La Forketta

Once in awhile we like to visit Dempsey Hill and try out the restaurants there. One evening we decide to try out this Italian restaurant. It looks good and we sat outside in the cool evening air. We were off to a great start as the bread basket they put down was absolutely delicious!

It was SO good with extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar! The problem was that we had to fight the bread with our 2 year old girl, who insisted that the bread was hers. -_- We also ordered their minestrone soup, which was like the most chunky minestrone soup I've ever seen. I think they should just call it vegetable and tomato soup. Duh. I prefer that the vegetables in my minestrone to be boiled to death and unrecognizable. Haha...

Cobby ordered a cured beef with wild rocket pizza and I wished that I've ordered that instead. :P

The naughty girl ate so much bread, she couldn't eat anything else.

I ordered the tagliatelle al ragu, which was alright, but it was a little too salty and the pasta was a little too soft for my taste.

I would probably not go back for their pasta, but pizza's pretty good. Go check it out.

Sole Pomodoro Pizzeria

Saw this recommended by ieatishootipost, and Cobby and I were such pizza lovers ever since our honeymoon trip to Rome, so how can we resist? So one saturday we headed down to the restaurant to check it out.

The place was located just opposite the REX cinema near Little India, so it was quite easy to locate. Just as described, they really use a wood fire oven for their pizza!



I like it that the atmosphere was very nice and casual. The restaurant is open air, and the kitchen staff were all dressed in bermudas and crocs. Even the head chef, which I guess is Italian? But with the long apron, they look as if they were wearing sarongs. :D

We weren't sure what to order, but they were famous for their imported buffalo cheese. But when we saw the cured beef with rocket and parmesean cheese, we couldn't resist ordering. It's my favourite!



There were so many choices of pizza, so we ended up ordering a spicy italian sausage pizza to share. We were quite surprised to see that they added chilli to the pizza.



The pizza was delicious! The crust was crispy on the outer skirts, chewy on the inside. The middle part was nice and cheesy, and the sausages were delicious. We weren't very enthusiastic about the chilli at 1st, but we found out that it actually taste quite good with the pizza. It's not chilli padi, but the bigger ones that was not too spicy, so it's like a spicy vegetable taste to complement the pizza. Not bad!

I wanted to order two pizza, but Hubby suggested otherwise. Thankfully, because we were quite full after that. Nonetheless, we had ordered dessert. Afterall, desserts belong to a whole different part of the stomach. :)

Hubby ordered Tiramisu, which I wasn't really into, so I can't judge whether it was good or bad. But Hubby said it was quite good, so there.



I ordered a warm chocolate cake, which was a little runny in the middle. But it was a little light for my taste. I like my warm chocolate cake rich and chocolatey! But it wasn't bad, just not up to my standards. :)



Overall a pretty good dining experience. The staff was nice and friendly, the price was not too expensive. Will definitely go back again!

Sole Pomodoro Pizzeria
12/21 Mackenzie Road #01-01
(Opp Rex Cinema)
Singapore 228678
68843671
Opens 12pm till 11pm (Closed Mondays)
www.solepomodoro.com

Bel Mondo - South Italian Cuisine (Tomahawk!)

We didn't dare try this the other time as it looked like something Fred Flintstone would have for dinner. Seriously, you would need to share it with someone, and I just wasn't interested. The last time we tried such a gigantic piece of meat, we were at Morton's The Steakhouse. The so called "famous" piece of steak was overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. It was overpriced and don't taste good at all! But Hubby wanted to try, so I gave in and went for it.

Introducing, the Tomahawk special. According to my research, this is a new type of cut that is like a giant piece of ribeye that comes with a huge bone. At Bel Mondo, it's aged and cooked to perfection, medium rare, and sliced for easy consumption.



It was good! The meat was surprisingly tender! The steak was just simply cooked with salt, pepper and rosemary, but it was full of flavour. The portion was just nice for 3 persons, or 2 very hungry foodie. :) After you are done with the meat, the waitress would even bring your plate back into the kitchen and they would slice of all the meat of the "flintstone" bone for you. Of course, you can munch the meat straight off bone with your mouth too, but I was in a nice outfit, so, let them do the work!



If the steak was good, the meat off the bone was excellent!!! It's more charred, so it has even more flavour, like little gems! This could be a dish by itself. But honestly, we couldn't finish everything, just about 90%. It's also not cheap. This dish cost $98, but it worth every dollar. 一分钱，一分货 :)

Bel Mondo - South Italian Cuisine

Accidentaly came across this Italian restaurant at Millenia Walk on the way to the PC show a few weeks ago and was pleasantly surprised! So we went back again with an appetite.

We started out with Italian beer. Interesting, we have never had Italian beer before, and it was quite nice! Very fruity, nice.



We ordered a bruschetta, which was absolutely delicious!



The bread was warm and crusty, the tomato topping was great. Even the little accompanying salad was filled with good stuff! It's got lettuce, rocket(my fav), parmesan cheese, little picked onions and sweet cheery tomatoes.

We wanted to test how authentic is this Italian restaurant, so we ordered Pomodoro pasta. We wondered how it would fair against the ones we had in Rome. :)



Unfortunately it didn't really make the mark. Well, it's unfair to compare with the unbelievably delicious pasta we had in Rome, but it's really not that bad. The sauce was a little too runny though...

OK, starters aside, here comes the main dishes. I ordered the rack of lamb.



It's quite good, the meat is nice and browned, so it's very flavourful. It's cooked to a nice medium done-ness, so it's still quite tender and moist. Love the salad and the potatoes too, I cleared my plate except for a few slices of pickles and some bitter purple lettuce. :P

Cobby ordered the pork belly, which was like a giant piece of 烧肉. The skin was delightfully crispy and the meat was quite tender!



By then we were really stuffed! But a hot cup of cuppacino really help to wrap up the while meal. :) We'll be back! And next time I'll try their pizza, which looked really good too... YUMS...



Millenia Walk, 9 Raffles Boulevard, #01-09/10, S(039596)

Steak Pasta

Cobby (My Hubby) made this dish, he was inspired by Jamie Oliver when he made those delicious looking steak sandwiches. But instead of sandwich, he used pasta, cause it's more filling for our dinner.

We used ribeye steak, added some salt, pepper and oil and pounded it flat. By pounding it, it cooks faster and it also tenderised it. Grill the steak on a VERY HOT grill, or frying pan. There's no need to add oil onto the pan as there's oil on your meat. Let it grill for about 1 and a half minutes on each side (for medium), remove from pan and let it rest.

Meanwhile, the pasta is boiling in the pot, cooking according to the packaging instructions.

While it's boiling, stir fry some anchovies with chopped onion till the onion is soft and brown. THEN you add the garlic, cause if you add too early, the garlic would be overcooked, turns brown and bitter!

Add in the cooked pasta and a little bit of the pasta water into your onion mix and add in a little chicken stock. Stir fry for awhile till there's a little bit of sauce left. (the pasta will continue to absorb in the liquid even after you dish it up)

Slice your rested steak and place it on top of the pasta, serve with a freah green salad on the side. Presto, perfect steak pasta. Enjoy.

Trattoria Lafiandra al Museo

Found a nice Italian restaurant next to the Singapore Arts Museum.

Here's the blog entry.

Trattoria Lafiandra Al Museo
171 Bras Basah Road
Singapore Art Museum
Tel: 68844035