Prego @ Fairmont Hotel

Recently, KopiKosongGirl and I have been revisiting places we have not gone for a long time. We both used to have the Feed at Raffles card, but now since we are one, we only need one! (sounds cheesy eh?)

We used to come here often before we got married. We suddenly thought of this place, so we are back!

The deco seems to have changed, this place has become more "wooden contemporary", if there's such a term. No more white table cloth, it's now unvarnished table. Near the entrance there's also an antipasti bar. We remember when the restaurant used to be packed, we sat there at the counter.

Oh the menu seems to have shrunk too! Just a single sheet now. Simple.



The previous big round bread they had with the tomato-ish dip is gone too!
They now served this bagel like herb bread that's a nice replacement too. The bread's no longer warm like it was previously, but it was addictive though. It's probably the salty crust that makes you want to eat all of it up.



I think the bread's good on its own, but if you like, you can spread this aubergine like pesto with cream cheese on it.


It reminded us of the breakfast youghurt jars at Mandarin Oriental Hong Kong!




We ordered 2 antipasti from the antipasti bar near the entrance. They are $4 each.

We saw these mushroom and could not resist them. If you like mushroom, try this. Cold, garlic taste, almost like pickled mushrooms.

KopiKosongGirl can eat a whole lot of this, I think because it's cold, I stopped at 3. Though I like it, the brain tells me to stop. Do you have that kind of feeling sometimes?



We also had the seafood salad. This was even nicer than the mushrooms. It's oily, but does not give you a 'jelak' feel to it. It's probably because of the citrus juice in it. It's cold too. The prawns were crunchy too.




I had the pizza. This is the Prego. ($35)
The toppings are Prosciutto di Parma, Buffalo Mozzarella, Arugula and Tomato Sauce.

Creature of habit, I am still ordering the same thing. Still loving it.




KopiKosongGirl had the Beef Lasagna. $35.
She said it's one of the best lasagna she had for a long time. I kind of agree with her.

Doesn't lasagna remind you of an Italian 'gao teng kuay'. Layer after layer of pasta sheets, meat and tomato paste. No, we did not peel each layer to eat. I want to try out the best way to make the tomato paste. Should start researching about them ;-)

It was a nice dinner. Still glad we kept a Feed for Raffles privileges, there's 50% off the bill.

There was a nice surprise too. Halfway through dinner, the next table next to us was a friend that we have not met for a long time. He left Singapore to study at the Royal College of Music and is now back! He is a composer, and if you probably have heard his compositions on film without knowing it! If you want to listen to his sample music, visit http://www.johncgh.com/

Prego Fairmont Singapore Level 1 80 Bras Basah Road Singapore 189560 Tel: +65 6431 6156 http://www.prego.com.sg

Scan QR code for Address Details

Pizzeria Mozza @ The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands

I am a bit slow these few weeks because I am busy with house renovation and marriage preparation. This meal was eaten in mid February. :-)

To celebrate Momo's dearest parent's wedding anniversary, we made a special trip to Pizzeria Mozza for a very special meal. Yup, the pizza place by Mario Batali.

Since Momo could not get a booking for the 'actual day', so we went on a Sunday night.



It was pizza night! A very delicious pizza night too!
Here's the story....




Make a guess, what's in the brown paper bag?

Also served with the brown paper bag was an envelope that contained our cutlery and serviette. How interesting!




The complimentary bites before dinner. They were bread sticks in the shape Arnott's pizza shapes. Just much much bigger and tastier too!




It had herbs, cheese and salt crystals. They were quite addictive!

Birra Moretti

On the drinks list, the beer listed are mostly from Brewerks.
The only beer from Italy would be this. Birra Moretti. $15.

Nancy's Chopped Salad

We read that we should try Nancy's Chopped Salad ($19), so we ordered it to share.
(Nancy Silverton is one of the co-owner of Pizzeria Mozza and an acclaimed baker)

Don't you like the colour of the salad? We loved it. The taste was unique too, it's an oregano based dressing. If you want the recipe, I realise it's published on the LA Times website here. I am going to make it one of these days at home!

Wings Diavola

We saw on the menu, Wings Diavola (Devil Wings) $18 and was tempted. It's 3 chicken wings, so it's probably very expensive chicken wings! They were very well marinated and salty. If you like food a little salty like us, you will love it.

Lasagne al forno

On the menu was a Piatto del giorno (dish of the day). The dish for domenica (Sunday) was Lasagne al forno. ($28) It's suppose to be their signature dish too!

Oh, look at the lasagne. What as different from the usual lasagne is that the pasta pieces were green! I think it's spinach pasta.  Again, a little more salty for Singapore tongues, but very incredibly tasty nonetheless.

I remember I used to eat lasagne every week because it was the weekly menu at my 'halls' in Melbourne. They were good, but it was meant to fill hungry growing students.

The version here was 'light', you can eat it and won't get 'jelak'!  Can you imagine the taste of the bolognese sauce between the pasta sheet from the photo above? *evil smirk*

Prosciutto Pizza

We ordered two pizzas to share and here's the Proscuitto di Parma, rucola, tomato and mozzarella ($29)

Look at the pizza. Very unique! Thick blistered crust on the side of the pizza, and the middle,  thin crusts. It's like having chewy sides and crispy middle. Unique, it's a bit like when we were kids and we made pizzas at home, they were not uniformed! But these are experts, and the way they make it, it taste good!

Taste wise, nice! proscuitto and rockets I think is a nice combi.

Fennel Sausage Pizza

The second pizza we had: Fennel sausage, panna, red onion and scallions ($27)

It looks 'grassy' doesn't it? But the scallions or what we in Singapore call "Spring Onions", tasted rather nice on it. If you are not a spring onions person, don't order it, it's not your type of food. For those who love the slight pungent smell of it, go for it!

When you order the pizzas, the service staff tells you that it might take up to 45 mins for the pizzas to be ready. So when you visit, quickly settle on your pizza orders first.

Why are the pizzas here so special? I read that they use a special strain of yeast from California and they import their flour from US too.

Gelato Pie

For desserts, we had the Banana Gelato Pie: Hot fudge and candied hazelnuts. $16. We were told this is one of the very popular desserts by the service staff. Banana gelato, it's quite fragrance, but also a hint of essence (or shall I say a little fake) kind of smell instead of real bananas. Not very sure what they used, but it was yummy!

I am suddenly missing the Italian gelatos I had in Rome! I was downing 2 gelatos a day for 3 days there!

Crostata

Our service staff said this is one of their new desserts. Every now and then, they will add something to the menu. The server said this happens to be one of her new favourites. Dried Fig Crostata, Vanilla Panna Cotta and Saba $16

It's a fig crostata (Italian baked dessert tart). Sticky sticky fig paste on fragrant tart. See the dots in the vanilla panna cotta, nice dots from real vanilla pods! It had a nice hint of real vanilla fragrance. That dark liquid is Saba (artisan balsamic vinegar). Try it! A note though, it's too rich for 1 person to finish it. My view is that it is best to share with 3 or 4 persons.

Total bill for our meal with the usual 17% taxes ($29.56) was $196.56


Pizzeria Mozza
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
#B1-42-46
10 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore 018956

Tel: +65 6688 8522 (direct line to Pizzeria Mozza)

Senso Ristorante and Bar @ Club Street

Finally! The Singapore Restaurant Week is on!

When the bookings slot was out, I managed to snag two places at restaurants that Momo and I would like to eat. It's the time of the year, you pay a special price to enjoy a special Restaurant Week menu at participating restaurants in Singapore.

Usually the specially created set meals are $25++ for lunch and $35++ for dinner, but this place is a DiningCity Star award restaurant which has an extra $15 / $20 surcharge.

Our first restaurant week meal was lunch at Senso Ristorante and Bar at Club Street.



It's the first time I am here and I kind of like the architecture of this refurbished old shophouses!
Look at the roof tiles, something that caught my eye!


Back to the food. The Restaurant Week Set Lunch that we had for $40++ each.

Bread Basket

The basket of warm bread was served not long after we placed our orders and it was nice. Our reservation was at 1 PM and my usual lunch hour is around 11:30 AM, so I was very hungry. I am saying this because if someone is very hungry, the food might taste better. ;-) Anyway, the bread did tasted very good, especially when it's slightly warm.

Momo and I especially like the long bread sticks. It's slightly more 'spiced' and crispy!

Starters

There were two starters on the menu, so we picked one each.

I had the 'Baby Spinach Salad with Honey Mustard dressing, Avocado, Pine Nuts and Crispy Bacon.

I liked how clean the plating was. Each baby spinach leaf had already had dressing on them and it was nicely stacked up. The dressing and baby spinach was a nice combi and I am quite happy with it. I did not like the crispy bacon though. I think it's too crispy for me. I would have personally preferred a not so dry bacon. That green strip was avocado puree.



Momo had the Pan-fried Buffalo Mozzarella wrapped in 18 months Parma Ham served with black Olives Tapenade. I tried a bit from Momo's plate and I think the parma ham that's pan-fried with the mozzarella was quite nice. A warm mozzarella and the pan fried parma ham was really a good match.

Looks like Momo did not like the olives tepanade as much, as she only had some of it.

Mains

There were 3 choices of mains from the menu. Momo opted for the Homemade Taglierini Pasta with Boston Lobster and fresh Basil.

Portions were not very big, but at the end of the meal, we were still quite full. Freshly made pasta always tastes nice. It goes well with the tomato based sauce too. About the lobster, there were five 'first phalanx of the thumb' sized pieces of lobster in the pasta. 




I had the Gently-roasted Cod Fillet served on Eggplant puree and green Asparagus. The cod was all right only I guess. Not very spectacular but it was nicely executed though. It was prepared with nice crispy salty skin on top and the cod had not dried out.

The asparagus was grilled as I can see the visible grill lines. I think I might just do the same at home next time.

Dessert

There was only one dessert on the menu. The dessert has many parts though! It's called Tiramisu 'Rivisto'. It had Light Coffee Mousse, homemade Savoiardi Biscotto,  Coffee Milkshake and Mascarpone Ice Cream.



The light coffee mousse was kind of bubbling or bursting itself away, so we had to quickly eat it before it disappears by itself! Made of mostly air, it was quite nice. It had a light texture as if you have soap bubbles that tasted like coffee on your tongue.

The coffee milkshake was alcoholic! It was shaken and poured into the shot glass at our table. I liked the biscotto maybe because it is so simple and it goes well with the mascarpone ice cream.

Tea & Coffee

Tea and Coffee. Momo the coffee drinker said the coffee is not as nice as she hoped it to be.

Overall, it was an enjoyable meal.
Both of us took half day leave to grab a nicer than usual weekday lunch ;-)


Senso Ristorante and Bar
21 Club Street
Singapore 069410

Tel: 6224 3534

Ricciotti Italian Deli & Pastry @ The Riverwalk (Part 2)

If you like yesterday's dessert, here's more...

We all had so many kinds, it's not possible to name them lah. Actually it is because I don't know what they are called! haha...



















If you like what you see, visit them!

Ricciotti Italian Deli & Pastry,
The Riverwalk B1-49/50
20, Upper Circular Road S(058416)


Of the 15 varieties shown, which is your favourite? I like the Tiramisu and Cassata Siciliana (the one with marzipan and citrus fruit strip)

Ricciotti Italian Deli & Pastry @ The Riverwalk

Tonight we celebrated 2 friend's birthday. What a coincidence that both fall on the same day! After our Bible Study, we all, (the all is like 20 of us) went to Ricciotti to have dessert.



We are as the locals call it, "siao" (mad) dessert kind. We nearly ordered all the cakes they have on the glass fridge display.




Here goes....

















But wait, still got! Tomorrow show you what else we ate......
Stay tuned...


So, are you 'siao' dessert too?

Peperoni Pizza: Greenwood Avenue, Part 2

We also ordered lots of pizza. We had the option of having half half. So we just ordered many combination of halves.

I have no idea what they are. But you can play a game and guess what they are. :-)













Here's part of the menu that has the pizza. Just play mix and match ya..
If you are wondering how big and the price, it's also listed in the menu here.



Bon Appetit!