Anto Pizza e Aperitivi feat Wala Pizza - Interesting Pizza

I had been seeing posts about Wala Pizza Private Dining and the raves about this place, and that really piques my curiosity. So when Wala Pizza is collaborating with Anto Pizza e Aperitivi for a limited time, I immediately secured a reservation in order to satisfy my curiosity.

The Truffle Carbonara from Wala Special Menu is really unique and very flavourful. The dough has the texture similar to that of a super fluffy bread and an inherent sweetness similar to that of sour dough bread. I love this dough. In fact, the pizza tastes better when eaten with the fluffy edge of the dough to balance the strong flavours.

This pizza is full of goodies such as bacon, guanciale, runny eggs, truffle oil and yes, pepper! In fact, I feel that the pepper is the highlight of the pizza because it makes the taste unique and exciting.

Overall it is a good and interesting pizza.

The exterior of the restaurant is of nice quaint shophouse covered with gorgeous pastel green tiles with floral designs. The interior is like this cool stylish bar. Since I’m seated at the outside, I just caught a fast glimpse of the interior only. All in all, this is a nice place to chill and enjoy some hearty Italian treats.

Though an outing here makes me realise that ambience is so important for me to enjoy my dining experience. Being seated right at the entrance, right beside the reception, right at a low table, right behind a high table makes me feel like an afterthought. It’s like I was the last patron to secure a seat (I’m not) and they begrudgingly squeezed out a corner for me, where my space and comfort is of least concern.

Yes, I do feel slightly better when I see previous photos showing that low table beside the reception is always there actually. But this doesn’t take away the fact that I do not have the space I expect in a fine dining establishment. The constant stream of patrons passing by me (I lost count of the number of hips in close proximity to my head while I was eating), me being constantly present to hear every greeting by the friendly nice service staff (not her problem since she is doing her job, the problem is where I am seated), the need to constantly shift my not-so-long legs out of the narrow pathway for people passing by (there is less than 1 metre distance between my table and the high table, and my table is too low for my legs to go under comfortably) and the constant view of 3 persons at the high table towering over me (the height difference in close proximity gives the illusion like I’m eating off the floor beside them), all makes me want to quickly finish my pizza and get out of there.

I don’t really enjoy the pizza despite it being good (note that I say it is good while I have used bigger words in my other posts). Okay, to be fair, the dough is fantastic. And luckily I didn’t order wine straightaway upon arrival (I will always order wine or sake or cocktail if I start to feel good at the restaurant or patronise my favourite restaurants) since I totally lose the mood to wine and dine soon after. And I regret taking a cab to get there on time when obviously nobody is going to take that seat for the whole night anyway.

For the record, I had dined al fresco before at another restaurant, and I like the experience there. High tables, cool crowd, a distance from the reception and ample space, you know the deal.

If you are dining solo or in pair, and comfort is top priority to you, or if you are very tall, avoid that table beside the reception. Request to change or just cancel. I wish I did that, but I was thinking, “Um, this looks weird, but it may be fun and relaxing.” Well, it is not.

Thoughts: Nice Pizzeria

2 Jiak Chuan Road

Esquina - Awesome Spanish Cuisine

Esquina had always been on my mind when I was planning to visit my favourite restaurants that I had dined at before my solo dining era. When I saw that they have a tasting menu featuring more than 10 dishes, I quickly jumped onto it and made my reservation.

I love Esquina’s concept of many small dishes of tapas presented in the tasting menu, giving me a full picture of what the food here is all about and of course, enjoying an awesome, exciting, varied gastronomic adventure through the landscape of Spain.

The taste of the food ranges from simulating, exciting to satisfying and blissful to indulgent and complex. The flavours and textures are carefully curated to be in perfect balance, yielding lots of lovely surprises on the palates. I love all the dishes here so much. One of the best Spanish restaurants? A definite Yes!

The ambience at the first floor bar counter in front of the busy open kitchen is vivacious, hip and cool. I love watching the chefs in action. The decor has that warm, rustic feel of Spain in summer, further enhanced by the Spanish music playing in the background. I do feel occasional rushes of hot air from the nearby oven when seated at the centre of the counter tending towards the right, so take note. There is a 2nd floor dining room for group dining or some romantic times.

Service is warm, friendly and great, and that includes the chefs. I’m so happy that I come back again for such an awesome dining experience.

Uni Paella is such a luxurious dish packed with umami of different forms: intense sweetness of uni, briny sweetness of Mediterranean red prawns and buttery saline taste of lobster. I also love it that lots of premium seafood is stuffed into this cute little bowl. The red rice is al dente in texture, being a bit like that of the bottom claypot rice. Talking about bottom, the bottom of the paella is the best part of the rice, being soaked the most with the sweetness of the lobster.

The first snack is Olive stuffed with roe is intense and simulating in flavours, waking up the senses and whetting the appetite.

Oyster soaked in ponzu sauce, jalapeño and garnished with ginger flower, spring onion features so many harmonised flavours that spellbind the palates.

Smoked Mackerel on thin crispy wafer biscuit provides the perfect base to showcase the vibrancy of espanol sauces.

Ibérico Ham is the undisputed King of Hams featuring slightly chewy texture with an iota of firmness and beautiful nuanced flavour of smoked meat laced with a lovely richness of oil filled with nutty aroma. The Ibérico Ham here is elevated even more by the crispy, fluffy bread underneath, adding texture and light sweetness of the wheat to the ham.

Salmorejo (tomato garlic soup) with uni and berberechos (a kind of cockle) is a rich and indulgent dish full of seafood goodness peppered with zest from the tomato.

The Foie Gras Terrine here is most probably the best foie gras I ever have. The crispy thin puff pastry adds an unbelievably excellent texture to the rich buttery foie gras with jelly-like consistency. The sherry vinegar adds a hint of sweetness and zest while the leeks introduces a pungency to lift up the whole taste. Simply magical.

Tuna Escabeche is lightly seared Tuna that has the lovely combination of taste of ocean and gamey flavours of meat. The refreshing taste of green apple and spiciness of jalapeño actually accentuates the sweetness of the tuna.

Smoked Quail Egg is oh-so-good because of the super earthy sweet Sweet Potato puree punctuated by hints of saltiness of the ibérico. Teh sweet potato is unbelievably sweet that a feeling of bliss welled up in me when savouring this.

Uncovering the Quail Egg hidden beneath the Sweet Potato Puree

Grilled Sucrine Lettuce amazes me with how good lettuce can be. This is a must-try for that eye-opening experience of enjoying amazingly good vegetable that can rival its meat counterparts. The crispy, juicy leaves of lettuce is brushed with a layer of char for an extra dimension in taste. The sweetness and light zest of herb yoghurt and cider vinegar highlight the refreshing freshness of the lettuce. The macadamia nuts add earthiness and rich nuttiness to the taste and variation in texture.

Black Cod, with its pliable succulent flesh, surprises me in a wonderful way by its sweetness, further enhanced by the fino sherry. I also love the Atlanic clams that are plump and pumped with the essence of ocean. Spanish winter truffle adds luxe and a nice earthiness to the taste to these treasures of the sea.

The gamey flavours of Spanish Suckling Pig with Mulled Wine is nicely cut through by the zest of Apple and Rhubarb Chutney for balanced flavours.

(From left) Delicious Spanish Cheeses of Tor dels Tillers, Garotxa, Manchego and Retorta. I especially love the wet cheeses. And they go perfectly with the sweetened eggplant. I actually love pairing the cheeses with this eggplant, which is wet in texture, over dried preserved fruits.

I'm going bananas over the Beer Stout Ice-Cream with bananas in different forms: cut, mousse, bread. I'm not usually into banana dessert, but this one is an exception. Because the bananas used here are so lovingly sweet that they totally entrapped my tastebuds. The sweetness juxatposes perfectly with the mild bitterness of the beer stout ice-cream. Caramel sauce adds a salty kick to the taste, highlighting the floral sweetness of the banana.

A special after dessert of rich chocolate ice-cream served with roe. Very interesting combination that works beautifully.

I'm really blown away by how good the food here is. If one is willing to splurge and want to try a good variety of food, I do recommend the tasting menu. One can also care and share to order the menu items since the portions are pretty big, thus being perfect for sharing.

Thoughts: Truly Outstanding Spanish Cuisine that hits all the Sweet Spots in Taste and Texture!

16 Jiak Chuan Road

Nearest MRT: Outram Park

Esquina - Plates of Excitement

UPDATE: Revisit in 2024, and found that the seats had been changed to plush chairs. Reservation system had also changed. And I enjoyed myself so much more during the revisit.

It was well known that Esquina did not take reservations, thus despite hearing about it, this restaurant went under my radar since I do not have the patience and time to queue for dining in a restaurant. However, when I found out that reservations can be made for lunch (go for lunch instead of dinner to avoid jostling with the crowd), I did not hesitate to make a reservation and head down for a meal there.

The set lunch was priced quite affordably at $40 for three courses meal, where the appetizer of squid (unbelievably easy to chew texture which absorbs the essence of the sauce) with paella impressed me a lot due to the multitude of exciting, zesty flavours incorporated in it.

The same goes for the fresh snapper where the aroma of the sauce added, (with obvious Spanish influence) sent olfactory signals to the brain to say, "This smells awesome!"

The oysters are very fresh which go very well with the dressing, that has subtle hints of spiciness, thus being very simulating in taste. Though I have to say that I prefer Osia's version.

The sea urchin and crab creation is a must order; it is simply so sublime due to the harmonious, yet feisty marriage of strong taste of sea urchin with huge fresh, succulent chucks of crab meat (surprisingly, the taste of crab meat is still very pronounced). This is the dish that will make one go, "Ooooh."

I love the scallops drizzled in the yuzu ponzu sauce since the sauce did justice to the delicate flavour of the scallops; complementing and enhancing the overall taste, instead of masking over the taste of umi from the scallops. The scallops themselves are fresh, juicy and firm. The vegetables that come with the scallops do better as garnishes only though; they are too bitter for my liking. Thus I think that it is better to eat the scallops and vegetables separately to avoid letting the bitter taste mars  the delightful taste of the scallops. The desserts are decent, though not exceptional.

Service here is pretty good. One of the male staff is very attentive; I was wandering outside at the side of the road and trying to figure where the entrance is (yes, the layout looks quite confusing) when he came out to greet me. When inside the place, I answered my phone and looked out of the window to look for my companion, that staff immediately knew what was going on, and took the initiative to go out to direct my companion into the restaurant. Big kudos to that staff. 

Ambience is well, special. The seats (look like medieval devices) are not exactly comfortable, especially for those of heavy weight. While I was feeling all okay on the seat, my companion was groaning about the slight pain already when he was halfway through his main course; luckily the kitchen was fast to serve up the dishes to shorten his experience with that metal seat. There is no space or backing on the chair to put one's bag, so either take along a small bag or a purse, or use the portable bag hanger (a nifty gadget that can turn into a hook attached to the side of the table). Note: I put this restaurant under "The Best" when not considering the ambience.

Definitely love to go back (though need to change my bag to the small one when I go there; even with the portable bag hanger at hand, it is not advisable to bring a big bag since the seats are not amply spaced between each other).

My Thoughts: Very Nice!

Nearest car park: Open air URA's car park along Jiak Chuan Road and vicinity (parallel parking)

Nearest MRT: Outram Park

16 Jiak Chuan Road

Singapore

Contact No: 62221616