Chalk Restaurant

Arty-farty bistros are bustling up in education institutes lately.

Chalk's the resident star of the Old School (formerly MGS), dressed in smart colors and discernibly well-loved by the vibrant New School thinkers. Casual and chic the way i like it.

My first moments began with a cheery waitress who recognized me from her ex-workplace Peperoni Pizzeria haha. Two types of breads are served here: a presumable baguette and onion foccacia, which are decent enough but not stunning to be remembered.

Someone close to me is hooked to Spaghetti Vongole ($23)- a dish hardly served in an organized fashion. But at Chalk, concern for presentation is evident. The clams didn't stick out from random angles but instead concentrically arranged below the pasta. With kicks of chilli padi, cherry tomatoes and fresh parsley, it tasted clean without being bland.

My love for pizza is clearly infiltrating... or am i just bent on finding the best? Chalk does a conspicuously nice Capricciosa ($15 for 10") delegating artichokes, ham, shitake mushrooms, black olives and a soft gentle cheese. My request for garlic over olives blended in fittingly. The crust was puffed & crisp-sustaining... only flawed by a dearth of wood-fired goodness. Pity.

Finishing this is peanuts for my astounding pizza capacity.

I liked whatever Creme Brulee i dug out of the teardrop bowl... contents of exquisitely smooth baked custard clung with occasional screams of yolk-iness that's not overwhelming. Even if so, it comes with pistachio hazelnut biscotti sticks to intervene. One of the more outstanding renditions on my list.

I'm having a predicative fore-crush on their desserts, am soooo returning for the rest of the lineup. I spy passionfruit souffle, apple & rhubarb crumble, vanilla pannacotta, chocolate fondant & crepes suzette... Looks like a dessert-dedicated visit is necessary.

If youthful casual-chic is your thing, Chalk is likely up your alley.

Chalk Restaurant @ Mount Sophia

11 Mount Sophia

#01-03

6883 2120

Bella Pizza

Owner-chef Antonio remembers me from my first visit, just like how i wouldn't forget his swift service recovery. An enthusiastic greeting from the man pitched my second dinner at Bella... embellished by suave scenes of him helming the kitchen pans that night. Hah my thing for chefs.

The Calamari Fritti ($17) served with lime & arrabiata sauce proved cent-for-cent quality (do your translations). Looks like one whole plump squid had been sacrificed for these sizeable rings under a neither heavy nor crispy batter. Dieting squids can never evolve into such mean frittis.

I wonder how some people can candidly revel in the dark side. Bella's Tagliollini al nero de seppia ($19)= thunder lightning deepdown black to the extremes. Homemade pasta with cuttlefish, cherry tomatoes (oh how bright they were!) and black squid ink. Squid ink is tasty yes, at the expense of dining glamity.

Bella wouldn't be Bella Pizza without a reason. I struck a chord with Pizza Salmone ($20)- a highly decent combination of smoked salmon, shimeiji mushrooms and mozzarella. Base is fine between a pan-crust & thin-crust but a creamier breed of cheese would do better.

Not...Tiramisu again! Boring dolce eaters we are. This is probably the most aerated Tiramisu i've met. The mascarpone's been fully transformed into an air-pumped mousse and able to hold so well, im certain about gelatine in the works.

In situations of unabiding lightings like this, i'll rather slacken on photography to deeper focus on my meal. Antonio came over with some limoncello this time (we had champagne on the last), sensationally evaporative as a useful digestif... And all bad impressions washed away by his professionalism.

Three cheers for BellaP.

Bella Pizza
30 Robertson Quay
#01-14 Riverside View
6734 0139

Al Forno East Coast: A Pizza Tale

You can call this place anything but an express. The secret is to wait, and convince yourself that patience a virtue.

It was a busy saturday night for the restaurant; my eyes glued to this adept Italian chap assembling the unceasing inflow of orders. Pure hand-handling of the tamed doughs, a ladle of tomato puree, a handful of shredded mozzarella, grab of sliced ingredients... stashed off into the woodfired oven for 5 minutes and ding ding! he rings the bell for service.

Steaming hot it arrived. The baking time was short, but the waiting wasn't. 45 minutes in exact- the same to get Pizza Hut/Canadian Pizza delivered to your doorstep. Difference is, we're seated less than 2 metres away from the pizza counter. Fresh from the oven literally validates.

When hurried by impatient diners, the man expressed with volume; " I am not machine!"

Hence you pay for human craft with a worthy wait.

While the base is not exactly thin, it is not ordeally thick either. A scent of fresh flour diffuses from it and generous ingredients garnished the appearance. I got my crystal prawns, calamari-quality squid rings, fresh cheese on seafood Pizza Costiera (squid & prawns, $22). And Pizza Primavera (fresh rocket salad & parma ham, $25) sufficiently covered with parma.

Ended with their pick me up Tiramisu slice ($9). which contained a mascarpone body that proclaims 'im light' but gradually showed no mercy in consuming your after-meal capacity.

In no time we transitted to 'im filled', then signed off the lengthy pizza night.

Al Forno East Cost

400 East Coast Road

6348 8781

62-35-35-35, Pizza Hut Delivery

All thanks to Mr Fong, an unprecedented bet and our class' budding persuasion skills, we had hot pizzas delivered to college one day (HOT stickers inclusive). That very physics tutorial reshaped my impressions of Pizza Hut.

Honey Roasted Wings

No stranger to all, Hawaiian knocks on every pizza-eater's door like an old family friend. This chicken ham and pineapple chunk classic was simply, well-received.

The Orleans Chicken contained almost everything nice on a pizza- spicy chicken chunks, roasted chicken, pineapple chunks & button mushrooms. Liked this one.

BBQ Chicken Supreme, drizzled with a tang of sweetness. Once again the chicken-pineapple action 'cept with additional capsicums and BBQ sauce.

Must have been that new Viva crust, the evident improvement in ingredients, or maybe even the extra coating of stretchy cheese... but Pizza Hut have successfully departed from the greasy pie-thick pizza disasters.



congrats, Viva.

62-35-35-35

Pizza Hut Delivery~

Timbre, The Arts House

You can count on places like Timbre to prove the hey, pizza's not just about Italians! vindications. Cause a recent experience here only made my fetish (for pizzas) grow fonder.

It was an insane night. We endured curious stares from neighbouring drinkers/snackers as the two of us crammed our tiny table with bulky pizza boards instead of Timbre's alcoholic concoctions. Warning: sharing a pizza for dinner is not part my nature.

Gosh how i loved their pizzas!

Timbre's Seafood prawns, squid rings, mussels, sliced red chilli German Sausage & Peppers spicy debreziner, cheese pork sausage, herbed pork sausages, capsicums

Tandoori Chicken grilled chicken breast in tandoori spice, roma tomatoes, grilled yellow n green zucchinis, sliced yellow onions Roasted Garlic Shrimp shrimp, sliced yellow onions, roasted garlic

I present 5 concise facts about TB's pizzas & misc:

1) Half-and-Half is a smart way to go. At $19 for a considerably large size, you can savour double tastes from their 20-odd variety. being thin-crusted makes polishing off as easy as A-B-C.

2) Beware of their no-cutleries stance (prolly LittleIndia-adopted). only dessert forks come upon request, sufficient for you to salvage any fallen toppings or keep up with mum's stubborn darling,no-eating-with-your-hands-please! principle

3) Service was poor/bad/terrible. no ONE soul who works for passion detected. most are trained in forgetting your requests or not acknowledging observance at all.

4) Cheese gow gow, toppings measly. be it meat or seafood, our orders arrived relatively bald with that exception of nourishing cheese blanket.

5) Nevertheless, i laid on pizzacloud9 chewing on my few garlicky prawns & charsiew-lookalike tandoori chicken atop baked naan-y bases and cheesy mozzarella mediators. shiok.

*in M1's signature advertisement style*

... I.. LOVE IT!

(both thumbs up + head shaking inclusive)

The Grilled Chicken Kebabs ($8.90) hot off the grill was a also kickass sidekick! you've got nice meat chunks, pineapple cubes, mango salsa... & everything sweet and spicy to win another set of praises...

nah i won't continue. i'll end off with.. enough said.

Timbre

1 Old Parliament Lane

#01-04 The Arts House

6336 3386

Ristorante De Parma

I admire Ping for her enthuse interaction with bloggers.

While a handful are principally concerned over shunning negative blogospheric-attention, some adamant about their no-photography stance... Parma wields a different approch.

My first encounter here was one-of-a-kind.

Mango Tango

Foccacia Bread


The foccacia bread got my eyes inexplicably glued once it met the table. These rosemary-flecked rectangles resembled Modesto's complimentaries, but are done a slick better. Moister. And even a mocktail distraction became oblivious.

Mango Tango, Ping's recommendation, was like any other employment of fruit and milk.



Soup-of-the-Day


Sipping their tomato & potato soup was a nuzzle. The starchy character of potatoes brilliantly curtained of the acidity of tomatoes... no stifling sour darts! Plus an airy-crackly breadstick worth a mention.

my kind of soup~

Antipasto Misto Petite ($16.90)

And how PETITE. Parma's antipasto misto petite, quiescently laid, is strictly for the dwarfy-appetited. Single portions of prawn, mussel, parma ham, mushroom, sundried tomatoes, roasted capsicums and black olives violently signalled as a deplorable choice.

Warm Spinach Salad


I would have much less to quibble about Ping's diet-friendly meal. A sauteed spinach and button mushroom salad copious in balsamic intensity i loved. Toe-curlingly sour but cringingly good! For me.

Pizza e Ananas con Pomodoro, Pizza Marinara ($27.90)

We did a half-and-half for the pizza, pairing Pizza e Ananas con Pomodoro (spinach, pineapple, mushroom & semi-dried tomatoes) with Pizza Marinara (prawn, squid, mussel, slipper lobster, scallop). My vote deflects more towards those tasty seafood players, scattered over a decent homemade crust and overly thick cheese blanket.

Dismissing the stop-when-you're-70%-full priggy, we nodded for desserts to parade in. Parma's not the place for such adherence- not when raves of their tiramisu already painted melodious covets in my mind...

Tiramisu ($12.90)


Ta-dah. Parma's Tiramisu. Wholly liqueur-soaked fingersponge harmoniously clamped between mascarpone mousse concocted to perfection. I was captivated.

It would be a sin to nullify this.

Note: Have it here. I've had takeaways that weren't as justifying.

Italian Carrot Cake ($8.90)

I couldn't resist ordering the italian carrot cake as well. A substantial slab heavy on carrot and walnuts, drizzled with a liquefied cheese icing, but nothing more than average.

Personal thought: the in-house baker was something.

Ristorante De Parma

14B Kensington Park Road

Serangoon Garden Estate

6281 3380

Sweet Indulgence: Slice of Bittersweet

Pink, sweet, girly. Charming things.

Sweet Indulgence is all about title-appeal. To begin, a name that sounds good enough to bite. To end, glamoury descriptions and discerning prices which may not permanently please.

i admit my mixed feelings about this place.

A close friend's insistence set me on a swift street-navigating around Tanjong Pagar. We arrived, number ones. With proud illusions of booking the entire small-scale restaurant for at least the first half an hour.

Complimentary Foccacia

And the dinner began well. Blocks of foccacia bread, warm and soft like how i would imagine them to be. The complimentary pizza was all thats hampering me from accepting a second helping.

Seafood Platter ($18.80)

The awesomeness continued. we were both taken in by the seafood platter's array of fresh variety sauteed in its sweetish white wine stock. liked the crystal prawns, albeit tiny, but felt the scallop flesh was way too XXS in size.

Chicken & Mushroom Pizza

($17.80, complimentary w every 2 main courses ordered)

And more.

I was still slurping the platter's wine reduction when my friend's sudden "OMG" grabbed my attention.... "the pizza is sooo good".

Nods my head in agreement. Sweet Indulgence's chicken and mushroom pizza honestly sat chunks of chicken, juicy white button mushrooms, onions, roasted green peppers & fresh cheese on a pizza base so optimally rolled out. There's this charred fragrance about its crust that gets me going.

takeaway-whatever's-left-behind policy holds.

Baked Salmon Fillet ($24.80)

One step back. the baked salmon fillet was pan-seared, and almost dried up of the herb butter sauce at consumption midpoint.

Chilean Black Cod ($32.80)

Two steps back. heavily flouring the chilean black cod and coating it with a gimmicky homemade lobster jus performs no justice to the prestigious specie, and its extortionate pricetag. The nuttily-dressed salad was more brilliant than that.

Warm Chocolate Lava Indulgence ($10.80)

Warm Chocolate Lava Indulgence. The chocoholics wouldn't miss out on this people-see-people-like hotshot. decent rendition, minus the burnt base, for any trace of molten dark cocoa lava and a non-magnolia/marigold/kings scoop of vanilla darling seals the lips.

I love stuffs pink, sweet & girly.
But a pity, the sweets don't tie with full agreement.

PS. envying their 19-year-old dessert chef!

Sweet Indulgence

2 Stanley Street

6223 7707

Taglio

If you've made a trip to the Central recently, you may have noticed a relatively new italian face on the ground floor. Serving a handful of sides, pastas and a wide display of ready-made pizzas, this branchout of the Amici Italian group is not much a failure.

Smoked Salmon ($6.90) & Sausage Pizza ($5.90)


The two picked off the shelves were taken to a toaster for reheating then cut into four manageable slices. The cheese was plentiful on the Smoked Salmon Pizza, well-corporated with the semi-cooked salmon. But they could be very much less (ultra)thin, and the dry close-to-biscuit base made more exciting.

Eating on paper plates and disposable cutleries wasn't a glam thing either.

Taglio
6 Eu Tong Sen Street
The Central @ Clarke Quay