Modesto's Pizzeria

Modesto's Pizzeria is back in Vivocity but this time round instead of occupying a unit space on the ground level, they are at the top now along the stretch of restaurants. If you know where Marche is, you can probably find your way to Modesto's.

Shopfront of Modesto

There is no formal booklet or some hard cover menu but a piece of folded sheet as their menu. Simple and straight forward. Their dishes was all written in Italian however, there are English descriptions to elaborate the dish a little further if you need any.

Menu

Plates was designed with leopard skin at the outer circle and blank in the inner.

Plates

Interior was relaxing, we welcome by those parquet flooring with a overall theme in brown color. The restaurant was big and spilt into 2 section by a 3 steps stairs. Just like the old outlet which used to be in the ground floor, they get to enjoy a sea view at the inner seating but of course the current location is definitely better as they are at an advantage with a better view.

Dining Area

Here's the dining area before going into Modesto Further.

Though we only order 1 serving of Mushroom Soup, Modesto had actually spilt them up into 2 bowls knowing that we will be sharing. How nice of them! The mushroom soup was home made, with blended bites of Fungi (Mushroom), giving the soup a chalky and rough texture, topped with some cream.

Crema Fungi (Mushroom Soup) - $12

 Enjoy some fresh serving of salad before starting off with my dinner. We had fresh romaine lettuce in the traditional Italian Caesar dressing, topped with pork bacon bits, croutons and parmesan cheese flakes.

Insalata cresare - $15

These marinated prawns wrapped in filo pastry and deep-fried.Comes in 12 pieces per basket. It was long in length and the shape of raw chilli and somehow i resemble to the witches' fingers.

Gamberetti Fritti in Crosta - $16

If you want to know what's the fillings. Here's it is!

Crackling Open the Frittos

A visit to Modesto will never be completed if one has not try their traditional Italian Wood-Fired Home Made Pizza. Their regular pizza is about 12" in size and for our order we had order the chicken and sausage pizza out of so many choices. Pizza was those thicker in crust topped with marinated chicken, spicy pork salami, chicken sausages and cooked pork ham. One can really smell the Wood Fired smell and see it with their eyes at those black edges of the pizza.

Misto Carne - $26 (Regular)

Overall, I find that Modesto's new location is better and suitable for a good chill out after a day of work. For those who is looking for Wood Fired Pizza, they are one of the choices.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Modesto's Pizzeria
Location: VivoCity, 1 Harbourfront Walk #03-11 Singapore 098585

Big Brother Bak Kut Teh

Spotted Big Brother Bak Kut Teh when I was having dinner from the Zi Char Stall the other day. Though I will prefer the black version (Hokkien) of Bak Kut Teh, I still decided to give them a try after seeing most of the patrons were having them for dinner,

Big Brother Bak Kut Teh is easily spotted if at the left if you are facing the coffeeshop (Hakerway). The stall is spacious and well organized. Place is easily accessible especially when there is ample of parking spaces.

Big Brother Bak Kut Teh

Have a choice of a bowl of Mee Sua at $1 or White Rice at $0.50 to pair with the Cantonese fare.

4 pieces of Bak Kut in the clear soup with garlic over them. Just as I was informed, the soup looked clear but was more on the spicy side, for those who cannot take much spice, this will be a little challenging for you.

Bak Kut Teh - $3

The bowl of lean meat was rather straight forward, filled with the same clear soup, generous serving of lean meat and lettuce.

Lean Pork Meat - $3

Overall, I will say that the food is not bad in Bukit Batok Area but definitely not the best in Singapore. Waiting time is about 10 - 15 minutes after ordering during Dinner time.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Big Brother Bak Kut Teh 大哥大肉骨茶 (Hawkerway)

Location: Blk 271, Bukit Batok East Ave 4 Singapore 650271

Shanghai Delight

My last visit apparently was not ideal as I had a bad encounter with their fried Shanghai Rice Flour Cake. I was somehow being convinced by my dinner kaki to try them again and I was told that I had chosen a wrong dish the other time.

Menu of Shanghai Delight at Jurong Point Kopitiam

I played safer this time round by ordering something most of the diners had. I had a bowl of braised beef La mian, believed to be served in the shanghai style with black soy broth added with their freshly handed pulled La Mian. Vegetables were added but it was not that pleasing as what we were given was somewhere near to the vegetables' butt.

Braised Beef La Mian - $5.50

The soup was diluted but tasty, filled with the Shanghainese braised aroma. However, I'm still used to our local braised herb and spices fragrance in the soup. Beef was thinly sliced and infused with their kind of braised aroma. It was hard in texture unlike what we had in a normal hawker braised beef noodles soup.

Braised Beef

Often, we will link La Mian with Xiao Long Bao. Following the normal style, we had a tray of steamed dumplings. It was not stated if these lovely Baos had undergone 18 folds on the skin, their texture was doing average, not too thick and I will say not too thick. The fillings were encased in these translucent skin but did not wrap up too well in my opinion as the pleat was not beautifully done.

Steamed Dumplings - $5

Taste on the other hand was on the average too. It did not have distinctive taste nor will it fill you with the wow and satisfying ooze of the "Soup" in it.

Dumplings Aka Xiao Long Bao

Overall, if you have more to spend, I'm sure there will be more satisfaction archived from the Chinese Restaurants in the Mall.

Rating: 3 / 5

Shanghai Delight
Location: Jurong Point, 1 Jurong West Central 2 #03-42 , Singapore  648886

Sushi Tei - JEM

With many outlets of Sushi Tei in Singapore and worldwide, they are known for their quality food. Not only in JEM, their outlets are usually lined up with queues at the outside when comes to meal timings.

Sushi Tei in JEM

Once you are settled down, when offered, ask for a cup of hot tea if you are unsure what to drink as they are complimentary from Sushi Tei.

Hot Tea provided

Squid Ink Spaghetti comes in 2 sizes, medium and large. Spaghetti was cooked to al denta perfection with pieces of squid added as well as fried shallot and spring onions as garnishing. It tasted a little dry for me and I would prefer to have a better quantity of squid ink added.

Ikasumi Spagetti - $10 (Medium)

My all time favourite among the sashimi - Swordfish. 5 pieces of thickly sliced fish meat was placed on top of the shredded raddish, adorn by the leafy green and half a slice of lemon.

Mekajiki Sashimi (Swordfish) - $10

A big bowl of sweet curry sauce that took up half of the rice bowl is simply filling to your stomach when hunger pangs. It was boiled with onions, carrots and potatoes as it main ingredients, not forgetting the delicious crispy fried thin batter pork katsu that goes along with those pearl grains. Just right for a carb fix should you need one.

Pork Katsu Curry Rice - $13.50

Under the Yakimono section, we had ordered Ika (Squid) with Teriyaki Sauce. It was grilled well with not too much of rubbery texture. However, I find that they were alittle too stingy with the use of the Teriyaki Sauce and blended ginger.

Ika Sugata Teriyaki - $9

Game for the bright orange roes that filled the top layer of the steamed little pot of Chawanmushi? So much of Japanese Culture, this delicacy is actually served in their authentic kitchen wares.

Ikura Chawanmushi - $7.80

Having tried a number of their outlets, I would say the standards varies a little. For particular dishes, I will still prefer to dine in their other outlets. For those who did not use their wet tissues, you can return them to the cashier to deduct the charges out.

Total Cost: $59.67 (2 pax after GST and Service charge)


Rating: 3.5 / 5

Sushi Tei (JEM)

Location: Jem, 50 Jurong Gateway Road #03-18, Singapore 608549

Carousel

Be charmed by the buffet spread in Carosel by Plaza on the Scotts as they offered a wide spread varieties of cuisine from Mediterrean, Asian to Japanese including seafood and desserts stations could have let diner spoilt for choices. Rated as one of the top Halal Buffets in Singapore, these place had gained lots of attention from our Muslim foodies. In addition, their delectable dishes could leave all diners be spoilt for choices.

Carousel

House in the ground level of Hotel Plaza by the Scotts, Carosel is easily accessible from the Orchard MRT Station. Perhaps the hardest part of getting to Carousel is perhaps the challenge in fixing a date as this place is generally overwhelmed by Buffet-Goers like us especially during Dinners.

If not for the 3 months advance booking I had, this trip can never happen.

Lobby of Plaza Royal By the Scotts

As we were lead into the restaurant by the polite waitress, one can really enjoyed the clean and neat environment under the attractive lights. To the left we have the Japanese Station and to the right, the Seafood section where munching on big alaska king crabs and fresh oysters were start off.

Entrance into Carousel Buffet Area

Carousel's team professionalism had shown that every diner has a place mat in front of them together with the napkin prepared. What's more a set of utensils were already place on the rack too. With such service and setup, I felt please and privileged as their customers.

Set up ready for diners

It was about 7pm and the place had not yet fully occupied but when the night got darker, the right atmosphere came. Everyone was enjoying their fair share of delighting buffet dinner and chatting among themselves. The comfy cushioned seating were also part of the main reason where diners can actually sit there for a longer period of time.

Dining area

My lobster craving instinct has never stopped me from heading towards the seafood station first. Seafood were fresh, surrounded by ice with sauces helpings by the side.

Seafood Station

The lobsters were nicely laid on the bed of ice waiting to be picked by the thongs given. The orange red crustaceans were simply too pleasing to our eyes and appetite. Since it's a buffet, it's unlikely that one will stop at just a serving.

Lobsters

Oysters lover, I bet you wont miss out those guys standing at the seafood station, sucking in their tummies and giving all their might in opening the hard shells of those oysters.

Oysters

Head towards the Japanese Stations and you will get the staple food like Soba, and freshly made sushi.

Soba

 Be sure to have a taste of Sashimi with Wasabi as an evidence that you have went through this counter.

Sushi

Enjoy the spread of Asian Food over here at their counters. Each dish was shone under the heat of the lamp.

Asian Food

 One of the Asian Food out of their selection is none other than the Dim Sums. Enjoy the spread!

Dim Sum

For those who need the proteins, these helpful stuff were all ready by the roast counter to slice any portion of meat you request.

Your Protein Area

 Here's one example of Mediterranean food and meat.

Mediterranean food and meat

Desserts are something diners filled their stomach with before asking for bill. Needless to say, the mouthwatering spreads of cakes, creme burlee, ice creams were all out for the Sweet Tooth.

Cakes and Desserts

An innovative way of preparing a small portion of creme burlee in a saucer. Love the top caramlised layer that was easily broken by a gentle touch of the spoon.

Creme Burlee

Enjoy different shapes of marsh mallows over sweet fondues flavour like Chocolate, Green tea and strawberry.

Fondue and marshmellows

For cooling dessert, scoop some ice cream onto your bowl.

Ice Cream Serving

For a healthier choice, enjoy the fun of making yourselves a cup of yoghurt over their machine and topped them up with your rainbow rice, cereals etc.

Yoghurt

With a prompt and friendly service, I did have a different dining experience in Carousel. To add on, Carousel had created a wonderful atmosphere for diners who are celebrating the birthday. Here's the Video of how they celebrated the diner's birthday.

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Carousel
Location: Royal Plaza On Scotts, 25 Scotts Road, Lobby Level, Singapore 228220

Xing Yun Wanton Mee

Steer your steps to 2 stalls towards the left of the famous nameless Hainanese Curry Rice in Beo Crescent if you could not bear the wait.

And if you do not mind having noodles, this Noodle Wanton Stall offers a fuss free service - one do not have to self service and food is rather fast in serving after ordering.

Xing Yun Wanton mee Stall at the background

I could not resists but to order the chicken feet noodles. Noodles were springy doused in dark sauce while the greens were boiled and tucked by the side of the plate with 2 big gigantic looking claws / feet.

Chicken Feet Noodles - $4

These chicken feet were the biggest I had ever encountered so far throughout my tries of chicken feet noodles. The deep fried feet were braised but not thoroughly thus, it did not really bring out the spice flavour. What a miss though they were big!

Big chicken Feet

Dumplings aka "Shui jiao" was nothing more than ordinary. Perhaps one thing to note was that the stock was very tasty and this should review the amount of MSG used in the soup.

Dumplings Soup - $4

Rating: 3 / 5

Xing Yun Wanton Mee
Location: He Bing Yuan, Blk 40 Beo Crescent, Singapore 160040

Beo Crescent No Name Hainanese Curry Rice

Dont judge a book by it's cover. Well, for those who walk by the old school place in Beo Crescent, who will actually thought that such nameless stall sell delicious Hainanese Curry Rice? Having heard of its popularity, I wanted to try them up so much since years ago. However their business was way too good that their operations ended everytime before I could make it.

I'm not a Curry Rice Eater when it comes to breakfast meal but I have no choice but to visit them on a early Sunday morning since I wanted to have a taste and verify if it was really good as I was told.

There was already a long queue formed when I was there, I thought that must be real good as who will actually have curry rice in the early morning. Perhaps their taste was really exceptional!

Beo Crescent No Name Hainanese Curry Rice Stall

The usual style of a plate of curry png, the messy looking ingredients over the white rice with 3 kinds of sauce that drench them all over with part of them looked as if they were overflowing.

The braised cabbages is also one of the must have items on such plate. Servings were generous with one big scoop of them hidden under the tau pok. They were boiled till softens and was naturally sweet.

Curry Rice & Food Items - $3.80

For eggs lover, their sunny side up comes with black sauce mixed altogether in the presence of the aromatic gravy.

Egg and Gravy

The must order item for every visit, the crispy pork! What makes them so unique? Their meat was marinated, thinly chopped into fine bits and fried under the burning fire, thus forming its cripsy texture. And together with their signature curry gravy, the taste was fantastic! Uber Yummy!

Close up of pork chop

What's more to say, are you drooling all over now?  It's definitely worth the calories, providing a good energy boost that last through out the day. If you are thinking of Scisscors Curry Rice, why not head down to Beo Crescent for a tastebuds test!

Rating: 4.5 / 5

Beo Crescent No Name Hainanese Curry Rice
Location: He Bing Yuan, Blk 40 Beo Crescent, Singapore 160040