Dinner at Bella Italia Restaurant 28 April 2008

Yesterday after work, I drove straight to the city to meet my dining buddies – Lily Tan and Sophia Tsen for dinner. We were celebrating my belated birthday and I had chosen Emperor’s Delight since Sophia has not been to this restaurant while both Lily and I had eaten there previously.

There was major traffic congestion along the coastal highway as I drove to the city. The supposedly short journey took me almost twenty minutes. I was not being ambitious in finding a parking bay near the restaurant. I parked outside Nagasaki Japanese Restaurant and walked passed SCB to go to Emperor’s Delight.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, I discovered that it was closed on Mondays. So I had to decide on Plan B before my dining buddies arrived. I called Sophia on her mobile phone but I could not get through. When I called Lily, she was waiting just outside the restaurant for a parking bay. I walked over and joined her in her car. I told her I decided to go to Bella Italia Restaurant at Jesselton Hotel again.

Lily found a parking bay just across the street from the hotel. We tried to call Sophia to tell her the change of plan but to no avail. Lily tried to message Sophia but the message could not be sent. She also tried to call Sophia’s house phone number but no one answered the phone. I tried for half an hour and throughout that time Lily and I were chatting and trying to figure out what we wanted to order.

At 6.58p.m. one of the waitresses was kind enough to tell us that we had two minutes left to order to enjoy the 50% discount for all of the pastas and pizzas on certain pages in the menu. The 50% discount is only applicable for orders made between 5-7p.m. and not the time the bill is being paid.

Sophia was still nowhere to be heard or seen. Both of us thought that she must have forgotten to wake up from her late afternoon nap.

Lily ordered Fusili ‘Ai Frutti di Mare’ – Mixed seafood, garlic and chilli dry style and a 9” thin-crusted pizza with tuna, turkey ham and diced pineapple toppings. I ordered Spaghetti Bolognese – rich minced beef in tomato based sauce.

By the time Lily and I finished taking photos, the food was already cold. Lily and I shared the food we ordered with each other. Half an hour after Lily and I started on our dinner, Sophia finally called. She called from the public phone since she is having problems with her mobile phone. She enquired where we were and after a few minutes, she appeared. By that time, Lily had already finished eating her pasta. I was half way through my spaghetti and there were still a few pieces of pizza left.

Sophia ordered Fettuccine Marinara – Mixed seafood and chilli in tomato based sauce.
While waiting for her order to arrive, she had some of the spaghetti and pizza.

After dinner, we decided to have dessert. Sophia ordered Berried Treasure – Vanilla, Durian & Mango icecream shower with fruit cocktail. I ordered Tartufo – Vanilla and Chocolate icecream coated with cocoa and nuts. The cocoa in the Tartufo added a bitter taste to the icecream. I will vote for Tartufo anytime.

We had a last round of dessert before Sophia and Lily paid the bill. Sophia ordered Fantasia di Maria – Famous in Borneo, this is my wife (ie . the chef’s wife) famous chocolate gooey pudding. The pudding was slightly on the sweet side for me but taken accompanied with the Vanilla icecream, the taste came out just nice as the icecream was able to take away the sweetness of the pudding.

Once again all the food tasted divine but as for service, I had to call the waitress to fill up my glass of Sky Juice. When Sophia wanted to pay for the bill, we had to search and wait for the waiters/waitresses to appear as none of them was within our sight.

A big thank you to Lily and Sophia for your friendship, time and fellowship with good food. I always enjoy dining out with you both because ALL THREE OF US LOVE GOOD FOOD and do not care about the aftermath. Hehe