All posts tagged: Italian

Fried Olive Wild Rice @ Clover 8

Clover 8 Bistro Vegetarian & Vegan Dining by Miaoyi @ Kallang Leisure Park

I was so excited to visit Clover 8 last weekend, 7 days after this vegetarian & vegan restaurant at Kallang Leisure Park. Clover 8 serves Thailand, Vietnamese and Italian cuisines and also hand made vegetarian dim sum by Hong Kong Chef. Overall, within Kallang Leisure Park, Clover 8 is relatively affordable. We prefer their Asian dishes to their Western dishes. For starters, we tried their: Glutinous rice in Lotus Leaf ($4.80) – nice without being too oily! Deep Fried Cashew “Cheese” Ball ($5.80) – unhealthy but glad that there is a vegan cheese option! Toasted Ravioli ($5.80) – Don’t recommend this dish as the it was relatively tasteless and very oily! Olive Fried Wild Rice ($5.80) – One of their signature dishes and healthier option to white rice. Love the vegetarian crispy floss! Vietnam Hot and Sour Soup ($5) – Looks innocent but quite lethally hot! Pad Thai ($5.80) – Good value and decent taste for that price in a mall setting. Nasi Lemak ($5.80) – I enjoyed this dish. The mock fried fish and chilli made it …

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) …

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.

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 …

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. …

Vino di Zanotti Italian Food @ Khaoyai, Thailand

I am so excited to write this post because Vino di Zanotti @ Khaoyai is easily one of the best Italian meals I ever had! Vino Khaoyai is opened by the main Zanotti Group, which has a few restaurants throughout Thailand focused on fine dining and quality Italian products. Vino is just opposite Palio, so it’s relatively easy to find. Vino has alfresco seats which are perfect for cool evenings in Khaoyai, and has a live jazz band playing in evenings as well. So my tip is to go for dinner (rather than lunch) so you can sit outdoors and enjoy the music and occasional breeze. So, first up, the most creamy amazingggggggg appetizer – Burrata Cheese!! (Tip: this is not on their usual menus, so ask if they have it as a ‘special’!) Firstly, the presentation already tantalizes one’s taste buds. With the vinaigrette and cherry tomatoes, this dish looks like a dessert! Secondly,  this is a huge serving of Burrata. In Singapore, the bigger ones I have had at Brunos is probably only half of this serving, and at …

The Side of Thailand More People Should See

Having worked and lived in Bangkok for a short period of time from 2009-2010, I had the privilege of exploring some of the interesting sites around Bangkok such as Ampawa and Ayutthaya. Among them, Khao Yai left the deepest impression because of the 13 degreesC night (yup, you read it right – it does get so cool especially from Nov-Jan at night), which is very rare cool weather in this part of the world near the equator. I also recalled European looking architecture with vineyards so Khaoyai is a short getaway to feel far from our Asian roots. So when we had a chance 3 weeks ago to plan a short trip over the long weekend, I decided to re-visit Khaoyai and also introduce N to this beautiful province of Thailand. Khaoyai is a beautiful mountaineous province, 2.5 hours drive from Bangkok, and is a popular short weekend getaway spot among Bangkok city folks to switch gears over a slow weekend. For me, I hardly repeat my eating and travel spots as I want to …