Modesto's @ Orchard Parade Hotel

We ate once before a few years back at the Modesto's at Vivocity. I'd even forgotten about it until Jian mentioned is whilst we were deciding where to eat, as we actually wanted to eat at Esmirada, but couldn't get a table. I cannot remember what we ate, but he said it was some pizza with scamorza or something or the other.

Anyway, we were seated inside. Now, inside is a far cry from outside. Outside (al fresco) is very casual & a bit haphazard & is really more for people-watching & having a beer or something, but inside is quiet, grand & makes me feel like I'm in a fine dining restaurant. It's great for dates. Hehe. Oh yar, we were on a date mah. Husband & wife dinner date is still a date, you know.


Bread with olive oil. Complimentary, I think? It was plonked on the table soon after we arrived.

Insalata Di Avocado ($16.50). Is yummy.

Penne Alfredo Con Funghi ($21). Don't know why shitake mushrooms & pasta would cost over $16, but oh well. It was nice enough so I guess I shouldn't complain. Well, I'll only complain about the price. I think the portion was quite substantial though. So maybe I won't complain. :9

Verdure Pizza ($19.50). Thin crusted pizza, yummy also. I think I've gone off pepper though, but it's not their fault there are peppers on it. I didn't know I'd gone off peppers yet. I wish there were more mushrooms & eggplant though.

We didn't order any drinks as the drinks didn't seem like such a good deal. Luckily so, as we were STUFFED by the end of the meal. We were actually already full by the time we finished the pasta.

This little stowaway came along to make sure we didn't eat any lamb.

Oh, I must emphasise on their service. All the staff maintain eye contact with you, I noticed. Everytime I said 'Thank you', they would stop, LOOK at you & say 'You're welcome'. At most other places, they just charge off, maybe with a cursory nod of the head or something. It DOES make a difference. Heh.

Da Mario Pizzeria @ Robertson Quay

Aaaaah Italian food. We have been wanting to try this place for a while now as it looks quite home style. We actually started with a beef carpaccio (Carpaccio di Manzo), but I do not have a picture of it. It was the beef on top of rocket leaves & shaved parmesan cheese, dressed with fresh lemon juice & olive oil.

Beef Lasagne. We had 2 helpings of this, as some of us liked it very much.

Paesana pizza. Tomato & cheese based pizza with porcini mushroom & parma ham. Ok, I kind of expected the mushroom to be blended & spread on the pizza, instead of medium-sized chunks. Smaller chunks spreads the mushroomy flavour around more evenly, I feel.


Golfo de Venere. This pizza is a white pizza, meaning there is no tomato sauce involved. It's got green olives, artichokes, crab meat & chili flakes in it. This pizza is stronger tasting than the previous one & the crabby flavour is very prominent. I don't know why they didn't halve the olives at least. One would think they would sit better on the pizza.

Mandarin sorbetto. This is the bomb! It tasted exactly like sweet mandarins! Even though we were all sharing the dessert, I know I ate most of this one. Heh.

Jian wanted me to take this picture. I forget why.

Tiramisu. Yummy too, but by the time I got round to it, I was stuffed with the mandarin sorbetto. A nice, yummy tiramisu, if I've ever had one.

Jian's double expresso.

The total bill came up to $155, including 3 beers, not forgettng the unphotographed beef carpaccio.

La Nona

Don't judge a book by it's cover. As in Don't judge a book by the wonderful looking menu and the nice tasting bread.

In general, La Nona was decent, but I would have much preferred to make my way back to La Braceria Pizza and Grill. I realized that most of the time reading reviews off of hungrygowhere may not bring you to a good restaurant. All taste buds are build differently I guess.


For an antipasto platter, I feel they need to work harder. This is a very normal platter that can be made at home. At least, they didn't need to be stingy with ingredients. I think Satellite can any day make a better platter than what you see here.

The pizza was not as delicious as La Braceria due to the lack of cheese. It wasn't as juicy and succulent; the sauce in general was weak.




I'm not a big fan of risotto, and am extremely picky when it comes to this dish because I don't really enjoy it in the first place. Most places do not get the doneness for the grains right. For me, what makes a good risotto is when the rice grain, although soft, will pop in your mouth when chewed. Secondly, the taste must be there, some risottos, you can just taste the cheese that is in the dish. You should be able to taste the infused main ingredients, i.e. mushrooms risotto, you should be able to taste the flavours of the mushroom, not only a hint of mushroom covered by the heavy creaminess of the cheese.

All in all I don't think I would go back there again. Too pricey for normal italian food.

Da Mario's not so Fantastic

60 Robertson Quay #01-10 The Quayside
Tel: 6235 7623

Recently went down to Da Mario's to see what all the rave is about since so many of my friends asked me to go down ...

My review ... it really is average.

We went there and it was full of people, service was a bit slow and I had to do the help my self stint to get my chilli flakes. I wouldn't say that they are overly attentive ... perhaps it was a busy night ... but when isn't it busy?

Antipasti:

Breaded Mozzarella Sticks - $10 - Deep fried breaded mozzarella sticks with arrabiata sauce. I don't think anyone can go wrong with this ... unless of course the restaurant served it with maybe ketchup or something ... but then of course I think some people who love ketchup would probably love the combination!

We also had the Carpaccio di Manzo - $19 - Thin slices of raw beef tenderloin on a bed of rocket salad seasoned with fresh lemon, extra virgin olive oil and Grana Pando cheese, shaved. I think it would have tasted a bit nicer if they had added some sea salt on it and perhaps some balsamic. Of course that is the way I prefer it!

On we go to our main course - of course I had to have the carbonara - $16 ... I didn't quite like it cause I prefer my cabonara's super rich and tasty, I think it makes a difference if you use cream cheese versus Parmigiano-Reggiano and Pecorino Romano.

We also ordered a Sole Mio Pizza - $22 - Tomato, Cheese, Rocket Salad, Parma Ham and Shaved Parmesan Cheese. We felt that the base of the pizza was way too soft ... The texture kind of tasted like it wasn't fully cooked yet, but when we looked around ... everyone's pizza was just as white! Could be the type of Flour they use or the technique they use to make the dough. But to be fair, they were extremely generous on their toppings! It felt more like a salad with bread, than a pizza.

Dun mind the pictures .. was way too hungry so had to eat first!

The Olive @ Genting Hotel

Ok ok ... maybe I am too picky ... but although the restaurant is good ... I wouldn't say it was fantastic, seeing that it is a signature award-winning restaurant!


The better looking image is from Jules eating guide! See the difference in photography!

Mind the pictures ... back then I was really trying to figure out how to use this phone ... but now I am just pure lazy to switch the settings around. My cousin says I should go for photography class! Hurhur ... what I really want is a professional digital camera ... anyone wanna buy for me ... the one I want ah ... is like a couple thousand dollars .... muahahahahahhahaha ... I'm waiting!!!!!

The only things I found good were, 1 the antipasto plate, 2 the mushroom soup, 3 the steaks (unfortunately, they forgot to give me good grade olive oil and balsamic to dip my t-bone steak in, although it didn't need it)

The rest liked the portobello mushrooms ... but I found the serving a bit pathetic!

I think Vikki ordered the pasta with clams ... she found it a bit on the tangy side cause they used a lemon tomato sauce type base ... but of course sometimes I feel it doesn't make a difference because Vik loves to use Tobasco sauce!

Miss Fang Tai had the Squid ink pasta, she found the pasta a bit over cooked ... but the sauce was yummy on the jalat side of things.

Daniel's Ribeye steak was nice also!

To be fair, I got to admit, by the time the pizza came, I was a bit too full and couldn't really taste the pizza ... if I had not pigged out so quickly, I think I would still be able to give a fair review of the pizza.... hahahaha

Gatsby Bar & Restaurant

Dis place is situated at Chijmes (courtyard dere) & was having 50% off everyfing except wines all nite. Now. 50% SHOOD be half off everyfing, rite? Cos it included main courses. But it's actualli 1 fer 1, wich is basicalli dat, if yew orda 2 meals, yew pay fer (de mo expensif) one. Wich is fine & dandy, but it's abit misleading la. BUT a place has gotta mek munni, sumhow, rite? Cood be a bit less misleading tho. BUT...... Deir bisness was boomin & deir regulas come back fer mo. So....... Oh.. we almost starved, waitin fer de food fer 45mins, as well.....

Jian's Meditarranean Seafood Platta ($28) in lemon butta tarragon sauce. Inside got clams, 1 (?)mussel, prawns, snappa & capsicum 7 onions. His sauce was quite tasty! I dunno why de 1 (ONE) mussel tho.... Toppd wif parmesan cheese & baked......

My Stewed Lambshank ($25). It was nowt bad. I wish it was softa tho... Twasn't tuff, twas ok..... Gravy was nice. Veges were abundant..... I woon mind comin back tho... onna WEEKDAY. Too many Ang Mohs on weekends. Gimme headache...... Totali bill was $60+, wif 2 drinks each. De wait staff know how to swirl de bottle of Erdinger towards de end, whilst pouring.... Laalaalaa....

food galore!

right.... after a long hiatus, i've finally returned to mark this space with a truckload of delicious FOOD photos ahoy! so here's the skinny as you folks feast your eyes on these wonderful, fantastic, fabulous, scrumptious, delicious...etc FOOD photos ahoy! first, i'll start off with the very, very much delayed post of valentine's day dinner at esmiralda's (or is it esmeralda's?) at orchard hotel. spanish food, y'all. this was yonks ago so i'm not gonna wax lyrical about the food. all in all, it was good. now all you hedonistic pleasure-seekers, salivate on this...

1st course - seafood bisque. rich, luxurious and bursting with flavours of the sea ahoy!

2nd course - anti-pasto platter. we found chorizo sausages (a few slices only. tasted surprisingly like lup cheong), crostinis with feta cheese, and of cos the usual suspects you would expect to find in an anti-pasto platter like marinated mushrooms, cocktail pearl onions, olives and roasted capsicums. nice.

main course - tenderloin steak platter for 2. we discovered juicy, tender tenderloins, roasted baby potatos and vegetables, and 3 types of sauces! if memory serves, i think they were champagne sauce (the brown one), salsa and creamed horseradish sauce.

desert was walnut cake with vanilla ice-cream. that was the only thing we didn't polish off entirely cos we were suffering from food coma already.

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is there anyone who doesn't like pizzas and pastas? i don't think so. Mama Lucia Ristorante Italiano at robertson walk features a huge selection of pizzas and pastas. the prices are great, they don't burn a hole in your pocket. nice and cosy lil joint. the food's alright and best of all, they provide complimentary bread and antipasti. so all you pizza chompers and spaghetti fiends, eat your greedy guts out over this...

bread with 3 kinds of antipasti - tuna, grilled eggplants and marintated onions.

beef carpaccio covered in parmesan shavings.

jian had the four seasons pizza which had mushrooms, eggplants, olives and artichokes.

eve had rigatoni with eggplants in spicy tomato sauce.

i had linguini with scampi in white wine sauce. although there really wasn't any sauce at all.

mama lucia is at #01-07 robertson walk, 11 unity street. tel: 6738-0242

watch the above space, y'all. there's more to come.

A Simple Dinna

Jian's folks ordrd pizza d nite before (Canadian 2-4-1... not furry tasty) so we had leftovas fer dinna yestaday. Jus pizza is BORING, so Jian whippd up a lil sumfing extra in d form of...

... roastd tomatos!!! D way he arranged it lewks lyk a face, eh? D 2 halfs wif d olives on top are toppd wif parmesan cheese.... D plain lewkin one is toppd wif d spiced gouda.... D spiced gouda one is nicer... Jian swears dat it tastes lyk meat... I'm nowt so sure abowt dat... Dey say dat tomatos are d oni (or one of d few) veges dat are mo nutritious AFTA being cookd... I dunno la... I jus hear peepul say oni...

Narh... D boring pizzas... Got 2 flavours... Can't fer d life of me tell wot flavours dey ar...

Mario's Pizza Bar and Restaurant

So one friday Satellite and I decided to try out Mario's Pizza Bar and Restaurant at Faber Drive over in Clementi!

Although the place was pretty much empty unlike it's neighbour the ever so popular Mexican restaurant Margarita's, the food was pretty much decent in size, actually it was huge!


I can say, the Caesar salad actually tasted better than the one at Mezza9 over at the Hyatt Hotel, because the bacon was crispy!

But as usual I am rarely all praises, so I found their Minestrone Soup lacking... it was the soup of the day! And their Ice Tea was sweet but tasted a bit funny. It's like a Sketche's type of deal, you pay for one Ice Tea and you get free flow.

The lasagna portion was exceptionally big, and was nice and cheesy, the sauce was good ... pretty much I would recommend this lasagna to anyone that has a hearty appetite.

As for Satellite's pasta, she enjoyed it, but I can't quite remember what type of pasta it was! But it seems to be an Aglio Olio from the looks of it.

I think we'd pretty much recommend this place. The cost of dinner there was $50, so it's average price for a restaurant I guess, but the portions are well worth it. Prices for beer are pretty reasonable, I think it's like $8 per beer or something.