Spagio Pizzeria, Liang Seah Street

The accepted consensus between the two of us when it comes to buying Groupon or like vouchers, is that it's a lot safer to get cash value vouchers ($15 for $30 value etc.) rather than a set menu voucher ($15 for 3 course meal!). Besides the obvious issue of flexibility, many a times we've been conned into a really, really, really mediocre (some crap) 3 course meals, most likely a minimum-cost specially-prepared set for coupon abusers.

 The latest in our coupon list was Spagio Pizzeria, and this small pizza shop tucked at the tail end of Liang Seah Street (Shaw Towers side) is definitely not in the best of spots for human traffic.

{ Caprese Salad ($8.50) }

Slice of fresh mozzarella and tomato seasoned with olive oil and fresh basil

 We opted for the caprese salad ... the tomatoes came pale (appears red only cos of color correction) and greens yellow-y and wilting - not a good impression at all. Thankfully (!!!), the cheese was lovely - 5 thick and creamy slices of mozzarella, and the basil-ed oil gave it a wonderful lift. Just please, take better care of the vegetable colors!

{ Manzo (12" for $18) }

Tomato, mozzarella, thin slice beef, rocket salad and shaved parmesan cheese

 Instead of the regular prosciutto we opted for something slightly different ... in fact I'm not sure if we got the right pizza.

(1) The waiter uttered some other name, and we said we ordered Manzo, and he was like "that's right ..." and plopped it down. Hmm.
(2) I'm no expert, but that's baby spinach and not rocket. And we didn't even realize it until the next day as we had forgotten what was written on the menu. Damn!

So ... yes. Mystery pizza. Even so, the crust was good, thin and crisp. The thin slice beef, however, looks (and tasted) remarkably like cured ham. Shaved parmesan cheese ... at 3 paltry thin slices it shouldn't even be on the description. And after the fat chunks of mozzarella in the salad, this barely had enough to cover the dough.  

{ Tiramisu ($6) }

Layers in mascarpone, flavoured with aromatic coffee and kahlua

 Not quite sure what this was but it wasn't quite tiramisu. We couldn't quite taste the mascarpone, coffee OR the kahlua, it was just a mushy soft cake, and totally butchery but overdose of Hershey's chocolate and strawberry drizzle.

All in all, nothing great, and the tiramisu was sadly butchered. If you're looking for a decent pizzeria, do check out either Spizza or Etna for no disappointments.

Spagio Pizzeria

2 Liang Seah Street

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HGW Link (no rating at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/spagio-pizzeria-bugis/
Rating (out of 4) :

Steak Out, Victoria Street

 December is all about feasting, what with the slew of Christmas and birthday lunches and dinners in store - we decided we shouldn't really be eating out for the month! Unless, of course, it was to use up the vouchers we had bought prior >.<

 We picked up a couple of vouchers for Steak Out - previously Republic of Steak (not sure if it's renamed or replaced entirely) - 28% off a steak, soup, dessert and drink? Sounds like a good deal!

 Well as it turns out the soup and the drink could have been given a miss. Soup was ok - it had that mushroomy fragrance but texture too thick and Campbell-y. Drink was just a regular watered cordial of some sort.

 But of course, the main attraction was the steak - we both opted for the ribeye which comes with two sides and some strange brown sauce. Verdict?

 ... nothing great, honestly! I guess in 95% of eating spots in Singapore, steak is steak, and the quality is usually proportionate to what you paid for. Granted, I doubt I'll pay the $20 ala carte price for this again.

 But ... who would have guessed the real winner of the night was the signature chocolate lava cake!

 The color on the outside was absolutely weird - white and flaky as though mouldy. Either the frost from the freezer hasn't dissipated properly, and it's some weird icing sugar that looked like dust. Regardless, the cake was perfectly warm and lava-ey in the middle, and went impeccably with the ice cream (which was also lovely).

 All in all, if you're looking for ok steaks at a semi-decent price near SMU, then this will definitely be a good spot to come often. But if you're looking for a good deal on good steaks, then ... probably not. I would come again just for the lava cake though.

Steak Out

89 Victoria Street

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HGW Link (47% recommended under Republic of Steak): http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/republic_of_steak/
Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/steakout.sg
Rating (out of 4) : 

Mouth Restaurant, China Square

 Long since the closure of Mouth @ Work have we wanted to revisit the awesome dim sum experience we had. One fine Thursday evening we even walked into this same place, only to be ushered out because they only served don't serve dim sum for dinner! Silly me. Awesomely we chanced upon a $15 for $30 value voucher for Mouth Restaurant, available daily for breakfast or high tea dim sum - woot!

 We made our way to the China Square branch semi leisure at a Saturday morning. The interior brightly lit with yellow light (which messed up our photos sadly) with colour scheme understandably white and red with an old school feel to it.

 There were plenty of empty tables but always wise to call ahead to reserve in advance anyway.

 Progressively hungry while deciding on to eat from a decent selection of 20-30 (?) dim sums, we ordered a few dishes including a pot of jasmine tea.

{ Char Siew Roll (~$3) }

 I could not resist the guy with a tray full of Char Siew Rolls - these looked good, and tasted awesome. One of the best I've had, the crust was not too thick, flaky and buttery, and contains a rich, sweet and ample filling of char siew (barbecued pork).

 Great crust-to-filling ratio and sweet-salty balance. Thumbs up!

{ Steamed Siew Mai w/Whole Prawn ($4.80) }

 Was not a great fan of siew mai generally but it wasn't bad - skin is too too rubbery, juicy and goes well with chilli.

 This was alright.. siew mai is one of those 'must-have' dishes for dim sum and while this didn't disappoint, it wasn't that memorable either.

{ Steamed Xiao Long Bao w/Crab Meat ($4.50) }

 Have to say none of us tasted and felt any semblance of crab meat ... these were good too but nothing mind blowing.

 XLB wasn't bad. The skin could have been thinner but the broth inside was pretty tasty.

{ Pan Fried Carrot Cake ($3.80) }

 This was pretty awesome - nice crispy crust on the outside, soft and gooey on the inside. Be generous with the chilli and the chilli oil!

 Another 'classic must-have' - this one was yummy and wasn't tooo oily.

{ Baked Cream of Salted Egg York Bun ($6.40) }

 This quite simple stole the show, and was one of the main reasons we came back! Not the cheapest  I've had but probably the nicest combination of sweet, crispy exterior, and salted egg cream that's ultra rich and goo-ey. While I would stuff my face silly with this all day, after two buns you are adequately jelat-ed from how rich it is. Definitely stop this heart-clog at two.

 Oooh this was awesome.The salted egg york was sufficiently flowy and oh-so rich. The bun gives way to the smooth and sinful filling and you've got to be careful not to dribble this down your chin! Savour slowly with closed eyes.

 We left with good impressions of Mouth Restaurant. Certainly one of our top-of-mind places for dim sum. 

Mouth Restaurant

22 Cross Street

#01-61 China Square Central

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Main website : http://www.mouth.com.sg/
HGW Link (77% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Mouth_Restaurant__China_Square_Central_/
Rating (out of 4) :