All posts tagged: Pasta

P Bistro @ Owen Road

P Bistro is a cosy hidden gem near Little India! Simple menu in a cosy space, and I’m really glad for this flexitarian cafe with vegetarian options. We shared the Pomelo Salad for starters and I love this dish! This dish had a generous serving of pomelo, with fresh tomatoes, onions and fried shallots with a refreshing zingy sauce! I would go back to eat this salad as a main. For mains, N had the Beef Bolognise Spaghetti ($18) while I tried the Vegetarian Pasta Fresca ($14). Both were splendidly prepared. The vegetarian pasta with a clear soupy base is one of my favourites in Singapore, rivaled probably only by Original Sin. With the fine quality of food at relatively affordable prices, I am not surprised they already have a second branch at Palais Renaissance! Will be back! P Bistro 42 Owen Road Singapore 218941 Phone: 6392 2333 Opening Hours: Sun – Thu: 11 am – 10 pm, Fri – Sat: 11 am – 11 pm Or Palais Renaissance 390 Orchard Road, #B1-06 Palais Renaissance Singapore 238871 Phone: 6734 9268 Opening Hours: …

espressolab @ China Square

I have been looking out for cafes that serve both good vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes so we can have a good meal with our friends who do not want to eat vegetarian dishes. So I am glad to find espressolab at China Square with good selection of vegetarian dishes. In fact, Ms Alicia Teoh, owner of espressolab at China Square, was a vegetarian for a few years before! Espressolab is conveniently located in the CBD with many seats, so this is an excellent choice for lunch. The cafe is also brightly lit so it is a good place to camp at if you need to do work or have work meetings. Alicia is extremely particular about the quality of her decor and even imported all the rubberwood tables from Penang to ensure quality of the furniture is not compromised for the customers. Generally, I find that when owners are very detailed about comforts for the customers, the food and service tends to be good and espressolab did not disappoint indeed! Vegetarian dishes: Vegetarian Aglio Olio ($9.80) …

A for Arbite @ Aliwal Street

I tried A for Arbite at Serangoon Gardens when they were very new before. And to be honest, it was quite forgettable other than its ambience. However, A for Arbite @ Aliwal Street truly surprised me. I ended up loving the pastas! They allowed for simple beer tasting of the 3 craft beers – palm beer, trippel, brown and N went for a pint of palm beer ($9) in the end, which was light yet flavourful. We had the Beef Tataki ($13) that was a tad small, but fresh and exquisite tasting meat. N tried the Squid Ink Pasta ($26) with Seafood, and the pasta was handmade cooked al dente. I had the Tri Pepper Spaghettini with Crab Meat ($27) and I loved the mix of peppers!! L had the “B for breakfast” ($20) which comprised spicy sausage, nice scrambled eggs and  beans. I would most definitely be back for their pastas. YUM! Well-done! Plus there is a collection of great coffee places nearby like espressoLab and Symmetry to pick up a good cuppa after. Tip: there is a …

Yomenya Goemon @ Star Vista

Tried out Yomenya Goemon @ Star Vista with an old friend for lunch, and found the lunch sets decent at $15.90 per set, which included a salad, soup and pasta main (fusion Japanese Italian) We had the Cheese Yasai Pasta and Chicken in Wafu Sauce Pasta. Though not hand made, I found the pasta cooked well al dente style, with good sauce. Another decent lunch spot in the Biopolis/Star Vista area though I find Long Black Cafe more value and quality for the same price.

Long Black Cafe @ Biopolis

Went to meet my extended team in Biopolis so we decided to try Long Black Cafe over lunch. Nice cafe with a lot of al fresco seats, and given the quiet surroundings, Long Black Cafe is quite a nice chillout hidden find especially if you have to think about life and work. Food and coffee were both above average, with good value lunch sets (soup, main and drink for ~$15), and I suspect the only reason they haven’t made it to those top cafe lists in Singapore is because they don’t open on weekends and close by 730pm on weekdays! We also had ala carte mains and sides to share: Overall, I believe this is a good value alternative to Star VIsta and food court in the area! — Long Black Cafe @ Biopolis Address: 20 Biopolis Way, Centros Block, Singapore, Singapore 138668 Tel: 64789945 Operating Hours: Mon – Fri: 8:00 am – 7:30 pm

Pranberry Restaurant @ Hua Hin

Pranberry Restaurant, which is just opposite Aleenta Resort and Spa @ Hua Hin, caught my eye because of its interesting logo and interior. From the outside, I could see that the whole restaurant is set in sand though the restaurant is relatively inland. I checked out their Facebook to learn that Pranberry is only open on weekends and I am so glad we got to try because I would say Pranberry is the most delicious meal I had in Hua Hin! Pum, one of the owners of Pranberry, was very friendly and informative. She explained that Pranberry is only open on weekends because all the partners are actually working full time in Bangkok. They opened Pranberry (which sounds like Pranburi, the district Hua Hin is in) as a passion to serve fresh and good food. So they drive up every Friday or Saturday and take turns to open the restaurant. Sometimes they start driving from Bangkok at 10am, but only reach Hua Hin at 5pm (the drive should only take 3 hours) because they stop …

Restaurant Ember @ Hotel 1929

Ember is a small, modern and unpretentious restaurant located in Hotel 1929, which offers Western/Fusion Ember cuisine. Some of my favourite girlies treated me to Ember to my birthday last week. Short to say, FINE quality food, as expected from Chef Sebastian Ng from the Marmalade group’s Pierside Kitchen & Bar and prior experience in Four Seasons Hotel, Raffles Hotel and pasta training at Piedmont Italy as well as training stints at Hotel De Mikuni in Tokyo. Chef Sebastian is known for his pastas, meats and seafood, which reflects in the mains we ordered. So thankful to be treated my friends to fine exquisite food. Definitely not the cheapest meal, but WOW, I enjoyed the exquisiteness and details in every dish. All the dishes were cooked in a way that brought out the natural flavours of the ingredients. Complex yet complementary combination tastes. I heard the set lunches are the best value for money so hope to be back to try it some day! I also like how they tired local Singaporeans on their serving crew which …

LOWERCASE @ Lasalle College of the Arts

I had to give LOWERCASE 3 tries before I finally tried the food. The first time, we assumed the cafe would be open for coffee on a Sunday and we headed down and it was closed. The second time, on a Friday night, we headed down at 830pm since their Facebook said they were open till 1030pm but was told it was closed already!! I wrote to them to feedback on the opening hours, and one of their partners, Mr J, was nice enough to explain the situation and we decided to try LOWERCASE again with a group of friends on a Saturday evening. LOWERCASE is nestled in Lasalle College of the Arts and has a huge 5000 square feet space compared to the regular hipster cafes.  Their mission statement – “Lowercase is a melting pot where food, art and community come together” – is a good summary of what they are starting to look like, where random art pieces are displayed among tables of people eating. LOWERCASE seeks to promote talent by setting the stage for budding …

Artisan Boulangerie Co. @ Killiney Road

After reading about the 6 new bakeries in Singapore, and having a big hit with Bread King, we went to check out Artisan Boulangerie Co. at Killiney Road after Sunday gym session. Artisan Boulangerie Co. is a contemporary bakery, helmed by award-winning artisan baker, Eran Mayer. When Eran Mayer was in Paris, he was a member of the Paris Chamber of Commerce for Professional Artisan Bakers,  which sounds very pro. The food and bread are no doubt, good. I had the Chicken Fusilli ($10.50) with extra Scrambled Eggs ($4). The chicken fusilli serving was small, but the fusilli was fresh, chewy and served cold. The scrambled eggs were well textured and milky. N had the ABC Breakfast (18.50), with the standard – sausage, Mesclun salad, eggs and mushrooms, which was tasty too.

La Nonna @ Namly Place

I have heard so much about La Nonna, we finally went to try it out with Ms E, since we get a good 35% Palate discount with 3 diners. La Nonna means “The Grandmother” in Italian and so La Nonna would stand for traditional, unpretentious Italian country cuisine, in a cosy restaurant. We had a little drama with the manager because when I made the reservation on a Monday, they confirmed my reservation and that the Palate promotion of 35% for 3 pax will be honoured (I specifically asked). When we arrived on Friday evening, firstly, they couldn’t find our booking. Then, they said there was no promotion that night because Sunday was a PH. Even after I showed him my call log to their restaurant landed line on that Monday before, the manager insisted I might have called the Holland V branch. After haggling for 10 minutes, he rather reluctantly allowed us 35% off still, but looking still obviously agitated, which I felt was quite bad customer service. The starters were thankfully, very impressive. …