Ristorante Colline Emiliane, Via degli Avignonesi 22, Rome

Colline Emiliane (Via degli Avignonesi 22, Rome, tel : +39 06 481 7538) is a small and cosy family run restaurant just parallel to the main street where Piazza Barberini is. The location of this atmospherically warm trattoria was seemingly very near a popular spot, yet off the beaten road. Reservations are highly recommended if one does not wish to be turned away from this small capacity venue that seems to be known and appreciated by both locals and foreigners alike.

We had a shared Culatello di Zibello which was a prosciutto cured in red wine. Zibello as I've discovered is a province of Parma. The curing was apparently done in house for 14 days and is supposed to impart the flavour of the wine into the meat. I said 'supposed' because I couldn't really taste any of that red wine flavor (not a universal opinion on that apparently) in the meat, but instead had gotten a fragrant and almost char like aroma around the edges of the thinly sliced prosciutto. Very tasty ham there.

One of the recommended items from Colline Emiliane was their tortellini di zucca. These dumplings looked and tasted home made. For for some strange reasons, there was a certain sweetness which I couldn't associate with pumpkins in the filling. It reminded me strongly of lemon cakes which totally threw me off the flavour train.

Their tagliatelle alla bolognese was hands down the most memorable bolognese pasta I've had. Ever. What I liked about the ragu was the minimal amount of tomatoes that were used. The robustness of the flavour were bolstered mostly by red wine and meat. There's more. Those home made tagliatelle were done al dente and were so springy that the only word I could think of to describe their amazing textures was 'lively'. This item as simple as it was is definitely good for returns.

There was also a fegato alla veneta which was both robust and rich in flavour of the liver, balanced off by the sweetness of the onions and the tart of vinegar. Great stuff.

We ordered a baked dish of fresh ceps with Taleggio cheese because the mushrooms were in season. The mushrooms were very good.

Dessert was a lemon meringue tart which we had ordered because almost every other table was having one. I'm normally more than wary of meringues because the local renditions are more often than not, excessively sugared. This one had a pleasant moderated sweetness which paired off nicely with their lemon curd.

Am marking this place for returns. Service was excellent, prices very reasonable and the food was delicious in a down to earth manner without frills.

Pastificio, Via Della Croce, Rome

sitting on a bench in Piazza di Spagna

The catch that was Pastificio (Via Della Croce, 8, Rome) was that it was actually located a minute walk away from the Spanish Steps right in the midst of a touristy and pricey shopping district. What was the the big deal about that?  Lunch for €4 and that landed one a heaping plate of freshly made and cooked pasta with a packet of plastic cutlery & napkin and a plastic cup for self serviced water or wine!

The place, generically named....or unnamed makes and sells fresh pasta. At lunch, they serve an hour's worth of their freshly cooked goods on trays with two flavors of the day from 1 p.m. We reached the shop 10 minutes before 1 and a short queue was already forming up to the road on the outside. Early birds got to slot themselves into a corner of the shop with a stool while others have to eat outside or move elsewhere.

What we got today were tender and substantial gnocchi al pomodoro and what I understood to be their pasta alla Grica. Springy thick noodles with olive oil, black pepper, Percorino Romano and something awesomely flavorful of lard which I had assume to be fried bacon or guanciale.

No questions as to whether I'll attempt this again if I'm ever in the vicinity during lunchtime.

Our first pizza al taglio in Rome

Pizza al taglio simply means pizza by slices and a large number of pizzerias in Rome sell them this way rather than having the entire pizza purchased. One can generally indicate the portions of the solid crusty slices and/or topping varieties before they are cut out and weighed to be sold in that manner. I do not remember the name of this particular shop, but it was located somewhere within a minute or two of walking from Via Modena. A bianca styled sausage, cheese and potatoes made for comfort eating while the other was a little zesty with the bite of rockets and the spice of salami. 

The scenario was that we were hungry, looking for a quick bite and these pies tasted pretty damned good.

A breakfast omelette from Paul at Dubai International Airport

Yes, I've never been able to make myself join the horrendous queue back home for them. Since the queue here in the wee hours of the morning wasn't half as bad, I thought it would be a chance to see what they're about aside from the obvious pastries. What I didn't expect was that the omelette that they served came in a pretty big portion. Alongside the salad, made a rather hearty and also healthy tasting (ok, there was some cheese in there too) breakfast while waiting in transit.

Bangkok Jam, Great World City

I've been wondering if the 'jam' part of the name in Bangkok Jam (1 Kim Seng Promenade, #02-26 Great World City, tel : +65 67324523) referred to the playing of music or was it just pointing to the infamous traffic jams in Bangkok. Maybe it was neither. Perhaps it was just an unlikely commemorative to the delicious fruit relishes and preserves one uses on bread.

Anyway, these guys do Thai food.  Albeit on a more refined level that one commonly finds in the streets of Bangkok.

Their pomelo salad with shrimps a.k.a. yum som o was good. The flavours of saltiness, sweet, spicy and sour created a refreshing taste with citrus coupled with very nice textural contrast from the chunky segments of the fruit, cashew nuts and what looked like tiny crispy shrimps. This alone would make me come back again.

Lemongrass prawn cakes were pretty decent. What it doesn't say is that there are kernels of corn in those prawn cakes and there wasn't any lemongrass flavour I could detect. The only "lemongrassiness" were the stalks of lemongrass that were made into handles for the prawn cakes.

No real complains about the fried chicken wings here but I thought that the split mid wings were done better at Greyhound Cafe. These ones here were strangely accompanied with dried chilli which seemed to be on the plate for only presentation purposes?

Here's a serving of a phad kra prow gai. This tasted a lot more refined (think savoury chicken basil Bolognese sans tomato) and less spicy than the one I've had once in Geylang. What I meant by spicy was a lip numbing burn that sent prickling sensations all over my perspiring scalp.

Bangkok Jam's tom khai gai was nothing like what I had expected. The rendition here was heavy on the coconut milk and mild on the sour and spicy flavours. I could have described this to be a savoury version of bubor charchar with pieces of chicken inside.

Dessert was steamed tapioca with syrup and coconut milk. We ordered this because the restaurant had run out of khao neow mamuang. In retrospect, this wasn't bad. The dessert wasn't as heavy as I had feared and  the chunks of tapioca were suitably sweeten and tender that it reminded me of sweet potatoes.

I am determined to come back again to try their mango sticky rice though.

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar, Upper Thomson Road

wild mushroom

I noticed this place (215R Upper Thomson Road, tel : +65 6456 1555) some weeks back and did a little reading online about them. So they're Australian, from Sydney and are apparently quite popular there for quality pizza. Being Australian, their options had influences of the Mediterranean and Asia. Nothing surprising about that.

What I did like about their pizzas were the both the quantity and type of ingredients that were used for their toppings. The mushroom one was filled with a load of chopped fresh mushrooms, some fibrous asparagus and pine nuts; the latter which was lost in translation for me. The added truffle oil was really but a hint. Morrocan lamb pizza was enjoyable with the mint yoghurt but the baby spinach were also lost in the pie. 

We ordered a neutral sounding sausage duo topping which had initially appeared to be rather mundane. I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet the strips of red peppers were.

I wouldn't mind coming back again.

Moroccan lamb

sausage duo