The La Nonna pizza, scallop saffron risotto, misinterpreted bruschetta and mullings....from La Nonna

I've sometimes wondered what kept La Nonna in business all these years. Maybe it's their loyal customers. The food is passable. They're not bad tasting per se mostly but it also mostly wasn't memorable. 'Mostly' because I remember their squid ink and cinq formaggi pizzas with some fondness. The rest of the stuff I've had from before were things I didn't even deem worthy of a picture. Not to mention that service from their more veteran staff sometimes feels like attitude coming from somebody's crabby la nonna - 🤔..., maybe that's the reason why the name of the restaurant.💡 

I didn't think it was incorrect to interpret that their bruschetta would have a combined topping of what was described in the menu. Tomatoes, sautéed porcini, goat cheese and truffle paste.

This was what they served. Not that any of them was bad tasting but it was way more bread-y than I was expecting. Would not have gotten this if we had known.

That's the La Nonna pizza - their signature pizza. Topped it up with Parma ham. Not bad but I think this was one of those times when I found the truffle paste tiring. It's that one element that didn't age well.

The saffron risotto with scallops was delicious. Nice stock umami with cheesiness in rice that had the saffron flavour I was looking forward to. Love the browning on the scallops and those fish eggs on top. This I don't mind coming back for.

 

Peach Garden, Thomson Plaza

It's been a long time since we've eaten at Peach Garden. This could be our first time at this branch in Thomson Plaza (#01-88 Thomson Plaza, 301 Upper Thomson Road, tel : +65 6451 3233). We had dim sum. The impression we had overall was that they were pretty competent. Nothing much in particular was out of the ordinary.

This was a small portion for their baby abalone and roasted pork fried rice. $30. Their small portion by the way feeds 3 sufficiently with dim sum or 2 comfortably otherwise. Those baby abalones didn't have much flavour but the roast pork were delicious and nicely salted.

流沙包's not bad.

These were vegetarian sauerkraut dumpling. There's coriander in them. Otherwise, they were a little spicy and sour which didn't seem apparent on appearances.

Orh nee in coconut - coconut milk was thick and creamy while yam paste was fragrant. I'm not sure if it's shallot oil. There're two versions of this dessert. The other doesn't come in a coconut. You get to scrape the coconut meat of the insides of the fruit for this one.

Pulut hitam with ice cream was also pretty good.

Prata with coconut chutney and sugar from Anwar's Kitchen

The coconut chutney usually accompanies thosai, vadai and idli. We had this with prata at Anwar's Kitchen. Chutney's lightly salted, coconut-y and with a little bit of spice. Wasn't an odd pairing with prata - just not usual. Sugar with prata has been a thing here since...I was a kid so it's the next natural thing. What's not usual is sugar mixed with said coconut chutney on prata. 👍🏼 I gotta do this again someday.

Pandan cheese milk martabak from Smile Martabak

Finally got to try a sweet martabak from Smile Martabak (#02-34 Funan, 107 North Bridge Road). This was the pandan cheese milk - product photos looked somewhat better. Pancake felt kinda thick compared to the fillings so it ended up feeling floury. Cheese also tasted really cheap. Not impressed. Prefer those at JTown Cafe.

Stinky Roll from 99 Old Trees

So these Stinky Rolls were pretty much the only thing from the menu at 99 Old Trees we haven't tried yet. Until now that is. They're good. Pretty generous layering of some sort of creamy mao shan wang custard in there.

Wagyu beef broth ramen from Keisuke Plus

I did not like this bowl from Keisuke Plus as much as the other wagyu broth from Mashi no Mashi. While it did taste beefy at the start, the flavour suffered from diminishing returns. It got less beefy as we went through the bowl. Noodles were also too soft for their 'hard' option.

Wagyu's thin sliced and pretty tender.  See that lump of minced ginger camouflaged in there? I did not like it. Why would that be necessary if the key component to this bowl was the wagyu. Did not make sense to me.

There's a wonton hidden in it. I'm assuming it's beef as well but the dominant flavour that got through was sesame oil. Tasted very Chinese. Now that I've tried it, I know. Will not be getting this again.