb morsels!! ATTACK!!!

On to the desserts ~~ this is Acanto’s unique tiramisu with strawberry, masala and dark chocolate – I loved the strawberry one the most out of the three. This is their Tiramisu Mignon – a trio of tiramisus~

You can also choose their other dessert – which is their Trio Panna Cotta – an Italian milk based jelly like dessert – comprising of Vanilla, Mint and Raspberry flavours.

The best moment of the night is of course – to take a picture with the two talented Italian chefs! Thank you Chef Davide Cassago and Chef Ivan Maffi and I hope the rest of Brunei will enjoy the Taste of Italy!

For reservations: Please call +673 241 8888 @ The Empire hotel and ask for Spaghettini! Book early to avoid missing out on this limited special!

Brunei Restaurant Review: Sushi Tei Brunei

In Brunei, Sushi Tei has a very funny story in Brunei. Years ago, a restaurant in Gadong took the name Sushi Tei and received many complaints from unhappy customers. It’s subpar quality Japanese food was no match for the other Japanese restaurants. Many of my friends who actually fans of Sushi Tei in Singapore when they studied or worked there, were disappointed with this restaurant. The restaurant was so desperate to improve their sales that they even served $7 all you can eat buffets at one time! It’s no surprised that this Sushi Tei restaurant closed down and it’s since became Grazie Mauri – an Italian restaurant. Since then – the mere mention of Sushi Tei has always raised eyebrows and disappointing memories.

When there were news of Sushi Tei opening it’s branch in Gadong Central – some were thinking or saying – oh ~~ Sushi Tei is making a comeback?! I felt I need to mention this fact: The first Sushi Tei which opened in Brunei was never an official Sushi Tei branch. It merely used the name of a popular Sushi Chain from Singapore. A lot of people did not know that the previous Sushi Tei – was a FAKE Sushi Tei.

This was not the first time this happened in Brunei as many would remember there was a FAKE Coffee Bean back then in Gadong.

After exposing the pretender, it’s my pleasure to introduce the real deal! Sushi Tei, which was started in 1994 with a Japanese as one of the founding member with humble beginnings in Singapore and has now spread it’s wings to Australia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia and now in Brunei. To date – Sushi Tei has more than 50 outlets spread across the Asian Pacific.

Sushi Tei Brunei is located at No. 42 & 43 Ground Floor, Block C, Bangunan Gadong Central – the same row as Mr Baker’s Cafeteria, Babu Kitchen and opposite Yugo BBQ and Shabu Shabu.

The restaurant is designed with warm, contemporary and Japanese-style interiors that accommodate both private gatherings and lively crowds. You can sit near the Kaiten – self service conveyor belt sushi station – or have more privacy in partitioned areas of the restaurant.

The chefs prepare the food live in an open kitchen concept for diners to see – a common scene and concept in Japanese restaurants in Brunei.

It was my pleasure to be invited to try out some of the menu for Sushi Tei – in one of the private sections of the restaurant – very suitable for group bookings.

Wakame seaweed appetizer

Chuka Idako – marinated octopus – Lovers of Japanese food will be no stranger to it’s sweet flavours and chewy texture. Yum yum ~~

This is the Spicy Hotate – baby scallops marinated in a Japanese style sweet and spicy sauce

For those who want to watch their weight – this Sashimi Salad – consisting of various chunks of sashimi with salad leaves, drizzled with Sushi Tei’s in house dressing – provides a good source of protein and fibre! This Is one of their popular items and I can see why.

Salmon Sashimi ~~

My favourite part is always the Salmon Belly ~~ ooooh yes~~

Hamachi – Yellow Tail – One of my must order sashimi in every Japanese Restaurant. I first heard about Hamachi in Top Chef – where Hung managed to beat two other chefs in the appetizers challenge. The other two chefs served quality foie gras but Hung’s Hamachi Carpaccio won the challenge hands down!

Sushi Tei offers a huge range of choices for their Sushi Sets. We tried out the Kirishima set – a set of 18 pieces of sushi.

Now somebody grab me some wasabi and soy sauce please! NOM NOM NOM!

Everybody loves Mini California Makis!

This is their Golden Roll – which has fried prawns, prawn roe and thinly sliced mangos! Gotta love that combination of fruit and seafood!

The Phoenix roll – featuring fried prawns, Ungagi (eel) and avocadoes ~~ hmmmm ooooh yes please!

Kani Mentai Mayo Roll – Fried Prawn sushi roll, topped with Mentai Mayo~~ delicious!

On their Makis rolls, what I liked about them is how they are in perfect bite sizes, unlike certain sushi restaurants who like to supersize their sushi rolls with too much rice and making it difficult to fully enjoy the sushi – the problem with trying to make the customer feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. I also like how they don’t break apart when you pick them up with your chopsticks – a typical problem of inferior Maki or rolls. I must give a big thumbs up to Sushi Tei’s Maki Rolls.

One of their modernistic creations is this Crunchy Tuna Rolls, tiny size cruncy tuna rolls.

This crispy fried chicken served with Mentai Mayo and potato wedges is very tasty.

Ebi Tempura ~~

Another noticed that heart shaped foam on my tempura sauce?

This Ebi Mentaiko – grilled prawns with Sushi Tei’s special herbs and sauce – was indeed delicious! We wished we didn’t have to share!

Soba Noodles with fried salmon ~~ Salmon Chasoba

Teppanyaki Salmon Head – a favourite for some!

Kaisen Ramen which means Seafood Ramen!

This is the Kani Ikura fried rice – a Japanese style fragrant fried rice – served with a huge dollop of Ikura (salmon caviar) – that popping sensation as you bite into the caviar while nom nom-ing the fried rice – priceless! This will go into my list of favourite fried rice dishes in Brunei!

This don (rice dish) is served with a tuna tartare and topped with onsen egg (slow poached egg) – I really loved the tuna tartare and it goes very well with the egg and rice!

On to dessert! Now what sets Sushi Tei apart from other Japanese restaurants is their strength in desserts! Usually – I don’t really care for desserts in Japanese restaurants – but one simply must sample their wide range of creative desserts!

This is their sorbet balls – a bowl of mini sorbets – each with a unique flavour of its own! Defnitely a good dessert to order for sharing … or …. ALL MINE!!! NOM NOM NOM!

The frozen pineapple is a clever creation – it’s pineapple sorbet shaped like pineapples – refreshingly good!

Green Tea Ice cream in cute bite sizes – for easy sharing … or …. ALL MINE AGAIN!! NOM NOM NOM!!

Their Eskimo Pino is kind of like a chocolate coated vanilla ice cream – like a Magnum ice cream – but in mini bite sizes, in good quality chocolate and I must say – very good vanilla ice cream as well – make sure you let them defrost a little bit before popping them into your mouth – and let them melt inside – moving it around with your tongue – kinda like French Kissing ~~ but in a delicious way ~~

Ice cream and chocolate stuffed wafer ? ATTACK!!!! NOM NOM NOM!!

This fish like wafer is similarly stuffed with vanilla ice cream but has red bean paste instead of chocolate.

This Goma (Black sesame ice cream) dessert ends our delicious Sushi Tei adventure for the night!

While we were dining – the restaurant was fully packed – so be sure to make your reservations to avoid any disappointments!

Sushi Tei Brunei

No. 42 & 43 Tingkat Bawah, Block C, Bangunan Gadong Central, Kampong Menglait, Gadong, Negara Brunei Darussalam

For inquiry and reservations you can contact these numbers

244-9977 / 715-2691 / 899-0579

Open 11:00am to 10:00pm Daily