Lively Minds

A family affair that puts the fun back into fine food.

- Andrew Leci

FOOD REVIEWS ARE not always enjoyable. There is plenty of pressure on both the reviewer and the reviewee, with the latter in particular feeling the heat and the need to impress. A negative review can be damaging, which is why a restaurant and its employees will go out of their way to make sure that everything runs smoothly (lubricants need to be in place) when a writer is in situ, and that the establishment's best feet are firmly to the fore.

Perhaps a little extra effort is put in. Maybe there's a soupcon more attention to detail as a dish crosses the pass. It could even be that the wait staff wield wider, more willing smiles. When reviewing Da Vittorio at The Reverie Saigon, I didn't get any sense whatsoever that anyone was trying harder to impress than usual, and this made me fall in love with the restaurant on the spot.

Every guest is treated the same, and the treatment itself is quite exceptional, contributing to an evening of fun and superb (often immaculate) food that, without getting too hyperbolic (I hope), nurtures the soul and feeds the spirit.

"You had me at hello," is a romantic line from the 1996 film, Jerry Maguire. Da Vittorio had me at 'hello' as the snacks (amuse-bouches) opening arrived. A 'fake' tomato with eggplant and pine nuts; a mini cornetto with tuna tatami and avocado, and a 'die' encased in coconut with orange and foie gras within, were all the introductions I needed to be convinced that not only were there lively minds at work in the kitchen, but also that those minds knew exactly how to translate culinary dreams into delicious reality. And we hadn't even started the main menu.