Spizza

Tasted wonderful gourmet pizzas from Spizza earlier at Jalan Kayu! This pizza restaurant in Singapore is renowned for their traditional thin crust gourmet woodfire pizzas baked in brickstone oven. Just like in Italy.

With 26 interesting pizza names using famous Italian women name in alphabetical order A-Z, you are bound to find one that you like... J for Juliana seems to be the crowd favorite. The toppings are mozarella, tomato, ham and pineapple. But we chose P for Pamela - toppings are mozarella, tomato, mushroom and ham. Some alluring ladies include Magherita, Tara and Isabella too! Magherita pizza was created in 1889 and named in honour after the Queen consort Magherita of Savoy, Queen of Italy for her favourite was a pizza with the colours of the Italian flag - green (basil), white (mozarella), red (tomato). Prices are reasonable at $17 for medium 10" pizza and $21 for a large 12" pizza. (20 minutes cooking time by woodgrill oven)

Spizza for friends - true enough, with the great food, it's really a great place to gather! Spizza offers not only pizza. Ravioli and lasagne are also available if pizza is not your cup of tea. There are also pasta - sphagetti, linguine and penne, though selection is pretty limited. There are selections of deserts, soups, salad and some appetizers - we tried the fried chicken wings (4 for $7) served with great chili sauce. But I would still recommend the woodfire pizzas which are mouthwatering, thin and super crispy!!

Spizza we visited is at 269 Jalan Kayu, Singapore 799497. The central kitchen is at Havelock Road. There are also outlets at Bukit Timah and Club Street where you can meet the head chef. Deliveries are available at Tel: 6377 7773 (http://www.spizza.sg)

Buckaroo BBQ & Grill

Howdy! it's been a long time since I last visited this place! Tucked in deep off Sembawang Road, this place would have easily been long forgotten, if not for visiting the Sembawang Park / Beach! Really missed the good old warm Australian ambience here...

Felt like a pig again gobbling up all the famous buffalo wings @ $17.50 for half dozen. With varying degree of spiciness to choose from! We also had the deep fried mushrooms at $15.80 which still tastes as deliciously crunchy and good! Plus the super yummy clam chowder soup served in a big bun at $9.80. It was really scrumptious!

Buckaroo BBQ & Grill is at 12-B Andrews Avenue (off Sembawang Road), Singapore 759930 Tel: 6754 2621 Open from 430pm -10pm

Itacho Sushi

Who loves a good deal? Me! Itacho Sushi is not a newcomer in the Japanese sushi food chain. This restaurant is popular in Hong Kong and is strongly recommended by foodie Ricky. It serves quality Japanese sushi and food items at very reasonable prices!

We visited one of their outlets at Plaza Singapura during lunch that day and had lots to rave about. They were offering lunch deals at $8.50! What's on the menu for $8.50? There were about 5 or 6 selection of set lunch deals to choose from Gin Karei (silver butterfly) fish to Red fish to eels. Each set comes with rice, of course. I chose the Butter Baked Gin Karei fish while Ted had the Grilled Gin Karei fish. You can top up $2.50 more to have a complete with miso soup and salad. It was a great meal indeed! Fishes were fresh and tastefully marinated. The sauce for my butter baked karei fish was superb. It tastes very much like those really sweet momo-tomato. The other karei fish dish was just well grilled and only the outer layer skin was crispy but not the fish meat, still fresh and soft. We also topped up with an ordering of 4 piece of grilled salmon sushi at $0.40 per piece. It was a great deal meal indeed! We have to share this with everyone.

Itacho Sushi is at 68 Orchard Road #02-35 Plaza Singapura. Singapore. There is also another outlet at Ion Orchard.

The Old Malaya Cafe

Right here at 313 Somerset basement, I found myself a wonderful cool relief from the hot haze outside! See what i found.

The sweet lovely cold nice bowl of Trucker's Chendol at The Old Malaya Cafe (313 Somerset Basement 3) that save my day. Its prepared with lots of sticky brown Gula Melaka (palm sugar), red beans, coconut milk and of course with ice! It's really sweet so if you are a sweet-toothed, you will love it!

The Old Malaya Cafe serves the good old goodness of the taste from the Old Malaya town. It's located at 313 Somerset, Basement 3-10, Orchard Road, Singapore.

The White Rabbit

One bright and sunny Sunday morning, a little boy and a little girl whisked past a pretty green field in Dempsey Hill. There they found a white rabbit hole and stumbled upon THE WHITE RABBIT. The two little children found this place very interesting as it was housed in an old chapel. Without thinking, they climbed into the rabbit's burrow and there they found wonderful and delicious brunches for their hungry little stomachs that day !

A little fairy tale start for a quaint restaurant with a name that's close to that! Indeed. We went to THE WHITE RABBIT for a good Sunday brunch that morning. Look what we had below! The food was not that expensive and were pretty refreshing in our opinion.

1. Rustic Old English Breakfast - English "Fry Up" for 2 @ $20.00 per pax

The warm eggs were interestingly served in a mini cast iron skillet. The salads were fresh with mushrooms and tomatoes served alongside. There were 4 toasted bread slices per pax but I think the serving is a little small if you are hungry! Nevertheless we have to make do with that. The bacon slices were nicely cooked and not hard but found them a little cold. The eggs were the best!

2. Yoghurt and Fruit Bowl to share @ $14.00

This one is a sweet starter and a real pleaser!  Fresh and it came served with gooseberry, grapes, raspberries, blueberries, peaches, pears and many real goodness topped with yoghurt, of course! We both enjoyed it lots!

Only regret is that the food on the menu are pretty limited. Hope they increase the food selections there. Apart from that, its a thumbs up! A lovely lazy brunch set in a old chapel with a nice quiet ambience.... THE WHITE RABBIT is at 39C Harding Road, Singapore 249541 Tel: 6473 9965.

Singapore General Election 2011

Good morning! It's Polling Day today! Have you had your breakfast and voted yet?

May Singapore find good leaders to serve our country and may the best man win!

We the citizens of Singapore
Pledge ourselves as one united people
Regardless of race, language or religion
To build a democratic society
Based on justice and equality
So as to achieve happiness, prosperity
And progress for our nation

Halia Restaurant

Was kept busy from start of the year with springcleaning, then it was Chinese New Year and now its almost the end of the first quarter of Year 2011!! How time flies! How has the year been for you so far?? 

For us, we started the year on a very healthy note. I didnt a chance to post this earlier but we had visited Halia Restaurant @ Singapore Botanic Gardens for a great start to Year 2011! The Halia Restaurant serves local and western fare in the day and offers a continental menu for night dining. The restaurant also have specially created Ginger dishes, being located in the Ginger Gardens. Back to my account of my brunch at the Botanic Gardens Halia Restaurant on the brand New Year 2011 morning, all I could say is real goodness and delightful !! The Halia Restaurant as its name is called in Malay means "Ginger Restaurant". Not that it serves Ginger but that its located in the 1-hectare Ginger Garden, hence its restaurant name.

We were introduced to the special Chef menu - which was braised beef bread bowl that New Year morning. I would love to try it, if not that I am trying to take less of beef now.!  Instead, I searched the menu and ordered the Stripped Bacon served with Egg Boulaise, Spinach, Grilled Tomato, Brown Mushrooms on Bread (@ $22). Ted chose the Kurobuta and Portobello Mushroom Burger (@ $20). Both were wonderfully delicious. See our delicious evidences below ...

My choice of Stripped Bacon served with Egg Boulaise, Spinach,
Grilled Tomato, Brown Mushrooms on Bread

This came like a piece of art, the ingredients stacked nicely on top of each other. I almost couldnt bear to eat it. It was very fresh and delicious.  My stripped bacon was cooked just nicely and not a tad bit of hardness. One bite into the bread could fill you with so much healthy goodness of everything - including spinach, egg, tomato and mushrooms all in one mouthful ! Its simply wonderful!
 

(Black Pig) Kurobuta-Mushroom Burger

Ted's choice was a great balance of soft Kurobuta (in Japanese, this means "black pig pork") patty and fresh portobello mushroom. Served with a specially made japanese-western-mix sauce (tastes like apple puree to me!), the pork patty exudes sweetness with a soft touch. Eaten with the portobello, the taste is one of softness mix with juicy goodness. It was a real delight!!
 

 

I would recommend a thumbs up for a delicious breakfast at memorable Halia Gardens! Great meals which does not fail to please. The environment is comfortable and absolutely delightful dining in the midst of the Gardens.  Halia Restaurant is located at 1 Cluny Road, Ginger Garden (enter via Tyersall Avenue), Singapore Botanic Gardens, Singapore 259569 Tel: 6476 6711.

Raffles Hotel Courtyard

Happy New Year 2011!! Strawberry Moments wishes everyone a healthy, delicious and sumptuous new year filled with abundance and joy!

Ted and me had a wonderful string of celebrations with family and friends from Xmas in December 2010 right till New Year's Day in January 2011!!  And we really cant believe that all this happy feasting is coming to a close.  We also cant wait to share with everyone about our delicious ordeals this festive season, which had probably added a few pounds extra on us now... But hey, all those extra calories can wait ! We only have one year end, right? And its just the most wonderful time of the year to make merry and feast with our loved ones and friends??? So what the heck, just pig out first !

We believe with all this wonderful feasting this one month, we will definitely have more, more and lots more great abundance in the coming year 2011. We also pray and wish everyone, like us will have good health and great abundance in this coming new year too!! Cheers to a brand new year 2011 !!

Complimentary bread served to us before our order came

To recount, our Eve of Xmas Eve was spent at Raffles Hotel Courtyard. This place is now serving the finest ocean-fresh seafood selections prepared à la minute in light Mediterranean flavours typical of the French Riviera, such as the Courtyard Bouillabaisse with Maine Lobster, Red Grouper, Black Cod, Black Mussels, Saffron and Provençal herbs.

I really enjoyed my evening there. There was not that many choices on the menu and this two caught our eyes. I ordered the Black Cod Fish main served with tomato puree, comes with beehoon (@ $50), while Ted had the meal of the night - Singapore Fresh Chilli Crab, comes with beehoon ($10/kg est @ $80) !

Fresh Seafood Tank

Freshness is the key word here.  I recalled seeing the chef catching the crab from the tank and cooking it right at the counter!! What a shock! 

Black Cod Fish with tomato puree

My Black Cod Fish probably wasnt caught live but it was definitely fresh and the dish was cooked with very creamy cheese, complementing very well with the tomato puree. Served with the local beehoon and squeezed with a pinch of lime, the overall effect is tantalising !! Western meets Asian, that's what I would call the dish !

Singapore Chilli Crab with beehoon

The Singapore Chilli Crab was pretty Asian and really Singaporean, in my opinion (if you know what I mean).  The dish also came served with 2 pieces of the local bun, (or called "man-tou" locally, one piece steamed and the other fried) which is best to be quickly eaten while its hot, dipped into the chilli crab gravy.  We could savour the freshness of the crab. Its meat was firm, superbly tasty and sweet!  It was wonderful and definitely a great taste!! (Personally, I prefer the cod fish better as the chilli crab can also be found at the East Coast seafood restaurants)

Whats more, there was a surprise choir (see left picture) that came and serenaded everyone at the Courtyard with Xmas Carols into the night...  The atmosphere was just perfect and heavenly! We could feel so much for Xmas that peaceful evening.  It was a great way to soak into the Xmas atmosphere .... Even now I am missing it ...

Raffles Hotel Courtyard is at Raffles Hotel Singapore, 1 Beach Road, Singapore 189673 Tel: (65) 6412-1816.