Cacio de Pepe Italian Restaurant

Chocolate Chip Cookie went to a cosy no-frills Italian cafe called Cacio de Pepe for a farewell lunch. Word of advice: It is inconvenient to go there without a car. It is located off Upp Paya Lebar Road.

The standard compliments of grated parmesan cheese powder and chilli flakes.

The standard and yummy starter of bread and olive oil. Not easy to serve the bread warm and fluffy (the best way to eat it with olive oil & balsamic vinegar) as the bread tend to turn hard when cold.

A serving of Margherita pizza was ordered while waiting for the rest of the gang to come. Margherita is arguably the simplest of all pizzas to prepare, topped with the simplest and most basic ingredients of only cheese, tomato sauce and basil leaves. And sometimes the most basic ingredients, when come together in proper proportion, creates the most divine food. PLUS, served on a very thin crust. The pizza disappeared in seconds.

Cacio de Pepe offers a $12.90++ set lunch on weekdays that comes with the soup of the day and a pasta of the day (choice of 2) with a choice of tea/coffee/soft drink.

The slightly spicy Penne Arrabiata! The serving doesn't look a lot but it was very filling. The tomato sauce was not overwhelming at all but super tasty, maybe they had put some special ingredients into the paste.

The other pasta of the day was Farfalle Salmon. We did not taste it personally but reviews is that it's delicious!

We didn't expect much from a out-of-the-way place. But they did surprise us with the simple, yet down to earth and very honest serving of Italian food. Homemade Italian food. We will definitely be back for more!!


4 Rochdale Road
+65 6281 1905
(nearest MRT Bartley CCL)

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Vanilla Bar & Cafe

Vanilla Bar & Cafe is a small and cosy place, seating capacity is about 20 indoors and 5 in the courtyard. Unfortunately for us, there was an event and some dude booked the entire indoor seating so we had to sit outdoors. Surprisingly, it did not turn out too bad, in fact, it felt really quaint! Over our heads was the well-maintained exteriors of the shophouse, and we were surrounded by the lush greenery. It almost felt like we were somewhere else altogether, definitely not in CBD.

The order of the day: my norwegian salmon with egg mayo sandwich. never knew such a combo could be so heavenly. With the panini well toasted (and with sexy grill marks), it omes together superbly with the creamy egg mayo andt the salmon provided the punch. Would had been really the perfect meal if there was a serving of cream cheese. :)

A standout: my dining partner's japanese katsu curry. the meat was nicely fried and did not lose the crispiness even though it was generously doused in Japanese curry. I for one loves the root vegetables simmered in gravy/curry/sauce and this is no exception.

You can look forward to the value deal of adding $1.50 for a drink (coffee/tea/soft drink)!! Our total dining bill was a mere $25. What a bargain! Considering it's in CBD!


Great getaway at such an unlikely place! A good (short) get-away from the hustle and bustle of work in the middle of a work week. :)

3 Boon Tat Street #01-01
+65 6423 0366

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Let's Sweets! Japanese dessert buffet.

This is our first media invite and we are more than excited to cover it.

Let’s Sweets is Singapore’s first and latest dessert buffet restaurant which promises to inspire and offer sugar rush experience that will tease and excite the taste buds of all food enthusiasts.

It is operated by Japan Foods Holding Ltd, which also runs celebrated brands such as “Ajisen Ramen”, “Manpuku”, “Botejyu”, “Fruit Paradise” and “AOBA”.

Anyway once again this our first time attending a media preview for a new eating place, and a pretty interesting one too – a dessert buffet concept. Both our team members  ‘kena’ sugar rush at the end of the whole great experience. There was a preview pack at the entrance and here’s a little glimpse of what was offered! *slurp*

These were just a few of their signature dishes; they actually serve more than 40 varieties of desserts under one roof. We took a picture of the main dessert bar which held most of the offerings.

Round 1

(Clockwise from bottom left) Gelée de Fraise, Gelée de Mangue, Blue Jelly, Green Tea Mousse and Mixed Fruit Mousse

First round was to take it slow and easy so we went for the jellies and mousse. Verdict: If you must try the jelly, just go for the mango flavored one. Mousse were pretty light so can give it a try if you’re a fan.

Round 2

Banana Chocolate Crepe with Ice Cream

This is my personal favorite although Bel thinks that the crepe turned soggy too quickly. There was another choice of mix berries but we didn’t try that.

Round 3
Baked Cheesecake (L) Soufflé Cheesecake Yummy! If you’re fan of cheesecake do try both. Otherwise the baked one is a little dry so you can try the soufflé if you only have tummy space for one. It’s not overly rich too so you can have them and still don’t feel too ‘jelak’.  

Bonus Round
(Clockwise from top left) Hokkaido Coffee Zenzai, Panna Cotta, Chocolate Glazed Cream Puff, Caramel Glazed Cream Puff

The Hokkaido Coffee Zenzai is pretty unique and happens to be one of their signature dishes. It’s made of two little tofu-rice balls soaking in red bean and coffee. Must try! 

Panna Cotta is the first dessert that we felt was rich – both in taste and flavor. The cream puffs, although nothing special in their looks tasted really good! The cream filling is excellent and very appetizing.

 There’s one attraction at the entrance of Let’s Sweets – the Dancing Yaki Mochi! We shan’t divulge how these little rice balls can ‘dance’ for you but we have witnessed them do so. These are pretty filling so you may want to keep them to the last part. Try the Sweet Potato and the Black Sesame with Red Bean flavor.

Here's a video of it.

The other side of Let’s Sweets

Just in case you need a little bit of savory to balance out the sweets or just to fill up your appetite, there is a good selection of mains bites that you can choose from. Even if you are very focused on just the sweet, I recommend the Friend Prawn Mentai Mayonnaise – super delicious. Other offerings include fried white fish chili sauce, fried chicken with chili sauce, omurice, chicken cream spaghetti, chicken tomato spaghetti and pumpkin gratin.

Finally the price: $14.80/$18.80 for weekday lunch and dinners and $15.80/$19.80 for weekend lunch and dinners seems like a pretty fair deal. And word from the boss is that dinners will come with a main course although no details were available.

AND OH! You might like to know that they have a time limit for the meals – 60 minutes for lunch and 80 minutes for dinner. While I can understand why they need to do that, I don’t know how are they going to enforce it.

Let’s Sweets is located at Bugis Junction, #02-49. It will be officially operational from Friday, 6 August 2010. Lunch will be served from 11.30am - 4.30pm and dinner will commence from 5.30pm -10.00pm.

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eskimo

if you work in town and think Koi is too out of the way for you and you NEED a quality-certified (by yours truly) cup of bubble tea, here's your saviour:

Chocolate Chip Cookie stumbled upon this late last year after a meeting at the HQ. back then, this bubble tea brand was relatively unknown but now i see people ordering 5 or 6 cups at a go during lunch time.

what is good is they serve sandwiches and a whole lot of other drink and they have some tables and chairs for dine in.

what is great is their oolong milk tea is comparable to Koi's. same price, same method of mixing, same choose-your-own-sugar-level but minus the queue. not sure about the chewiness of the pearls because i dont eat them. they dont have grass jelly though.

what is superb is their green milk tea is BETTER than Koi's! i always find Koi's green milk tea too bland but here at Eskimo they steam the green tea before shaking with the powder and ice. in turn the taste of the green tea comes out strong.

and now, on top of their little shopfronts at Dhoby Ghaut Xchange and Market Street Carpark at Raffles Place, they are have opened one more at Esplanade Xchange! :)

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Buono Pizza Bar & Italian Restaurant

Sunday lunch and to celebrate the ROM of Chocolate Chip and Cookies and Cream.

Tucked in the quiet estate of Serangoon Gardens, Buono Pizza offers a good variety of Italian food packed with home-made goodness. This is not our first visit but first review of the place because the camera was always left at home.

Buono do have a good selection of wine. Watch out for their wine pairing offers every once in awhile. It is worth going. We know, because we did. :)

Buono Sampler

The sampler is an amazing spread of appertisers. Parma ham with rock melon, fried calamari, bouquet of mushrooms with awesome cheese sauce and grilled eggplants and friends. At $48, it is meant for four diners but more can feed 6-8. Calamari was nicely fried with the right level of seasoning, the cheese sauce goes perfectly with the sauteed mushrooms and the grilled veggies were nice and moist. The parma ham were a bit dry though but good enough for us. (4/5)

Caesar Salad

We have got to have greens and we decided on the Caesar Salad ($15). This is one of the lightest Caesar we had had, in terms of the dressing. I like the taste of the grated Parmesan but the lack of heavy mayo that some joints serve in their sauce. The finely shaved Parmesan were a delight to bit into, together with the cool crispy romaine lettuce. Would have loved it if there were bacon bits! (3.75/5)

Mushroom Soup &Seafood Soup

It was a celebration and how can a celebration be complete without any soup? The mushroom soup ($9) and seafood soup ($12) were it! The mushroom soup was a tad thin for our liking but you could still taste bigger bits of mushroom. Well flavoured, but at the price, we would had expected a more mushroom-y soup. (3.5/5) The seafood soup was on the other hand very intense. Too intense for some of us. The serving of seafood was generous and the thick creamy tomato based soup was a delight. It is a tad bit fishy after awhile, especially when the soup turns cold. (3.75/5)

Buono Pizza

The Buono Pizza ($23) is THE pizza. Topped with sausages, tomatoes and a bed of rocket leaves, this really got us going. The pizza base has the kind of authentic european bread feel and the toppings comes together very nicely. I swear I could taste eggs in there. An explosion of flavours, fresh ingredients and rustic bread. What more can you ask from your pizza? (4.75/5)

Ravioli Crustaceus

I admit. I am a sucker for ravioli ever since I had my first salmon ravioli as a 13-yr old. The ravioli crustaceus ($22) is packed with crab meat and served in the seafood tomato sauce. Marvellous combination. But just one downside, we just had the seafood soup. And we believe, the same base was used. So.... I would say, just order the soup or the ravioli. Both of them together in one seating is an overkill. That being said, this is still a awesome dish and I would order it again. (4.5/5)

Lamb Chop Gorgonzola

This is the highlight of the meal. Absolutely adore the lamb chop gorgonzola ($29). Lamb chops is not an easy meat to season and cook, and therefore I am very appreciative of one that is nicely done. The seasoning was perfect for this one and the meat is nicely cooked pink (and NOT bloody) on the inside. Moist and juicy, and tender. Topped it up with the gorgonzola cheese sauce.... we were all totally blown away. (5/5)

A very nice homely ambience but expect crowds even if it is a weekday night. The service is good and consistent for the couple of times we visited. If you are lucky, you will get to talk to Buono, the chef owner who will make his rounds and talk to the customers.

It may get a little noisy though.

Buono Pizza Bar & Italian Restaurant

27 Lichfield Road

Tel: +65 6733-5646

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Keisuke Tokyo Ramen

riding on the ramen craze, Chocolate Chip Cookie went to Keisuke Tokyo Ramen at Parco Millenia with some equally ramen-crazy colleagues. they're famous for their shrimp-based soup that comes in 2 flavours - plain and miso.

i can imagine that they're super high in cholesterol since the soup was boiled using roasted prawn heads. since it's so unhealthy it had better taste out of this world right???

unfortunately, i didnt like it very much. :(

the shrimp broth was just okay, maybe because i dont exactly love shimp. the egg yolk wasnt runny enough for my liking. the chicken meat had a strong (repulsive) meaty-taste (could just be my bowl).

well if you like it enough to finish it, you get to see a special message at the bottom of the bowl haha. costs less than $20 for a full set meal (ramen + eggs + meat).

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kichn

Chocolate Chip Cookie tried a new makan place at Albert Court. it's 100% alfresco with very little seating space so lucky the weather was cooling and we were early. i guess the cafe serves mainly students from the nearby LaSelle or people staying at Albert Court Village Hotel (which is surprisingly expensive; we went to check).

the whole area was too quiet and peaceful as compared to the rest of town area and its outskirts. it didnt feel like SG at all and that was so great!

they have quite an interesting concept of ordering food using their specially-designed order sheets. everything is based on your choices - your type of staple, meat, sauce, and even your drinks!

food-wise, everything was done using a microwave. there is no kitchen. haha.. the Chili Crab sauce was apparently quite nice (but i'm not the world's greatest fan of Chili Crab). i thought the chicken chop with teriyaki sauce was splendid and the chicken cutlet was value for money!

mango lychee, chocolate grape, peach redbull

they said that if your blend of drinks is weird, they would change it for you.

no service charge, no GST. about $14 per pax and everyone was bloated. i would go there again for the un-Singapore ambience!

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Tip-It!

I had always keen to seek out good value for money things. So when I received an email from Tip-It to run this for them, I gladly accepted. I like the concept and if the merchants bites, the consumer (you and me) will be in for great deals. I hope they can carry this to full fruition.

Want to win a free iPod shuffle and other amazing prizes? Just sign up for the newsletter at Tip-It now!

Tip-It! will be offering discounts of up to 90% off restaurants, spas, bars, clubs, and shops in Singapore which you love! Tip-It! is a social buying site which leverages on the power of social networks to help bring you great deals. 

Don't forget to join their Facebook page to stay up to date with the latest deals and promotions too!

Details of the draw can be found here! 

So go on over and sign up for their newsletter at Tip-It now!

**This is NOT a paid advertorial**

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