Casa Vostra, Jem

Casa Vostra has opened an outpost at Jem (#01-03 Jem, 50 Jurong Gateway Road) and it appears to have inherited the queue which is equally crazy as the original spot at Raffles City. We got there 15 minutes before opening and ended up spending about an hour in that queue.

There were some things on the menu that were only available here though.

Like their polpette alla fonduta featuring fried meatballs in Taleggio fondue. Great stinky cheese which we enjoyed - couldn't tell what meat the meatballs were made of after that though.

Aglio e olio's nice. It looked a lot spicer than it tasted because of red came from sun dried tomatoes. The one thing that this rendition differed from other aglio olio was the lack of garlic.

Pizza only available in this outpost included the 5 formaggi e pear. Found this very easy to like. I thought it needed a bit more of that pear compote for a more pronounced counter sweetness but I'm not complaining.

Another pizza only available here was their Amalfitana that's basically the seafood pie. Prawns, squid and clams. There was an option to top up extra prawns which we did. Profile's light tomato tanginess with clean thalassic flavour. Nice. Wish there were more clams though.

Just needed to end this with the triple espresso tonic after all the food.

Pistachio and Mortadella pizza from Lucca's Trattoria

We were at Lucca's Trattoria recently and came across a pistachio and Mortadella pizza with burrata. There was creamy rich with saltiness from the cheese and ham; that paired with the nuttiness from the pistachio paste and toasty crushed pistachio. Nice. 👍🏼

Pici, Cadogan Street, Kennedy Town

Have been wanting to try Pici. Came across one of their branches at Kennedy Town (G/F, Hang Yu Building, 45-55 Cadogan Street, Kennedy Town, Hong Kong) this trip and we made it happen. 

There was white asparagus on their seasonal menu that came with shaven black truffles and truffle egg mayo. Asparaguses they served were kinda underwhelming thin. Not something we'd get again if the opportunity presented itself.

Their pici with truffle and parma ham was delicious. Great bite on the pasta and the flavour from the truffle cream sauce was nicely done and didn't spring the hidden surfeit knife onto us.

Got ourselves another plate of pici in the form of their cacio e pepe. Can you see what's not right with it?

Anyways, I helped myself using their pepper mill and made it better. Nice creamy cheese. We scraped the plate clean.

Tried their seasonal sweet potato tiramisu.

Nice. Flavouring's good. There's bits of sweet potato in the cream as well.

Holland Bar L'Operetta, Lorong Mambong

Pizzeria L'Operetta shuttered at Icon Village and re-opened as Holland Bar L'Operetta (23 Lorong Mambong) in Holland Village. I remember them doing Neapolitan pizza styled pizza in the past but it did not look like those today. Something's changed.

Meatballs were nice. Coarse ground meat with some beefy flavour.

Pasta's not great. The fettuccine with lamb ragu had a red wine-ish sauce that wasn't exactly lamb-y with meat that was lean and somewhat stringy. Frutti di mare was...boring.

So the pizzas don't look Neapolitan nor taste that way. Crust wasn't puffy and the "leopard spots" were kinda missing. Toppings were decent but that quattro formaggi needs more blue cheese. With the 1 for 1 offer they have at lunch, I couldn't complain. Wouldn't look forward to paying the full price for these.

PST (Pizza Studio Tamaki), Tanjong Pagar Road

Pizza Studio Tamaki (38 Tanjong Pagar Road, tel : +65 8072 9512) is apparently a name in Tokyo known for their Japanese Neapolitan pizza. Never knew of them until recent months when the usual social media machinations cranked their gears for the hype train.

They have their fluff. Gemini mentions numerous accolades, including multiple listings on the Michelin Guide Japan's Bib Gourmand list in 2022 and 2023, four consecutive years on the Michelin Guide Japan list, and multiple wins in the 50 Top Pizza World and 50 Top Pizza Asia-Pacific awards as of 2024. And then, there's also their unique blend of flour, 30 hours aged dough and blah blah......

What's also alluded was that the chef behind it, Tsubasa Tamaki, was mentor to Eddie Murakami of Beyond The Dough, another Japanese Neapolitan joint that set up shop not that long ago here. Word out was that it was hard to get a table, but we managed a walk in.  

We were served complimentary cold potato onion soup.

Meatballs were not bad. Love the grind and that these weren't overly soft, draped with a fresh tasting tangy tomato sauce.

Our first pizza was their seasonal tomato kakigori pizza. That's right, kakigori and pizza. Never had them together before. This was awesome.

We were guided to spoon in the kakigori with basil, followed by a squeeze of lemon and a drizzle of olive oil. By slice. Flavour from the kakigori was intense tomato which formed a chilled layer over the warm cheesy pizza profiled with basil and olive oil. Like they also said, great for our weather. Nice! 👍🏼  

The other pizza we got was their Diavola. Did not look like how we imagined. Not spicy as well. But the olives and sausage flavoured it nicely.

Vanilla ice cream with olive oil.

They obliged our request for more olive oil. Nice. 

Espresso here was intense and bitter.

Casa Vostra ending Year One

It's been about a year since Casa Vostra opened. Time sure flew by. The queue is still around. Some new stuff have come up on their menu.

Like braised beef cheeks flavoured with rosemary and pepper. Not bad tasting but wore its welcome quickly.

First year anniversary pizza featuring their wagyu bresaola. I was thinking that maybe more bresaola would be nice but after going through it, I was impressed by how much of the flavour came through with those slices.

Ravioli alla zucca was also new I think. Mini raviolis filled with pumpkin puree. We were tasting a lot of cheese and butter in this and lesser of the pumpkin. Not bad.

Today, we learnt that the menu allows an additional shot of espresso for their double shot espresso tonic. Nice.

Beyond The Dough, Arab Street

Gemini has a pretty concise summary about Beyond The Dough (150 Arab Street, tel : +65 8679 1788). Tokyo-Neapolitan known for its 30-hour fermented dough and wood-fired pizzas run by Eddie Murakami that was formerly trained at Tokyo's award-winning pizzerias. Imported Japanese flour and Okinawan salt, baked in a 500-degree oven for a crisp, chewy crust and I think the picture is kinda formed.

Came across a summary from a trash publication claiming that it's been touted by many as one of Singapore's best pizza restaurants. Really? Who? How many? Based on what kind of evidence or study or fabrication? End of rhetorics.

I also heard it's not easy to get a table.

Maybe it's less difficult these days or perhaps, we just got lucky.

One of these was Tokyo Beyond's Squash which was described as Japanese citrus shikuwasa and soda and the other's Urban Chill which was Taiwanese jasmine tea with crush pine and soda. I don't know which was which 😂 but if I had to guess the former's green and the latter's orange.🤔

Pork meatball slow cooked in tomato sauce.

Sauce was unexpectedly not very tomato-y. Maybe no tomato puree. Meatballs were pretty tender. Not bad tasting but I wouldn't get them again.

This was Not Your Ordinary Fried Chicken. Name of the fried chicken described itself. Nice crisp with really moist interior, gentle with the rosemary and adequately salted for flavour in all its tenderness. Not karaage here. I liked this one.

Tried a signature called Singapore Rampage. Topped with a house made tomato sauce which they claim uses over a 100 prawns. I don't even know what that means with no context on the quantities, but it's a sauce that's gentle with the prawniness. My thoughts on this was that it's not bad but Casa Vostra has sometime similar and less expensive.

Smoked Margherita which featured smoked mozzarella. Nice pizza (burnt parts aside) with good tasting ingredients and lovely crust. But I had to try, just to even discern the really gentle smokiness. First and last here.

Tiramisu's not bad. Savoiardi's nicely soaked too.