Cugini Italian Dining

This is the second visit to Cugini after a great first impression (photos here) and again the experience lived up to its expectation!

Started off with a Sicilian style seafood soup. The very thin bread got a little soggy but that's probably the only downside to this dish. Full of favours and peppered with some chunky bits of the root vegetables and seafood used to cook the soup. It was a delight! Very real and rustic feel to the whole dish. A great start to dinner! (4.5/5)

Buffalo mozarella served on tomatoes. A very classic Italian starter. Creamy cheese and what you would expect from a dish like this. (3/5)

The Sardinian style bottarga (mullet roe) pasta is a clear winner. No wonder it is popular with many of the diners and many reviews listed it as a must-try. The pasta was done al-dente (the way it should be), chewy and soaked full of the goodness of the sauce, fresh seafood and a (very) generous sprinkling of bottarga.It is hard to describe the taste of the mullet roe, you gotta taste it to know how it to know. Excellent combination and very very good indeed.(5/5)

The Sicilian style lobster risotto had be ordered as I am in the process of toying around with ingredients for my own risotto. The crunchy bits of asparagus and apple were fantastic additions for texture and taste! The unami of the lobster stock and perfectly cooked lobster made this dish very close to the pasta above. Do not expect a very cheesy risotto here if that's your preference. I persoally thought the risotto were cooked a tad too long. Other than that, it has to be rated (4.5/5)

Chocolate Souffle with homemade vanilla ice-cream was up for desserts. You can tell by now we are stuffed to the brim with the very generous servings. The souffle turns out to be more like a molten chocolate cake and it was actually a pleasant surprise! Pared with the gelato, I would say it was an excellent (dolce) ending to the meal. (4/5)

All in all, it was a plesant dining experience. The total bill came up to $120 which is pretty decent for the quality (and quantity) of the food served. It may be crowded on Fridays and the weekends and you may want to make reservations just in case.

Singapore Food Review

Cugini

87 Club Street #01-01

Singapore 069455

+65-6221-3791

Gattopardo Italian Dining

Gattopardo located at Hotel Fort Canning is one of my favourite Italian dining place. I am especially excited to find out that it had been included in the palate.sg program!

The ambience of the restaurant is great for private dining with the tables spaced well apart or good for big group gatherings with a big communal table.

After our orders were taken, we were served bread with olive oil dip. The thin crispy wafers are particularly delightful with a nice sprinkling of sesame seeds and pepper.

We ordered two glasses of Italian wine (one red and one white) and they do help split the order to two glasses (to share) if you wanted to. A nice gesture I must say. Do ask for recommendation for wine pairing with the food you ordered. We went along with the suggestions and they were pretty good pairings!

Seafood soup. Full of flavours from the fresh seafood and I especially like the rich tomato base and you can literally taste the sweetness of the sea. (9/10)

While Gattopardo is reowned for its great seafood dish, we can't resist to order the slow braised lamb shoulder. Served on a mash, it is cooked to perfection. The flavours wasn't as rich as what I envisoned it to be though. (6/10)

The suckling pig pizza caught our eye and we had to order it. Alas, we didn't expect it to be served rolled up. Had been looking forward to crunching down on the crackling. May be due to the rolling up with the cheese and tomato sauce base, the suckling pig turned out quite disappointing and some pieces were too fatty for my liking. Nevertheless the myriad of flavours that it does offer makes up part of the disappointment. (5/10)

The tiramisu was really good. The lady fingers biscuits were not overly soaked and had a very good balance from the coffee and liquer. The mascapone cheese was just the right intensity and the cocoa powder sprinkled on top is just the right amount so that you won't get the powderly choke-hold that some tiramisus does. (8/10)

Complimentary truffles from the chef. And we were served a glass of limoncello as well to round up the meal. Overall it is a great meal and at $180 for three main courses, two glasses of wine and one dessert, it represents great value. Even more so if you are visiting with the palate.sg card.

Gattopardo

The Legends Fort Canning Park Pte Ltd

11 Canning Walk

Singapore 178881

6338 5498

Peperoni Pizzeria

Delayed post. Backdated 2010. Information may not be correct at time of post. Just enjoy it as #foodporn.

A couple of branches had since opened. One in particular in Zion Road.

Fried calamari. Nice and crispy but dry. A tad over cooked.

Family pizza. Up to 2 flavours can be chosen.

Fried button mushrooms. Nice and crunchy on the outside and juicy on the inside.

Tomatoes on bread. Can give a miss.

Italian sausage and morning pizza. Two of my favourites.

Fried portobellow mushorrom with chicken breast. Must try!

Ah Loy Thai

Ah Loy Thai shall mark the comeback for Food Prints! We apologise for taking the long hiatus with the addition to the family and work commitments. There are loads of delayed posts, dating back all the way to 2010 (yikes!) and we will clear the backlog as soon as we can. So please bear with us if the information is outdated. Still, we hope you enjoy looking at the pictures! #foodporn

Our love of Thai food is well documented and Ah Loy Thai is a chance discovery. Apparently they are opened by a retired couple and they had been at Shaw Tower for at least 15 years. Their son had ventured out and opened a branch at Tampines Mall.



The tom yum seafood soup packs quite a punch with the right dose of fiery goodness and a generous serving of seafood. The soup base is full of seafood goodness and the morsels of fish, sotong and prawns are packed with great freshness. A must to order. Will try the clear version of it on the next visit.



The pandan chicken is a half-half for us. While it is well marinated, we find it a tad greasy. But it is fried to perfection (in terms of crispiness) and it is served piping hot. A delight to have over the spicy overture of the whole meal.

We missed pictures of the stir fried vegetables. It is by default, that chilli padi is added to the stir fry. Do ask for the omission of the chilli padi as they actually pack a fiery kick. Our brows were dripping with perspiration by the end of the meal.

Service was decent, but do take note they are particular with where you queue up for seats, ordering of dishes (done at cashier). Even when the place is not crowded. We also missed out on the lemongrass drink as it was sold out.

Overall a decent meal and you can just hope over to Tom's Palette nearby for your ice cream kick.

(Prices are not included as this is a treat from a friend.)

Singapore Food Review

Ah Loy Thai Restaurant

100 Beach Road
#01-39/40 Shaw Tower Singapore
Tel: +65 9165 1543