Celebratory Dinner @ Da Paolo Pizza Bar

Last friday was the day the Sparkling Fireworks (yes, that's the name of my project group.  Don't judge) had our marketing presentation. The idea was to have it like "The Noose" and we had a ball of a time preparing for it! Just look at this!! hahaha!

Anyway, we planned for a celebratory dinner over at Da Paolo Pizza Bar, located within Chip Bee Garden at Holland Village, thanks to Angel's recommendation. She was raving about the truffle pizza so much that we knew we had to try it! Anyway, click here to check out their facebook page (:

We chose an alfresco seating as the weather was pretty good. The interior furnishing was simply gorgeous. Of fur ceilings and wine cellar walls, Da Paolo offered a classy environment, simply great for a Friday night out with friends (: Take a look at the pictures and you will understand. Probably what I liked most about the place was the lack of crowd (and noise). We had a great time chillaxing and talking, without having to scream across the table, unlike some popular restaurants.

The food were simply delicious! Especially the mushroom dishes! Please please order the Portobello mushroom salad as well as the truffle pizza. They are just yum-tums!

So here's the Portobello mushroom salad, served with rockets and topped with capsicum (i think! didn't get to eat it), feta cheese and balsamic vinegar. The mushroom at the bottom was stuffed with tomato, then grilled. The combination of the taste of tomato with Portobello mushroom is simply heavenly. All the others were so in love with this dish as well! Definitely worth trying!

Next up, we had some cold cuts- parma ham! (: Just look at how thinly cut these ham slices are! They tasted really yummy, especially with the baguette slices (which was slightly stiff by the time I got to eat it).

And, here we have the truffle pizza! The mushrooms smelt and tasted really good! The combination of mushrooms and cheese was lovely! Another of my favourite dish! Please please order this when you visit Da Paolo.

Lastly, we had some smoked salmon with spinach pizza. The smoked salmon was delicious on its own, but somehow I thought that the taste didn't blend quite well with the cheese and the spinach. But well, it could also be that I had to many cheesy dishes by then, it was quite difficult to properly taste this. Not a must-try for me!

We also had buffalo wings for dinner, but I didn't eat any (as I was so full already) and by then it was kind of dark to shoot any photographs, so no reviews for me! A meal like this came up to $20/head (after GST and service charge) for 6 people! Pretty worth it huh!a

Ok! This marks the end of my post! If you do visit Da Paolo's Pizza Bar sometime, tell me what's good and what's not! I will definitely pop by one day after school for another round (:

How to get there

Drop at Holland Village MRT along the Circle Line and exit at the 1st exit you see within the train station. You will find yourself at the back of Chip Bee Gardens. Just walk through the car park and into the small lane. Walk uphill along the stretch of restaurants and about 2 mins later, you will see Da Paolo Pizza Bar.

Fosters English Rose Cafe (:

Thanks to a bunch of gluttony group mates (not that I mind, really!), I got to try high tea at Fosters English Rose Cafe. Along the stretch with Starbucks and right beside Amici, its a quaint cafe tucked in a little corner of Holland Village. With cosy furnishing and no crowd, it was a pleasant high tea experience.

We had three dishes for our lunch-cum-tea session.

First up, we had Calamari (priced at $11.00).

 The calamari were well-fried, not too oily. It was simply yummy~!

Next up, we had their Devonshire Cream Tea Set (priced at $11.00).

This set comes with a pot of tea, 2 scones, one fruit cake, 2 sandwiches as well as jam, cream and butter. The scones were delicious! Flaky on the outset yet soft on the inside. It was nicely buttery and went very well with the jam and cream provided. Definitely the best scones I have tasted yet! As for the fruit cake and sandwiches, they tasted pretty much normal. I don't think its quite worth the money to have the fruit cake and sandwiches. 

Here's a little tip: you can choose to change the fruit cake and sandwiches to scones as well. The tea set will then come with a total of 4 scones.

Lastly, we had a Steak and Mushroom Pie (priced at $18.50).

Besides the scones, this was my other personal favourite of the meal. If you break open the pie crust, you will see a mini beef stew (with mushrooms). The stew nicely brought out the smell and taste of the beef, which was tender and soft. The mash potato that came with the set was crispy on the outside, yet soft on the inside. And, it went very well with the beef stew! Well, I thought that the stew was slightly on the salty side, but its not too bad.

Overall, the food quality at Foster's is above average, but is slightly pricey. The service is a little bit slow (considering the cafe was rather empty at our time of visit). I will probably go back for more (: