Hot Kitchen Bar & Bistro, Mistri Road

 We had bought a 1-for-1 pasta voucher for this place, after seeing that they offer naked carbonara (without cream!). Long since the fantastical traditional-carbonara-done-right at Avanti (seems hit and miss in the reviews now, but the carbonara should still be amazing), I've been trying to find a carbonara to match. Unfortunately, most of the Italian places I've been to since, definitely fell short.

 This spot is definitely ... strange. Mistri Road (indeed a mystery) was a tiny road neatly tucked between Anson Centre and M Hotel, near Shenton Way (opposite a big McD). Being a bar with lots of offices nearby, place was abound with people having after-work drinks.

 Very very strangely, while I wouldn't they have plenty of empty tables available, we were escorted to the very end of the outdoor seating area, where I was rather literally, staring down the above alley point into nowhere. Oh well, not did I minded since  was in the way!

{ Naked Carbonara ($16) }

As it should be, without cream

 Moment of truth - carbonara! But ... well it is without cream. In that sense, it was true to its word. But it's not carbonara - in fact nowhere near! Taste was closer to aglio olio with scrambled egg. The taste of garlic was fairly strong, and the egg yolks were mixed in while the pasta was still hot - thus causing scrambled eggs! But in all honesty, I actually still quite loved it. The bacon was generous and taste wise was still pretty packed (though a salty garlicky taste was predominant).

{ Chicken Pesto ($16) }

Roasted chicken slices tossed & cooked off with our signature home made asian basil pesto

 I can never resist pesto - in fact it's my go-to pasta base - so when I saw this I knew I had to try! This is a slightly spicier rendition of the traditional one I'm familiar with. It also uses asian basil which somehow seemed to give a Thai flavour (?) Very interesting! Lots of chicken bits too. For stated price of $16 this is pretty worth it in my books.

This didn't really strike us as a place to have a 'proper' dinner as most patrons seem to be taking advantage of the happy hour. But we were quite surprised by the quality and portion of the pasta that we had and would recommend this if you're nearby.

Hot Kitchen Bar & Bistro

2 Mistri Road

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Main website : http://snipurl.com/thehotkitchen
HGW Link (100% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/The_Hot_Kitchen_Bar___Bistro/
Rating (out of 4) : 

Spizzico, UE Square

 Overdue for a meetup session and we settled on Spizzico at UE Square as they were offering up to $40 for $80 value vouchers! It's a fair walk if you're coming by train via Clarke Quay station, and after messing around with underpasses and talking a very long path, the best way to walk there is via Liang Court.

 Spot was reasonably crowded for a Thursday night, and they had a pretty nice wine list as well. Lighting was the usual "dank dark yellow" which gives the place some ambience but makes photos on my camera pretty crappy. We settled for just two starters and four pastas for four for us.

{ Calamari Fritti con Salsa alla Diavola ($16) }

Golden fried crispy squid ring, served with spicy tomato sauce

 I quite liked the lemon wedge squeezer thing it came with - was a decent portion of calamari for $16 and decently spiced. But the squid itself was way, way, way too hard and chewy, probably overcooked.

{ Lumache al Forho ($15) }

Extra large escargot baked with herbs and garlic butter (half dozen)

 Wow they weren't kidding about the extra large escargot! About 50% bigger than most escargots you get in french places, be careful not to burn your tongue (like me). Extract the snail and let it cool instead of eating it straight from the shell. The shells were really big so don't forget all that sweet sweet butter and herbs sitting inside. Taste wise honestly I prefer the smaller ones, you can't go wrong with escargot.

{ Fettucine alla Carbonara ($18) }

Pasta fettucine with bacon, parmesan cheese, light fresh cream and egg yolk

 Ah ... well ... despite having fresh cream in it I just had to try their Carbonara. As expected there was a little too much cream and too little yolk, the yolky-egginess taste distinct to traditional Carbonara was absent and what's left was just the sweetness from the cream. Bacon was stirred in so it was soft and chewy instead of thin crisps like it should.

{ Gil Agnolotti Farciti Di Spinaci ($22) }

Homemade ravioli stuffed with fresh spinach and Ricotta cheese in pink sauce

 Spinach and ricotta is one of the most common ravioli stuffings - this variation in a tomato cream base was just alright for me. The pasta to stuffing ratio is a little skewed (not enough stuffing) but overall it was still pretty rich.

{ Gil Gnocchi di Patate al 6 Formaggi ($22) }

Dumpling potato pasta sauteed with 6 types of Italian cheese sauce

 My first taste of gnocchi despite reading much about it, the texture of gnocchi was as expected, soft and firm but not chewy, a nice balance between the potato and the pasta. I tend to stay away from multi-cheese sauces as I prefer something with more depth (than CHEESEEEEE. Not that it's a bad thing.), but the blue cheese kinda gave this a nice spike to the nose. It's pungent in smell but you can't quite taste it, and the sauce itself was a tad too light.

{ Spaghetti del Pescatore al Nero Di Seppia ($24) }

Spaghetti tossed with prawn, clam, scallop, squid, crayfish and mussel in squid ink sauce

 A photography nightmare! The camera just refused to take a nice shot of 100% black on a 100% yellow setting (not like the other photos turned nicer ...), but anyway I felt this was the best dish of the night. The squid ink flavour was really pronounced, and they really went to town with the amount of ink they used cos the crayfish was completely stained black inside and out. My only gripe was that the spaghetti was too soft - would have been perfect if it was al dente!

We actually had a coupon for a free bottle of wine (!!!), 1 use per table if you spend more than $30. Not a bad deal honestly, but the pastas while not too expensive was nothing too spectacular. Service was good however, and the manager chatty and friendly.

Spizzico (A)

81A Clemenceau Avenue #01-13
UE Square



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Email :  spizzico_ue@yahoo.com.sg
HGW Link (87% recommended at time of writing ) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/spizzico/
Rating (out of 4) : 

Gourmet Bakery Cafe, Parco Marina Bay

 Sometimes for lunch I'd have takeaway sandwiches from The Gourmet Bakery at Republic Plaza, Raffles Place. I was informed some time ago that they have a sit-in outlet in Millenia Walk. Didn't really consider going over until I saw a voucher for a 3-course meal there ( for just $9.90!).

This cafe is nestled within Parco, and is quite hidden unless you use the entrance that links directly into the department store. But here it is, and what a charming/cute/feminine setup!

 Honestly speaking the first thing that felt strange was the service. We had to reserve (to use the voucher) but there was a not a soul there besides us which was expected. Even then, after acknowledging us and after we sat down, nobody approached us or served water or said that we had to order at the counter (regardless of how obvious it was).

Counter staff were visibly students working part-time and matter-of-fact-ly mentioned that the set comes with a soup, any choice of pasta or wrap, and a drink worth less than $5.

 You get soup as a starter. There were about 4 choices that evening we were there, and I chose the minestrone but   lapped up most of it :)

{ Minestrone Soup (Small : $4)}

 I was a little concerned about the state of the food, but my fears were allayed with the soup came. The soups were actually, really great! The minestrone was packed heap-ful of ingredients and the soup taste was very pronounced and naturally flavourful from all the ingredients.

 The minestrone is really flavourful.. look at how much ingredients are in there! Definitely tastes homemade with the sheer tomato-ness in every mouthful. Personally though I somehow preferred the broccoli soup that   picked out.

{ Cream of Broccoli (Small : $4) }

 Now this really screams broccoli! There is no doubt in my mind that fresh REAL broccoli were used. Texture was just nice - smooth without being too thick nor creamy. It felt really healthy and nutritious.

 I picked the cream of broccoli which I passed to bunneh, and it wasn't broccoli cheese as I was used to, it was just cream of broccoli and again, really strong and sharp in broccoli flavour, a pleasant surprise.

{ Tuna Pesto Pasta ($8.50)  }

 Generous in basil (though not enough pinenuts or olive oil), it was a little too dry but again ingredients were generous. Jam packed with tuna and an interesting choice of vegetables, while I wouldn't call it pesto, it was still pretty tasty but it would have been a lot nicer with more olive oil.

 Ooh this was nice and extremely laden with tuna. While this is surely not 'traditional' pesto pasta, I appreciated the addition of snowpeas and green pepper for fibre and crunch! For $8.50 this is really value for money.

{ Mediterranean Wrap ($7.50) }

 This is a vegetarian wrap. All kinds of veg in there, and I couldn't quite make out the dressing although it had a nice flavour. Liked this but probably should have tried the non-vego wraps!

 This tasted similar to the Salads & Wraps at ICON which we patronize regularly, I detected chickpeas, beetroot and some kind of yoghurt dressing that constituted this vegetarian wrap. Tasted healthy and pretty good.

{ Hot Cocoa ($5) }

 We ended with a hot coca which was included in the set and man that's some nice latte art! The cocoa was a little cool by the time we finished our food, and overly sweet, but I guess I'd know next time to ask for less sweetness and to be served after. Was still a good end to a nice quiet dinner :)

I thought the soups were pretty good and the my pasta was good (but dry), it was kinda like a pleasant surprise and the $10 set for all that was really worth the money. Glad to hear that they are packed on weekday lunches and I guess, weekends as well despite Parco not being a too popular spot.

Gourmet Bakery Cafe

9 Raffles Boulevard, #P1-11/12

Parco Marina Bay



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Main website : http://www.thegourmetgp.com/index.html
HGW Link : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/The_Gourmet_Bakery___Cafe/
Rating (out of 4) :