Epiphyte

This weekend, I really ate a lot. It's the mother's birthday and my family celebrated at Hotel Jen's J65 buffet. My sentiments of that buffet experience is summed up by the fact that I'll only eat there again if it's for free... Aside from that, I spent my long weekend feasting at both the Soup Restaurant and Epiphyte.

The trip to Epiphyte is long overdue for various reasons. There's simply too many cafes to visit and deciding which one to go is one of the good problems I have to solve each week. Also, there's pretty much mix reviews on the food. Some say taste nice, some say nice for camera only... in any case, Vain Pot and I mutually decided to give this place a go. Epiphyte is in a way a garden themed cafe. A step inside the cafe will showcase a display of different types of plants into different pots and containers around the cafes. The shop decor provides a very relaxing feeling with lush greenery all around you. It's interesting to watch the staff preparing more of their plants while waiting to serve customers.

For mains, Vain Pot and I shared the Pink Risotto ($22) and Seafood Cartoccio ($26). The pink risotto is one of the better renditions of risottos that I've tried. The pink colour is made through roasted beetroot cooked with risotto creating a natural pink. Along with pan-seared scallops and parmigiana, we found the balance of the dish to be just right. I like it that the creaminess is not too overwhelming you get tired of eating after awhile and that the beetroot taste isn't overpowering. I also liked it that the rice is fat, plump and easy to swallow.

The Seafood Cartoccio has a strong laksa taste in the sauce which I found to go very well with the bread that comes with it. It is actually coconut prawn broth with daun kesom (Vietnamese coriander). I've nothing much to complain about the ingredients, found the entire dish to be generally enjoyable but not particularly stand-out. A safe choice I guess.

For desserts, Vain Pot ate the Terrarium ($13) which is the green looking thing in a glass container. It's basically pistachio siphon sponge with a little bit of mint leaves, croustillant, plum konnyaku, diplomat and flowers. The peach liquer sauce comes on the side and goes well to add moisture to the sponge making the entire dish enjoyable. I don't take mint so I merely took a bite. I found the sponge with cream and cookie crumbs to be highly addictive and if they could remove the mint leaves, I would have devoured the entire thing on my own.

My choice of Twilight ($10) is superficially with the intent of taking nice Instagram photos. That said, it turned out to be an enjoyable dessert. It's made of dark chocolate mousse, cointreau orange curd and light chocolate sponge. I enjoyed the milkiness of the chocolate mousse and the orange curd gave the added sourish zest that balanced out the sweetness.

On the whole, I found my entire experience at Epiphyte to be satisfying. It's definitely a very refreshing way to dine away from the typical brunch food or standard mains I'm used to having. In fact, I would say this is one of my more adventurous experience. I like the colours, I like the common food made different, I like how camera friendly the food look and I like it that the food doesn't suck. I think this is the kind of place to bring someone you wish to impress without the pretense of posh and glamour.

Epiphyte
47 Neil Road, S088827
(Please check the operating hours before you go, it usually opens at 4pm but has exceptions on certain special occasions and weekends)

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