Forno di Fernando, Trio

Came across news recently that Fernando's Pizza at Trio, which I had previously thought closed down, has pulled a phoenix from the ashes and become Zazz Pizza 2.0. Well, it's Forno di Fernando (#01-09 Trio Mall, 1 Sam Leong Road, tel : +65 8228 8480) actually and it's the spiritual successor of Zazz Pizza which Fernando's New York Slices/Fernando's Pizza wasn't.

If any one was confused here, the chief pizza architect here's Hiran Fernando. We've been having his pizzas from back at Zazz Pizza when it was at Short Street until it moved to Cross Street Exchange before Fernando's Pizza came about. This new Forno di Fernando felt much like an incarnation of Zazz Pizza which we missed.

Menu's not exactly the same as Zazz though the Neapolitan styled pies are back. 

Tried a couple of their limited time specials (going for $25 each) which included this Cheese Platter Pizza made with 6 cheeses (Mozzarella, Taleggio, smoked Scamorza, Fontina, Gorgonzola according to the menu). That included shards of Parmesan crisps, drizzle of pistachio sauce and walnuts.

Pretty cheesy pie but I thought a balance here might have been lacking without an acid like baslamic vinegar. Also not getting much pistachio flavour from the sauce beyond some sweetness.

The other special was the Fernando's Curry Crab pizza featuring curried crab meat, curry leaves, stracciatella and some coriander cream amongst a few other things. Nice. For a moment I forgot this was pizza. Flavour from the coriander cream and curry leaves were familiar and paired unexpectedly well with the stracciatella. Liked this more than the Cheese Platter pie.

The hot honey and powdered cheese on the table helps with the cornicione. These didn't seem to be as easy to eat as those back in the days of Zazz. Something about the crust has changed. 🤔

Panna cotta needed more passionfruit sauce.

Not a fan of their pistachio affogato. This wasn't anything like the regular variety. There was a lot of ice cream and only 1 shot of espresso which I felt was inadequate.

JrPizzeria, Alkaff Crescent

Caught wind of JrPizzeria (115C Alkaff Crescent, tel : +65 8731 8840) and thought they sounded promising.

Had a bresaola pizza. Looked different from the menu. I thought it needed more bresaola because it was the one thing that I couldn't quite taste properly in the pizza. In short, inadequate. Every other ingredient had made itself known. 

That being said, their vaunted sourdough crust was also little more dense at the cornicione than I liked.

Tried their pineapple pizza which was basically a take on a Hawaiian. Got this with their cheese snow.

I'm really not getting much cheese flavour outta that cheese snow. Otherwise it's a pretty decent Hawaiian with thin sliced pineapples instead of the little chunks of canned variety that most other similar pizzas use.

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.

bad habits., Orchard Central

I heard about bad habits. and their New York slices previously when they were only located at Mohammad Sultan. They've now set up shop at Somerset (#01-16 Orchard Central, 181 Orchard Road, tel : +65 8066 6316).

Tried a couple of slices. Above's their limited time corned beef with capers and whole grain mustard.

This was triple cheese featuring both fior di latte and buffalo mozzarella with 24 months Parmigiano Reggiano

Both featured much thinner crust than I was expecting for New York style slices. They were delicious though without being heavy. Kinda pricey.

Revisiting John's Pizzeria & Bakery

 

Been years since we've last eaten at John's Pizzeria. The menu has gotten more variety over those years. Maybe it's because of the re-runs of POI but the John that popped up in my head was a very different John who might own the joint. The one I see is Mr Reese. 😂 Anyways......

House lemonade. Pretty sour. Not fantastic.

That's their NY styled sourdough cheeseburger pizza. I had initially thought that their burger sauce on top of the pie was mustard but it turned out to be a "Big Mac sauce" with dill. Not bad. Crust has improved since the last time we've had them. Wished that there was more ground beef with what they're charging but it was what it was.

They do Detroit style as well apparently. This was burrata, hot honey and pepperoni. Also not bad. Crust was nicely crispy on the edges and cheesy. The toppings here were more standard variety as compared to Artichoke which to their form tends to be more exotic cross cultural.

This was a much better pizza experience compared to the first time we've had them.

Yeastside, Somerset

Been wanting to come to Yeastside (#01-02, 10A Exeter Road) since their first setup at King Albert Park. Yes it's been that long.

Their Caulihummus was delicious. Roasted/torched cauliflower on hummus with pomegranate flavoured with cumin and honey. 

Liked their Foursome With Honey pizza - there's fior di latte, cheddar, parmesan and blue cheese. Don't know which kind of blue cheese it was but it was adequate and that much cannot be said of many pizzas that claim to have them.

Crust's not bad, but the cornicione didn't seem to be as good (combination of chew, puffiness and aroma) as what one can get from Casa Vostra or the defunct Zazz Pizza.

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.

Artichoke, New Bahru

It's been some years since we last ate at Artichoke (#01-02 New Bahru, 46 Kim Yam Road, tel : +65 8092 4210) and that was back in the old premise at Middle Road.

They've shifted to New Bahru since and it's become a sort of pizza place with traces of their "least-Middle-Eastern Middle Eastern restaurant" still in the menu.

Got myself a craft cherry cola which was basically cherry flavoured tonic water with some spices that reminded me of the masala mix used in teas.

Love their green & gold kiwi starter which featured feta, pecorino, spearmint, black pepper and honey. A large part of it was the sweet fruitiness from the kiwis, milky saltiness from the cheese and a breath of freshness from the mint leaves. I like this a lot. 👍🏼

There's ox tongue in Marsala sauce with crinkle cut fries chips. Not a fan of the chicken salt in the fries. Tongue was nice but didn't think much of the Marsala sauce which came across as pretty generic tasting brown sauce.

The thing I was looking forward to most was their pizza - something I've heard described as Detroit styled with thick, airy, focaccia-like crust and crispy caramelized cheese edges. This was a platter featuring the 4 available toppings in the menu. Clockwise from top left

• Beef pepperoni - has hot honey and pickled peppers which had a bit of heat. Spicy, sweet and sour.
• Sunny slice - featured a refreshing mix of Halloumi, roasted fennel, kumquat, pistachio, arugula. Those kumquats tasted like sour plum. Not bad.
• Dirty margherita - just margherita.
• Bacon apple pie - with pancetta, brie, rosemary and hazelnut. Pretty relieved that the rosemary wasn't overpowering. This one reminded me of Christmas/apple pie. Nice aroma from the hazelnut.

More food from rumeL

rumeL has updated their menu. There's a Parma ham and arugula pizza now. Would have been nice if they spread the ham rather than fold them up onto each slice.

Freshly cooked pasta's available too. Their aglio olio didn't taste like what I thought it would. Not getting any olive oil flavouring in there. Also quite unlike the Italian and local western food stall renditions. The noodles also appear suspiciously like a thicker mee kia. Not bad tasting though.

Mushroom soup's nice. It's the blended variety and it's pretty tasty.

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.

10" Meat Lovers from rumeL

First time getting the 10" from rumeL. This one was the Meat Lover that came with their bolognese, chicken and ham with mustard. Serviceable toppings if I may say so. It was the puffy chewy sourdough crust that kept us coming back.

Mushroom pizza and teh from rumeL

The pizzas from rumeL are pretty good eating largely because of their puffy Neapolitan-esque crust. Tried the one with mushrooms recently and I liked it. Think it's just cheese and mushrooms. The teh's decent. It might not be as strong or creamy as the ones from Toast Box nearby but it's also cheaper.

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.