| FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2019 | THE STRAITS TIMES | happenings life D5 FOOD PROMOTIONS Tan Hsueh Yun LA PIZZAIOLA Food Editor I waved the white flag at the newly opened La Pizzaiola at Link@896 in Dunearn Road. You know, the building Enthaising Siam At Picks recommends that used to be Sime Darby Centre? Sheraton Towers Singapore The restaurant was opened by brothers Loris and Sheraton Towers Singapore This week’s picks are all food I do not Giuseppe Massimini, who own two other La Pizzaiola welcomes guest chef Surasak Food eat often – pizza, bread, laksa, fried restaurants, in Jalan Riang and Kalidasa Avenue; and Pholdeeyiam (Chef Oui) from Bangkok Hokkien mee. Ristorante Pietrasanta in Fusionopolis Way. Marriott Marquis Queen’s Park to I am not a masochist, denying Their new baby, I fear, is going to see a lot of me. present an epicurean spread of Thai myself carbs, which I think is one of I will be the one eating a Quattro Formaggi pizza fare at The Dining Room. Signatures the greatest pleasures of life. It is just ($21.90, far left) with gusto. No, I am not sharing. include Chu Chee Pla Kra Pong that there are other things I want to Mozzarella, gorgonzola, parmesan and smoked (deep-fried sea bass fillet with eat lots of – fish, especially the raw scamorza cheeses go on the pizza and there is the creamy red curry); Guay Tiew Nua kind, offal, and as much good beef as perfect amount of each. I love how they are generous Toon (stewed beef noodle soup); I can consume without passing out. with the gorgonzola because it gives the pizza Moo Sam Chan Thord Nam Pla (crispy But sometimes, a carb thing is so exquisite funk. pork belly with fish sauce); and Khao compelling, I surrender, like the The crust, made with organic flour, is a thing of Soi Gai (coconut curry noodle soup offerings at these places. beauty. Blistered in the oven, crisp and light, it does not with chicken). For one night only, flop in the middle. Chef Oui will also hold a cooking Because I always order a Quattro Stagioni ($21.90, demonstration where he will whip up left) at every pizza place I go to, I get one here too. It classic Thai dishes including Gaeng translates to four seasons in English. The artichokes Keow Wan Gai (green curry) and Som are for spring, the tomatoes for summer, mushrooms Tum Gai Yang (papaya salad with for autumn and ham for winter. The one here is well grilled chicken). worth ordering– you cannot go wrong with these WHERE: Sheraton Towers Singapore, toppings. 39 Scotts Road MRT: Newton But it is the decadent four cheese one I yearn for. WHEN: Oct 16 - 23, noon - 3pm & I hope the next time I go, the Dessert Special ($12.90) 7 - 10pm; cooking demonstration: is on the menu. It is pizza dough spread with Nutella, Oct 19, 5 - 7pm thrown in the oven until brown and crisp, drizzled with PRICE: Lunch: $58++ (adult), $29++ caramel and topped with ice cream. (child aged six to 12); dinner: $78++ This is what carb dreams are made of. (adult), $39++ (child aged six to 12); WHERE: La Pizzaiola, 01-10 Link@896, 896 Dunearn cooking demonstration: $88++ Road MRT: King Albert Park TEL: 6484 -8896 TEL: 6839-5621 OPEN: 11.30am to 2.30pm, 5.30 to 10pm daily INFO: E-mail hediningroom@ INFO: www.lapizzaiola.com.sg sheratonsingapore.com; book a slot for cooking demonstration at shopatsheraton.oddle.me Penang Feast At Feast @ East Buffet Restaurant Penang cuisine is influenced by cultures from the Chinese, Indian, FINE DINING BAKERY The most fun can be had pairing the bread with the Malay and Peranakan communities. I do not know about you, but the best part of dining in a different accompaniments. I love the walnut bread with Savour iconic Penang dishes such as Joel Robuchon restaurant is the mind-boggling butter and honey, the focaccia with the avocado, and the assam laksa, fish head curry and char selection of bread. baguette with butter, which I wish were salted. The kway teow . Baker Akira Maekochi, who used to make them for the cheeses are perfect with the mini croissant and the WHERE: Level 3 Grand Mercure late French chef’s now-defunct restaurants in Resorts shokupan. Singapore Roxy, 50 East Coast Road World Sentosa, has been running a bakery in UE Square There are two kinds of baguette ($3.50) – blanc and MRT: Paya Lebar/Eunos called Fine Dining Bakery since April. rouge. The blanc is meant to go with white wine, the WHEN: Oct 4 - Nov 3, Mon - Sun: There is no jaw-dropping bread cart but the wares are rouge with red. It is an unnecessary affectation, noon - 2.30pm (lunch) & 6 - 10pm good. And there is a terrific egg salad sando ($8.50). It is I think. The rouge is a little more robust, with a (dinner); Sat & public holidays: 3 - 5pm made with the bakery’s signature shokupan – the slightly more pronounced sour tang, but the (high tea) softest, most fluffy white bread that will not stick to the difference is marginal. PRICE: Lunch: $49++ (adult), $25++ roof of your mouth. The egg salad is a little too cold so let What I do love, however, is the full-sized (child), $40 nett (senior citizen), $35 it sit a while, swaddled in its paper wrap, so you can fully croissant ($3.80), so perfectly laminated I lose nett (Merdeka Generation/Pioneer appreciate the magic mingling of egg and butter. myself in the perfect folds. If Magic Of The citizen); dinner: $55++ (adult), $28++ When I drop in mid-morning, the place is filled with Moon ($2.50) is available, buy it. The name (child), $42 nett (senior citizen), $38 Japanese housewives. I feel like an interloper at first and comes from the Hokkaido flour used to make nett (Merdeka Generation/Pioneer then suddenly appreciate how I am instantly the dough. The result is bread that is citizen); high tea: $28++ (adult), $14++ transported to Tokyo. delightfully chewy, but also pillowy. (child) During my mental vacation, I also order the Selected WHERE: Fine Dining Bakery, 01-59 UE Square, TEL: 6340-5665 Breads Set ($16.80, right), which comes with eight lightly 207 River Valley Road MRT: Fort Canning INFO: E-mail [email protected] toasted slices of different breads, parma ham or smoked OPEN: 8.30am to 5pm (Wednesdays to salmon, unsalted butter, honey, cheese and mashed Mondays), closed on Tuesdays Lunch & Dinner Buffet At avocado; and a small soup and salad. INFO: www.facebook.com/finediningbakery Window On The Park This halal buffet will showcase the rich gastronomic cultures of Singapore, Asia and the world. Tuck into freshly shucked oysters (dinner only), poached prawns and Singapore LIK MING TOA PAYOH LAKSA FRIED HOKKIEN PRAWN MEE AT fruit rojak and kueh pie tee at DIY Laksa, char kway teow and black GOLDEN MILE FOOD CENTRE stations. A live noodle station will carrot cake are hawker dishes I look Like with laksa, I have become serve laksa, prawn noodles and mee forward to eating, mostly because I disenchanted with my former go-to rebus. The buffet spread features do not eat them often. Once, maybe place for fried Hokkien mee. The Japanese, Moroccan, Chinese, twice, a year. noodles have become too soupy, the Indonesian and Indian cuisines. Some years, I do not indulge dish lacks wok hei, and the opeh leaf WHERE: Level 2, Holiday Inn because I cannot find good enough on which it is served does not make Singapore Orchard City Centre, versions. By good enough, I really up for the complete lack of oomph. 11 Cavenagh Road MRT: Somerset mean sinful enough. I complain loud and long to WHEN: Till Nov 30, noon - 2.30pm & So when it comes to laksa, it will friends, and one of them suggests I 6.30 - 10pm daily PRICE: Lunch: have to have a layer of orange oil go have the one at Golden Mile Food $65++, dinner: $78++ (Mon - Thu) or floating on top, taste rich with Centre. This is a dry-style Hokkien $96++ (Fri - Sun); prices are for a coconut cream and the bowl must mee. I approach warily. one-for-one offer for two be filled with big fat cockles. If I want looks like fine gravel and is used to The stall is just called Fried on the plate. Because the stall has TEL: 6733-8333 to sin, I will sin big, thank you. make the gravy. Although not crazy Hokkien Prawn Mee. There are no run out of squid, I get more prawns INFO: E-mail wop.hisinorchard@ My old go-to place for laksa has hot, it deepens the flavour of laksa opeh leaf flourishes. The noodles and boiled pork belly. ihg.com been disappointing the last few admirably. are smooshed onto a plate, with Before I know it, the plate is clean. years. The gravy has become so thin There is a riot of toppings to round sambal and sliced chillies strewn Imagine that. Multiple Foodgasm Kaiseki as to have no flavour at all. So when off the bowl – tofu puffs; chunks, not here and there. There is a fat WHERE: Fried Hokkien Prawn Mee, Uni Gallery’s latest kaiseki menu friends tell me about Lik Ming Toa slices, of fish cake; prawns; and calamansi lime. All plates cost $4. 01-34 Golden Mile Food Centre, features premium delicacies such as Payoh Laksa, I know I have to go. Will those cockles, mostly plump and I take a bite.