Pesto pizza from Casa Vostra @ Raffles City

Pesto pizza from Casa Vostra this time. I liked this. Creamy pesto with stracciatella and saltiness from the Parmigiano Reggiano to round it up. Not to mention the aroma from the pine nuts. Those yellow tomatoes tasted fruity.

Tutto, Jewel

Dinner at Tutto (#02-246/247 Jewel, 78 Airport Boulevard, tel : +65 6035 7880) by Da Paolo.

Calamari's a little hard. Kinda disappointingly mundane considering that these guys (meaning the Da Paolo Group) have been in the business of restaurants for ages and a pedestrian rendition of a common starter was all they could manage. Lemon aioli's not bad though.

What we thought was memorable was their limone e stracciatella - spaghetti with stracciatella, Pecorino Romano and lemon zest. Pasta was creamy, cheesy, lemon-y and light at the same time. Only available at Jewel.

Quite impressed by their pizza cotto e funghi - the simplicity of it brought out the flavours from the ingredients which were the ham, mushrooms and tomato sauce. Like that their sauce wasn't tart.

Our pizza had a broken blister like a popped pimple. 😬

Burrata gelato with chilli - I liked the creamy spicy combination.

Pazonia Italian Street Food, Amoy Street

Pazonia Italian Street Food (49 Amoy Street) has been mentioned a bit in the chatters lately. Mostly about their panuozzo. We walked past them on the way to Sodeng recently and I kinda decided that I wanted to check them out and made a mental note to come back.

I liked their burrata & Parma Ham panuozzo. Got this with extra balsamic glaze.

Burrata was chilled with creamy oozy innards of stracciatella like a luxuriant frosting over the salty Parma ham and peppery rockets. Not bad pizza bread. Gripes? Not tasting any of the pesto or olive oil they claim to be in there. That usually means it's either not enough or not good enough.

Their carbonara was "alla Romana". Just enough of the emulsified egg and cheese coating al dente rigatoni. Nicely done but could be improved with better quality black pepper. Love those chunks of salty/fatty/porky guanciale in there.

Buko Nero, Tanjong Pagar Road

The first time I ate at Buko Nero (126 Tanjong Pagar Road) was a lifetime ago. Back then, there weren't reservation platforms and we had to call and...accept the fact that the restaurant will only talk to you when they deemed fit to do so. And after you've gotten through the reservation, you'd still have to wait for something like a month before you get your table.

They also used to not allow photography. That seemed to be no longer the case. Maybe at some point along the way, they came to the realisation that the world around them is better postured sell their food better than they could ever.

Mood of the restaurant did not feel like it has changed from the impression that was left in me 19 years back. It has that bit of uppity vibe without actually being uppity. In fairness, I need to state that the server was friendly and earnest. To also get something off the chest, it was a little uncomfortable to say the least, having the proprietors hawk over you from the counter while you were trying to eat/have a conversation.

Don't know if I remembered the amuse bouche correctly. Left was halibut on cucumber with apple and edible cornflower. Tasted like tuna mayo. Right was baccala in a little tart shell - this one's nice. Baccala's totally pureed and creamy.

Bread came in the form of spicy breadsticks and focaccia with sweet peppers. It's $4 if you want another serving.

Not bad tasting burrata with momotaro & strawberry salsa. Kinda expensive.

Tried their homemade tagliolini spicy engawa & basil ragu because...engawa. Didn't taste like much in the tomato sauce and I should have anticipated that but for some reasons, the aburi-ed version kept popping up in my head while making the decision to order it. Didn't taste bad but I thought it costed too much at $36.

This was product picture of their wagyu beef cheek red wine & cherries jus that got me sold into ordering it. I mean...that red wine & cherries jus sounded/looked good right?

Here's where I again, ask if there should be a law against deliberate misrepresentation of product? I feel that there should.

$46 and probably 3 spoonfuls of cheek meat. Not bad tasting but I'm kinda put off by the fact that I paid so much for so little.

Francobolli, Wisma Cosway, Kuala Lumpur

A hole-in-the-wall-ish fresh pasta shop sequestered in the 2nd floor of Wisma Cosway (Lot 1.25 Wisma Cosway, 88 Jalan Raja Chulan, Bukit Bintang, 50200 Kuala Lumpur). Open only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 11am.

Menu and seating space are limited. The former has only a few pastas and the latter fills up pretty fast after they open.

The one with garlic, olive oil and anchovy butter was kickass. Great linguine texture that had a good bite slicked with a gritty garlicky umami. 👍🏼 

Nicely done rigatoni cacio e pepe. Great texture as well with adequate cheese and pepper. What's more impressive was that I could also taste fruitiness from the olive oil in it.

Pizza Gorgonzola e salsiccia and honeyed baked Scamorza from Casa Vostra @ Raffles City

Back at Casa Vostra. Not bad tasting Gorgonzola e salsiccia pizza except for the Gorgonzola. I'm not even sure I could taste it. A bit disappointing I'd admit. As far as the taste went, this was just a sausage and onion pizza - a decent one at that.

Tried their baked scamorza cheese. Kind liked it. Chewy, salty and smoky with a light sweetness from honey. There's also a bit of spice from black pepper and I seem to recall tasting parsley.

Revisiting Cenzo

We finally made it back to Cenzo.

Sparkling water is a couple of bucks and bottomless.

Wagyu tartar cannoli wasn't memorable. Wouldn't have known it was wagyu if the menu hadn't mentioned.

The lardo tigelle with truffle honey which we liked from the last time has become garlic bread whipped lardo burnt honey. This one was nice...cheesy, savoury and tinged with sweetness. But I couldn't shake the feeling that the tigelle was nicer. 😅

There's a lot of pistachio stuff going around lately. Most of them are second rate. I'm also being kind by just labelling them second rate because the honest description would conceivably be 'con job'. Not this gramigna with pistachio pesto though. It's not just nuttiness in the pesto, it's pistachio specific nuttiness here. With actual crushed nuts. Enriched by burrata.

What I had been looking forward to was their lambchetta. You read that right.

This was awesome. Serious crackling cushioned by a layer of flavourful lamb-y fat over meat. That and its unique blend of bite, greasiness and crunch. Why so? It doesn't have the same mouthfeel as regular porchetta because of the size. Pretty rich and heart clogging. 👍🏼

Tiramisu to end.

Revisiting Pizza Studio Tamaki

Been meaning to come back to PST for a while.

Today's soup is mushroom. They're also not chilled like the previous time. Flavour's pretty intense. 👍🏼

Menu mentioned spinach with marinade anchovies, red chicory and pine nuts. I was imagining baby spinach and slivers of anchovies but it's stir fried Chinese spinach I think and the anchovies have kinda melted into it. Pretty umami. Also, the salad's chilled. Actually kinda nice for the weather.

Ended up with a couple of their monthly special pizzas.

This, their Tokyo Odyssey: Singapore Edition, is I quote "Crafted exclusively for our first international home, this pizza blends the spirit of Tokyo with flavors made to celebrate Singapore’s vibrant food culture." It's nice but I couldn't reconcile the name, the theme and the flavour. If you asked me, this tasted much like tom kha gai. I like it but I don't feel the Singapore in it. 😂

One has got to love kani miso to enjoy their zuwaigani miso pizza. While the crab miso bechamel was understandably not as intense as regular kani miso, it's definitely there. Pretty good tasting also with a squeeze of lemon.

Their house made tiramisu's nice and well soaked inside.

Some eats from Casa Vostra during the new year

Back at Casa Vostra in Raffles City. 

Agnolotti all'anatra in brodo - duck filled agnolotti in a duck consommé. The minced duck in the pasta was delicately textured but pretty packed with flavour. The broth, for the lack of a better word, was duck-y but also lightweight at the same time.  

Nicely done broccolini. Great pairing with that creamy/cheesy sauce on the plate.

That's their pizza prosciutto e fichi which featured prosciutto di Parma, fig puree, walnuts and rocket with shaven Parmigiano Reggiano. Fig puree tasted like honey.

Dark chocolate gelato's not bad.

Rather liked their strawberry lemonade. Granted I was pretty thirsty then.