Pietrasanta: Place for a nice laid back Sunday Lunch

Rucola Parma Ham pizza

Remember the Italian/Singaporean couple I blogged about last year who opened a little stall selling pizzas at HDB prices? Well, they have decided to move upmarket and have opened a cosy little restaurant in the beautiful countrysidish part of Singapore known as Wessex Estate.

Portsdown Road is one of those last places in Singapore where you can still enjoy that "countryside" atmosphere and daydream about our colonial past. In fact, the whole of the Portsdown and Dover area used to be home to the British who find the "rolling hills" around the area to be reminiscent of home. The church which I attend, St John's St Margaret's, which used to be known as St John's Garrison Church, was the Anglican Parish Church catering to the needs of the British forces. The original triangular building is still there and being used to conduct services although the main service is now conducted in our new sanctuary.

Personally, I find the colonial period to be very romantic. It was a time when much of the world was still being discovered and ceiling fans were still manually driven by coolies. Think Indiana Jones and you know what I mean. I could almost imagine myself in that period as I sat in the the nice little courtyard with sunlight streaming into the restaurant and the smell of freshly cut wood in the air. Ok, I think it is apparent to you by now that I like the atmosphere of this place very much, so on to the food.

The pizzas are better quality than their "HDB" pizzas at La Pizzaola but still quite reasonably priced. The crust is thin and chewy and the tomato based sauce is less tangy which was my main complaint the last time I ate at La Pizzaola. I would highly recommend the rucola with parma ham pizza which really did satisfy my pizza craving that day. 4.25/5



We were because the kids were clamoring for pizzas after church and the last thing I wanted to do was to end up at Pizza Hut.With so little calories to waste, a nice Italian Pizza is actually not much more expensive and definitely tastes better than the commercial variety. But in order to have a more balanced Italian meal, we ordered some pasta as well just to try try. The Spinach ravioli was alright but could have been more tantalizing if the sauce was a little more cheesy. 3.75/5


Chef Owner Loris

Conclusion

Good pizzas combined with the laid back atmosphere of Wessex Estate. This certainly looks like a place I can go back often to get fulfill my pizza cravings. At least it beats having to bring the kids to Pizza Hut!

PS: Just spoken to Jennifer and confirmed that they have closed La Pizzaiola already. You can read about their first eatery here.

Pietrasanta
5B Portsdown Road
#01-03
S(138311)
64799521
www.ristorante-pietrasanta.com



What to do next

• Read about Jennifer and Loris's first restaurant: La Pizzaiola
• Other Ang Moh's in the heartland stories: Crazy Ang Moh and Finalmente Gastronomia
• Looking for other places for Pizzas? Click on the Pizza Label
• Check out where our forummers are eating their Pizzas: Click Here

Persimmons: Fused to Amuse

With Big MOG, ieatfamily and friends

Fisherman's Pie $26++

I think I finally figured out how to make fusion work.

You see, the problem with local fusion is that when stuff tastes too much like the local dish, most people would wonder why they would want to pay so much for something they can get at a hawker centre for a fraction of the price. So the simple solution to the problem is to ensure that what you are serving is 80% Ang Moh and 20% local and not the other way around.

So take for instance Persimmon's Fisherman's Pie. It is more like a Fisherman's Pie than it is like laksa and it worked very well for me. I have a thing for puff pastry with creamy seafood sauce -- just love the way the puff pastry soaks up all that yummy creamy sauce oohah.



Persimmon's version of the Fisherman's pie marries the classic recipe with a hint of laksa taste but without the coconut cream or the spiciness. It was chock full of fresh seafood and not too jialek. It's akin somewhat to Japanese style curry where you get all that umami flavour of the spices but without the heat of an Indian curry. So when you eat Japanese curry, it is distinctly Japanese but with a Indian influence. Similarly, the Fisherman's pie is still distinctly Irish but with a Singaporean influence which is what I think made this dish work. 4.25/5


White Pepper Crab Cakes $16++ (2 pieces)

Crab cakes are another of my all time favourite starters. For one thing, it takes away all the effort of having to peel the crab meat yourself. (Some little old lady at the back of the restaurant has already peeled it for you and hopefully she isn't breaking her dentures doing it) This version is supposed to be reminiscent of our famous white pepper crab dish. It was tasty but I felt it needed some sort of creamy sauce to go with it. It would also have been better if it were slighty thicker so that it keeps the moisture in better. 4/5


Linguini laksa-leaf pesto $26++

Laska Pesto seems to be the in thing for many restaurants recently. The laksa leaf has such a wonderfully distinct taste that one can't help but think of laksa when you taste it. So even though the pasta dish is only made from olive oil and laksa leaves sans the spices and coconut milk, you still can't help thinking about Laksa. As I have said earlier, I think this version works better because it is still closer to the Ang Moh end of the spectrum than the Singapore end. So you are still eating a Pesto Pasta but with a laksa twist. 4/5



According to Sharon, the Curried Chicken Wings were an inspiration from childhood when mom used to deep fry the leftover overnight curry chicken wings. So we are talking about Chicken Wings which have already been thoroughly infused with that wonderful nonya curry flavour before deep frying. The taste was really good but the problem I felt was that the flesh was not as moist as a freshly fried chicken wing. 3.75/5



Mushroom ravioli $22

Being an unabashed carnivore with an obligatory concern about my cholesterol levels, I am always on the lookout for vegetarian dishes that can provide me with as much epicurean epiphany as a foie gras lollipop. Although the Mushroom Ravioli is still some way from hitting that threshold, I must say it is a veggie dish that was revelatory in its own right. The Ravioli is filled with bamboo shoots, water chestnuts and mushrooms and is wonderfully crunchy and savoury. But the real gem is in the chilli cream sauce which was surprisingly good. The funny thing is that if I did not tell you it is made of red chilli, you might not have guessed it. It's a little sweet and hinted of the chilli fragrance without the heat. I could think of a few more ideas with this sauce like maybe a lasagna. It blended perfectly with the Ravioli and the wonderfully sweet sauteed Portabello mushrooms. 4.25/5


Foie Gras Xiao Long Bao

Since this was a lunch hosted by Sharon (who also owns Epicurious), we also got to taste test some experimental items for her next menu. One of these was the Foie Gras Xiao Long Bao. The concept is a XL Xiao Long Bao (extra big small dragon pao - maybe we should just call it a Long Bao) which has the normal meat filling but with a nice chunk of Foie Gras inside. If you are a meat lover like me who always orders the "meat lover's pizza", you would find this a real treat. However, some of the other people around the table found it a tad heavy. What might be a good idea is to serve it with something like a caramelised black vinegar sauce which provide a bit of zest to the otherwise sluggish flavours of the meat and liver.

Conclusion

I don't usually like fusion very much but I must say that there were a few items here that really did hit the right note for me. The place is bright, cheery and informal and would be great for a casual lunch or dinner. As I alluded to from the beginning, my opinion is that local fusion can only work if the dish was more western than local. What do you all think?

Persimmons
50 Tiong Bahru Road
#01-07 Link Hotel Singapore
Tel: 6227 2271
Open daily
This lunch was hosted by Sharon

Ya Kwang: Italian Cze Char

With Camemberu, Keropokman and Amagada

Huay La Ban Mian $5

You would be forgiven if you thought that this was a blog about Italian food. This is not a plate of Pasta con Vongole. It might look like Vongole and maybe taste a little like Vongole but Vongole it is not. Instead, it is a Fried Ban Mian with Huay La and it is eaten in a coffeeshop amidst the smells of Kway Chap and exhaust smoke.



This is a relatively simple dish. The secret lies in the type of clams used. Jason uses what he calls a Huay La (Huay = Flower) as opposed to the more common La La. The Huay La is much sweeter than the La La and that characteristic bitter aftertaste gives the al dente (should I say QQ?) homemade Ban Mian a great sauce to create gastronomic symphony. Certainly a most unexpected hawker dish!. 4.5/5

This is actually my second time eating this dish in a week and this time I gatecrashed on Keropokman's lunch AGM of the Alumni of Batu Pahat Bloggers. By the time I got there, the alumni was already halfway through their agenda and two eyeballs short of their steamed salmon head! You can read Keropokman's account here and Camemberu's here. So not say I say but other bloggers also say that this Ban Mian is good, ok?


Prawn Tang Hoon $7

I did not want to eat crab that day, but I was still yearning for the marvelous Korean Tang Hoon, so I requested that Jason do a Prawn Tang Hoon for me instead. The dish came with a pleasant, and unexpected addition of belly pork as well. The Tang Hoon was wonderfully slurpilicious as usual, however the prawns did not give it as much kick as the crab usually does. OK, still managed to satisfy my Tang Hoon craving but not quite hit the umami spot. 4/5


Teriyaki Beef Hor Fun $5

Jason loves everything Japanese and used to run a Japanese stall over at Suntec City. So there is a lot of Japanese influence in his food. The Kway Chap for instance uses Kikoman soy sauce instead of the normal Soy Sauce. I tried his Teriyaki Beef with rice set which was so good that my son finished the whole thing before I got enough of it. So I asked Jason to try something new for me. Instead of rice, I asked him to fry a Teriyaki Beef Hor Fun instead.

Well, let's just say that it was so good that one of my fellow bloggers Tah Powed a portion home. I like the fact that Jason uses a really nice beef and he doesn't tenderize it by soaking it in bicarb. So the beef is nice and beefy and the homemade teriyaki sauce is quite shiok. The Hor Fun still can be improved as it did not have that wok hei flavour. That aside, this is a dish that I am looking forward to eating again soon. 4.25/5

Conclusion

Not many stalls get repeated blog posts. What can I to do? Everytime I come here to eat, I either discover something new or create a new dish!. So how not to blog? Anyway these one dish items would be a great idea for a quick lunch if you are tired of the samo samo and want to try something tasty and novel. Hope you enjoy it and if you have any ideas for something new, just ask Jason to try it and write about it in the forum for everyone to know!

Click here to read the other Ya Kwang Posts.

Olio Cafe: New Fusion Menu

Laksa Sphaghetti $12.90++

I am a little apprehensive about reviewing Fusion cuisine because I seldom hear people raving about it. In fact, most of the time people tend to utter phrases like "Fusion Confusion" instead. The thing about Fusion cuisine is that people tend to compare the new dish with the original and if the original is really good, it is difficult for the Fusion dish come up to par.

So take the Laksa Pesto Pasta for example. The taste is distinctively "Laksa" because of the generous use of Laksa leaves but just when you think you might be eating Laksa, you realise that it is also akin to Basil Pesto Pasta because instead of coconut cream gravy, you have olive oil instead. Inevitably, you would then compare the new dish with your favourite bowl of Laksa and that's where the problem starts. Especially, when you bowl of Laksa costs $3 while you are paying Cafe prices for the pasta dish. 3.5/5

If that is the case, why are there still so many places offering Fusion Food? I think the way to enjoy Fusion Food is to have an appropriate mindset. It's about being adventurous and exploring new possibilities. Sometimes you do hit on something that really does work and that is almost like finding the "Easter Egg" in your computer game.


Capellini with Marinated Miso Salmon Fillet

One of the "Easter Eggs" that we found was the Capellini with Miso Salmon Fillet. This one worked really well. The sweet and savoury flavours of the Miso Paste was delightful with the perfectly charred Salmon Fillet and the crunchy roe was a nice contrast to the Al Dente Capellini. Both Moms gave it two thumbs up. 4.5/5


Beef Rendang Lasagne $14.90++

The Beef Rendang Lasagne reminded me of a baked Beef Curry Puff smothered in cheese sauce which can be quite delicious if you think about it. The minced beef fried has been fried with spices which is reminiscent of Rendang sans the rempah. The response was a bit mixed. One mom really liked it, the other mom was equivocal. I thought it was pretty interesting but could do with a bit more kick from the Rendang spices. 4/5


Teriyaki Chicken Pizza $13.90++

It seems that the Japanese/European fusion tends to work quite well. Beside the Miso Salmon pasta dish, the other one that really worked well was the Teriyaki Chicken Pizza. Then again, you really can't go wrong with roasted chicken, Japanese Mayonaise, teriyaki sauce and avocado. These usually go very well together. For a person who generally likes a bit of sweet with the savoury, this one is for me, though I am not a huge fan of bonito flakes. 4.25/5


Brownie $7.50

The charismatic Brownie is sure to make heads turn when its starts to smoke and sizzle. What they have done is to sandwich gelato between the brownie, put it on a hot plate and pour chocolate sauce over it on your table. I thought it would have worked better with ice-cream rather than gelato, as it would have been more creamy. But I guess it would be good for those who are more health conscious. The other problem is that the brownie is frozen, so you would have to wait for the hot plate to warm the brownie up. 3.75/5

Overall, it was a great dining experience because I am the type of person who likes to think of novel creations. So each dish that was served was like, "Hey, this is a great idea! Wonder if it will work?" and then to taste it and decide if it did work or how it can be made to work. I think that that is the real fun factor in Fusion food.

Conclusion

I have always enjoyed dining at Olio since the days they were located at Wheelock Place and the new cafe at Holland Village continues to offer a great casual dining experience. There's a few dishes that worked really well and others which need more tweaking. So if you are curious about how a Soft Shell Crab Sandwich with Wasabi mayonnaise or a Beef Rendang Lasagna would taste like, then you should head down and decide for yourself!

Olio Cafe
29 Lor Mambong
11.30am to 11.30pm
Fri-Sat opened till 1am
Disclosure: This was an invited review.

Eighteen Chefs: Baked Chilli Crabs, Jamie Oliver, Drugs and New Beginnings

Please read the updates at the end of the blog

Cheese Baked Chilli Crab with Mantou. $20
Special Order for Wed nights only.

This is probably one of the most heartwarming blogs I have written. Not only is it about food for the tummy, but its food for the soul as well.

Are you familiar with Jamie Oliver's "Fifteen" restaurant? Jamie's World Class Restaurant has a reservation list which is 3 months long and he employs disadvantaged youths to train them as chefs. It turns out that we have our own "Jamie Oliver" in Singapore who takes in ex-convicts during their last few months of their jail sentence to train them in necessary skills so that they can have a new start in life. And the amazing thing is that he has been doing it before he even knew of Jamie Oliver.

As fate would have it, Benny eventually found himself working at Fifteen restaurant for a few months, the one and only Singaporean to do so. It was there that he honed his Western Culinary skills. At that time he had been working at Goshen Restaurant which was operated by the Halfway House. Goshen was a Chinese Restaurant which was a training ground for ex-convicts as well.

Benny came home from UK only to find that they had closed Goshen down. So he ventured to open Eighteen Chefs which was a restaurant that served "Singapore's Best Baked Rice". Eighteen Chefs combines Benny's skills as a Cze Char Chef with his new found skills in Ang Moh cuisine which is exactly what Baked Rice is all about.


Baked Pepper Crab Fried Rice $20 Special Order for Wed Nights only

Now don't be mistaken about Benny's fierce looks. Like the old Standard Chartered Bank slogan, he really is Big, Strong and Friendly. We had a great chat about his new restaurant and his passion for music and food. Then we came up with a dish which I think would take Singapore by storm.

Up till now, baked rice had been something that is found in a Hong Kong/Macau style restaurant. It was an attempt by the Hong Kongers to emulate what their English "Masters" were eating. Not any more, we are going to make our very own Singapore style baked rice. And what is more recognizably Singaporean than Chilli and Pepper Crabs?

What I really enjoy about the Baked Chilli Crabs is the way the chewy Mozarella Cheese combines with the Chilli Crab sauce. Ooooh, you think it a bit wierd? What till you taste it. The Mantou Croutons on top really combines well with the cheese and Chilli sauce which is one of the best Chilli Crab gravy I have come across. 4.5/5

For the Baked Black Pepper Crab fried rice, Benny fries the rice first before adding his Black Pepper Sauce. Also quite shiok although I felt it could do with more of a peppery blast. 4.25/5
Both this dishes are only available if you give Benny a ring on Friday so that he can arrange for the Crabs by Sunday night.



If Crabs are not your thing you can create your own baked rice from a selection of sauces and ingredients. The Black Pepper Seafood Baked Rice was also quite shiok. I like the prawns here which are the "crystal" type where the meat is really bouncy. 4/5


Student Meals are $6.90. Pasta, Ice Lemon Tea and Ice Cream

Aside from baked rice, the restaurant also serve a variety of pastas with your own selection of sauces. The cream sauce here has got enough kick to it and you can satisfy your cream sauce crave here for just $5.90.

Now we come to the "Chicken Soup for the Soul" part. I promise this will lift your spirits.

Not many of us can say that we have many wasted years. But Benny, who is now 47 told us that he had wasted many years of his prime behind bars. Between 1983 to 1993, he was in and out of prison a total of four times for Heroin addiction. It all started innocently when he was 14. At that time, he was living in the Redhill area which was one of the hotspots for drug trafficking in Singapore. His own father was an opium addict and he grew up the youngest of 5 boys. Soon he found himself experimenting with marijuana. He recalled how they would use the stem of the papaya leave to burn the marijuana and suck the smoke as it bubbled out of the water. It was a practice fashioned after the Deep Purple song, "Smoke on the Water". Soon he progressed to Heroin and started "chasing the dragon". Before long, he was hooked on Heroin and would traffick the drug in order to satisfy his own craving.

He was put in prison for the first time in 1983. Heroin withdrawal takes 7-10 days to kick and it is agony for the addicts who have to go cold turkey. After 2 years in prison he was released. However, even though he was free from prison, he wasn't free from Heroin. The thought of "chasing the dragon" kept hounding him until he succumbed to its lure. So for the next eight years, it was in and out of prison. Heroin was a master that is not easy to be free from.

During his fourth prison term, Benny found himself very very ill. He collapsed in his prison cell and had to be admitted into hospital. It was there on the hospital bed, facing a near death experience, with all tubes sticking out from his arms and other bodily orifices that he came to the realization of how he had wasted most of his life. He felt he could not trust himself with his own life anymore. He decided to outsource the management of his life to someone else.

During his prison stay, Benny had heard someone told him that Jesus is the Saviour. He knew the story about how Jesus suffered in his place on the cross and that He said that whosoever would believe in Him could be "Born again" and have a fresh start in life. He recalled how the message all became a reality to him as he laid there pondering about his wasted life. Finally, he cried out to God to save him and to give him that new life.

Things began to change for Benny during the next few years in prison. He started to attend Bible studies, pray and read the Bible. He became firm friends with Don Wong who was also a drug addict. Don left prison and is now serving as a full time pastor. When Benny left prison, he went straight into a halfway house run by the Church. He still could not trust himself not to go back to Heroin. During the next few years, he worked during the day and return to the halfway house every night.

However, the thought of Heroin slowly began to creep back into his life. It began to seduce him back into his old way of life. It was to be the final battle for his soul.

Benny recalls that fateful night when he was so battered by the thought of Heroin that he cried out to God. He told God that he had faithfully been walking with Him, praying and reading the Bible. Why is it that he still cannot be free from these thoughts? Why does he still have to struggle with it? Can't God just remove the craving from him once and for all?

Suddenly, he heard one Word from God that forever changed his life. Just one Word. "GRACE" Suddenly it all came together for Benny. He realized that God had broken the curse of Heroin over his life and that he was finally truly free from Heroin.

Jesus said......everyone who sins is a slave to sin.....So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. John 8:34.

Benny was no longer a slave to Heroin. He was free. And from that day on, the craving for Heroin stopped...completely.

Benny has never forgotten about the Grace that he has been shown which explains why he takes in convicts and delinquents to train them with the necessary skills for a new life. He hopes his story would be a source of hope for those who are struggling to find a foothold in life.

When you get to the restaurant, have a look at the mural on the wall which was painted by the ex-offenders. You will see a chef with a handcuff hanging off his wrist. This is the only indication of the work of Grace that is happening behind the scenes.

Conclusion

Don't come to the restaurant because of Benny's story. Don't even come because he has worked in Jamie Oliver's restaurant. Come because the food here is really quite good and Chef Benny has got a few surprises up his sleeves. Make sure if you want to try his baked Crab that you ring up before hand as it is a special order item.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found,

was blind, but now I see

Eighteen Chefs
Eastpoint Mall
3 Simei Street 6 #01-36
12pm to 11pm daily
67821298
Crabs are special order items. You have to ring up 2 days in advance and it is only available on Wed nights starting in August
Recommended by liveyrdreams

Update 17 Jul 2007

There have been some hiccups with the Baked Chilli Crab. As a result some of our readers have called up only to be disappointed that they were not available. Benny is planning to have it from August onwards. It will be a special order for Wed nights. Give 2 days advance notice.

Pasta Planet: It may be cheap but it Ain't Mass Produced Pasta

With carnineviand, iwatch_ueat and dory

The appearance of Pasta in hawker centres is a welcomed sight for those who just happen to have a pasta craving but do not want to sit down in a restaurant and have to pay more than $10 for a meal. The problem with pasta is that the raw ingredients are mostly imported, so the price is necessarily higher than local hawker fare. So in order to produce a plate for $5, something's gotta give.

There is no point comparing a plate of plate of Pasta produced at a hawker centre for $5 with a plate of Pasta at a restaurant for $15. That is just not fair. What I do conceptually is to give the pasta a Satisfaction score and divide it by its price to derive a "Satisfaction per Dollar" (SpD) value. So if the $5 pasta gives you a satisfaction score of 4 and the $15 pasta gives you a 5, the SpD of the cheaper pasta is 4/5 or 0.8 while the expensive one is 5/15 or 0.333. Now this does not mean that one will always go for the cheaper one just because the SpD is higher, it just means that you might eat 0.8/0.33 or 2.4 plates of the cheaper pasta for every plate of more expensive pasta. The assumption is, of course that one has limited pocket money. If one had an unlimited amount of money than this really does not apply!

Amatriciana $5.50

This plate of Amatriciana is pretty good for $5.50. The sauce is tangy and has enough bite to it. The penne was Al Dente and satisfying. Good to satisfy a quick tomato craving. 4/5



The thing that separates this stall from the other Hawker Pastas that I have previously blogged about is that the young Shatec Trained Chef actually insists on cooking each plate of pasta on the spot, the way he had done it when he was working in the kitchens of proper Italian restaurants. So to make this plate of carbonara, the bacon and onions were sauteed before fresh cream and seasonings are added.

The carbonara was ok, but lacks the ooomph which had to be made up with the addition of extra parmesan cheese. They actually use proper grated Parmesan here rather than the "Kraft" ultra long life, no refrigeration required, reconstituted from who-knows-what type Parmesan, which is a good thing. An extra handful of grated parmesan will save any cream sauce! 3.5/5

Conclusion

Another place to get a cheap and quick fix. I think if you want more ooomph from the pasta, you can always ask the Chef to specially prepare it for you since the sauce has not been precooked.

Pasta Planet
Golden Mile Food Centre
#01-82
11.30 am to 9.30pm
Closed on Tuesdays