Original Sin

Audrea and I went out to dinner last night at a rather decent restaurant: Original Sin, at Jln Merah Saga. It's located near Chip Bee Gardens, near Holland Village. It serves vegetarian food, done in a mostly western style, meaning pasta, pizzas amongst other stuff.

Decor

It has a very pleasant decor, with a slight Mediterranean feel to it. The walls were painted a warm orange, tan coloured floors and dimly lighted with candles on each table. The kitchen and bar are both visible to the dining area. There's also an alfresco dining area. The overall setting makes the dining experience a more relaxed and comforting one. The thing I didn't particularly like were the seating arrangements, particularly the indoor seating. What I didn't like was that there were a couple tables set right at the door, and there'd be people milling about at all times.

Service

Service was excellent, and each person that served us was very attentive. They were prompt with requests, and were very polite. Plus they were easy to pick out in a crowd, as they were dressed in blue. Their uniforms clashed in colours with the rest of the restaurant, but it did make them easy to spot.

Food

They had quite a varied menu, which slightly surprised me as I didn't really think you could do quite so many things with vegetables. The appetisers looked rather interesting with a selection of bruschettas and salads. They also had a couple novel items like an Eggplant Tofu Gratin. Mains included vegetable stew, baked tomatoes, and moussaka. Audrea ordered the lasagna, and I had the Quattro pizza.

The lasagna was layered with spinach, onion, zucchini, mushrooms and capsicum amidst sheets of pasta. It was quite tasty, though I did find the tomato sauce a little over-powering. When a particular mouthful wasn't full of veges, you could only taste the tomato and pasta. But overall, a decent dish.

The pizza was quite good. It was served with 4 quarters of different ingredients, including feta cheese, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, asparagus, roasted capsicum, tomatoes and olives, on a tomato sauce and mozzarella base. The pizza bread is not the super thin type that you find at some Italian restaurants (like Al Dente Trattoria), but it was still quite good. Having 4 distinct flavours was quite delightful, and I enjoyed this one very much.

Overall

The meal was quite a good one, within a comfortable setting and excellent service. The entire meal cost us $52 (including tax). It's not overly expensive, but it does place itself in the upper tier of eateries. One other review I read noted that the ambience was a romantic one, but I'd have to disagree; it feels more casual, relaxed, and unassuming. A good choice for a quiet evening, and pleasant conversation. Not a place to impress the ladies with, but it real nice place to get to know someone. But do not get that table by the door; it's a real buzz-killer.