Riccioti @ China Square Central

Located at Nankin Row of China Square Central. I had a hard time locating this place! Probably due to the fact that I have not set foot to this part of the world for a few years now. A friend suggested this place because he worked nearby.

Visited on a Saturday for lunch. It's actually easily spotted once you know how to get to Nankin Row. The restaurant has a cheery yellow facade. I spied that they had a weekend breakfast set at $9.90 as well.

outside of the restaurant

Their service staff were dressed in soccer jerseys for Italia. One of the staff who served us was quite good looking too! There is a set lunch for weekends, and it's quite a good deal at $23++ for 1 main, 1 coffee/tea and 1 dessert (can choose pastries or gelato). However, I didn't like the items offered for mains so I opted to get a Parma Panini ($13.80), a Lungo (freshly brewed coffee @ $5.20) and a dessert ($7.80).

There are credit card promotions as well, and if you like pasta then currently there is a 1-for-1 pasta using Amex. But if you are ordering more ala-cartes of non-pasta dishes, then it is likely more worthwhile to opt for other credit card promo that offers say 10-15% discount off total ala-carte orders.

bottles and bottles of wine

The atmosphere in the restaurant is cosy and charming. Customers included a mix of locals and expats.

table decor

menu

We went in a group of 7 and we ordered calamari, bruschetta and caesar salad for starters. For mains, we had pizza gamberi, parma panini, taglioni neri, spaghetti marinara and linguine granchio. For desserts, we had small gelato (2 scoops @ $12), cannoli (1 piece @ $8.50), tiramisu, soffiato and morbida.

caesar salad

calamari

mini bruschettas

The food ordered came in various order. In fact, we had the mini bruschetta coming up after the mains were served. Good thing we ordered the desserts after we had our mains.

parma panini

The parma panini came out beautifully and tasted great. Well toasted, and served with cheese and ample greens.

yummy panini

satisfying parma

Pizza was good! Thin crust and portion good enough to be shared by 2-3 pax. The pizza gamberi looks mild but there are bits of chilis in there!

pizza gamberi

mushrooms and prawns

spaghetti marinara

close up view

 I only tasted a little of the pasta ordered, and I liked the spaghetti marinara the most. The taglioni neri (squid ink pasta) was salty and nothing much beyond that. Perhaps squid ink and tomato based sauces don't quite mix?

We went on a dessert ordering rampage! HAHA! But the gelato turned out quite disappointedly. And not to mention, expensive! $12 for 2 scoops.

hazelnut and pistachio flavor

was this mango and chocolate

tiramisu

soffiato

cannoli

morbida

chocolate sauce ooozing out!

lungo

For desserts, I'd recommend to skip the gelatos and order the soffiato instead. Pair this with a cup of coffee and the meal ends beautifully.

The Garden Slug @ Telok Kurau

Located at Lorong L Telok Kurau (which is somewhere at the east side). We travelled by car, but there was a bus stop about probably 300m away.

cheery looking slug greeting patrons

We reached the place at about 830pm. Last order was about 915pm and the shop closes at 10pm. My friend commented that the place has a chill-out vibe. To me, it's a casual eatery located in the midst of the neighbourhood...

Today's Specials written on blackboard

They have alfresco seatings as well as indoors. If you have a certain fear of cats, then the advice is to choose the indoor seats. Haha, there was a rather well-fed kitty roaming the outside of the cafe. According to the staff, the cat is a regular fixture at The Garden Slug.

no service charge ; )

We were looking at the menu for some minutes and a helpful staff came over and asked if we'd like any recommendations. Yes please, we said. So she proceeded to point to the various parts of the menu and said, "Here's the mains list, we have item 1, item 2, item 3 etc etc.. " Intrigued. I waited for her recommendations still but all she did was just to point and state what was listed at which section (which we can read for ourselves in fact... ). So I asked specifically what is their bestseller for pasta. She then pointed to the items that has a marking and said, "Those are our bestsellers." By then, I knew it would be futile to ask further, so we thanked her for her kind intentions....

In the end, we ordered a "Let's Dig In" platter to share. Can choose any 5 types of items from a selection of finger food to form this dish. So we chose: chicken wings, sausages, calamari, fried mushrooms and bruschetta. It sounds like a lot, but the four of us (3 girls and 1 guy) devoured this platter in no time because everyone was famished!

Let's Dig In!

Sausages

Calamari

Wagyu burger for just $18.90? Sounds like a good deal. So we ordered that. We had it medium rare. It was served with potato wedges or fat fries as my friend calls it.

Wagyu beef burger

Close up on the patty (medium rare)

Frankly speaking, as this was my first time having wagyu, I can't really tell what's the difference between this and regular beef patty. To me, the patty here was slightly overdone above medium rare and perhaps the intention was to have the patty retaining its natural flavor. Unfortunately, I thought it was rather too bland tasting. Liked the toasted bun though.

We also ordered the dory fillet. This dish certainly looked impressive. Huge plate, with the fish served ontop a bed of mashed (with potato skin) and loads of vege. The mashed potato was flavorful and the skin provided some differentiation in texture with each bite.

Dory fillet

served with mashed potato (with skin mixed in) and lots of vege

Service crew were friendly and our meal was served fairly quickly. There's no service charge/GST!

PuTien @ City Square Mall

Located at Level 2 of City Square Mall, near the OCBC bank. It's been a while since I ate any buffets, so was quite anxious about it since I had beehoon for breakfast. But hey, since my friends want to try it, and I get to take pictures, why not! Win-win for all!

Pu Tien has ala-carte buffet at City Square Mall and on weekends it's from 1130am till 230pm (last order). For most of the dishes, the serving size was quite manageable. Our table had 4 ladies and 1 guy, and we managed to try quite a number of the dishes. Our neighbouring tables consist of a larger group and hence, I believed they really did manage to order everything in the menu!




Although it's ala-carte buffet, there are other spread available on the 'buffet' table. Appetisers, fruits and desserts. Drinks are free flow, and patrons can help themselve to the coffee/soft drink dispenser. Teabags and hot water are also available.

Some of the appetisers:


nice to look at but quite tough to bite...


peanuts


shrimp/crabstick mayo




cold pork trotter slice


fried yam, sweet potato ball, and fish


For mains, we started off with soups:


double-boiled duck soup (limited to 1 per pax)


bamboo herbal prawn


I must say that the duck soup was very tasty! It doesn't have the gamey smell of duck, and the meat was tender. It has one slice of 'pao shen' and some kind of mushroom. The prawn soup was pleasantly lighter in taste with a hint of herb, but has fresh firm prawn that is sweet to taste. Hence, if you intend to have these 2 soups, do start with the prawn soup first and then duck soup last.

The restaurant makes its own chili sauce (which is also available for patrons to buy in the restaurant) that added some excitement to the meat.


Putien chili sauce


another soupy dish!


scallops with garlic vermicelli


Next up, we had loads of fried stuff (tsk tsk!):


seafood roll


minced meat with prawn ball (I forgot what's the name for this dish)


inside of the ball


golden flower/chrysanthemum fish


Verdict, the fried stuffs were pretty run-of-the-mill in terms of taste.

Next up, our main course... Meat!


steamed fish


fried chicken wings


deep fried trotters with 4 homemade dips


close-up


whole chicken leg


tofu


beancurd skin with vegetables


fried yam balls coated with sugar


fried hing hwa bee hoon


I liked the deep fried trotters as the meat is tender and not too oily (minus skin). The chicken leg was also very very tender and quite likeable, especially if dip in Putien homemade chili sauce. The tofu dish was nice as well. Every dish felt somewhat 'healthy' as it was not overly salty and nor too oily. Except for the steamed fish sauce which came across as abit too salty.


For desserts, we tried these:


cakes and kuehs


jelly


fruits


coffee and gui ling gao


We paid $37 per pax. Service was good and the wait staff were friendly. Plates were changed once during our meal. Felt that the ala-carte buffet was good for people who wants to try most of Putien's food in one seating. It's too bad, our tummies couldn't take it anymore, otherwise, I'd like to try the 'gu lao rou' with lychee and the stir fried venison.