An Italian affair : Cacio e pepe

Over the weekend, I went to an Italian restaurant at Rochdale Road. Well, those of you who stay around Serangoon/Upper Paya Lebar may be familiar with this road. However, when I was first told about this place, I was like “hum?! where is this place?”

Anyway, the restaurant is Cacio e pepe at 4 Rochdale Road. We ordered quite a number of dishes, some were really good, some were alright but the desserts were a great disappointment.

Okay let’s talk about the hit. For antipasti, we had 3 servings of Calamari Fritti, 2 servings of Portobello and 2 servings of Vongole & Cozze.  All the antipasti that we tried were great especially the Portobello.  As for the Calamari, avoid dipping the sauce if you are not into too spicy stuff. After a while, we just ate the Calamari neat.  The Vongole & Cozze was nice too, like clams in wine. *yum*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Calamari with special chef sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fresh Portobello mushrooms baked with crab meat and prawn finished with rich gorgonzola sauce. *YUM*

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sautéed clams and mussel simmered in a white wine sauce

For the mains, we had Prosciutto Parma Ham Pizza, Risotto Granchio, Gnocchi Marinari, Spaghetti Carbonara and Home-made Pappardelle con Salsa di Tartufo. For the Prosciutto Parma Ham Pizza, the crust was alright but the cheese was a bit salty for our liking. The Risotto Granchio (Risotto in tomato sauce with crab meat, zucchini with white wine cherry tomato) reminded me of wet cooked rice fried with tomato ketchup. I will definitely not order that again. The spaghetti carbonara was a bit dry.  Maybe we did not order the right dishes, but will I go back to try again?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry guys, only managed to capture a picture of the pizza.

For the desserts, we had Lava Cake, Rum Lava Cake and Tiramisu. The ice cream that came with the Lava Cake tasted weird and the tiramisu was such a disappointment for an italian restaurant!  I think I can do better!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Disappointing Tiramisu

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lava Cake

As for the service, there were only 2 waitress that noon. Not really attentive as it took them quite a while to get us extra napkins. We also ordered coffee after the meal and 2 of our orders were kinda of forgotten.

I probably will not go back as I think the place is a bit out of the way for me and I think there is really nothing great that makes me want to go back again. However, if I stay around that area, maybe I will give it a try again, maybe

Cacio e pepe

4 Rochdale Road

Tel :  6281 1905

Service : 2.5/5

Food : 3/5 ( Decided to give a 3 as the antipasti were good and maybe I ordered the wrong mains that day.)

Cumi Bali, a little gem along Tanjong Pagar Road

Half an hour before lunch, my lunch kaki, Jan, told me she was having craving for Indonesian food. We decided to ask a few colleagues to join us so we could pig out!

Cumi Bali Indonesia Restaurant is located along Tanjong Pagar Road. According to my colleague, KL, the restaurant is opposite Sophia Bridal Shop. So you can use that as the landmark to locate the restaurant.

When we reached the restaurant, they were already  90% full.  We were lucky to get a table without any reservation.  So we ordered our food and proceed upstairs. I would definitely recommend that you sit upstairs as it is cooler and nicer. We ordered BBQ Squid, Satay Chicken, Brinjal, Wrapped fish, Begedil and Kang Kong. 6 dishes for 4 person, hum, did we over-ordered?  I think so because at the end of the meal, all of us felt so sleepy.

Sorry, the pictures are a bit dark as the restaurant was quite dim… but trust me, the food is great and good.

BBQ Squid, love the spicy and sweet sauce. Squid was chewy and soft and it had a tint of “char” taste.  Kang Kong, Begadil and Satay chicken were also served at the same time.  Satay chicken was tasty and well-seasoned.

10 minutes later, the brinjal and the wrapped fish came. Wrapped fish is one of their signature dishes. It’s fish wrapped with Otah. Something special, would recommend that you order this if you love fish and otah. However, you must be prepared to wait as the restaurant only start preparing the dish when you place an order. Now, the surprise was the brinjal dish. Initially, I thought the chilli topping of brinjal dish was just plain belacan chilli. BUT NO… it was belacan cai po!  Very special and nice! *Thumbs up*  I will definitely order this dish again and eat it with a different perspective!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So the bill came to $93, which I think is quite decent. I would definitely come back again!

 

Cumi Bali Indonesia Restaurant

66 Tanjong Pagar Road

Tel : 6220-6619

Service : 3/5, Food : 4/5