Supply & Demand

This week for Saturyay I finally got to meet Vain Pot after work has kinda overwhelmed us. The month of August hasn't been my favourite month but it also marks the beginning of a new project I've just embarked on... so exciting times ahead! This week, I wanted to go to the National Design Centre to see the lego exhibition there but heard the queue is more than 2 hours! Then there's the Night Festival at the National Museum but I heard it's spilling with human traffic. I think I'll stick to food... seems safer!

Supply & Demand is known for Italian Casual Dining. I've shortlisted them since last year but never got round to trying them out so I'm really glad I finally did! It's also great they have a constant stream of business but their venue is big enough that there's always pockets of seats around which doesn't require much waiting time. On a weekend in the heart of town, it's awesome!

I wanted to order a feast but Vain Pot stopped me. Thankfully she did, I'm really getting rounder. We kicked started our meal with garlic truffle fries ($17) one of their specialties. Truffle seems very popular in this place, the entire place was oozing of truffle aroma. We found the fries to be very generous, sufficiently garlicky with salsa and tartar dips to satisfy you in every way fathomable. The truffle wasn't overwhelming, in fact, some may find it insufficient. I'm not a fan of truffle so I didn't mind. I liked the potato cuts which were chunky and not overly soft or crispy. Just right!

We had a very late lunch thanks to Vain Pot's uber that took an hour to send her over and my work schedule. Hence we tried our best not to over-order. We shared a tasting portion of the Al Granchio ($20) which was made of crab meat, aglio olio, cherry tomatoes, capsicum and white wine. It was very rich in flavour and the portion is just right if you are eating other stuff. I enjoyed the tangy spiciness which wasn't overwhelming and it wasn't too oily unlike some aglio olios. The crab meat flavours gelled well with the white wine making the dish very addictive to eat.

We also ordered the Truffle and Egg Pizza ($21). The pizze is very delicious. The truffle infused taste was distinct and I enjoyed that the black truffle paste spread across the pizza gave the pizza as much flavour as one topped with veggie and meat. I'm impressed by the simplicity of the dish and it's quite a joy to dip the pizza into the soft boiled egg yolk smacked in the middle. Normally, I'll only settle for 2 slices of pizza but with this pan, I see my hands going back for more.

Would I be back? Yes! I think this is an awesome place for gatherings because you can share food and try lots of very good Italian cuisines. It's the perfect kind of place for group outings where you chill, talk and relax over good food and wine. The location is perfect too!

Supply & Demand
277 Orchard Road, #02-13/14 Orchard Gateway, S238858

Food in Rome, Italy

I never expected my first long haul flight is to Italy, Rome. Thanks to my company for sponsoring my short little holiday, I get the luxury of sharing some of the food I tried over there. It's a tour so there's hits and misses but overall, it's a good experience and I enjoyed myself.

One of the key highlight dinner of the first night was the visit to 1 Star Michelin Restaurant, Antonella Colonna. The venue presented a romantic ambiance complete with a musician playing the Harp. Food wise, I believed that this menu is special to my company but we can assess the skill of the chef from the quality of food. It's definitely not catered to an Asian palette so those used to Asian food might find difficulty appreciating the fine dining offered. I found the food to be technically astute. It's however, nothing out of this world in terms of flavour, neither was it memorable. The foie gras was well prepared, flavoured and goes very well with the pan brioche with the appropriate textures. I found the seabass fresh and soft but the chips were a mixture of crispy and non crispy. The risotto which everyone has much to complain about had fat plump rice grains but it was a little too hard. So even if the the creamy balance was just right, it made it hard to finish... 1 michelin star for ambiance perhaps?

Antonella Colonna 
Via Milano, 9a, 00184 Roma Italy

My company arranged a pizza making session at iL Pomodorino with its in-house pizza master. The experience was kinda fun. Besides being able to eat the pizza we made, we were treated to a seafood feast of fried calamari & shrimp, seafood salad, sliced bruschetta with salmon and sliced pizza for starters. I like the appetizers, guess you can't go too wrong with fried food. Italian bread all seems hard like rocks but this is a consistent fixture so it's probably cultural. For mains, we had chicken escalope with lemon cream and spaghetti with clams. Both were lightly flavoured but they are generally well cooked. My favourite of the day was the Millefoglie with chantilly cream and hot chocolate sauce. The dessert was flaky, crispy and flavour was just right. I appreciated the cold dessert mixed with hot chocolate and I liked it that it didn't feel like eating a lump of sugar unlike some unskilled desserts I've tried in Rome. This is one of my more enjoyable tour food.

iL Pomodorino
Via Campania, 45E, 00187 Roma, Italy

Tre Scalini was my favourite restaurant organised by the tour. Apart from good food, it also has a strong history being the oldest restaurant in Piazza Navona, since the 1950s. The history stretches beyond its vintage but also its location. It overlooks Bernini's Fountain of Four Rivers, one of Europe's leading sculptors at that time. The risotto which I recalled as the mark of good Italian food was executed perfectly here. The rice  was just right, the broth wasn't too creamy, yet rich in flavour and made the entire meal easy to eat. This is the place to go if you want to know how the right texture of risotto should taste like. The spicy penne pasta in tomato sauce was great too with the pasta cooked till al dente and the spiciness coming out right after you bite into the food. I didn't enjoy the chicken breast served with asparagus cream too much because the chicken was a tad overcooked. It's worth noting that I enjoy how Italians prepare the vegetables with it being boiled till soft and easy to eat. We also tried the trademark Tartufo which is bascially chocolate ice cream truffle. It's rich in chocolate and gelato smoothness made entirely from 13 different types of Swiss chocolates. No regrets putting on the calories at all!

Tre Scalini
Piazza Navona, 30-35, 00186 Roma, Italy

Berzitello Ristorante is a restaurant I shortlisted on my own. This apparently is where the locals frequent and away from the tourist spots. The meal apparently brought out satisfaction from my companions as well as it's far more authentic Italian food and much better quality control. I enjoyed my Fettucini with Shrimp which was cooked till al dente. It also debunked the belief that Italians like to cook their pasta slightly harder than home... it's just those earlier restaurants besides Tre Scalini which have this weird habit. This one felt very much at home. The flavour was rich and the taste lingered in my mouth long after I finished which is a mark of good food. I also heard my colleague 'who eats to live' praise her fish dish which she felt was flavourful, tender and fresh. The pizza texture was just right, but generally, I don't think pizzas can go too wrong in Italy. This excellent meal cost only 55 Euros, who says you need to spend a bomb for good food?

Berzitello Ristorante
Via Delle Quattro Fontane, 32, 00184 Roma, Italy

One thing bad about a tour schedule is the rush. I was planning to go to more than 1 shortlisted restaurants but the lack of time prevented us from hunting for more quality food. I do agree that the occasional spontaneous hop in to random restaurants will yield their own interesting finds. Doveralu Cafe is one such place. The giant seabass you see in the photo was fresh and delicious that my boss ordered 1 more. The ravioli with spinach was very generously prepared and I appreciated that the cream sauce complemented the dish well. I found the pizza very interesting because half was meat and half was veggie. Just like the one at Berzitello Ristorante, I find it faultless. Pasta again debunked the theory that Italian pastas are cooked harder... I particularly enjoyed the mushroom infused flavour that came with the shrimp and tiger prawns. While the food isn't out of this world, it's a much better representation of Italian food.

My advice to tourists in Rome, to visit restaurants packed with people during meal times and off peak hours. Those are the safe bets and where locals eat. You save on your pocket and you pamper your stomach.

Doveralu
Via Nazionale, 215, 00184 Roma, Italy 

Blend It Up!

It's weekends again and it's going to be a helluva busy month. I told myself, I'll try my best to do something I really like each day and that includes satisfying food cravings. I mean, busy or not, still need to eat right?

This week, given I'm so busy, it's the brother's recommendation. He was telling me that there's very interesting food in the Tai Seng area and one of which he tried was this little Italian Restaurant operated by Chef Peter Neo. In a way, Chef Neo is considered a mini celebrity chef having appeared in Mediacorp's cooking shows before. It's probably also one of the more affordable Italian food you can find in Singapore to satisfy any cravings.

To kick start the meal, a typical Italian Restaurant would offer complimentary bread. I was presently surprised that a neighbourhood establishment with affordable pricing would also offer complimentary bread.

Being not too hungry, we dived straight into the mains. I ordered the Spaghetti Prawn Paste Aglio Olio ($19). The dried prawn paste did gave me a sense of satisfaction when devouring the dish. It's sufficiently spicy but not overwhelming and had a distinct prawn taste that made the entire dish flavourful. Pasta of course was al dente. I also found the dish particularly value for money given that the chef added dory fish slices along with generous portion of prawns. How often you get such a competently executed dish at $19?

My brother chose the Crabmeat and Lobster Ravioli ($22). Frankly, up till now, I haven't really tasted excellently produced Ravioli and this one feels equally ordinary. I didn't find the crabmeat or lobster distinct in the dish and found the tomato sauce to be relatively ordinary. Of course, this opinion is limited because I hardly order Ravioli dishes and much less been impressed with one. I'm heading to Rome at the end of the month, maybe after trying some authentic Italian food, I might be able to give a fairer assessment.

Finally for desserts, we shared a Pistachio Lava Cake with Vanilla Gelato ($11.80). I observed that the lava cake was leaking lava the moment it was served. We wanted to cut it up for a nice lava flowing effect for photos unfortunately, the cake gave way from the bottom with the top still intact when we tried to cut through! That aside, tastewise it was good. The lava cake was nutty, cake was fluffy and pistachio flavour distinct. I wished the cake was warmer when served because the coldness of the gelato overshadowed the flavours of the lukewarm cake. There's probably room for improvement but I'm not complaining much given the affordable pricing.

They gave me a $10 voucher so I'll be back again to try their pizzas which I heard is pretty good too! Blend It Up certainty exceeds my expectation given its price range and food presentation. The food quality is definitely above average and despite the small issues, it's a place I'll go whenever I want an Italian fix without blowing a hole in my wallet.

Blend It Up
325 Upper Paya Lebar Road S534946 
(You can ask the staff at Blend It Up to remove the tyres they use to chop parking for their restaurant guest, limited lots)

La Nonna (Holland Village)

...and it's the first post of 2017! Kick started the year and enjoyed my public holiday with some shopping and well Italian food which I developed second thoughts on 30mins before my journey there. Felt bad if I cancelled the reservation and decided to head over anyway.

I was first drawn to La Nonna because of Vain Pot's love for Italian food, my own love for pasta and well the fact it offers weekend brunch at affordable prices. One of the biggest drawbacks about being amply updated about food is that you amass so much food you wish to try but not enough time to try them. The researched done on La Nonna was thus done in early 2016, which relied on information provided in 2015. For some strange reasons which seems consistent among a lot of cafes and restaurants in Singapore, the food standards drop over time. Please don't be mistaken, the food at La Nonna is definitely edible and within acceptable standards. It's just that I may not have short-listed them as my New Year venue if it's based on updated research.

The Crab Linguine ($26) does taste decent. Pasta was cooked al dente, sauce was creamy and flavourful and there was generous chunks of crab meat. So what's the problem? It's good pasta which I wouldn't mind eating again but it's not fantastic. The food didn't leave an after-taste in my mouth and well I forgotten how it tasted already except that I had good feelings about the dish when I ate it.

The Risotto Allo Zafferano is risotto with butternut pumpkins and king scallops ($27). It's far too creamy and the rice was too hard in my opinion. The scallops which came with the dish had a strange bacon taste to it. I kinda enjoyed it but not Vain Pot. Vain Pot was telling me that she likes to order Risotto because she uses it as a measure of good Italian food. Apparently too few establishments can get this dish right. She also rightfully pointed out that many places can get a pasta done well but not a Risotto. Since I'm a pasta lover, I didn't noticed this but it's good to take note in future!

We ordered two small soups Funghi and Zuppa De La Nonna ($11 each) to share. Basically they are mushroom and pumpkin soup and I enjoyed both soups. Both soups are prepared with natural ingredients and are rich in taste. Thumbs up to the soup.

I'm really torn and undecided whether I want to return to try their weekend brunch menu. It's a tough call because I'm mentally prepared that I won't get fantastic food but it's really decent Italian fare which I would like my family to try. Their oven was down so no pizza for 2 weeks starting from this date. I do want to try their pizzas too. Perhaps one more chance?

La Nonna
26/26B Lorong Mambong

Ah Bong's Italian

The food featured this week was eaten mid week to be honest. I spent my weekend at the Geylang Serai Bazaar. With so many articles springing up about the unique food found in the bazaar I decided I shall not add to the crowd. I just wanted to say that I queued 45mins for the much hyped rainbow bagel, spent $8 on it, took a bite and threw it away. Enough said.

I decided to try something different this week by inviting a friend on my catch up list to join me on my food hunt for a change. I first heard of Ah Bong's Italian when I had a craving for basil pasta and I found them on Google. Back then, they only had one outlet at Tiong Bahru and closed really early mid day so it was really hard to make a trip down to try. (I really need to work for a living too!) Now with their second outlet opened till night, I finally addressed my craving with Supercai! (Nicknamed chosen by my friend)

Apparently Ah Bong's Italian's menu changes all the time. So if you wanted something not on that day's menu, basically you have to come back another time. Which is a good and bad thing because I happened to want something not on their menu that day! So they disappoint first time customers but of course the up side is that you get variety if you are a regular. 

Our mains for the day were Crabby Aglio Olio ($14) and Fresh Pesto pasta ($12). I must say the food lives up to the hype. The Crabby Aglio Olio is rich in flavour something I don't really expect from the past crab pastas I have eaten and the pasta was done al dente. I like it that it's garlicky enough, not exceedingly spicy and not overpowering that it over kills. The Fresh Pesto pasta was true to its taste. The pesto sauce was made in house and mushrooms went well with the dish. I like it that the sauce was thick and not watery. Pasta was al dente and the proportions of ingredients to pasta ratio was just right.

We picked a side to share and we settled for Spicy Balls in Pomodoro ($10). The pork balls are amazing! Tender yet not overcooked. I felt that the spicy level is close to zero to be honest which was a little disappointing. However I give credit to the authentic tomato sauce freshly prepared in-house. The portions of cheese went well with the balls but overall I still felt disappointed by the lack of tanginess which I was expecting from spicy balls. 

Supercai's conclusion along with mine is that this place is worth revisiting. Number one it's because there's stuff on their menu I haven't managed to try. Number two reason is that their prices are really decent and generally inexpensive for town sit-in dining. Number three reason would be their food quality. It really beats a lot of other pasta establishments in the similar price range by a big margin in my opinion. 

Ah Bong's Italian

103 Beach Road, #01-02 (below marrison hotel) at Tan Quee Lan Street area 

(Be sure to visit their Facebook page to check out their menu before arriving to avoid disappointment)

Food, Play and the Birthday [Edited]

And so this week was birthday week... and the usual treating by friends and celebrations took place. With this in mind, I thought I'd try a different angle and write with more breathe instead of depth in this post.

Bottura is a new Italian restaurant which sprung up from the newly renovated Suntec City. It was a pleasant surprise from my friend, bak bak (Hokkien for meaty) because it's a place I told myself I gotta try. 

Being more of a mains lover, we decided to forgo the antipasti and headed straight for the serious food. 2 pasta and 1 pizza (bak bak can really eat, it's okay). The pasta we picked were tagliolini zebrati con gamberetti e zucchini ($22) and linguine alle vongole ($20). Both dishes were cooked to perfection. Pasta al dente and sauce rich enough to appreciate the flavor but not overpowering till the pastas tasted the same. Being a hardcore pasta fan, I'm extremely particular about pastas. Bad pastas typically have pre-made sauces or even when cooked by the chef are diluted and stingy with the ingredients or time spent that you can't tell the ingredients used to produce them. This one is none of the above. 

For pizza, we chose frutti di mare ($22) This is a traditional seafood pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, calamari, salmon, clams and shrimp. The taste was light, yet sufficiently distinct that you can appreciate the individual ingredients that topped the pizza. I felt the crust wasn't the best I've eaten but definitely could pass off as a very traditional stone baked pizza.

Bottura definitely passes off as a good traditional Italian restaurant that is smack in the heart of town. As they are relatively new, there're deals available on groupon, deals.com.sg and other deals websites which you can capitalize on for now. I'm already a Bottura fan, and definitely I'm incentivized to keep them in business so that I can keep eating. 

Bottura (Closed Permanently)

#02-472/473/474 Suntec City Mall

North wing between tower 1 & 2

Aside from pasta, there's my favorite bak chor mee which I must have on my birthday. This stall hasn't been discovered by the blogosphere at large yet as it just found its way into this obscure coffee shop in Serangoon last year. 

28 Noodles is run by this old husband and wife team. At $3, it's the most generous serving of bak chor mee I've ever eaten in Singapore. What I like about this bak chor mee is what I deem (my own perspective) as old school bak chor mee taste. When I was living in jurong 20 years ago, I recalled eating a bak chor mee which was riched in its bak chor taste and had very Q noodles with chilli that goes well with the bak chor. I recalled it tasted heavenly. When I grew up, I tried to find a similar bak chor mee but have never succeeded till I chanced upon 28 noodles. This is the exact same taste and even with its anonymity, it'll take you half an hour to buy it so be prepared to queue.

28 Noodles

Block 204 Serangoon Central #01-104

And finally, I thought I share about my staycation experience which I was very happy about. Capri by Frasers is located within 1 min walking distance from Changi City Point. It's a service apartment with a small kitchen for cooking, a very spacious room with enough floor space to play board games and a big enough toilet that won't wet the entire floor when one uses it to bathe or wash up. 

Service was good too! Fussy Pot arranged a cake to be delivered and a cake was prepared and served up right after check in. In fact, this staycation was very different from the others I've had because the kitchen gave us room to explore cooking without having to clean up! 

Boy did we have fun. Angel hair salmon pasta with Chinese wonton and ah balling. We bought glutinous rice flour, wonton skins and all the necessary ingredients to have a fun and memorable cook-out activity. The damage to the pocket was fairly manageable as well. All in all about $180-$200. You may wish to have your next singapore stay over at Capri by Frasers :)