Ootoya, an all time favourite!

If you haven't been there yet, I beseech you to. It has always been consistent, and who doesn't love fresh and delicious Jap food? UOB cards got 15% discount somemore. Cannot don't go!

This time I was at the Clementi branch with mum and sis, and tried a few new items. Boy, it certainly was a wonderful adventure for our taste buds!

1) Buta Shio Koji - Grilled pork loin with shio koji sauce

The enticing name begged the dish to be ordered, which I did, much to our delight! Imagine grilled thick chunks of firm pork, with interlayers of melting fats, and the crunch due to the slight charring as the meat enters your mouth.... Shiok ahhhhhh.

2) Potatoe croquette - my sister insisted on having this as a her main, were we glad she did! I expected nothing out of the ordinary but it was wonderfully fried, with a very crispy outer skin. Inside were chunks of soft potato, both chunky and mashed, mixed with minced pork. The textures had such good chemistry, and when drizzled with a sweet sauce, you just can't go wrong.

3) Hokke Yuan - grilled Aka mackerel fillet. So fresh, so good. No complaints from me, as the fish was firm and tender, with a fatty skin. Just the way I like it. Sis found it full of bones, to which I said "Just be careful, if not I eat for you". Win-win situation.... right? :p

4) And finally, desserts. Anmitsu maccha and Maccha mousse. These are, once again, perfect for green tea lovers. Light and fragrant, they were a good way to end the meal!

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.

Special feature: Barbacoa restaurant

Lunching at a friend's place, located in the spanking new City Square Mall. Did you know it is the first eco mall in Singapore? But they use too much air conditioning for an eco mall leh, I almost freezed my butt off that day!

Lucky the food at Barbacoa managed to warm us up! It specialises in grills and pasta, which are made to order, where you can mix&match bases and toppings. I must say it was a nice twist to pasta ordering. Shawn (the enterprising owner) was the one behind the concept and said some people make really weird orders. Eg: Cream base pasta with carrot & broccoli. OR tomato base with mushrooms. No offence to vegetarians but..... I'd pass.

I like my meat, sometimes too much, as we had the Duck salad, Aglio Pesto pasta (the only way to eat pasta, btw) with bacon and bell peppers cos there were no shrooms :( AND we had duck slices atop cos we knew shawn. Yay! And also, Grilled Lambchops (to perfection) served with chunky fries.

You can't do much injustice to a salad; for our case the smoked duck slices were soft and tender, with crunchy fresh veg. I found the beetroot too bitter though, but overall pass, as it certainly whet our appetites.

The Pasta was simply divine, done al dente with olive oil drizzled on it, and we found bits of garlic in it, much to our delight. Every bite was filled with either garlic, bacon or duck. Shiokkkkkkk.

Warning: you can get either sodium or meat overload from consuming this dish, so get more complimentary water from the server!

What do you get when you combine Divine with Divine? L.a.m.b.c.h.o.p.s.
Seriously, I did not expect this standard when we ordered. It was chargrilled, leaving the meat slightly charred, and full of juice. It was like a party inside my mouth, where the melting fat danced on the explosion of meat juices before rolling down my throat. Plus, there was no gamey taste, add points somemore!

NO KIDDING, YOU GOTTA TRY IT.

We were served Rum&raisin icecream for desserts, and this sweet ending rounded up our wonderful meal.

Definitely a great place for a weekend, with no GST & Service charge AND free ice cream. HOW TO RESIST. I'm a sucker for free things, so this alone will win me over hahaha. (Don't judge me hor, fellow Singaporeans.)

Thanks baby for the good intro and shawn for being such a great host.
We will be back. Only if you -shawn are there. HAHA.

Pietro, by celeb chef Peter Neo

Located in Seletar Hills Estate, this has gotta be one of my favourite restaurants. Been there multiple times, and the food is always consistent.

Plus Chef Peter (act close with him only) will come out to say: "Hi, how's the food?", making us feel pretty at home, despite the perfunctory greeting.

This time, we went back again and had
1 soup + 2 mains, Pumpkin Puree with Pine Nuts, Seafood Risotto & Parma Ham Pizza.

Personally I prefer a thicker pumpkin soup, so Pietro's one didn't sit too well on my picky tongue. At first.It got better, and the fragrant pine nuts enhanced the sweetness, so all was good.

Their risotto is always good, with pearly rice grains and well infused flavours, so no surprises there for the one we ordered. The pizza came in a thin crust, with a tasty tomato base. I found the parma ham too salty though, but then again, as pointed out by le bf, parma ham is supposed to be kiam what.

Good place for a romantic dinner (in fact, we bumped into our couple friend celebrating their anniversary with red wine a few tables away), with complimentary valet parking. Celeb chefs just do it different. Haha!

Recommended dishes:
Duck risotto, Squid ink pasta, Crispy pork belly, Seafood risotto

HTML codes.

Still figuring them out.
How do I make the ugly profile text box above more appealing?
Ie. no background, and nicer text please. The font is killing me.
I used to be pro at these, but ever since I retired from blogging days (HA!), these codes are utter gibberish to me :'(

CALLING FOR HELP FROM ALL AWESOME GEEKS OUT THERE!
Fyi, geeks are very cool imo. I'm only halfway there.
Without geeks, there will be no Android phones, no Internet, no Facebook, no computers, no Skype (Thank you Creator, once again, you were paramount in my LDR days.), no blogs, no.... nothing.
The world wouldn't be so connected right now, and could possibly still rely on snail mail, which can still go missing. So, thank you!

Be back with more food soon.

s.

An undiscovered gem

Called Cali Cafe at the newly opened Rochester Park.

Or was it opened long ago?

Anyhow, a group of us were there for a friend's birthday and the food served up certainly surpassed expectations.

A pity I only have this picture of the Crabcake, served with or bi buay, or least the dry version of it. And my goodness, it tasted so good, despite my initial skepticism.

"Since when got crab cake serve with or bi buay one? Confirm taste weird lor." Somemore lor until very firmly HAHA.

Pop in if you are in the area, and be pleasantly surprised!