If you belong to the ocularly-challenged set on whom romantic dim lighting is lost because you’re constantly complaining you can’t even read the menu, La Brezza in the day time is your kind of eatery.

St Regis’s poolside Mediterranean restaurant is so bright you’re surprised the equally sunny-dispositioned staff in gay nautical-inspired garb don’t hand out sunshades with their bread baskets. Definitely not the place to pick if you’re planning a secret rendezvous.

The cheery laid-back ambience is further enhanced with white wicker armchairs and blue fabric sofas all angled for the best view of the pool. Even the sofas are positioned against the wall such that you’re sitting beside your dining companion rather than opposite, so nobody has to miss out on the view. Whether that’s a bit of an overkill or just thoughtful is up to you.

Menu-wise, La Brezza is a mix of Greek, Spanish and Italian, and a sprinkling of everything else in between. Our meal got off to a good start with a tasty amuse bouche of fried ravioli filled with a creamy minced meat mixture. A good selection of breads from tomato to gorgonzola makes the rounds of the tables, albeit regretfully just once.

The croquettes are very good. The plate of mini croquettes are fried to perfect crunchiness and ooze a variety of fillings like cheese, spinach with pine nuts and crab. A mild coriander mayo dip rounds it off.

While we were told that the chicken osso bucco and squid ink risotto are house specials, we opted for the pizzetta – a rectangular pizza topped with the chef’s specially sourced mozzarella cheese – and the lamb and beef kebab. The pizzetta looked lovely but its stiff, cracker like crust was overloaded with tomato sauce that unfortunately overpowered the delicate cheese.

While we asked for the kebabs to be done medium rare, the beef (rolled up thin slices as opposed to chunks) was dry and overdone while the lamb was still pinkish but required much gnawing to break it down.

For the very sweet-toothed, the recommended orange halva dessert is a rather inspired confection made of a layer of soft honey cake, orange cream, halva biscuit and topped with delicious rose sherbet.

It’s sweet but fun to eat. It worked better than the french toast with caramelised apple and saffron ice-cream, where the tepid toast didn’t harmonise with the tart apple spears and bland ice-cream.

La Brezza may not hit all the right notes with its food, but with its breezy and carefree ambience, you could say it still lives up to its name.

La Brezza
St Regis, 29 Tanglin Rd
Tel: 6506-6888
Rating: 6.5/10

This article was first published in The Business Times on 18 Feb, 2008.