iO Italian Osteria

A good 8 years have passed since my last visit in the year 2014, Italian Osteria is one of the oldest tenants in HillV2. 

Italian Osteria

A perfect starter to kick off your meal. These Grilled Bacon Rolls were yummy.  The smokey flavoured Bacon cradled the luscious melty cheese within and topped by some nutty pisstachio.

Grilled Bacon Rolls- $12

If you love cheese and charred bacon, I'm sure you will be enjoying having this.

One of the Bacon Rolls

There are a handful of options for their Classic Pasta. I had the Vongole with Tagliolini. It was prepared in White Wine Sauce and a generous amount of Vongole.

Vongole - $24 + $3 Tagliolini

Though the texture of the pasta is moist and tasty, my preference for Vongole still goes to the style that has a little broth in it.

Tagliolini

This Meat Special is not listed on the menu but on the chalkboard for that day. The thick slab of pork chop was coupled with some purple cabbages and caramelized apple.

Meat Special - $36

I love the use of mustard and caramelized apple sauce on the pork chop. It makes the pork chop savoury and delicious. 

Slathered with Sauce

On top of that, the meat was thoroughly cooked and was fork tender.

Pork Chop

There are 3 sizes of freshly baked pizza flavours. Small, Medium & Large. We had a small portion that consist of 1 flavour.  

Cooked Ham & Mushrooms - $9

Their pizza never disappoints.  The bread was crispy outside and soft on the inside. With the stretchy cheese with cooked ham and sliced button mushrooms, it's honestly yummy.

Yummy Pizza

Always leave some stomach space at the end of the meal so that we can enjoy the Italian Dessert. The classic tiramisu was layered with pistachio ganache in between. 

Pistachio Tiramisu - $14

The mascarpone cheese was light and the espresso that had soaked the ladyfingers was strong. The nuttiness together with the softness of the Tiramisu was pretty satisfying.

Tiramisu

Panna Cotta is the last dessert to end our meal in Italian Osteria. After all these years, their standard of food is still keeping up and that also explains the crowd over the peak hours. I wonder when will I be back again.

Panna Cotta - $10

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Last Posted on 14 November 2014

Charmed by its rustic interior and its pleasant bread counter laid up at its entrance, iO Italian Osteria has a friendly large team which aims to bring traditional italian traven back into the modern days. Its Italian concept dining environment and its open kitchen has somehow brought more knowledge to someone like me who know nuts about Italian cuisine.

iO Italian Osteria

With my kind of thinking that Italian is just limited to pasta and pizzas, iO Italian Osteria had somehow upgraded my Italian cuisine menu.

Open Kitchen Concept

As we stepped into the restaurant, a special aroma engulfed us. It smell as if something was burning, perhaps the air was filled with a good mixture from both the Italian kitchen as well as its bakery.

Bakery Section Near Entrance

The friendly staff directed us to the seats and every table has already a piece of paper menu on it. By sitting nearby the bay windows, we get to see the moving vehicles on the round about nearby.

Bay Windows

Dining Environment with Bar Counters

Rustic Feel of the environment

As starters, we ordered a basket of assorted Italian breads. It comes in a paper bag of 4 - 5 kinds of breads, from hard to soft, complimented well with a good dip in the balsamic vinegar as well as olive oil.

Assorted homemade bread basket - $5

Like most European restaurants, drinking waters are chargeable and we ordered a bottle of still water to pair with our dishes.

Still Water 1 Litre - $4

 A wait worth waiting for! Oven-roasted chicken was served on a heavy weighted wooden board supported by zucchini, potato and carrots, adorned with a stalk of thyme leaves. The meat, as well as vegetables, were all succulent and tasty!

Spicy Roasted Farm Chicken "Alla Diavola" - $22

Serving of Cod fish was petite, placed in the middle of a big brown plate with assorted boiled vegetables stacked as it base and a pool of clear soup base surrounded. Soup has hints of cooking wine taste and was appetizing.

Cod Fish "Al Coccio", Aromatic Fish Broth - $24

We left the place with no stomach room for desserts. With their impeccable services and chanting environment, it's hard not to be back again.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

iO Italian Osteria
Location: HillV2, 4 Hillview Rise #02-01 Singapore 667979

MRT Station: Hillview (DT3)

Yong Fa Hainanese Curry Rice & Curry Fish Head

Yong Fa Hainanese Curry Rice is considered one of the popular stalls in Clementi 448 Market & Hawker Center with the never-ending long queues during the meal timing. As a Singaporean, such cuisine with a mess of rice slathering with curry sauce and selecting our preferred dishes is considered one of our comfort food.

Stall of Yong Fa Hainanese Curry Rice & Curry Fish Head

What do you normally order when having Hainanese Curry Rice? My default order will be Pork Chop, followed by braised pork belly.

Our Orders - $23.80

The Sambal is on a sweeter side and not exactly as spicy as I thought. This dish is coupled with some small red onions.

Sambal Squid (Seasonal Price)

Wow, the dish looks traditional Hainanese. The battered fried pork chop was cut into smaller pieces and coated with the sweet tangy sauce with some green peas in it. 

Pork Chop

Here's our fatty indulgence! These braised chunks of Pork Belly are fat and tender, accentuated in the braised sauce. It went very well with the curry on our rice.

Braised Pork Belly

The fish curry was Assam taste. It was thin with a little bit of spice and before putting that slice of fish into the plate, the lady will make sure that is warmed up first. The ingredients include ladyfingers, brinjal, chilli and tomato.

Curry Fish Meat (Seasonal Price)

The curry is quite unique on its own as it's thin but inviting in taste. While the food is on the pricy side as compared to stalls of the same trade. The texture of the rice was a definite No-No to us for it was way too soft and I cannot help but think that I should get my rice from the next stall instead.

Fish 

I also find it quite out of the norm for them to ask if we wanted to have gravy on the rice. Well, for Hainanese Curry Rice we were quite disappointed that it was not drenched with some braised gravy too.

The overall taste was quite normal to me and looking at the length of the queue, it beats me.

Rating: 3 / 5

Yong Fa Hainanese Curry Rice & Curry Fish Head
Location: Clementi 448 Market & Food Centre, 448 Clementi Ave 3, #01-25, Singapore 120448
Nearest Station: Clementi (EW23)

Humfull of Laksa

The quirky stall name that caught my attention, leading me to reread and think about it for it goes reading "Humfull Prawn Laksa". I was thinking if the stall means that the laksa is full of hums aka blood cockles or is it trying to tell us by pronunciation that goes "Humful" that sounds like harmful. How do you read it?

Humfull Prawn Laksa

The stall sells 4 kinds of Noodles Beef Brisket Noodle, Prawn Noodle, Chicken Wanton Noodle  in which Laksa is their Signature. They have items at on and if you like to have Prawn Salad, you can buy a bowl too.

Menu

We ordered their Signature Laksa out of curiosity as we want to find out if there are really "Hum Full".

Laksa was generously topped with Laksa leaves. 

Signature Laksa - $4.50

Ingredients in the bowl were half a half boiled egg, a few pieces of hum, fishcake, Tau pok and deshell devined prawn paired with the usual thick white bee hoon.

Laksa

The gravy was flavourful with "Hae Bee" and taste was light on the coconut milk with consistency . This is totally my style and on top of that we can share these good food to our Muslim pals for this is Halal Certified.

Ingredients of Laksa in a view

 

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Humfull of Laksa
Location: FoodLoft Coffeeshop, Blk 501 West Coast Drive, Singapore 120501

Cheng Heng Kway Chap & Braised Duck

While walking around Holland Drive Market and Food Center after the peak hours on a weekend afternoon, I'm pretty impressed that some of the stalls are still bustling with long queues. I'm kind of dilemma and finally decided on Kwap Chap and joined the queue. Despite seeing the familiar Blanco Court Brand selling the same thing, my inner voice told me to queue for Cheng Heng's instead. 

Cheng Heng Kway Chap And Braised Duck Rice

The friendly service from the two aunties manning the stall had already won me. Despite the long queue, they serve every customer with a smile. The set for 2 pax automatically comes with a separate plate of preserved vegetables which I thought was special.

Kway Chap Set for 2 with Duck Meat

The "Lor" on the plate was still warm from the stove and every item on the plate was neatly placed in an order. Pork Belly, Tau Kwa, Tau Pok, small intestines and braised eggs had the right flavours and from the taste, we know that the items have definitely soaked up well. There is absolutely no gamey taste from the plate.

Braised Ingredients

Preserved Vegetables were good pairing to the braised dishes. It was appetizing and soon I got quite addicted to it.

Preserved Vegetables

The Kway (Rice Sheets) alone is praiseworthy.  The auntie prepared it in a unique way that I thought observed other stalls do not practise. The braised gravy in the bowl was perfect and the Kway was topped with fried onions. It was so good that I can be just contented by having it alone without any other ingredients.

A bowl of Kway

Braised Duck on the other hand was great too with hints of herbal flavours. The chilli was a mild spicy with sourish taste and goes well with the braised duck.

Braised Duck with Chilli

Cheng Heng Kway Chap & Braised Duck is the best Kway Chap I have had over these years. Though it may be a tad expensive for its portion over some other coffeeshop, it's definitely worth paying a bit more for such quality. For all that we know, Cheng Heng Kway Chap & Braised Duck is listed in Mchelin Guide too.

Rating: 4 / 5

Cheng Heng Kway Chap & Braised Duck
Location: Holland Drive Market and Food Centre, 44 Holland Drive, stall #02-05, Singapore 270044

Copper Chimney

Copper Chimney is located at Syed Alwi Road, just directly opposite Mustafa Center. They are dedicated to providing a good experience of North Indian and Indian Chinese Halal Food. With this, they have also become one of the Best Indian Food Chains in Singapore since 2012.

Copper Chimney

Service is friendly with the staff recommending dishes to detail when asked. 

We started off with the Masala Roomali. As I do not have many chances to try out North Indian Cuisine, it is kind of interesting to learn that Masala Roomali looks like a big bowl makes up of thin crispy crust. It was sweet and appetising with finely cut tomato dice and red onions.

Masala Roomali - $9

The Chicken Malai Tikka was served on a plate of 4 chicken fillets. The surface of the chicken was slightly charred and the meat was tender as well as succulent. Squeezing the refreshing Kaffir lime juice over them and enjoy dabbing them into the sauce given.

Chicken Malai Tikka - $17.90

We had Chicken Biryani as the main. It was served in a pot accompanied by yoghurt. There are two pieces of chicken among the fragrant long grain basmati rice.

Chicken Biryani - $16.50

My friend had the Minty Calamansi and it's always the case that my North Indian Cuisine cannot be considered complete without a cup of Lassi.

Mint Calamansi &  Mango Lasi - $6 & $8

I do enjoy North Indian food and having said that, such cuisine is not very common in the malls and I do not mind making a return for other dishes.

Rating: 3 / 5

Copper Chimney
Location: 100 Syed Alwi Road, Singapore 207676

Website

Prawn Noodle [Closed]

Lately, it was observed that many coffee shops have undergone renovations and the stalls like Chicken Rice, Wanton Mee, Chee Cheong Fun, and Fried Rice, have gotten pretty common everywhere as they started branching out in areas of Singapore. While in this Food Loft, it is of no surprise that some of the familiar stalls are tenants here too.

Getting bored of seeing repetitive stalls, I had decided to try out this Prawn Noodle stall for at least I haven't seen them anywhere yet.

Prawn Noodle Stall

We went on to order the basic Prawn Noodle without any other pig's organ or meat. The Penang Prawn Noodle Dry was pretty decent with ingredients like fish cake, Kang kong, bean sprouts, lean meat, prawns and hardboiled egg. It was the first time that I had a hardboiled egg with prawn noodles. The bowl of soup was tasty and sweet, a good pairing to the noodles tossed in shallot oils, sambal chilli and sauces.

Penang Prawn Noodle Dry - $4.50

For those who love to drink soup, you may want to order the Noodle Soup instead. The soup base is aromatic and light tasting.

Penang Prawn Noodle Soup- $4.50

The Penang Style Prawn Noodle is not often seen in Coffeeshop. Although it is Penang style, I find that it still tasted quite close to the usual Singaporean Styles we have in Hawker Centers & Coffeeshops.

Ingredients

Rating: 3 / 5

Prawn Noodle
Location: Blk 431 Clementi Ave 3, Block 431, Singapore 120431

Koung's Wan Tan Mee

Koung's Wan Tan Mee is one of the recommended WTM to go to in Singapore. It has been around for more than 60 years. In the earlier days, they are located in Geylang Lor 12 for 36 years and due to the increase in the rental price, they have shifted to Geylang Lor 13 for another 12 years before they shifted to the current location.

Stall of Koung's Wan Tan Mee

Although there is not much physical queue in front of the stall, we observed that all customers were already seated at the table, waiting for their number to be called to receive their order. It took us about half an hour before we can collect it.

Our Queue Number

The egg noodles were good and the texture was different from our "Mee Kia". It was springy and the firmness was still there despite leaving it there to take multiple pics of the entire meal. The noodle when tossed in their delicious sauce looked glistering and appetizing. The chilli was homemade by Mr Koung's and paired perfectly well with the noodles.

Wanton Noodle Dry - $5

With the making of the chilli, Mr Koung took a long time to research and perfect his chilli taste. The blend of sweet-spicy taste is rather unique to its own. On top of that, adding the handful of lards gave some cracklings bites together with Choy Sum greens and the noodles.

Wanton Noodle Dry 

The Charcoal Roasted Char Siew is made in house and marinated with 5 ingredients. Though the use of Gas Fire is more convenient, Mr Koung believed that Char Siew must be Roasted with Charcoal to get the consistent and acquired taste. He added that he has been using this method for 50-60 years.

Charcoal Roasted Char Siew

The wanton soup tasted good and these wanton were swimming in the soup while being served to us. The size was average and wantons were pretty decent with smooth skin encasing some minced meat.

Wanton

The dumpling soup was great and these dumplings packed a good punch of meat and prawns taste.

Dumping - $0.60 Per piece

With Prawns

Although I had tasted their Wanton Mee in JEM, I still prefer this original outlet in Sims Avenue even there is no air-conditioned environment. Having said this, Mall is still easier to access as compared to here.

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Koung's Wan Tan Mee
Location: 205 Sims Ave, Singapore 387506

Website