IO Italian Osteria @ HillV2

Nearest MRT would be Hillview MRT and it takes about 8 minutes to walk to HillV2. Plenty of dining options at HillV2, and my boss recommends us to try IO Italian Osteria.

Reservation is recommended as the place gets pretty crowded during lunch.

My boss said the must-try here, is the truffle bread. Indeed, as most tables seemed to have chosen this starter.

Traditional Roman Schiaciata @$10

oozing with melted truffle cheese

I thought the bread tasted like foccacia and I'm not wrong. So apparently these two breads are similar but schiacciata does not require a lengthy process. Crispy bread and toasty truffle cheese, makes it a popular choice.

Angus beef carpaccio, parmigiano shavings @16

Our next appetiser is the beef carpaccio and the version here, tasted light and healthy. Lovely with wine, but we didn't have any.

I was curious about old Italian style baked eggs, so we ordered one. Little did I know, it came with truffle cheese as well. Talk about cheesy overload!

'Al Coccio' Old Italian Style Baked Eggs @$14

Served piping hot, and I think it makes a good brunch dish. Just don't order too many cheesy items at one go.

piping hot, cheesy, truffly, eggy

And for 2 pax, I don't recommend ordering more than 2 appetisers.

We shared one main course; Octopus pasta in marinara sauce. The staff recommends penne for this.

Octopus Penne Pasta in Marinara sauce

Plenty of octopus chunks in there. Savoury and flavourful. We were pretty stuffed at this point.

But, I needed to try the dessert. Ordered their pistachio tiramisu to try.

Pistachio Tiramisu @$14

Latte @$6

If you like milky latte, then you'll like the one from IO Italian Osteria.

Thank you boss for the treat!

IO Italian Osteria

Address: 4 Hillview Rise, 02 - 01, Singapore 667979

Website: https://io-osteria.com/

Contact: 6710 7150

Business Hours: 

Mon-Fri: 11:30am–10pm

Sat-Sun: 10am–10pm

Xi Yan 囍宴 @ Shaw Centre

Visited Xi Yan by Celebrity Chef Jacky Yu (余健志) at Shaw Centre recently. Had quite a nice experience with the food when we tried its Katong outlet way back in 2019, so this prompted a revisit albeit to a different outlet since the Katong one is not available.

shiny

First impression was this outlet is smaller than expected. At 6pm on a weekend, we were the first table. Diners started to trickle in around 6.40pm and by 7pm, the place was buzzing.

interior

table for 4

The menu is familiar and spotted a few items that I had tried before. To order, just tick-off the items in the order chit and pass it to the service staff. 

Chef Jacky Yu

order chit

While waiting, I had the lychee drink. Tasted like lychee in Sprite and water. 

As we handed in the order chit, the friendly staff informed that the current promo is you can get an appetizer dish (below $12) for $1 with min. spend of $50, or $1 for any dish (below $20) with min. spend of $100. Nice!

Lychee drink @$4.80

When you eat out with friends, our delegated role will be each one to order one dish of our choice. For mine, I ordered the Jiu Rong Vegetables. Turned out to be a very good choice as the vegetable was fresh and crunchy. with well cooked garlic. Those thin strips of Yunnan ham seemed scarce...

Jiu Rong Vegetables with Yunnan Ham and Garlic 云南火腿炒青龙菜 @$12.80

Fried Lo Shi Fan with Xi Yan XO Sauce  @$13.50

The fried bee tai mak (lo shi fan) was a crowd favourite. But it was missing the 'wok-hei' that was found in this dish from its Katong outlet.

The radish cake was good too, but because it was also XO sauce, the taste was actually similar to the fried lo shi fan. So, recommend to get either of this dish and probably not both. My group was divided in opinion and it was about half preferred the carrot cake while the other half preferred the lo shi fan.

Radish Cake M Size @$1 (promo price, UP. $14.70)

The speed of the dishes being served was rather amazing. Most of the dishes were served within 10 minutes after the order was placed. Wow!

Sake Dongpo Pork @$20 (M size)

delicious pork belly with mei cai (preserved vegetables)

And, we must have meat. Definitely. The Sake Dongpo Pork Belly with Mei Cai (Preserved Vegetables) was a good choice. Though the pork belly could be softer, it was a balanced taste of savoury, sweet, collageny but not overwhelming (jelak). Best paired with white rice.

The most underwhelming dish was the Fried Sotong with salted egg yolk. The batter was oily and soggy. Tasted of salted egg but overall texture left much to be desired. Squid was tender though.

Fried Sotong in Butter and Salted Egg Yolk M Size @$25.50

Lastly, we tried the Hakka Duck as I've not tried anything like this before. Surprise surprise! The duck was more sweet than savoury. Homely tasting and I think goes well with beer. The sweet taste was most prominent and the duck was lightly chewy. Best part? The skin.

Hakka Marinated Duck with Sweet Sauce @$23.80 (Half)

At 7pm, we were informed that there is a next booking for our table at 8pm. This was another surprise as the reservation did not indicate that there was a next seating. Nevertheless, we ate fast and furious and by 7.30pm, we were about done.

The staff offered complimentary dessert on our next visit, and we jokingly said why not have it now and he really did bring out the ice-cream for each of us. Hahaa, thanks!

Coconut Ice-cream with palm jelly

Spent about $28 per pax for the meal.

Xi Yan Shaw, Casual Dining

Address: 1 Scotts Road, Shaw Centre, #03-12/13, S228208

Website: https://www.xiyan.com.sg/casual-dining

Contact: +65 6733 3476

Business Hours:

Daily 11.30 am to 3pm, 5.30 pm to 10 pm

Tunglok Teahouse @ Far East Square

I have been to Tunglok Teahouse at Novena before but this was the first time heading towards the outlet at Far East Square. And, it was so hard to find. A tip is to head towards the Evolve gym and head towards the yellow signage of the renovation walls and turn left.

A celebratory dinner occassion with the foodie gang, we chose to have ala-carte dinner buffet Chinese-style. Endless flow of dim sums, cooked food, fried fish and what not. Our table was filled to its edges in no time! Can you imagine that we ordered 38 dishes?! Am amazed.

full house and not all our food had arrived

The food arrives pretty quickly and this outlet seemed to have lesser patrons than it Novena counterpart. We had fish skin, fried prawn rolls, steamed pork ribs, char siew bao, chicken feet, siew mai, carrot cake and fried prawn dumplings for dim sum. All were pretty good. Then, we had two claypot items which were basically vegetables in soup. The one with nam yee soup was rather nice but nothing to shout about.

prawn rolls

carrot cake

The carrot cake flavour was nice but it was a tad too soft though. Some might feel that the radish flavour was not strong enough in Tunglok's version.

deep fried fish

A must order would be the deep fried fish.  Smallish but tasty. On the other hand, the steamed tilapia was too muddy though. It was the least liked item. We also had jelly fish, oats prawns and soya prawns. Decent but can be better. The stir fried french beans was enjoyable.

蒜泥白肉 - garlic pork

cabbage  nam yee claypot

stir fried french beans

The braised pork belly and beef brisket were good too. The portion was pretty generous. The meat was temder but still retained a bite.

braised beef brisket and pork belly

soy sauce prawns

There's a smoke duck with crepe wrap. Something like Peking duck but this one uses the smoked meat instead.

smoked duck pancake

There were also special items where it can only be ordered once. The shark fin soup and the chili crab.

shark fin soup (one time order)

chili crab (one time order)

The only item that we ordered again, was the fried fish skin. Was too full from barely finishing all the food that we ordered.

Thank you Kris, Justin, Ivan, Elle, Jennifer, Hence, Tracy and Tiara for the wonderful company and the dinner treat! Love you guys!

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar @ Tanglin Post Office

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar has been around for a few years now. Well known for its fresh bakes, especially its Guinness Stout bread and Reuben sandwich, it also offers a casual cosy ambiance for dining. Did you know that its Happy Hour starts from 8am till 8pm? Now you know where to head to, for that early tipple.

say cheers!

interior

if you prefer the outdoors

Was invited to try its menu, so we were there on a weekday evening. The place has a very relaxed vibe. Walk inside, and one shall be greeted by an array of breads and cakes. Heard that brioche sells out pretty fast too.

lovely bakes

come early for greater selection

Look at what I found. It's a sign, which am translating it into: Let's try. With that many of us gathered, we ordered every single one of its Signature Cocktails. Wheee~

Signature cocktails

Here goes. Am listing the main alcohol in each of the cocktails. By the name of the cocktails, its not difficult to know what are the other non-alcoholic ingredients in it. Forgot to take a photo of the sour plum cocktail though. Liked my Raspberry cocktail as it was sweet and fruity, but would have preferred it to be stronger.

Raspberry Lychee Iced Tea - Absolut Elyx Vodka

Yuzu Breeze - Prosecco

Peach Tree Lemonade- Absolut Elyx Vodka

Dirty Sriracha Bloody Mary - Absolut Elyx Vodka

As Guinness Stout bread seemed synonymous with Nassim Hill Bakery, let's have a round of that. Fully agree that this bread was indeed very nice, flavourful and simply a joy to eat. Have it with jams and butter, or pretty much anything else. It's even good on its own.

Guinness Stout Bread - marmalade and strawberry jam, butter

If you like seafood, do ask for its mussels. Listed as "Market Fresh Mussels with a hint of Chili" in its menu under the Shared Plates section. Using imported French Bouchot mussels which is smallish compared to the usual ones that we see in supermarkets, but is said to be sweeter in taste. We tried it and it was uninamously accepted. Was mopping up the sauce with any remaining slices of bread that we could lay our hands on.

Market Fresh Mussels with a Hint of Chili @$25++

that golden sauce

Mussels was good, with just a touch of chili for some heat. It may prudent to request for it during reservation, in order to avoid disappointment as it is only available in limited quantities.

Great to see Kale Caesar available in the menu. Kale has became very popular due to the superfood trends and it is also touted as one of the world's healthiest food. A leafy green that has plenty of vitamins (A, C and K) and minerals (copper, potassium, iron, manganese and phosphorus), high in protein but low in calories. Doesn't that makes us want to rush out and chomp on kale?

At Nassim Hill, you can enjoy kale salad with your friends. A good quantity of greens, paired with hard boiled egg, some prosciutto chip and tasty creamy anchovy dressing. Best part (besides superfood kale, of course) would be the super duper crispy parmesan crumbs. So good.

Kale Caesar @$17++

Or, if you must have meat in your salad, one can opt for the Asian BBQ Chicken salad. Pretty colourful and has variety in a plate. Edamame, fresh greens, capsicum, toasted almonds, sesame seeds, wanton skins, carrots, mandarin oranges and chicken with soy ginger dressing.

Asian BBQ Chicken Salad @$15++

pour it all over

Have not mentioned that there's beer and cider on tap too. Well, it's never too late to mention. They do have Erdinger and Heineken on tap, as well as Strongbow cider.

wanna tap your own?

Heineken and Strongbow buddies

How about some beer food to go with the drinks? Got some popcorn chicken with sriracha aioli. Good old fried chicken bites. Yummy.

Popcorn Chicken Bites @$12++

For something unusual, one could try Sam's favourite; The Gherkin Tempura with Sour Cream and Bacon Dip. Yes, fried pickles. It was interesting but Sam, am not going to fight with you over this one. Keke.

Gherkin Tempura with Sour Cream and Bacon Dip @$9++

If you like Poutine, then good news for you as Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar do have a Poutine in its menu. Fries with Chef's entrecote sauce, lots of minced beef and topped with shredded mozarella cheese. Poutine is a dish that originated from Canada.

Poutine @$13++

look at those strings of cheese~

Am liking the minced beef, brown sauce and cheese combo but not the soggy fries. Still prefers crispy double fried fries. Speaking of crispy, out came the Cheddar Cheese Bacon Waffles, served with a dip of chive sour cream. Liked the chive sour cream with the saltish cheddar cheese waffles. Nice as a snack.

Cheddar Cheese Bacon Waffles @$19++

Time to roll out the main courses. First up, the Singapore-influenced, Chili Crab Pasta. Heard that this Nassim Hill's number one bestselling pasta. Jumbo lump crab meat with spicy chili crab sauce, and a pretty generous amount of sauce too. Enjoyable and be careful with those tiny red hot chilies.

Chili Crab Pasta @$16++ / $25++ (for half or full portion)

Meat lovers are not forgotten. We tried the Tonkatsu and the Grain Fed Angus T-Bone Steak.

Tonkatsu @$21++

break the sous vide egg and let the runny yolk moisten the meat

The Tonkatsu is a panko crusted pork loin, served with a sous vide egg and asian red cabbage slaw. The gochujang sauce gave a Korean flavour to the dish.

That hunk of a T-bone steak looked attractive with its sear. Served simply with arugula and some sea salt. The meat was beefy and requires a good chew. For T-bones, the meat nearing its bone is always the best. Enjoyable with the sea salt. Good with a glass of red wine.

Grain Fed Angus T-bone Steak (500gms House Special) @$65++

the meat is calling

Best way to end a meal? Why, it must be desserts, of course. We had the Pear Cheddar Crumble, Triple X and Carrot Cake.

Everyone has their favourites and mine was the Triple X with Triple Sec. No, it was not because of just the liquor. But gotta admit that the orange flavoured liquor lends a certain moistness to the chocolatey cake. Spongy, fudgy with dark chocolate. Nice.

The Pear Cheddar Crumble was very good too. Who doesn't like ice-cream and those salty cheddar crumble was so good to crunch with the sweet ice-cream. The carrot cake surprises me as well, with its airy cake and delectable nuts and dried fruits. Most importantly, it was not overly heavy with spices. Sweet.

Pear Cheddar Crumble @$11++

Triple X @$9++

Carrot Cake @$8++

Thank you Audrey and Jaime for hosting the dinner. To the friendly and efficient crew of Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro and Bar, thank you too. Also, special thanks to HGW for the invite. To my foodie friends, enjoyed your company, as always.

Till next time, everyone in Singapore a Happy Golden Jubilee and Happy Eating!

Nassim Hill Bakery Bistro Bar 

Location: 56 Tanglin Road, Tanglin Post Office #01-03
Closed on: Mondays
Telephone: 6835-1128
Website: http://www.nassimhill.com.sg/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nassimhill