Jalan Riang

Discovered an awesome stretch of restaurants nestled into the estate over the weekend and the food was orgastronomic. (Definition: a level of euphoric high when one discovers food highly suited to one's taste palette)

Special thanks to Audrey who introduced La Pizzaiola & Wimbly Lu's, both next to each other, making it wayyy too convenient to not pop over for desserts after dinner!

We ordered many mains to share, and I liked most of it, with the memorable ones being:

1) Aglio Oglio - 

Thicker than normal linguine, La Pizzaiola did this very well. Imagine twisting smooth strands of well oiled pasta covered with pepper, garlic and herbs onto your spoon and chewing on that mouthful of goodness..lip smackingly satisfying!

2) E Funghi pizza - 

Simple ingredients well married. Juicy fat mushrooms danced on a bed of stringy mozzarella cheese and tightly packed pink ham, serving up a delicious bite on a bed of light, chewy dough. Wasn't a pizza fan, even with Skinny, but now I am converted.

3) Pumpkin dumpling - strangely good. It was literally pumpkin stuffed into a dumpling skin, but the filling was fresh and it had a yolk-like texture, so I got confused after the first bite... then the sweetness kicked in. Ahhhh. What a good pumpkin dish!

4) Seared codfish with potatoes - what a star for an Italian place! The fish flaked into pieces, and it was so firm that it felt alive in my mouth. Goodness me. And the potatoe chunks were seared lightly, and I suspect it was steamed beforehand too, as they were slightly sweet and wet. B.l.o.w.n.a.w.a.y.... cos first time getting such good potatoes.

 (Sorry forgot to snap a pic of it close up, but you can see it in the top of the picture below :p)

5) Mushroom Risotto -

Lovely chewy texture of pearl rice grains, combined with the rich earthy flavour of fresh, juicy shrooms.. Joy in every bite! Also an Risotto convert immediately. I know, I'm such a sucker.....

This is the new Italian, cheap and very good. Goodbye Pietro!

Time to intro Wimbly Lu.

Think Orange Thimble setting, with a more romantic vibe, filled with xmas decor, soft lights and cushy seats.

Mmm mm. In love already.

We were quite spoilt for choice, with cakes, waffles and crepes. But our selection made us very happy.

There was an orange flourless cake, which turned out really good. Moist, dense, fluffy and light. HOW CAN. I wanna learn how to make flourless cakes now.

It was followed by the blackout chocolate cake, which was also moist, dense and light, where the chocolate ganache was smooth and not cloying at all. Almost heaven.

The molten chocolate lava cake simply tops all the ones I've had before. The crust crisped off, falling into a melted chocolate abyss, surrounded by soft gooey bits of cake. Heaven.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Locations: 

La Pizzaiola

15-3 Jalan Riang

Opening hours:

Mon - Sat: 11:30 - 15:00

Mon - Sat: 17:30 - 22:30

Sun & PH: 11:30 - 22:30

Tel: 62825031Fax: 62825190

Wimbly Lu

15-2 Jalan Riang

Opening hours:

Tue - Fri: 12:00 - 22:30

Sat - Sun: 09:00 - 23:00

Tel: 62891489

Au Chocolat;

Was a quite a disappointment.

Maybe we ordered the wrong stuff, maybe it was too cold, maybe the chef was having PMS, maybe it was just way over-rated.

Le sigh.

Anyway, we had a girls' outing there and the interior was quaint, with a mini railway built into the ceiling and a train was choo-choo-ing along. Cute!

We settled in pleasantly into a cosy cushion seat, after we requested to changed from the metal chairs we were seated on cos our butts buay tahan.

The truffle fries came first, and it was well infused with the oil, chunky and crunchy with each bite. So we thought: "Wow, nice place with awesome fries! The food should be good too la." But some times in life, reality and expectations don't meat. I mean, meet.

Then the soups -onion and mushroom arrived, which were pretty decent but one can get sick of it after a while as they were done thick and heavy.

Mains ordered were:

1) Duck Confit: 

When the duck confit came, it was a tad too salty albeit served with good mash. But still palatable, just really salty. Go to Barnacles at Sentosa for a really good one!

2) Pacific Crabcakes:

It was a chef's recommendation, and I can see why, as it was packed with fresh, juicy chunky crab meat atop the same nice mash. Quite yummy...... la. 

Sorry, my bad, the most yummy dish of the day was gone before a picture could be snapped but it looked like this:

3) Pancakes from the all day Breakfast menu: 

This is not the usual fluffy texture you get at places like Strictly Pancakes or Spruce, where the texture reminded me more of man chian kueh or in English, chinese pancakes filled with peanut, coconut etc. I liked it, though it did not sit well with R who ordered. The rest of the sides were good, so this one pass.

4) Crispy Pork Belly: 

It should be taken off the chef's recommendations. 

Apparently the term crispy was taken to another level, where the skin was so hard that our jaws actually hurt from just one bite. Poor SJ who refused to take a second bite for fear of her braces breaking. (Mai siao siao ok, happened to me before. Culprit: a very strong chicken wing.) So, this dish was tossed aside, barely touched. This dish should be renamed CPF: Crispy Pork Fail. Then, at least we can all manage our expectations. :p

After the epic let-down, (fyi, all of us did not finish the food) we decided to just go for desserts, in an attempt to feel happy once again. But their sweets were reaaallly sweet. Even for a person with a sweet tooth like mademoiselle, it was too much.

We had the
1) Dark chocolate tart 2) Apple cheese cake crumble and the 3) Minty brownie bomb
Again, none was finished. Can cry already.

I am doing my best to salvage the place, and the only things I can think of are: nice decor, nice truffle fries, nice crabcakes/pancakes. The rest,  别提了。Some things are best left forgotten!
I'd say go if you want a nice place to chill and catch up with friends, but you can forget about blowing away your palette. Blow away your wallet yes, but any other tastebud-related stuff.... no.

But I must say, the cakes look good. And sometimes in life, looks can be deceiving! #@#%$#

p.s: I might go back again, just to see if the standards have improved and redo this post if it has.