iO Italian Osteria

FAQ on iO Italian Osteria:

1. What attracts you to come to this restaurant?

👉 As part of our 5 years dating anniversary celebration, we came to this highly reviewed cafe to try authentic Italian cuisines prepared by the real Italian chef.

2. What do you expect to dine in this restaurant?

👉 Authentic Italian cuisines with a wide varieties of appetizers, main courses, desserts and drinks. Several well raved items which receive high ratings such as traditional stuffed Roman Schiacciata, porchetta baked pork belly, and pistochio tiramisu cake.

3. What is the recommended time to dine in this restaurant?

👉 Anytime of the day, usually will be very packed during dinner. So would be better if you can come earlier for lunch instead. Remember make reservation via Chope to avoid disapointment.

We visited iO Italian Osteria on Saturday for lunch. We had made reservation one week before and able to secure a table for 2. I have read a lot of reviews online saying long waiting time even after booking done, but we were lucky enough to be seated directly 😃. It was a rainy Saturday noon, but it was almost full house for that day. Well I guess if it was a good sunny day, we would need to wait for table even if have made reservation too? iO is one of the 20 Italian restaurants in Singapore that has received "Ospitalita Italiana Gold Seal Award" due to the superb quality of food and service here! Excited to try out today! 😍

Menu

Restaurant casual environment

After get seated, we were served with hot/cold water. Then we glanced through the menu and contemplated on our food orders. After some time, we made up our mind and ordered items below:

1) Drink: 

Cappuccino (SGD6) 

• Cappuccino coffee was smooth to drink, nice balance of bitter and sweet. We could taste the good coffee bean quality and not overly sweet.  For me, I guess I would prefer coffee to be more bitter!

Cioccolata (SGD6) 👍

• Hot chocolate drink which was so nice, nice balance of bitter and sweet too. Especially the sweet here was due to the cocoa itself and not the sugar, I like this kind of authentic chocolate drink! Chocolate powder was spread on top of the drink too! There was a cream given to us to put inside the hot chocolate drink to make the texture more smooth to drink.

2) Traditional Stuffed Roman Schiacciata (SGD10 small, SGD18 large) 👍

• In-house baked bread as an appetizer. Schiacciata means smashed in Italian language. This Italian flatbread received very good reviews online and thus we were excited to try this out, and almost all tables have ordered this too! The bread was blended well with cheese and truffle which was truly delicious to eat. The bread was crusty and felt like toasted to perfection, the texture was something in the middle of pizza and toasted bread, crusty yet chewy. Best part was the cheese and strong aroma of truffle which melted in your mouth with every bites. Certainly must try if you are here.

Small size here (4 portions)

3) Margherita Pizza (SGD9 small, SGD24 middle, SGD29 large)

• Assorted handmade pizza for the day, such as bacon pizza, pizza with mushroom, margherita pizza and etcetera. I would love to try the pure margherita pizza here so I have placed order on this one. The pizza crust was so good chewy yet moisturized enough (not dry or hard), especially the bottom pizza skin crispy due to oven baked. The cheese was so much as you can see from the photo, to the point that it was a bit over "jelek" for me, super full after the pizza. Personal opinion maybe can skip this if you have ordered the traditional stuffed roman schiacciata.

Small size here (4 portions)

4) Mixed Grilled Fish and Seafood Platter (SGD26 medium, SGD50 large)

• Grilled seafood platter which was not very big portion, with 1 prawn, 1 fish, 1 scallop, 2 squids and some vegetables. The dish was not bad, but compared to the seafood platter which we could find when we were traveling overseas, especially from those islands (Thailand/Indonesia), this dish was not very fresh and juicy as per expected. Personally we thought the seafood platter we had in Jimabaran beach @ Bali island was much nicer.

5) Dessert:

Pistachio Tiramisu (SGD14)

• Well raved dessert with a lot of positive reviews from online. The mixture of pistachio and tiramisu made the cake flavour very nice, together with foamy cream which was smooth to eat. Personally we thought that this dessert was nice, but not as good as the lava cake below, as the tiramisu flavour was not as strong as expected.

Dark Chocolate Lava Cake, Espresso Ice Cream (SGD16) 👍

• The lava cake was nice to eat, with the molten dark chocolate flowing inside your mouth. I would be happier if the chocolate was more concentrated and bitter though. Nonetheless, this dark chocolate lava cake was very delicious. Also, they had espresso ice cream served with the laka cake together. Surprisingly, this espresso ice cream was really thick and felt truly "espresso" for us!

Pistachio tiramisu

Dark chocolate lava cake with espresso ice cream

Two plates complement each other, just like soul mate,
what a sight to end our dating anniversary lunch

Super full

Sleepy rainy day

That's all for the sharing on iO Italian Osteria, total damage for 2 people was nearly ~SGD100. Nice Italian dining experience here, may drop by here to satisfy your Italian cravings  😎 I should judge it after my Italy trip in future 😁

A Little Info. on iO Italian Osteria
Official Website: https://io-osteria.com/
Facebook Webpage: iO Italian Osteria

Location/ How to Go: 4 Hillview Rise, #02-01, Singapore 667979
Opening Hours: 11.30am-10pm (Monday-Friday), 10am-10pm (Saturday & Sunday)

Personal Rating: 
Taste ➪ 8/10 (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)
Price➪  5/10 (1-3: Expensive, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Budget-friendly)
Ambiance ➪ 6/10  (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)



💗 Author: Ng Mei Lian/ Adrian Yeoh Aun Hong
👉 Date of Visit: 24 April 2021

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