On the beautiful island resort of Sentosa, just 10 minutes' drive from the heart of the financial district of Singapore, is the little gem of a restaurant Il Lido. Commanding a beautiful panoramic view over the Singapore Straits, Il Lido would be worth travelling to just for a relaxing drink at the bar whilst watching the postcard-perfect sunset, but luckily the food is worth travelling for too. The dining room is modern, elegant and sophisticated, the service is unstuffy and helpful, and the food is to die for. The Parma ham and beef carpaccio to start were the real deal: they don’t mind forking out for the good stuff here. My main of homemade tagliolini with lobster in a fresh tomato sauce had the perfect texture – pasta smooth and firm, lobster tender and moist - and was given a welcome twist with the addition of some pungent south-east Asian spices – ginger, coriander, lemongrass and chilli. The veal ravioli again showed a mastery of pasta, and the veal was rich, reduced and melting. But by far the highlight of the evening was beef fillet served with a wobbling, rich bone marrow sauce, spotted on the menu only after I had ordered my prawns, and so hastily tacked onto the end of our meal for us all to share. Bone marrow is such an incredible, and cheap, ingredient – a really clean, clear, jelly-like essence of beef, the perfect foil to the rare, lean, tender meat of the fillet – but sadly a real rarity on restaurant menus.

not as wonderful foodwise as it is hyped out to be
les amis and san marco are much better