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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Senso Ristorante & Bar, Singapore

FAQ on Senso Ristorante & Bar:

1. What attracts you to come to this restaurant?

👉 Birthday celebration for me! We pampered ourselves with Italian fine dining in this restaurant. Have google some time to search for a good (i.e. quiet and beautiful ambiance) restaurant for us to enjoy dinner to our heart content, and stumbled upon this by chance!

2. What you expect to dine in this restaurant?

👉 Italian fine dining foods. Extensive menu serving ala carte foods, seasonal special foods (limited time only), desserts, wine and etcetera.

3. Any set meal available in this restaurant?

👉 Only during lunch hour. Refer the link at the bottom of the page for more of the restaurant's menu details.

4. Any promotion available in internet for this restaurant?

👉 No, unless you have this apps in your phone called The Entertainer. It has buy 1 free 1 deal which is certainly a steal! What are you waiting for, head to play store and download the apps... after read finish this blog 1st.. 😁

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

👉 Certainly is night time for us! I just like to indulge myself in romantic environment, those girly dream, to dine in a private and beautiful white washed place, elegant building, beautiful table settings, candlelit with dim atmosphere.. Yeah, I know right.. Since is a special occasion, so splurge once in a while is ok right? (consoling ourselves for spending the money 😂)

So there comes the birthday celebration for me once per year! Was still struggling with a restaurant to go for a romantic dinner. It is not easy to find a romantic yet affordable fine dining restaurant in Singapore. Have seen a lot restaurants in Singapore are not so spacious and private enough to have a quiet dinner that we can truly enjoy. Everywhere is so crowded with diners and it is often impossible to get a restaurant which is spacious and private enough for all night long chatting with your partner. Sometime we just want to have a good and enjoyable dinner right? Luckily I stumbled upon this Italian fine dining restaurant by chance and it certainly lives up to my expectation! There are two main dining areas, i.e. indoor and outdoor yard. For me, I opt for outdoor yard as I would like to have those romantic and dim atmosphere dining experience. Indoor tables are slightly packed with customers than outdoor yard tables, and have a brighter lighting as well, and after looked around we still decided to choose outdoor table for our special dinner treat.

The menu is extensive and it comes with seasonal special menu. Seasonal special menu on October (the time we went) was focused on truffle and all foods are well cooked and presented with truffle as the ingredients. However, the seasonal special menu comes with few courses and is truly not cheap. There is ala carte menu for diners as well, and you can end your night with desserts and wine also! It is going to be a few hours tasting session, so sit down and enjoy! 

Grand booklet menu

After done the order, we were given complimentary breads before the main course. The Italian style breads are so special, they are long sticks breads which you can dip into the olive oil and some seasonings. The breads served are truly special and delicious enough to make you looking forward to your main course! 

Appetizer

For main course, we opted for ala carte menu, seabass fillet (called Filetto Di Branzino) for HER and braised beef cheek (called Guancia Di Bue Brasata) for HIM. Even the names sound so elegant and it takes me quite some time to type it here.. Layman term is fish and beef main course for us 😂 . Guess what, the foods served although seem to be smaller portion in servings (typical style of fine dining, though I feel Senso provides slightly more portion than usual fine dining restaurant), but it is certainly tummy filling and undeniably, the foods standard are very high, it exceeds our expectations! Not only they are beautifully decorated and well presented to you on plate, the foods itself tasted amazing and savory! The fish and meat are cooked in perfection and tasted juicy in our mouths! It is our 1st time indulging in Italian fine dining and it is very beautiful dinner experience indeed! 

For HIM (Guancia Di Bue Brasata -  braised beef cheek,
bacon, button mushrooms, glazed carrots, Senso puree)

For HER (Filetto Di Branzino - seabass fillet,
artichoke mousse, green asparagus, virgin sauce)

Italian fine dining experience

The customer service in Senso restaurant also is of top notch! Waiter/ waitress will gladly help us to take photos and make sure our foods are good by checking in with us for foods comments. Not only we were being treated with delicate care that night, we couldn't be more happier and grateful enough when they gave us complimentary dessert to end our night! Even though we not choose to add on dessert at the end of the course, they still provide us the complimentary dessert and this little touch from there truly warm our hearts! Transport me back to Senso restaurant please.. it was a truly beautiful dining experience and the day became joyous with the mind of birthday celebration! At last we can have quiet and private dinner experience all to ourselves and enjoy to the max with top notch treatment provided by Senso's staffs! Can't recommended enough, you won't go wrong in this  elegant restaurant which has beautiful white washed buildings, romantic and dim lighting atmosphere, savory Italian courses dinner, amazing customer service and etcetera! 😜💓

Complimentary desserts, sweet little touch
that made the dinner experience to be perfect!

Outdoor yard tables, private and quiet for the intimate dinner experience

Exterior looking of Senso Ristorante & Bar

A Little Info. on Senso Ristorante & Bar
Official Website: http://www.senso.sg/
Facebook Webpage: Senso
Location/ How to Go: Alight at Chinatown mrt station, walk for 5 minutes.
Opening Hours: Refer website link above for more details

Personal Rating: 
Taste ➪ 9/10 (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)
Price➪  3/10 (1-3: Expensive, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Budget-friendly)
Ambiance ➪ 9/10  (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)



💗 Author: Ng Mei Lian/ Adrian Yeoh Aun Hong

👉 Date of Visit: 7 October 2018

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Charlie Brown Cafe Orchard Cineleisure, Singapore

FAQ on Charlie Brown Cafe Orchard Cineleisure Singapore:

1. What attracts you to come to this restaurant?

👉 Cute Snoooopy theme cafe 🐕🐶

2. What you expect to dine in this restaurant?

👉 Italian (i.e. pastas), Western (i.e fish&chips, chickens etc), Dessert (i.e. cakes, ice cream etc)

3. Any set meal available in this restaurant?

👉 Yes. Set lunch priced starting from $8.90, inclusive of ice lemon tea and chocolate lava cake! However, please take note that set lunch only applicable on weekdays only.

4. Any promotion available in internet for this restaurant?

👉 Yes. Fave has ongoing promotion currently, however please take note that this promotion is only applicable on weekdays only as well. They also have limited main course to choose from. Click here to open the deal, grab it while stocks last! Is listed as one of the popular deal!

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

👉 Our personal favourite is during day time. This is because the cafe has a big window which directly facing the view outside which you able to see buildings etc. Ignore this if you don't care about the view (because got nothing much to see?) or you just worry the scorching hot sun might penetrate through the window and harm your skin? 😂

On our recent visit to Orchard road Singapore, we had a chance to visit this cute theme cafe in Singapore, it is called Charlie Brown cafe! If you are a fans of theme restaurant, or a fans of snoopy, or just simply want to dine with your family, kids and friends, just drop by here to enjoy your lunch or dinner inside the snoopy ambiance cafe. The cafe is Level 4 of Orchard Cineleisure, exactly the same level with cinema. If you are taking the lift, turn left to go to Charlie Brown cafe and turn right to go cinema after your fulfilling meals! 

Able to see views outside if you choose to dine at day time here

Charlie Brown characters!

Charlie Brown cafe is located at the corner of the level and it has a big window facing the Orchard road. When we went to have lunch here, we able to choose seating which facing the window and can enjoy the view while dining here. The cafe also has soft musics playing behind and thus you may end up spend few hours here. They also have a screen monitor showing cartoon of the snoopy playing together with the Charlie Brown characters! 😍

They have this delicious and affordable set lunch during lunch hours. Good news for those who work in vicinity. They come with varieties of main course to choose from, and give you free ice lemon tea as beverage, what's more they have chocolate lava cake! This set lunch only comes at a price tag of $8.90 onwards only. Please take note that this set lunch is not applicable on weekends, public holidays and eve of public holidays. 

Just like mentioned in the above FAQ, we have purchased online Fave voucher to enjoy the set meal. We have 4 choices of main course to choose from. For me, I chose mushroom cream pasta and le bf chose turkey ham carbonara pasta. The mushroom cream pasta is quite delicious as the cream is thick and filled with mushroom shredded pieces. It has the natural mushroom smell and guess they are using olive oil for this pasta, which definitely spice up the pasta. For turkey ham carbonara pasta, it comes with an egg on top of your pasta and many slices of turkey ham. It is worth the value of money compared to mushroom cream pasta as it is more fulfilling. Both pastas also come together with the cheese toppings. Last but not least, don't forget the chocolate lava cake. Slight disappointment when we can't see any snoopy face on the cake. This is because when we flipped the menu, the illustration of chocolate lava cake has the snoopy face on top! That's what we hope from Charlie Brown cafe. This might be because we were using the online vouchers? Not sure about this though. However, must admit the chocolate lava cake is delicious and cover back the disappointment. For just $8.90, it gives you complimentary drink and dessert, is truly a steal!

Turkey ham carbonara pasta

Mushroom cream pasta

Savoring the chocolate lava cake

Before heading to window shopping at Orchard road, we took some photos with this cute little cafe. Just right at the entrance, they have this big snoopy for you to take photo with! See Joe Cool snoopy below 💗. So for those that plan to bring kids to dine here, think no more! Kids will love it so much!

I have tried Charlie Brown cafe in Penang, Malaysia before. I personally favor the environment over there as they are tons of photo taking opportunities and they have souvenir shops for you to purchase snoopy related goodies! The decoration and ambiance are cuter in Penang as well. However, for the food, the taste is so so only. The sad news about Charlie Brown cafe in Penang is they already closed their business few years back. 😢 Need to explore more cafes already!

JOE COOL

A Little Info. on Charlie Brown Cafe Orchard Cineleisure
Official Website: Charlie Brown Cafe Singapore
Facebook Webpage: https://www.facebook.com/charliebrowncafeorchardcineleisure/
Location/ How to Go: 8 Grange Road, Level 4-1, Orchard Cineleisure, Singapore. 
Alight at Somerset mrt station and walk for 5 minutes
Opening Hours: Daily 11.00am ~ 10.30pm



Personal Rating: 
Taste ➪ 6.5/10 (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)
Price➪  8.5/10 (1-3: Expensive, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Budget-friendly)
Ambiance ➪ 7/10  (1-3: Below average, 4-6: Average, 7-10: Above average)



💗 Author: Ng Mei Lian/ Adrian Yeoh Aun Hong
👉 Date of Visit: 24 March 2018

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