Sunday, 2 April 2017

Blend It Up!

It's weekends again and it's going to be a helluva busy month. I told myself, I'll try my best to do something I really like each day and that includes satisfying food cravings. I mean, busy or not, still need to eat right?

This week, given I'm so busy, it's the brother's recommendation. He was telling me that there's very interesting food in the Tai Seng area and one of which he tried was this little Italian Restaurant operated by Chef Peter Neo. In a way, Chef Neo is considered a mini celebrity chef having appeared in Mediacorp's cooking shows before. It's probably also one of the more affordable Italian food you can find in Singapore to satisfy any cravings.

To kick start the meal, a typical Italian Restaurant would offer complimentary bread. I was presently surprised that a neighbourhood establishment with affordable pricing would also offer complimentary bread.

Being not too hungry, we dived straight into the mains. I ordered the Spaghetti Prawn Paste Aglio Olio ($19). The dried prawn paste did gave me a sense of satisfaction when devouring the dish. It's sufficiently spicy but not overwhelming and had a distinct prawn taste that made the entire dish flavourful. Pasta of course was al dente. I also found the dish particularly value for money given that the chef added dory fish slices along with generous portion of prawns. How often you get such a competently executed dish at $19?

My brother chose the Crabmeat and Lobster Ravioli ($22). Frankly, up till now, I haven't really tasted excellently produced Ravioli and this one feels equally ordinary. I didn't find the crabmeat or lobster distinct in the dish and found the tomato sauce to be relatively ordinary. Of course, this opinion is limited because I hardly order Ravioli dishes and much less been impressed with one. I'm heading to Rome at the end of the month, maybe after trying some authentic Italian food, I might be able to give a fairer assessment.

Finally for desserts, we shared a Pistachio Lava Cake with Vanilla Gelato ($11.80). I observed that the lava cake was leaking lava the moment it was served. We wanted to cut it up for a nice lava flowing effect for photos unfortunately, the cake gave way from the bottom with the top still intact when we tried to cut through! That aside, tastewise it was good. The lava cake was nutty, cake was fluffy and pistachio flavour distinct. I wished the cake was warmer when served because the coldness of the gelato overshadowed the flavours of the lukewarm cake. There's probably room for improvement but I'm not complaining much given the affordable pricing.

They gave me a $10 voucher so I'll be back again to try their pizzas which I heard is pretty good too! Blend It Up certainty exceeds my expectation given its price range and food presentation. The food quality is definitely above average and despite the small issues, it's a place I'll go whenever I want an Italian fix without blowing a hole in my wallet.

Blend It Up
325 Upper Paya Lebar Road S534946 
(You can ask the staff at Blend It Up to remove the tyres they use to chop parking for their restaurant guest, limited lots)