Cottontail Creamery @ 326 Serangoon Ave 3

Was there on a weekend with Ivan, Alvin, Tiara, Shermaine and Kris. Had some snacks prior to visiting but we still ordered up a storm. Coffee? Of course. The place was busy by the time we dropped by at about 1pm.

view from our table

Love the flowers on the table. It felt warm and homely. Besides coffee and tea, we ordered the smashed avocado, crackling Spanish pork, ham & cheese crepe and waffles with two scoops of ice-cream for dessert.

Make payment at the counter and await for the buzzer to vibrate when the food is ready.

wait

Meanwhile, we sipped coffee, relax and chit-chat. Flat white tasted fine without sugar. The shortbread cookie was lovely too.

flat white @$5

After a short wait, our food arrived. The spanish pork was impressive with the super crispy crackling. It did make a 'kruk-kruk' sound when sliced. Served with creamy mash potato (but it was a tad dry), savoy cabbage & bacon and blackcurrant jam. Super loved the jam! The pork itself was tender at the parts where it had a layer of fats. Yums.

Crackling Spanish Pork @$16.50

Next up, was the ham & cheese savoury crepe. The presentation of this savoury crepe was rather dull and first thought was, "Wow, raw egg!" The crepe was rather Asianish and feels like homemade. Comforting.

savoury crepe with ham & cheese with organic sunny-side up @$8.80

For the healthy, the smashed avocado would be to your liking. In fact, I liked it too! Housemade toasted organic bread, rocket salad, sprouts, organic buttersquash hummus, and preserved lemon. The colour combination made it all so much more appealing! I pinched a chunk off the bread, spread a little blackcurrant jam (from crackling pork), piled high with hummus and avo before topping it with rocket/sprouts. Lovely!

Smashed Avocado @$14.50

For dessert, we had the waffles with two scoops of ice-cream. Actually, the mini-celebration was brought forward way way earlier, as the staff served the dessert first before any of the mains. Ooops!

Happy Birthday Ivan!

Nevertheless, we enjoyed our stay at Cottontail Creamery, with their friendly staff. One could try as many ice-cream flavours including its award winning vanilla before deciding on eventual scoop. There are unique flavours such as IPA beer. The chocolate was good.

waffles with olive oil and chocolate ice-cream @$12.30

Oriole Coffee + Bar @ Capitol Piazza

Having been to Oriole at Somerset in the past, I had the impression that they served quite a good Jamaican jerk chicken and coffee. Had the chance to try Oriole in Capitol Piazza (didn't know they had an outpost there!) recently and here are some photos of what we ate.

Shermaine wanted to use The Entertainer App and we opted for similar value items to enjoy the 1-for-1 offer. For this, the staff informed us that we needed to get 2 items from the same section of Classic and All Day Breakfast. Not sure why there's such a restriction instead of just relying on the price of the dish, we complied nonetheless.

Fish Tacos @$20

Oriole Truffle Burger @$18

Fully Loaded @$20

2 Eggs + 2 Muffins @$21

The Fully Loaded has choice of 2 sausages (pork/cheesy chicken), eggs done your way (scrambled, poached, sunny or overeasy), maple glazed bacon, air dried tomatoes, baked beans and toast. For breakfast, am always in the mood for scrambled eggs. But the portion of the eggs here was rather disappointing.

As with any poached eggs situation, there's the customary flowy egg lava shot. The 2 eggs and 2 muffins were spiffed up with spinach and smoked salmon. However, the smoked salmon here was rather flaky. Not sure why. The poached egg had too much vinegar and thus, it was a tad sour.

profile view

The burger patty was overdone and the tacos shell were neither crispy nor soft. It was just in-between. From our experience, I'd say Oriole Somerset may be the better choice. But then again, the last I went to Oriole Somerset was a few years back. Things might have changed.

Paddy Hills @ South Buona Vista Road

Paddy Hills is a cafe located along South Buona Vista Road. It was a road of nothingness, and if you see a stretch of eateries, that's the stop. We didn't notice the awning signage with the shop's name and ended up having to turn back.

The place exudes a classy comfy vibe with industrial-chic cement floor. Paddy Hills was rather busy during the weekends. The place has some instagram-worthy items that attracts the young adults.

hand brew

board menu for drinks

chillax

The lotus roots chips with sumac powder was served in a porcelain basket-like container. Pretty looking but the seasoning was light and chips wasn't crispy.

lotus roots chips @$10

Since it was morning when we visited, naturally coffee would be in the order along with juice or something similar. The latte was pretty good. The Orange Sky was bottled juices but it was really pretty. A layered mix of blood orange and grapefruit juice.

latte

Orange Sky @$8

The cakes at the counter looked quite enticing but alas, we didn't try. For food, we managed to try a couple of items.

ciders, cakes and coffee

Who eats mussels for brunch? Us, I supposed. Hahaha! The mussels were too salty unfortunately.

NZ mussels @$20

The main courses fared slightly better than the appetisers. Pork belly, duck confit and a festive item. Of the dishes, there were more misses than hits. The crispy pork belly indeed had crackling crispy pork rind but the belly itself was rather dry.

crispy pork belly @$26

duck & waffles @$25

The duck & waffles looked promising but it was let down by the utterly bitter waffles. The thin 'forever-running' apple ribbon was a good choice and the duck was enjoyable.

Christmas Burger @$26

Usually, I'd steer clear of any festive items that had turkey in it and the advice is still the same.

photography in-progress

Also tried the Uni Truffle Pasta. A plate of black pasta with parma ham and uni. Interesting dish, and tossed dry.

Uni Truffle Pasta @$35

have a bite

The Uni Truffle Pasta was good but it didn't wow. For brunch/breakfast, would recommend the Pork Cassoulet. This would be the classic beans, sausages and egg combo. The bread on the side was good for mopping up the tomato sauce.

Pork Cassoulet @$24

Brunch with friends in a cosy ambiance. Let's have a cup of coffee and relax during the weekends! Happy Festivities everyone!

Berry Muffcake @$23

Paddy Hills

Location: 38 South Buona Vista Road, 118164
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/paddyhills.sg/
Contact: 6479 0800
Business Hours:
Weekends: 9am to 10pm
Weekdays: 1030am to 10pm

[Media Invite] Monti Festino Sunday Brunch @ 1-Pavilion

It's the weekend and if you are looking to indulge, why not give Monti Festino Sunday Brunch a try? It has a good selection of foods, gorgeous view of the bay and warm service from team Monti. The right recipe for a good time.

Monti Festino Sunday Brunch

every view is good

The brunch at Monti was a relaxed affair. Arrive at the venue, and you'll be immediately greeted and seated by the friendly and efficient team. Browse through the 3-page menu and staff will bring forth the cold seafood platter (fruitti di mare) for starters.

let the feast begin

The Fruitti Di Mare platter consists of chilled Alaskan King crab, cooked tiger prawns, tuna tataki, salmon sashimi slices, Fine de Claire oysters, mussels and clams. Good for two pax. Loved the oysters and tuna tataki!

Fruitti Di Mare

How about some greens to balance out the diet? At Monti, the salad will be prepared at your table-side, ala Italian-style and served fresh.

dressing it up

We could clearly see what goes into that salad. There were Liliput capers, Mediterranean olives,crisp lettuce, onions, shallots, croutons, cherry tomatoes, octopus and lemon dressing. Finished off with lots of care and love for their diners.

The taste of the salad was bright and refreshing. No additional salt added.

Grilled Octopus salad

If you are enjoying the free-flow of alcoholic drinks, then wouldn't the Charcuterie & Cheese Platter comes to mind? Great that Monti has got this covered in their Sunday Brunch menu so just order up! We had salami, San Daniele ham, walnuts, apricot, grapes, pecorini, cheddar and a type of soft cheese.

Charcuterie & Cheese Platter

cheers

And, one gets to order one of Monti's signature dish; the Cacio Pepe e Tartufo or also known as truffle risotto. Table-side service, no less.

round and round, into the cheese wheel it goes

black truffle

more please

But what's brunch without eggs benedict? If you must have it, Monti has it! Eggs benedict, eggs florentine, french toast and basically eggs done any way that you prefer.The poached egg was perfectly runny. Just use those crisp toast to mop it all up. So good.

eggs florentine

eggs benedic t

The french toast was light and eggy. Served with honey cinnamon mascarpone, fresh berries and caramelized bananas. Lovely.

french toast

By then, I was ready for the meats. Bring 'em. But first, how about a pan-fried foie gras on toast with balsamic reduction and served with wine jelly. It was love at first bite. Very nice.

foie gras

For meats and seafood, there's seabass with white wine butter sauce, barbeque pork rib, charcoal girlled iberico pork jowl, grilled lamb chop and rib-eye steak.

seabass with white wine butter sauce

pork rib

prawn bowl

My favourite meats were the pork jowl and ribeye steak. First time having pork jowl, and was surprised by the firm yet not tough texture. The edges of the meat had slight char and the added smokiness was rather enticing.

iberico pork jowl

The ribeye was easy to slice and was of medium doneness. Reasonable amount of fats and it was such joy to eat.

ribeye steak with red wine jus

beauty

Interestingly, there is a DIY station to concoct your own cocktail, specifically Bloody Mary and Mojito. So anyone (that is of legal drinking age) can try their hands in mixing the drinks. No worries, as the friendly staff will be on-hand to guide. Hehe. Quite fun! For mojito, you'll just need palm sugar, rum, lotsa mint leaves, lemon wedges and ice.

Purple Taste Mojito

Don't leave without trying the pasta. Choose your noodles, choice of sauce and ingredients and Chef will fire up a plate just for you. Not to worry as the pasta was done in a manageable portion.

aglio olio

Any room for dessert? You bet! The dessert table was really pretty. The mini bite-sized portions of the cakes and tartlets were really thoughtful as we could try more variety.

tiramisu

torta caprese

amaretti cookies

mango panna cotta

Struffoli with honey and chocolate

Tasted all the above dessert and loved them all. The tiramisu was a favourite and so was the struffoli.

Thank you Elle for the invite and Marina for hosting the brunch. Special thanks to Chef Felix, Martin and team Monti for taking care of us that day.

Buon appetito!

Monti at 1-Pavilion

Location: 82 Collyer Quay, The Fullerton Pavilion, 049327 Singapore
Website: http://www.monti.sg
Contact: +65 65350724
Business Hours:

Monday – Sunday:
12.00pm to 1.00am
Public Holidays :
6.00pm to 1.00am

Sunday Brunch Price:
$90++ for brunch without drinks
$120++ for brunch with non-alcoholic drinks
$140++ for brunch with free flow of wine
$160++ for brunch with free flow champagne