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

Kimildo 김일도 Premium Korean BBQ @ 100 Tras Street

Suggested this place to the gang when we were doing our Amara staycay and Kimildo is literally a few steps away from Amara Hotel. Reservation was made via Quandoo and the restaurant staff will call you a few hours before the appointed time to confirm the reservation.

shopfront

Do note that there is a 90-minutes dining limit per table.

The menu is really simple and us being a group of 4 pax, decided to go for the Pork Platter (@$66) and the Special Beef Platter (@$88). 

tips on eating pork, the delicious way

Also note that lettuce is ordered separately as ala-carte item.

assorted pickes and dips

One of the set, also came with gyeran jjim (steamed egg), but I forgot which one. Could be the Pork Set if not wrong.

complimentary steam egg from the Set

getting ready

while we wait

They will assign one staff to do the grilling for you at your table. We got a guy that grills in a super fast speed. Quite amazing as both our pork and beef platter were grilled in half hour including the change of grill plate. I have read Google reviews where diners had feedback that their meat was being moved around too much during the cooking, and yes, this was indeed true especially with the pork. I think he had to move the meat around very quickly because the charcoal heat was on permanent high.

We were served with the Special Beef Platter first. The staff did not introduce the meat cuts to us and would just go about BBQ'ing really quickly. We actually hijacked the platter for photo taking otherwise, straight onto the grill, it'd go.

Kimildo Special Beef Platter - ribeye, shortrib and finger rib

heating up the sauce

ribeye on the grill

is it ready?

cutting it up to bite-sized

yummy beef

The beef did not require any further sauces nor dip, and was good on its own or at most a slight dab of salt. Meat was tender and juicy.

Beef was devoured all too quickly and as fast as lightning, the staff changed the grill and started BBQ'ing the pork right away as soon as he has done BBQ'ing the beef. Such efficiency!

Pork Platter all in

The Pork Platter has belly, shoulder, skirt and a sausage. But we didn't have a chance to differentiate which is which because, after it was cooked, everything was just served together onto the metal plate. Of course, sausage was the easiest to differentiate. Hahah! Grilled cherry tomatoes was good.

TMI: One thing about the metal plate placed on the grill, it reminded me too much of a clinic/hospital.

Let's see a slow-motion short video:

fire-licked meats

Here's a short video of staff helping us to BBQ the meat:

all done

pork collar

In general, the group prefers the beef over the pork. Both are likeable, but beef is more tender. I prefer the usual way of eating the pork wrap, which is with a dab of the samjang sauce, and garlic slices. The turmeric curry flavoured salt was interesting and reminds me of grilled lambs (cumin?) The special cocaine sauce was watery hence not sure what's the fuss about this. Was it addictive? Not really.

Even with 2 meat platters, we still went for supper after this meal. Completed our dinner ahead of the 90-minutes because to cook, it took only 30 minutes and another 30 minutes for us to finish up the meat.

Thank you Ivan, Hence and Tracy for being such good food buddies!

Kimildo 김일도 Premium Korean BBQ

Address: 100 Tras St, # 01 - 08, Singapore 079027

Website: https://www.facebook.com/Kimildo-Korean-BBQ-109557730796893/

Contact:  6444 8516

Business Hours:

Sun: 11:30am–3pm, 5:30pm–10pm

Mon-Sat: 11:30am–3pm, 5:30pm–12am

Silk Road 丝绸之路 @ Amara Hotel Tanjong Pagar

First time dining at Silk Road and we went full force! Located at Level 2 of Amara Hotel, it was convenient as we were doing our staycay at Amara for the year end.

interior

Not sure why but the staff couldn't find our reservation. Nevertheless, we were still ushered into the restaurant and were seated right infront of the kitchen. Probably not the kitchen in entirety but the area where Chefs would be preparing the Peking duck for serving.

For drinks, we got ourselves the Eight Treasures Tea; which seemed to consist of goji berries, walnut, dried longan, red date, chrysanthemum, jasmine tea, rose bud and rock sugar.

Eight Treasures Tea (八宝茶) @$5

szechuan pickles @$3

Our first dish was the appetiser; suan ni bai rou  蒜泥白肉. But the sauce over here, is leaning towards the sweet side.

Sliced Pork with Cucumber  蒜泥白肉 @$12

thinly sliced pork belly

Then, we had the xiao long bao. The dumpling was full of soup and the skin was of a slightly thicker kind. Meaty and juicy. It was nice.

Shanghai Xiao Long Bao 上海小笼包  @$12

soupy dumpling

meaty and juicy

Next, we have the dishes started to be brought in. It was a furry of activities on the table!

all in

Our main dish is the Peking Duck, and then we had various types of dumplings besidest the xiao long baos. I think for a table of 4 pax, half a duck would suffice. We had one whole duck, and it was a lot!

Traditional Beijing Roasted Duck @$70

make it a wrap

bon appetit~

But, I don't know why Silk Road does not offer a second serving style for the Peking duck meat. Instead, we had the meat chopped and served on a plate, as it is. I feel it was kind of bland. Much like an anti-climax...

meat from the duck

We also had mapo tofu and rou jia mo. No wonder, we were so stuffed after the meal!

Traditional Mapo Tofu 麻婆豆腐 @$20

The taste of the mapo tofu sauce was good and has a bit of mala. Still sweet though. The Chinese Hamburger (rou jia mo) was fluffier than expected. 

Shaanxi Chinese Hamburger 陕西肉夹馍 @$14

We had two other types of dumplings. The crisps looking snowflakes dumplings and the traditional looking chives dumplings. Each had their own sauce, but we couldn't remember which is for which, so anyhow eat. 

Shenyang PanFried Snowflake Dumplings @$16

inside view

Chives Dumplings @$14

"Would you like to have some dessert?" The Staff asked.

My mind was saying no, but then the group caved in for red bean pancake, because we saw it being served to the other table. Weak.

Sichuan Red Bean Pancake @$8

No regrets as the red bean pancake was served piping hot and tasted good. Sinful but good.

All in all, we spent $60 per pax for this meal. It felt like a buffet...

Silk Road

Address: 165 Tg Pagar Rd, Level 2 Amara Singapore, Singapore 088539

Website: https://singapore.amarahotels.com/dining/silk-road

Contact: 6227 3848

Business Hours:

Closed on Mon.

Tues - Sun: 12–2:30pm, 6:30–9:30pm

Breakfast @ Bearded Bella 8 Craig Road

Last visited in 2019. Read more about that visit here. We were doing a staycay at Amara and decided to drop by here one early morning for breakfast.

long time no see

Having started so early in the day, we needed coffee and Tracy of course, her tea.

White Cold Brew @$9

Homemade Chai Latte @$7

White Coffee 5oz Single Shot @$5

Ordered two mains from their brunch menu and a bundt cake for dessert. The Kookoo (am always amused by this name), goes meatless. But, definitely suited for brunch. What's not to like? There's rosti (potato), copious amount of greens (for good health), mushrooms and a lovely poached egg. Generous portion!

Kookoo v2 (V) @$22

customary egg flow shot

The Scallops & Cold Pasta, had an enormous amount of sprouts ontop. That gave it a somewhat 'raw' taste which I didn't like. Otherwise, the pasta itself was flavourful.

Scallops & Cold Pasta @$22

spot the scallops

It's been a long while since I last had a quiche. I think it was Tracy's pick? The bacon and asparagus quiche.

Bacon & Asparagus Quiche @$7

Hmm, the quiche was definitely milky! Its insides were soft and wobbly. 

profile view

And then, the chocolate bundt cake. But just to be sure, we asked if it contained coffee. And indeed, it does. So, no dessert for Tracy.

Chocolate Bundt Cake @$8

I think the gang misses Australia...

Bearded Bella

Address: 8 Craig Rd, Singapore 089668

Website: https://www.beardedbella.com/

Contact: 9880 0775

Business Hours:

Mon to Thur: 7:30am–5pm

Fri: 730am to 10.30pm

Sat-Sun: 7.30am-6pm