Dario Pizza & more

C says:

Finally! Decent thin crust pizza in our 'hood! Actually, more than decent. The first time we tried it to go, it had gotten a bit cold and was a bit soggy and chewy, but on Friday we decided to have it there, and what a difference it made. 

We ordered half Bufala, and half 4 Stagioni. When eaten freshly made, the crust was just the right thickness - crispy and slightly chewy, and the toppings were very fresh and tasty too. Definitely much better than the pizza at 2it&drink, where the toppings felt like they were just tossed on top, rather than being properly integrated into the pizza. 

Their special pasta of the week was an Amatriciana, which we had to try since its not commonly available here. It was quite good, but the pizza was far better.

A was happy with their tiramisu too, which was traditional style, i.e. non alcoholic. Portion was a tad small though. 

Chef Dario is a true blue Italian, so it doesn't get much more authentic than this. There are some pizza flavours that I can't wait to try next (like one with salame, gorgonzola and garlic, yum). I foresee this being quite a regular haunt for us.

FYI: It's located in a corner shophouse just down the road from Fong Seng, at the junction of Clementi Road and Pasir Panjang Road.

A says:

Great neighbourhood pizza. Seating can be a bit of a problem, though. 

Pizzeria Mozza

C says:

Mozza at Marina Bay Sands is Mario Batali's contribution to our celebrity chef dining scene. Comprised of a pizzeria and the more formal Osteria Mozza, a table at Pizzeria Mozza at a half decent hour is almost impossible to snag at short notice. We tried a few times in the past, only to be told that the only available table was at 10 pm or something ludicrous like that.

On Thursday though, we were at MBS for Wicked, which ended just in time for us to nip across and get a table at 10.30. The place closes at midnight, and last orders are at 11.

Since it was late, we took this as an intro to what they have to offer. We'll come back again soon to sample more.

They have a selection of bruschettas - I ordered the chicken liver one, which comes with a slice of crisped pancetta atop each one. The livers were roughly chopped, and I like how they added parsley and lemon, which cut through the otherwise jelak-ness of the liver and brightened the whole dish.

The texture of the pizza here is interesting. The crust isn't super thin, yet it's not thick and doughy either. It's probably quite a high-yeast dough and baked at really high heat, because the edges get very puffed up and crispy. There are quite a number of interesting combis, but we went for something light - the burrata pizza with slow roasted tomatoes and thyme.

The burrata itself was excellent, so much so that we just deconstructed it and had the burrata on its own. The pizza wasn't too bad either; they have a white anchovy one, and one loaded with ther house-made cured meats that I wouldn't mind trying.

A couldn't resist dessert; we decided on a caramel sundae with caramel ice cream, marshmallow sauce and salted peanuts. This was pretty good. The marshmallow cream was quite sweet but the peanuts added a nice element of saltiness.

Food was pretty good in general, but the one thing that stood out was the burrata. When we walked out we peeked at the menu for Osteria, and their dedicated Mozzarella section is now calling to me. 

A says:

I like the pizza but it’s definitely not for people who don’t like eating the crust. The desserts are interesting but maybe I’ll go for a conventional ice cream next time.

Pizzeria Mozza

#B1-42/46 Marina Bay Sands

10 Bayfront Avenue

Tel: 6688-8522

Daily: noon to midnight

www.pizzeriamozza.com/Singapore/home.cfm

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar

C says:

With the opening of the Circle Line in our neck of the woods, Holland Village is now just a short train ride away and we can do away with the nightmarish parking that put us off dining at Holland V for some time.

We took our first ride on Saturday evening and tried Crust, located on Lorong Mambong just opposite Wala Wala. Crust is apparently an institution in Australia, and the opening of the Holland V store in August last year was their first international expansion. They pride themselves on serving healthier gourmet pizzas made with fresh ingredients. They have gluten-free bases available, and in Australia they’ve won multiple awards for their healthier offerings.

Immediately, healthy pizza to me sounds like an oxymoron, but if the pizzas here at Crust are supposed to be healthier, then sign me up for more, please. I was extremely impressed with all the flavours that we tried tonight. We each ordered a regular pizza, and for more variety we asked for half-and-half.


I had the Sausage Duo and the Wild Mushroom. The Sausage Duo has a tomato base and comes with both Italian and chorizo sausage, caramelised onion and roasted red peppers. This tasted the most like a generic pizza, though I was a bit thrown off by the sweetness of the peppers and onions.

The Wild Mushroom was really good – probably the best meat-less pizza I’ve ever had. It had wild mushrooms, asparagus and pine nuts on a béchamel sauce based, topped with truffle oil and shaved parmesan. The flavours went amazingly well; even the pine nuts added a nice nutty touch.


A ordered the Moroccan Lamb and the White Proscuitto. The lamb was a winner – slices of marinated lamb, red onion and baby spinach, topped with mint yogurt and a squeeze of fresh lemon. This tasted like a really good kebab. Best flavour of the night.

The White Proscuitto was interesting. Again a béchamel base, topped with sliced roasted potatoes, prosciutto, gorgonzola and fresh rosemary. The prosciutto used was quite salty and tasted almost like pancetta, but eaten together with the rest of the toppings, I thought this was pretty good in a unique, not your typical pizza way.

One of the best parts of the pizzas here is the crust. I think they dust the base with corn meal or something, because there’s a texture and a crunch to the crust that I’ve never had elsewhere, even with the thinnest crust pizzas.

The only downside is that there’s no indoor seating. There are limited tables that are under a few fans, that we managed to snag cos we were early. It wasn’t as busy as I would expect, for pizzas this good. They do takeout as well, and delivery to limited areas near Holland V. They’ve also opened a second outlet at Upper Thomson. I don’t think enough buzz has been generated about them, which is a pity because they’re a lot better than the substandard pizzas that are all too prevalent out there.

A says:

Not exactly cheap, but a very good selection of toppings. I recommend going early and getting a seat nearer the counter/away from the road.

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar
34B Lorong Mambong
Tel: 6467-2224
Mon to Thurs: 5 pm – 10.30 pm
Fri & Sat: 5 pm - 1 am
Sun: 5 pm – 11 pm
www.crustpizza.com.sg

Pizza from Donna Carmela

C says:

We’ve finally tried the pizza at Donna Carmela, our new neighbourhood joint. It was after a workout so we just shared one 12 inch – the Capricciosa, which consists of ham, mushroom, artichokes and black olives.


This was a very good pizza. Crust was a good thickness, nice and crispy, and very generous with the toppings. Better than the pasta that we had (or I had, anyway), and a very viable alternative for us when we run out of ideas or are too lazy to go out.

A says:

Excellent. Not as good as Valentino’s, and some pizzas seem to be on the pricey side, but definitely on the favourites list so far.

Takeout pizza from Al Borgo

C says:

We rounded off a lazy National Day weekend by getting a couple of the pizzas at Al Borgo to go. They have quite a wide selection of interesting pizza pairings – a whole page each of tomato-based pizzas and white pizzas.


We tried one of each. The tomato pizza was in the form of a pancetta pizza. Yes, this may have been predictable but it was still very good. They’re very generous with their toppings, and this came loaded with cubes of smokey bacon.


The white pizza we tried had sliced beef, porcini mushrooms and gorgonzola. This slightly more unlikely pairing was also quite yummy, if a tad on the rich side. The beef was tender, and again they were very liberal with their ingredients.

The pizzas here are somewhere in between thin crust and Rocky’s-style normal crust. As a result, a 12-inch pizza can get quite filling, and after polishing off 2 fully loaded ones, I felt absolutely ill that night.

At around $20 per pizza, this is good value for money given the sheer amount as well as quality of the toppings. Just don’t expect the most refined execution.

A says:

Very good. And very filling with a generous helping of toppings. It’s not the absolute best in terms of taste, but probably the best in terms of overall combination of size, quality and value.

Al Borgo
383 Bukit Timah Road
#01-02 Alocassia Apartments
Tel: 6737-3546
Lunch: 11.45am–2.30pm
Dinner: 6pm–10.30pm (Closed on Tue)

Skinny Pizza

C says:

Skinny Pizza by House has opened a new outlet at Wheelock Place – perfect for us since I’m there quite frequently. In addition to their skinny pizzas, they also have some House specials (pun intended, har har), like the Sliders and the metre-long sausage.

Although the Sliders were calling to me, we decided to try 2 pizzas – the English Breakfast, and the Braised Veal. When the first one arrived I panicked, cos it was huge, but actually there’s so little crust that it’s not filling at all, and we easily polished off 2 pizzas as well as a dessert.


Surprisingly, I ended up liking the Veal one more than the English Breakfast. The veal was braised till amazingly tender, with a rich sauce and there was a hint of truffle oil. There was also mashed potato and softened onions, and topped with arugula.


On paper, the English Breakfast sounded like a sure-win – sunny side up egg, sautéed mushrooms, bacon, cheese and grilled tomato. Which is why, when it arrived and we took our first bite, we were puzzled that we weren’t enjoying it as much as we expected. Somehow, the Napoli tomato sauce that was spread on the crust didn’t quite complement the other fry-up ingredients.


Their dessert menu is in the form of a food magazine – very cool and certainly very enticing. We shared the warm banana cake with salted caramel and coffee popcorn. This wasn’t quite what I expected. The cake was nice and moist but the salted caramel didn’t come through. We tasted either caramel, or just plain salt…

I’m glad we now have a place to have some of the better offerings from House, in a much friendlier, less chi-chi setting. We’ll be back to try more pizzas and of course, the Sliders and truffle fries.

A says:

Excellent service. Pretty good food but it’s not a traditional pizza by any stretch. As long as you go in with that in mind, you’ll be fine. I think next time, we’ll share a pizza and the sliders.

Also, you can ask for an iced version of any of the coffees on the menu. The iced latte I had was pretty decent (cause I like my iced coffee sweet and milky).

Skinny Pizza
501 Orchard Road
#03-04 Wheelock Place
Tel: 6235-7823
Open daily: 10 am to 10 pm

Bella Pizza

C says:

We’re squatting in the Mohamed Sultan/Robertson Quay area for the next 3 months, which is not going to do wonders for our austerity drive. Sure enough, on Friday night since we were moving some stuff into our temporary home, we decided to pop down to Bella Pizza, which was just a 5 minute walk away. We learnt our lesson and made a reservation in the afternoon.


We started with a salad of bocconcini, cherry tomatoes and rocket to share. This was quite a tiny portion but it was only $7, after all. Nothing spectacular, but a good way to whet our appetite nonetheless.


I ordered the ravioli stuffed with beef, served with porcini mushroom sauce. There were some good flavours going on here, but it can get slightly rich so it’s best to share. My one criticism is that the ravioli were slightly hard – the pasta skin wasn’t thin enough.


One of their specialities is a boat-shaped pizza, the Barca. It comes in two flavours – one with Italian sausage and sautéed onions, and the other with buffalo mozzarella wrapped in Parma ham. Goes without saying that A ordered the Parma ham one. This was visually quite interesting, but I think their regular pizzas are better – crispier and less crust. Another interesting thing about this was that when you had the parma ham and the crust alone, you could really taste the parma ham, but once you took a bite with the cheese, you couldn’t really taste the ham; you just got a general salty flavour.

We each had the banana crepes with mascarpone cheese and nutella – this dessert is just too good to share.

Well, I think we came to the same conclusion as the last time – there’s a reason they’re called Bella Pizza. Their pizzas are better than their pastas, and their regular pizzas are definitely better than their folded ones.

A says:

I likea the pizza here. Expensive, but good.

Bella Pizza
30 Robertson Quay
#01-14 Riverside View
Tel: 6734-0139
www.bellapizza.com.sg

Skinny Pizza

C says:

Skinny Pizza has its own outlet at Suntec City, but it’s also available at Barracks/House at lunchtime. Inspired by tissue pratas, these pizzas aren’t really your typical Italian pizzas. No tomato sauce, hardly any cheese and paper-thin crusts, these are more like giant crackers topped with salads.


We had the wild truffled mushroom pizza, which comes with shaved parmesan cheese and lots of rocket salad. This was quite tasty and because it was so light, felt quite healthy too. They’re pretty generous with the topping, but they must be subtly cutting back in other areas cos there was barely a hint of truffle.

It was even worse with the truffle fries that the accompanied the American Sliders we ordered. I’ve always been a fan of the truffle fries here, but after not being here for quite a few months, they were very underwhelming. Previously you could smell the aroma of the truffle oil as the plate approached, but today I had to eat about 5 fries before I could detect a faint trace of it.


We shared the churros as well, which pretty much undid any element of healthiness that the skinny pizza may have offered. Deep fried dough sprinkled with icing sugar, and dipped in a combination of chocolate and condensed milk. So much for our post-holiday diet.

A says:

Some friends have told me that they’ve had bad service here, but we’ve always been treated very well.

Food-wise, the skinny pizza wasn’t really my thing although I think I’ll try another topping before I make my final call. The churros were good but also didn’t blow me away.

Bella Pizza

C says:

I definitely underestimated Bella Pizza. A colleague recommended it to me, so we went there after work on Friday without making any reservations, fully expecting it to be half empty. To our surprise, they were completely fully booked (indeed, the entire Robertson Quay area was pretty buzzing, to the point that you may wonder “what recession?”), and the chef only took pity on us when we promised to be done by 8.15, which is when the reservation for that table was.


It was the speediest dinner we’ve ever had. We were greedy and had a starter, main and dessert, but we told them to bring everything as soon as it was ready. We shared a rather interesting starter, which had cubes of buffalo mozzarella and tomatoes wrapped into a parcel with parma ham. This sounded better than it actually was. The mozzarella was a bit hard and wasn’t really creamy, and the parma ham was a bit chewy and quite salty.


The pasta was only slightly better. The concept was good – fettucine with Italian sausage and truffles and a touch of cream – and the actual sauce and sausage was quite tasty, but the pasta was a bit undercooked. I’m not sure if that’s their version of al dente, or whether they were rushing to serve us the food so that we’d eat and go.


The meal was more than redeemed by the pizza though. I guess that’s why the place is called Bella Pizza. They have both red (with tomato sauce) and white (without) pizzas. We ordered the Mascarpone pizza from the white pizza section – mascarpone cheese, mushrooms and truffle oil. When hot this was absolutely heavenly. The mascarpone cheese was soft, rich and oozy, and the distinctive aroma of truffle oil never hurts. The crust was thin and crispy and perfectly delicious on its own.


The pasta portion is pretty small and the pizza is also pretty light because the crust is so thin and it’s not loaded with toppings. I’m clearly trying to justify our ordering dessert… Because you can never have enough mascarpone, we had the crepes with mascarpone, nutella and banana. Again, with a combination like that you can’t really go wrong.

Well we’ve learnt our lesson. Next time we'll definitely make a reservation, or alternatively just takeaway a couple of pizzas for dinner.

A says:

Excellent food and service. I’d like to come back with a reservation and try more things.

Bella Pizza
30 Robertson Quay
#01-14 Riverside View
Tel: 6734-0139
www.bellapizza.com.sg

Pizza at Casa Verde

C says:

We headed back to Casa Verde today for a stab at their pizza and, after reading rave reviews from both W and S, their mee goreng. Surprisingly, the mee goreng wowed us more than the pizza.


While I don’t regularly partake in Indian-style mee goreng, I do know a good one when I taste it, and this is one of the best ones I’ve had. It’s moist and full of flavour, yet doesn’t feel excessively oily or heavy. They’re quite generous with the ingredients too – lots of plump fresh prawns, squid rings and fish cake.


We ordered a very standard proscuitto e funghi (ham and mushroom) pizza, but were a little disappointed that it was actually shaved honey-baked ham rather than true proscuitto (parma ham). This was perfectly decent but it didn’t wow us. I felt that it was a bit too simple and clean-tasting, and could have benefited from a tad more tomato paste and/or cheese.

We sat at a table that was right next to the pizza oven, and had a bird’s eye view of Chef Lucio preparing the pizzas. The seafood one really caught our eye, as it was loaded with ingredients, and the four cheese, with its bubbling golden brown medley of cheeses, got me salivating. We definitely plan to try one or both of them some time soon.

Update: We have since ordered the seafood pizza for takeaway, and it was seriously very good. They’re really generous with the ingredients – chunks of salmon, squid rings and fresh prawns – and to compensate for the lack of cheese, there’s a slightly garlicky cream sauce that complements the seafood perfectly. Even my dad enjoyed this, and he doesn’t even like pizza.

A says:

The proscuitto e funghi wasn’t very impressive. Since trying the very excellent seafood one though, I’m eager to try the four cheese.

Casa Verde
1 Cluny Road
Singapore Botanic Gardens Visitor Centre
Tel: 6467-7326

La Pizzaiola

C says:

This tiny little pizza bar is opening by a Singapore lady and her Italian chef husband. Apparently she was so moved by her unforgettable experiences in authentic pizzerias in Italy, that she was inspired to bring it to the masses in Singapore.

The sell pizzas by the slice, just like Da Paolo Gastronomia - cheaper at $4 a slice but also smaller in size. We shared a slice of the Quattro Formaggio, and a 12 inch Pancetta. While the regular 12 inch pizzas cost $13.90, the Pancetta is considered a gourmet pizza, so it costs $18.90.



Generally I’m not all that impressed. The pizza base wasn’t the thickest I’ve had, but it was hard and chewy, and the tomato sauce was just too sour, and it ended up overpowering the taste of the other toppings. The Pancetta was also quite a rip-off, because I hardly tasted any bacon; it was mainly onions and shitake mushrooms.

Personally, I wouldn’t have this again, but A didn’t mind it that much, and I guess it’s a fairly convenient place to swing by after our gym visits to pick up some takeout pizza. I’m just loath to waste my post-running calories eating sub-standard pizza.

A says:

A bit of a let down as I expected it to be quite good. It turned out to be quite average and I definitely think the gourmet pizzas are not worth it. Verdict: okay for a quick and simple single slice of pizza on the way home but not worth making a special trip out for it.

La Pizzaiola
43 Holland Drive
#01-63 (next to POSB)
Tel: 6779-5502
Open 10 am to 10 pm, closed Tuesdays

Farewell to PaPi

C says:

Aaarrrrggghhh!!!!!!!! Once again, the Curse of A&C lives on! To those of you who are unfamiliar with it, this curse plagues restaurants that A and I are fond of and frequent quite regularly. Simply put – they close down. It has so far afflicted Tamade, which used to be at Robertson Quay, and TeaSpa, which steadily closed down each and every one of their outlets (all of which we used to frequent).

Our latest victim is PaPi. I’m extremely upset, because I thought that we’d found the perfect place to get takeout pizza on our way to my folks’ place for dinner. In fact, I found out because I was there tonight collecting 2 pizzas, and when I casually asked them how business was, I was told that this is their last week, and from next Monday (16 July) PaPi is no more.

I thought they were another victim of poor clientele, but apparently they initially had no plans to close down; they were going to close for renovations when they received an offer for their premises that they couldn’t refuse. So they decided to sell it and make a profit, and concentrate their efforts on their main restaurant (Oso) as well as Oso Privato, their private dining concept.

Well for what it’s worth, even though it’s now a moot point, I ordered the Regina (cooked ham, mozzarella and tomato sauce) and Pomo (sliced tomatoes, shitake mushrooms, onion rings, garlic and chilli) for take-out, and while nowhere near the Salmone, the Pomo wasn’t too bad. The chilli added a nice kick, and I liked the pungency of the garlic too. The Regina was a bit bland, and the ham was too finely chopped so it ended up turning soggy quite fast.



Oh well, PaPi was good while it lasted. Guess we have to get our takeout pizza from Peperoni in future.

A says:

Indeed, a sad day for pizza kind.

PaPi: Update

C says:

We ordered take-out pizza tonight from PaPi – the Salmone pizza, which has smoked salmon, marscapone cheese and arugula. This was a seriously good pizza. They were extremely generous with the smoked salmon, and the mouthfuls with the creamy marscapone were absolutely heaven.


Note: if you intend to call ahead and jump out of the car to pick it up, give them a longer lead time. I gave them 10 minutes and although they said on the phone that it would be ready within that time, I had to wait inside for another 8 minutes or so. Better give them about 20 minutes to be safe.

A says:

I had to wait quite awhile in the car but this pizza was worth the wait. Loads of salmon and cheese toppings. Could be one of the best pizzas EVER!

PaPi

C says:

PaPi is owned by the same team behind Oso Ristorante. We’re pretty big fans of the food at Oso, so when we heard that they’d opened a casual pizzeria/pasta joint, we were quite psyched to try it out. Somehow, though, it took us more than a year to drag our asses here, so it’s not exactly new anymore.

It was surprisingly empty when we went on Friday night, considering its location (along Mohd Sultan Road). Also, it was much more casual than we expected. We figured it would be simpler than Oso, but it was really very laid back – quite similar to Spizza, actually.


The menu is pretty no-frills – some simple starters, a page each of pastas and pizzas, a couple of mains and some desserts. Some of their pastas, namely the tagliatelle, pappardelle and the filled pastas, are hand-made on their 45 year-old pasta machine. We shared a Caprese salad to start with, which was decent but not spectacular.


Since I wanted to try their home-made pasta, I ordered the tagliatelle with squid ink sauce. Unfortunately that’s all it is, no ingredients or anything. First bite was a little bland, but after I added parmesan cheese, it was much better. The best squid ink pasta I’ve had so far is the one at Friends, though.


A had the pizza with porcini mushroom and pancetta (bacon). The ingredients weren’t out of the ordinary, but the crust was great – it was thin and crispy, and unlike some thin-crust pizzas that turn soft and soggy after a while, this one stayed crispy throughout.

PaPi does takeout as well, and they only need about 10 – 15 minutes’ notice to prepare a couple of pizzas, so it’s pretty convenient if you want to pick up some pizza on the way back from work. Here’s their takeout menu, if anyone’s interested.



A says:

Simple. Casual. Cool. I like the place.

Service was excellent, atmosphere non-threatening (no worries about making noise), and the pizza crust RAWKED!!!

Definitely a new option for Friday night dinners or takeout pizza.

PaPi
5 Mohamed Sultan Road
Tel: 6732-6269
Opening hours: 11.30 am to 2.30 pm; 6 to 10.30 pm
Closed Mondays

Da Paolo Gastronomica

C says:

We are slowly but surely becoming fans of the Da Paolo Gastronomica outlet at Cluny Court. It’s a convenient place for us to have a quick bite before or after our weekly trips to Comics Mart at Serene Centre next door. Their menu seems to be more varied than the branch at Chip Bee Gardens; the pizza selection is definitely wider.

We were here two weekends in a row. Last week we forgot to snap some shots of the pizza but remembered today. We had the beef and smoked salmon pizzas both times, but last week we had a delicious all-day breakfast pizza, consisting of scrambled egg, bacon and sausage, that unfortunately wasn’t available today.




This place definitely has one of the best take-out pizzas in town, and I think the standard has gone up since we last had them at the Chip Bee outlet. The crust is thin and crispy, toppings and generous, and the pizza isn’t oily or greasy at all. Ok, the outdoor seating gets a bit hot, and we’re not heat-loving expats, but otherwise I grudgingly have to admit that this is a pretty decent Da Paolo joint.

A says:

Not exactly cheap, but I think it’s worth it. I recommend the beeef with feta cheese and of course the salmon. RAWK!

Da Paolo Gastronomica
501 Bukit Timah Road #01-01
Tel: 6468-7010
Open daily: 9.15 am to 9 pm

Pizza Pazza

C says:

This place, a pizzeria within a food court, has changed hands since it was first opened by Romanian chef Peter Bontoi, who used to own the now defunct Il Piccolo at Crown Centre. He has apparently sold the place and is now running his own chef for hire business. Pizza Pazza is now run by a Chinese lady, and there’s a Pasta Pazza stall opposite as well.

Quality has dipped slightly since the change, but not significantly. It’s still pretty good, and now besides their basic pizzas (you can choose any or all of their toppings - $5 for a 7 inch and $12 for a 12 inch), they have a few premier ones as well, like Proscuitto Crudo, Smoked Salmon and Seafood. Prices for these are for a 12 inch pizza – for half the price you can get a 7 inch version.



We had a half size each of the Proscuitto Crudo and Smoked Salmon pizzas. The Proscuitto came with a runny egg so that was good, but the parma ham was a little hard to bite into. The salmon was good but a little on the salty side. In short, I think I still prefer the make-your-own pizzas.

If anyone is interested, they also do catering, and all cutlery and crockery is provided. It’s just $10 per person, minimum 20 pax, and you get salad, pizzas, lasagne, some pastas, and panna cotta for dessert.

A says:

The pizzas are very good for the price. Definitely the most value for money pizza around (I’m ignoring the cheap ones that taste like cardboard). The only problem with this place is the 7” is too small and the 12” is too big.

Pizza Pazza
Oscar’s Food Mall
Anchorpoint
Tel: 6474-3626

Naxos: Update

C says:

Just thought I’d mention that when we walked by China Square Central the other night, it seems as though Naxos has closed down! Well, either that or they’re renovating but honestly, considering their less than stellar business, I’m almost certain it’s the former.

Since my last experience here was a less than positive one, I’m not feeling very much regret at this recent turn of events.

A says:

I shall miss the bread.

Pizza Month Summary

A says:

I’ve realised that I actually prefer really thin and crispy pizzas that aren’t overloaded with toppings. So here’s my Top 5:

1. Naxos
2. Peperoni
3. Valentino’s
4. Rocky’s
5. Spizza

C says:

My Top 5 is slightly different, not least because I had a fairly off-colour experience at Naxos the other day. Went there for lunch, and as usual ordered the Mii Tuna. First bite was a tad mushy, but I thought it was just the guacamole sauce. But after eating a little more, S and I realised that it wasn’t the sauce, it was the tuna itself that was mushy inside. I don’t think it was undercooked, because rare tuna is still firm. It must have gone off, which is kinda gross. Also, the service at lunch was pretty lacking – all the waiters seemed blur and didn’t seem to know what was on the menu.

Note: If you go to Naxos at dinner time, remember that there IS an HSBC credit card discount, contrary to what the waitstaff may say. Whenever I went at lunch, they’d tell me “Sorry, only at dinner time”, and when I went at dinner, they used to tell me that there wasn’t any discount. I finally asked the boss the other day, and he rather unapologetically just shrugged it off, and told me that the waitstaff must have made a mistake. I’m afraid I won’t be coming here again any time soon.

Enough of my rant. Here’s MY Top 5:

1. Valentino’s
2. Rocky’s
3. Peperoni
4. Sistina
5. Spizza

Valentino’s (A Pizza Month Special Report)

C says:

Nothing beats Valentino’s for good old-fashioned Italian food. Quick background on the history of the place (as we know it): our first experience with chef Valentino Valtulina was when he was at Ristorante Roma, at Royal Ville. It renamed itself Casa Roma and the standard deteriorated somewhat. One day, A’s cousin L introduced us to Cantina at Greenleaf Road, and we discovered that Valentino had moved there. Not long after that, we heard that due to some shareholding disputes (Cantina was opened with a Singaporean partner, who allegedly stole Valentino’s recipes then promptly tried to get rid of him), Valentino opened his namesake restaurant last year, deep inside the residential area of Rifle Range Road.

Valentino’s is pretty much a family-run joint – his parents, brother and sister all help out in the restaurant, and his sister even makes all the desserts daily. I think this place has the best traditional Italian food in Singapore – completely unpretentious, just really good Italian food that you could imagine being served in a family-run restaurant in Italy.

Because it’s still pizza month (May is coming to an end, thank goodness…), we had to have a pizza when we came here on Saturday night. A decided on the Pizza Alberto, which has beef tenderloin and Tabasco sauce. For someone who claims to like “simple food for simple folk, yo”, I’m surprised that this pizza is A’s favourite one here. While the beef is very tender and the Tabasco sauce an interesting addition, there are other pizzas I’d rather have here, most notably the Pizza Bismark, which we’ve tried previously. The Bismark is a simple pizza with bacon and 2 eggs sunny side up, and the egg is set but still slightly soft in the center. If you’re a bacon and egg fan, you have to try the Bismark.

Another killer dish here is the Lobster Pasta. Two small lobsters are halved and served, still in their shells with heads and all, with linguine in a creamy tomato sauce that has an incredibly full flavour of lobster and lobster roe. It’s almost like condensed lobster bisque. This is one of the best pastas I’ve ever had, because it doesn’t try to add too many ingredients to complicate matters, and just relies on the strength of the lobster flavour. It can get a little gelak though, so I’d recommend 2 people sharing this and a pizza.

This place has specials every night, but we forgot to ask what the specials were tonight and just proceeded to order. While I have no regrets with the mains, we ordered a meat antipasto starter which was good, if a little boring. We overheard the waiter telling another table the starter specials, one of which was cheese wrapped with parma ham and fried. Bummer, we should’ve ordered that.

We shared a tiramisu for dessert – made by Valentino’s sister. This was really good, and A was in heaven because this tiramisu, which was low on alcohol and high on marscapone cheese, suited him perfectly.

The place was full by about 8.30, so if you’re thinking of coming on a weekend, I’d seriously recommend that you make a reservation if you don’t want to be disappointed. Oh, one more thing – there was a sign on the door saying they’re closed for their annual vacation from 5th to 26th June (or thereabouts). So do call ahead to find out if they’re open.

A says:

Best non-alcoholic Tiramisu I’ve had, EVER!. Food is always excellent. Used to have iffy service but now that Valentino has his whole family here and more staff (including parking valets), it’s all good.

They serve their pizzas on a cool wooden lazy susan so it’s easy to reach the pieces and it’s just plain fun to spin. I would have chosen this as the best pizza place until I developed a taste for cleaner, simpler pizzas. As it is though, this place is still great and like a terminator, “I’ll be back” for the tiramisu.

Naxos (A Pizza Month Special Report – “kinda”)

A says:

We’ve always come to this place for its tapas, but I overheard the owner saying to another customer that his pizzas were great because he’s from the most famous pizza region in Italy. So for pizza month, we decided to share one of the pizzas here and have less tapas.

The guy wasn’t lying, man. If you like really thin crust pizza, this place rocks! We had the Naxos pizza (ham, mushroom and a bit of cream) and it was simple, yet addictive. I could even eat just the crust because it tasted like they added extra butter.

I’m not sure whether I prefer this or Peperoni now. Will do a ranking at the end of pizza month.

C says:

I’m not sure why A is so enamoured with the pizza here. Yeah, it was pretty good in a simple way, and it did taste quite nice and buttery. But to me it was like, “Where’s the cheese?” I’m used to having strings of mozzarella oozing out from that first bite of a hot pizza, but there was none to be found here. In fact, it seemed to be thin crust, toppings, then a mixture of butter and grated parmesan sprinkled on top and baked. Sure, it resulted in a less rich pizza but honestly, I’ll take Rocky’s any day.

The tapas here still blows me away though. The seared tuna with guacamole, which we can’t help but order every time we go, was once again superb.