Crust (Upper Thomson)

The hubby and I were thinking of dinner place, and he said he wanna eat pizza. Since I couldn't think of any decent pizza place nearby, I suggested why not we go search the Upper Thomson stretch of eateries and see if we can find something there. So there we were cruising along Upper Thomson, and spotted Crust. And just nice, a car eased out of it's lot right in front of Crust, so we happily parked and got ourselves an outdoor table.

The trouble with outdoor table is, the staff didn't really notice us much. So service was pretty limited, which annoyed the hubby (even though he's the one who wanted to sit outside). So after a long time waiting with nobody attending to us, he went in to inform them we are outside, and grabbed some menus, and told them to get us ice water.

He said he was hungry enough for one whole pizza, plus I didn't really want to eat vegetarian pizza when there were so many yummy sounding options on the menu. So I greedily decided to go for one whole pizza by myself. Each pizza is roughly an A4 size paper. I thought it sounded manageable...

Turns out it was manageable by itself, if we didn't order anything else. I actually quite liked my pizza, though I had expected more avocado than the few slices it came with. Chicken and avocado has always been the perfect combination, so what can go wrong with throwing them on pizza and smothering the whole thing with cheese right?

Avocado Chicken

He ordered the Wild mushroom pizza. It had a variety of mushrooms buried in it, and was topped with asparagus. It looks like a combination I would have liked too, but I didn't try because I was worried about not being able to finish my own pizza. He finished it, without much comment.

Wild mushroom

The trouble with finishing the food came with our order of truffle wedges. It was a pretty huge bowl of wedges. Then as it is, my pizza is already carbo-laden. So add another carbo, I was stuffed! Hubby gave up on the wedges midway through. I slowly struggled through my pizza, then picked through the wedges, and finally gave up leaving maybe about 4-5 behind.

Truffle wedges

The hubby didn't like the place, more because of the lack of service than the food. I thought it was ok, so I wouldn't write it off completely. It can be a back-of-the-mind location the next time his pizza craving hits. But I will learn from my mistake and share one pizza with him instead of trying to be a greedy pig and order one all by myself.


Crust
215R Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574349
Tel: 6456 1555

Concetto by Saveur

We walked pass this restaurant several times from our commute to and fro gym and Plaza Singapura. Remembering how much we liked Saveur, Lynn and I made a note to come here for dinner one of the days post-gym. So here we are, finally, very hungry after our workout.

Concetto is a Italian version of Saveur, but remaining on the same principle of affordable, authentic food. Only instead of the French fare that Saveur focus on, Concetto is an Italian extension. I only found this out now, as I'm blogging it actually. I initially thought it was supposed to be an upmarket version of Saveur. Now that I found out it's an Italian counterpart, some stuff makes more sense. I will explain later.

Heads up: like Saveur, the portions at Concetto aren't huge. We learnt this only after the arrival of our initial two mains and we immediately placed order for a third one. But anyway, food taste-wise... here goes. Our appetiser was Buffalo mozzarella. Tomatoes and fresh mozzarella cheese atop a toasted rye bread. We weren't impressed. The mozzarella was a tad dry and doesn't quite have the freshness usually associated with buffalo mozzarella. 

Buffalo mozzarella

Our first main course was Wagyu tender, with foie gras and roasted portobello mushrooms. The foie gras was very blissful! Melt-in-the-mouth, livery, buttery, mmmmmmmmm. We loved the mushrooms too, they were very juicy and good vehicles at picking up leftover foie gras fats on the plate. The beef was done just nice, even though it didn't have the typical wagyu aroma. We were pretty happy with this dish.

Wagyu tender with foie gras and portobello

Next was the Duck confit, served on pasta pesto. This dish, according to the menu, is by Saveur. And Saveur's duck confit is good! That's why Lynn was tempted by this dish immediately and ignored all other tempting dishes on the menu. However, we were disappointed. It was actually pretty normal. Not at all blissful like Saveur's. Now looking back, I'm wondering why the heck we ordered duck confit in an Italian restaurant. Haaa

Duck confit with pesto

The additional main course we ordered upon seeing our mains sizes was Pollo Allo. Half boneless chicken, with mushroom stuffing. We top-up for truffled mashed potatoes. The chicken is nice! It was very tender and very flavourful. The mushroom stuffing was delicious. And the truffled mash potatoes... YUM! And it's boneless! How easy to eat is that??

Pollo allo with truffled mash add-on

There were hits and misses, we liked two out of four dishes. Pity the portion size is small, so I'm not sure how keen we are to return. But hmm... I do like the beef and the foie gras... Maybe we'll return and focus more on the Italian dishes.... But not the Buffalo mozzarella.

Concetto

The Cathay, #01-11/12, 2 Handy Road
Singapore 229233
Tel: 67351141

Online reservation available

Toby's - The Dessert Asylum

We happened to be in the far east (Marine Parade) to attend a wake, and decided to hunt for dinner somewhere nearby. I suggested Parkway Parade since it was nearby, and in no time, we had parked and started looking for dinner places. I did scan the website on the ride there to try to find suitable eating places. Hubby rejected most of those I suggested, but he spotted Toby's bright signage from from far away and dragged me over to check it out. Turns out the menu seems pretty alright, something I wasn't able to tell from it's name on the website. I honestly thought it was just a dessert place.

The menu is actually quite playful with cartoons all over, and somehow a little reminiscent of NYDC's format and variety. I was actually tempted by many items ranging from pasta to pizza to pies. I finally decided on what I want, and added on a set meal. The set meal came with a soup of the day, which in this case, was a mushroom soup. Portion wasn't huge, but its nice to see a non-campbell mushroom soup, served with a super well toasted slice of bread (which really, is more like a cookie given how toasted it is.).

Mushroom soup

My final decision was the beef lasagne, which for some reason was served with a buttered toast on it. The toast was totally out of place, but I dutifully ate it before digging into the pasta. The pasta is actually pretty alright. The sauce well flavoured, the pasta cooked right, the whole combination is pretty decent.

Beef lasagne

Hubby was hungry and straight up ordered a pizza and a pasta. The mushroom and spinach pizza had a generous scatter of spinach leaves and toasted almonds. I liked the pizza, and helped eat one, maybe two slices. That's because he was too full from his pasta and couldn't finish the pizza. There was something he didn't quite like in the vegetarian spaghetti but I can't remember what it is. Oh! I think it was the greens in the pasta. I was pretty sure they were spinach but he said they tasted weird and left them all behind.

Mushroom and spinach pizza

Vegetarian spaghetti

Ironically, we had no space for desserts. The food isn't too bad, but wasn't so amazing that I will drive all the way back to the east for it. But if I happen to be in the locality, I will probably want to return to try their desserts.

Toby's - The Dessert Asylum
80 Marine Parade Road, 

#02-68/69/70 

Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269
+65 6346 2435
enquiry@tobys.com.sg

Ah Bong's Italian

Tiong Bahru is a very interesting place nowadays. Home to the old school Tiong Bahru Market and small Chinese restaurants and the famed Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh. Here in Tiong Bahru you still can find small eateries known as 小吃店, which are dying off in Singapore because the government have limited granting licenses for these eateries due to hygiene reasons. This small shops supposedly don't have the piping systems in place for food processes.

In the midst of all these old shop houses, Tiong Bahru also boast many hipster cafes such as Tiong Bahru Bakery and Dripz. And one particular 小吃店 goes through a transformation. Small eating house with a few hawker stalls by day, it transforms into a pizza parlour by night known as Two-Face Pizza. But today I'm not talking about the transformation nor the pizza. I'm focusing on one of the hawker stalls. In the face of dying traditions, a young fella stepped in and went to set up a hawker business. What's more interesting is, he is not selling traditional hawker food. He is selling Italian food, in a hawker fashion.

For Italian food, the prices weren't expensive. $6-7 for a plate of pasta. The menu changes daily, so check back often, or check their facebook. On the day I went, I had the Chorizo bolognaise. It was served in a traditional 'chicken' plate. Cute. The serving isn't huge, but with the minced chorizo and peas, it was good enough for me. Our intern had the aglio olio which only had some mushrooms. She's, um, still growing I presume, and found the portion not quite enough. The young chef came over and chatted with us and asked how the food is. When we feedback on the portion, he said that was 150g pasta each. I'm presuming he meant cooked weight. For me, I liked my bolognaise. The pasta was perfectly al dente, the sauce rich and delicious. Maaaybe a little more will be nice.

Chorizo bolognaise

Because those who had the aglio olio were so unsatisfied, we ordered the Expresso creme brulee. It's actually not bad. The coffee flavor wasn't overpowering, and the sugar crust was beautifully crunchy. Although I did find the custard not quite rich enough. It felt a little... thin...

Expresso Creme brulee

Broke through the beautiful sugar crust

I do admire the guy for braving the hawker industry with real 'ang moh' food. Not the usual 'western food' you see in kopitiams that serves asian flavored chicken chops with fries and call that western. And to do all that in his tiny stall area, I'm impressed. To tell the truth, we haven't really gone back there for lunch. The portion is probably one deterrent. The space constraint is another. The eating house doesn't have a whole lot of seats and can get quite warm in the afternoon.

Ah Bong's Italian

56 Eng Hoon St, #01-46
Singapore
Tel: 9650 6194

Arashi Yakiniku

This was a Groupon deal we came across. Free flow wagyu beef on a charcoal grill sounded great. So we bought it, and went for it. The original cost of the buffet is $78++. With our Groupon, it was $50 or so, so much more manageable.

The charcoals were HOT! I reached the restaurant after a pretty brisk walk and was hoping to cool off in the air conditioned restaurant but fat chance. The heat radiating from the charcoal grill had be hiding at one corner of the table trying to be as far away from the heat as possible. They had some side dishes of marinated cold veggies and mushrooms, which I liked and finished. Lynn did not notice or touch them at all.

Super hot charcoals

Side dishes

It's nice that everyone will have their own tongs for raw meats, so that you can reserve your chopsticks and spoons for the cooked food. Each setting came with a wedge of lemon, soya sauce as well as a sesame dip. I love sesame sauces!!

Table setting

The buffet includes sashimi, so here we are spamming salmon and swordfish sashimi. I actually cannot remember them, so I can't comment whether they were good or bad.

Sashimi

We ordered mushrooms and salmon for grilling, and these came in little aluminium trays with sauces, and we just pop the trays onto the grill. It's fantastic because the food could cook in the delicious sauces and were well flavored. We liked the salmon, and ordered more of it. The mushrooms were yummy too. And the best part is, we kept the trays for cooking our subsequent orders of seafood such as squids, so that we don't drop our squid pieces down the grill. =D

Mushroom and salmon

They had a good variety of veggies too, so I ordered pumpkin, asparagus and capsicums to neutralise the meat we know we will be overdoing.

Veggies

The works. We ordered a huge variety of meats. Pork belly, chicken slices, beef slices, sausages etc. As well as prawns and squids. The pork and the beef were DELICIOUS!! Very fatty (ok, maybe too fatty), we were having a lot of fire start ups. Thankfully the first round was very kindly cooked by the waitress, who showed us how we should hide the fatty meats at the side of the grill, so that less oil drip into the hot charcoals and less fire gets started up. Still, we had a lot of "fireworks" going on.

The works

We actually really enjoyed the meats. The marinates were good, the meats juicy and yummy. Only downside is, they are so fat (hence the juicy), we got very gelat (cloying) very fast. So I guess that's how they limit the food you order. The seafood were nice too. But we got sooo sick of the meat fats, somewhere along the way Lynn started ordering watermelon to eat in the middle of the meal to balance off the fattiness with the refreshing, sweet and cold fruit.

We did like the place, just found the original cost way too hefty. No chance we will come back without a Groupon, but hey, I'll keep a lookout for deals from this restaurant.

Arashi Yaniniku

No. 48 Boatquay

Singapore 049837
Tel: 65352841

Poteato

Ok, so we've visited Forty Hands many times. Poteato is just next door, so of course we've seen it before. Then JP told us he preferred Poteato's food to Forty Hands, then we HAD to try it out. So on a night when J, XP and I were working late (ok, rarity for me but common for them), we decided that it was THE day to try it out. Moreover it was located nearer to the carpark for me. =P

Their menu isn't huge, but as the name suggests, they have a large variety of potatoes. So to start off, we had truffle fries and sweet potato fries. The truffle fries was alright. Not a whole lot of truffle flavor, but its there. Although we liked the sweet potato fries, it had a hint of something. A flavor that was so familiar, yet I couldn't place it. Until XP pointed out it tasted a little like curry puff, then it hit me. Curry powder. They flavored their sweet potato fries with curry powder. Surprising, but not unpleasant. And the way it was served in that paper bag is so rustic.

Lemon tea

Truffle fries

Sweet potato fries

Their menus came with a detailed picture of one dish per menu. So between the three of us, we had three pictures to look at. Other than that one picture, the menu is entirely in words. After some deliberation, we settled for Salmon with roast potato for me, herb grilled chicken with potato salad for J, and bangers and mash for XP. J was initially so interested in the bangers and mash, because in the detailed picture, there was caramelized onions on the plate, and she have a huge weakness for caramelized onions. And it wasn't just there on the picture, there were text pointing it out from the picture. She settled for the chicken in the end because she wasn't big on sausages, and XP assured her he will share the onions.

Turns out, there were no caramelized onions on the bangers and mash, much to her disappointment. Granted, no mention of caramelized onions on the description of the dish in the menu itself. Only in that one picture. But I think the restaurant should not have put that picture highlighting the caramelized onion if it's not going to be on your plate. But that aside, the sausages were juicy, in fact, too juicy. XP accidentally squirted the juices to the next table when he cut his sausage. Thankfully it didn't hit the lady, only the chair. The mashed potato was creamy and yummy.

I liked how the salmon was cooked, moist and flakey. But my complaint was that the roast potatoes were cold. I understand that roast potatoes have to be done ahead because it needs time, but really, they should have heated it up before serving it to me! J was happy with her chicken. Her potato salad, being a salad, is expected to be cold so it was fine.

Salmon with roast potatoes

Herb grilled chicken with potato salad

Bangers and mash

Overall we did enjoy ourselves. The restaurant is cosy, and we were seated next to an indoor window - part of the decor. It was a little weird that there's another table right at the other side of that wall at the window, so you're really sitting side by side with a stranger. I was so tempted to close that panelled window. Thankfully the restaurant wasn't crowded so that seat was vacated pretty fast. The food, though nice, didn't have a wow factor. Not something that I will remember and want very much to return for. 

Poteato

78, Yong Siak Street, 

#01-18, 

Singapore 163078

Tel: 6221 2488

Bistro Du Vin (Zion Road)

So it was one of those days I had to work late, with 3 hours of waiting time in between to spare. So XP, FQ and I decided to check out Bistro Du Vin, which we passed by when we went for Pepperoni Pizza. A quick googling revealed that it was under the Les Amis Group, together with Pepperoni Pizza. So off we went, for that treat to ourselves for working late.

Like all proper French restaurants, we were served crusty bread with butter while we were still browsing the menu. Though it wasn't warm, the baguette was delicious, and very welcomed. Especially when I was super hungry.

Bread and butter

And what's French food without my two favourites? Escargots and foie gras. Their escargots are the cutest I have ever seen. Served without shells in individual mini ramekins. It wasn't mind blowing, but the garlic/butter/herbs combination worked together very well. And the meat weren't overcooked too. Very pleasant start to the meal. Pan-seared foie gras came next. Crisp on the outside, melt-in-the-mouth interior. I was in bliss.

Escargots

Foie gras

For mains, I opted for slow cooked lamb shank. It was served in a Le Creuset casserole. When the lid came off, I was swarmed in a delicious steam of rich broth. I wanted bread to soak up all that goodness. However, lamb shank being lamb shank, it had a lot of fatty bits. So although I started off a happy girl, I was a little sick by the middle of my meal and struggled a little to finish. It was served with crushed potatoes on the side. It was a little bland and a little neglected, not because it wasn't good, just because it had a competition. Truffle fries. I cannot not order truffle fries when I see that on any menu. And Bistro Du Vin's doesn't disappoint. The moment it was set down on our table, the whiff of truffle came to me immediately. I also liked it was thick-cut fries, which have a fluffier interior that I prefer over shoe-string fries.

Lamb shank

Truffle fries

XP had the suckling pig belly confit. Brave boy. Of course he was pretty sick by the end of it. Nothing to do with poorly prepared food. Pork belly is simply to rich for one person to finish one shot. It was delicious on the first few mouths. Very crisp, very fragrant. FQ had the Australian pork chop, also deliciously prepared, and generously topped with caramelised onions. I think among the three of us, he had the least difficulty finishing his main. But still with a little bit of struggle. We concluded their level of richness probably will require us to share 2 mains among 3 persons in future.

Suckling pig confit, choucroute & bacon (belly)

Pan-roasted Australian pork chop, caramelized shallot, garlic & mashed potato

For dessert, because we were so gelat, we wanted something to cleanse our oil-laden palate. So we chose the Colonel, which had the description "lemon sorbet with Vodka", thinking that the lemon sorbet will help us curb the oiliness. We were expecting Vodka infused lemon sorbet or something. Little did we expect what we got. Literally lemon sorbet floating in neat Vodka. It was still nice, but I didn't plan to end the meal with that much alcohol, and I find the alcohol too strong for a dessert. Shared among the three of us, it was ok. Nobody got drunk. Haha...

Colonel

Writing this, I realise the part I miss most is the truffle fries. Theirs really caught my attention. I wanna go back just for that. Bistro Du Vin is a quiet little restaurant that served up delicious French food. I think its a nice and cosy place for a dinner. Maybe I'll bring Lynn back. At least for the fries.

Bistro Du Vin

56 Zion Road

Singapore 247781

Tel: 6836 6313

Casa Latina

J had tried this joint several times before and she really liked it. But it's pricing is on the steep end, so she never brought us there - until a deal for this restaurant popped up at one of those deals websites, and she grabbed the chance. Coincidentally, V asked us out for dinner, so we decided to head to Casa Latina for our little gathering.

We took a long time to decide on what to eat, partly because there's such a huge variety, partly because we barely understood the menu, and partly because we were a little excitedly catching up with one another and neglected the menu for a bit.

The reason I said we barely understood the menu? It's at no fault to them. We're really just very unfamiliar with Mexican food. Honestly I personally only knew what guacomole, nachos and fajitas are. =D But we got through with some recommendations from J who remembered a few things she liked, as well as some recommendations from the waiter, and finally some random choices based on the descriptions on the menu.

After our orders were placed, we were served corn chips and dips to start off the meal. Crunchy corn chips were a fabulous way to wait for our food to arrive. Then our appetizer of nacho chips and tamales arrived. The nachos were served with the usual beans, jalepeno peppers, melted cheese, tomatoes and a small dish of guacomole. Their guacomole was so good. Even after the nachos were gone, we ordered an additional dish of guacomole and requested additional chips to polish it off.

Corn chips with dips

Nachos

The Tamales were something that J wanted, because she really enjoyed them from her previous visit. They are essentially corn based dough steamed in banana leaves. The four tamales served had different fillings, and I've really forgotten which is what. Take home message - it was a nice, hot, aromatic and savoury start to the meal.

Tamales

Tamales opened up

Next up was Pozole Rojo, which is a pork stew. Although fragrant and rich, it was incredible salty. So while I managed the meat and veggies, I was unable to touch much of the stock, despite my usual tendency to lick up every single drop of delicious broth given to me.

Pozole Rojo (Hearty Mexican Stew)

The Camarones Caribeños was a prawn dish cooked with lettuce, potatoes, mangoes and oranges. It was served alongside some Mexican rice and a bit of salsa. The prawns were sweet, and very well complemented by the fruits and veggies. The rice was aromatic, and we totally loved this dish.

Camarones Caribeños

Las Carnitas was basically pork confit served with warm corn tortillas. The pork was very nicely flavored, and was juicy despite looking dry. And what's Mexican without tortillas right? The flatbread made for a great vehicle to deliver those tasty morsels of pork into my mouth.

Las Carnitas (Little Meats)

For our Fajitas, we opted for grilled strips of skirt steak since we already have prawns, chicken and pork. It was cooked with onions, tomatoes and bell peppers, and more guacomole and tortillas. So between the two tortilla dishes, we had enough tortillas to go round the table of 5. The beef was juicy, and again, made for a very delicious bundle with the tortillas.

Beef Fajitas

Our final dish had a hilarious name. Divorced chicken. Chicken thigh cooked in leaves and served with two types of mole, rice, beans and corn tortillas. The tortillas here were different from the other two dishes, if I didn't remember wrongly. This dish slips my memory, so I guess it was an average dish.

Pollo Divorciado (Divorced Chicken)

We were all quite full by the end of these, and decided to just share one dessert. A chocolate Tamal. The same corn-based dough steamed in banana leaf, but made sweet instead of savoury. Chocolate flavoured Tamal topped with vanilla ice cream. It wasn't overly rich, and was a nice way of ending the meal.

Casa Latina Chocolate Tamal (House Special) 

The prices was indeed steep. Not something I'll be keen to try without another voucher. It was nice, but just not impressive enough for me to want to spend that kind of money on the food. Maybe the problem lies with me. I just have a greater preference for other kinds of cuisines. The service staff were friendly and helpful, something which I really appreciate. Maybe one day if I get a Mexican food request (I occasionally gets requests for 'exotic food' from a certain friend of mine's birthday celebrations), I may just bring whoever it is back here.


Casa Latina
01-09 Village Hotel Albert Court,180 Albert Street
Singapore 189971
Email: info@casalatina.com.sg
Tel: 6884 6929
Fax: 6884 6930

Tamoya (Chinatown Point)

It was one of those nights I had no dinner plans. So I asked XP if he's having dinner before going home. He said yes, and we're both done with our work, so we packed our bags and decided to go elsewhere for dinner. We are really bored of food near our workplace. Then I suggested Tamoya, because I've seen their posters a few times in Chinatown Point. I love udon but Lynn dislikes it - she's more of a soba girl, so she doesn't want to entertain me. So XP agreed to go with me.

Tamoya turns out to be an Ikea-type udon restaurant. In the sense that you place your order for udon, pick up a selection of sides if you wish, collect your food, make payment for your food and help yourself to the condiments and plain water. All self-serviced. The condiments available were the standard wakame, grated radish, green onions, fried garlic, tempura crumbs etc. All very Japanese. Then, in the midst of all these Japanese condiments, you see sliced chilli padi. I was super cracked up. Kept laughing. That's SO Singaporean and NOT Japanese at all!

We discovered the noodle portion for 'small' is really quite small, so for average to big eaters, you may consider the 'large' portion. I enjoyed my beef udon - tender beef, chewy udon in the flavorful broth. The broth is refillable if you find your noodles soaking up the liquid too fast.

Beef Udon

I found the tempura a little on the the greasy side, but still ok. Again the dipping sauce is refillable, but not like I'm going to drink dipping sauces so that wasn't an important point.

Mixed vegetable tempura (foreground), grilled asparagus (background)

I forgot to take photo of XP's curry udon until he had already mixed it, so pardon me for the messy photo. He liked it as well, but it look a tad dry to me.

Curry Udon

After eating, you then help clear the tables and put the trays at the tray return point. All very self-serviced. I actually quite liked it, only found the portion too small. Next time I may order the large noodle and pick a few more sides.

Tamoya

133 New bridge road
Chinatown point SC

B1#48-49