White Tangerine Cafe

A Sunday dinner out and we landed at this place that is neatly tucked inside Paya Lebar Kovan Community Club. I felt the place was a tad too small but it sure did a great job of catering to the group of us, almost sixteen in number.

Hence looking at the specials that is not on the menu...

Spoilt for choice.. so I decided to order a main and topped it up to complete it with a set.

So the drinks were served first. That mine... Haa.. Its Cookies & Cream Shake topped with whipped cream. Well, I must say that for the price I paid for this drink, I felt it was a little disappointing. First, it looked kinda 'solid' so I was expecting sort of like a milkshake textured drink. Well, it wasn't. In fact, it was very watery. Furthermore, I would have preferred if they were not so generous on the sugar syrup. Hmm... my take on this. Poor. Try it at your own risk.

So next up comes the soup. Simple and ordinary tasting mushroom soup though it was very much better than the drink.

Hmm.. lovely. Golden crispy wedges deep fried to perfection. Yums, just ask them for a serving of mayonnaise as a dip to go along with this. Good if you are having a craving for extra carbs...

The main course finally arrived. Black pepper chicken served with side salad and a serving of spaghetti. I thought that the black pepper sauce that topped the chicken was not bad. It is much better than those black pepper sauce which has an overpowering black pepper taste. The spaghetti was ok, normal but don't expect a well done al-dente spaghetti.

Some more food that we ordered...

Ham Spaghetti

Fish & Chips

Some dessert before we call it a day and head home... First up, the waffle with ice cream.

It was not bad just that the portion is a little small. Generous serving of ice cream atop the little crispy waffle.

All time favourites. A scoop of chocolate ice cream. I felt that the overall dining experience was alright. The bill came up to an average of $12 per person so I thought it was reasonably cheap. The food was acceptable given the price but the service could be improved.

From my observation during dinner, the place should be manned by a young Filipino couple. The man does the cooking in the kitchen while the lady serves. The service was slow and inattentive. there were no serviettes on the table and we had to ask for it, the fish n chips was served without the lemon, etc.

No doubt, you may try this place if you are on a budget or if you stay around the area and are interested to check out this place.

Info:

White Tangerine Cafe

Blk 207 Hougang Street 21
Paya Lebar Kovan CC

Singapore 530207

Tel: 6284 6817

Email: enquiries@whitetangerine.com.sg
Website: www.whitetangerine.com.sg

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Aglio Olio

This week we will be talking about a bistro called Aglio Olio. I suppose as the name suggests, you might have guessed right that their signature pasta dish is none other than Aglio Olio.

Aglio Olio is actually in Italian, meaning garlic and olive respectively. The pasta that is often used in making a good Aglio Olio is either spaghetti, vermicelli or angel hair. These are generally really thin strands of noodles. My favorite among the three is angel hair. In our local context, these noodles can be said to be that of 'laksa noodle, bee hoon and mee sua' respectively.

So here I am, walking in for dinner at about 7.15pm on a weekday. The dining area is somewhat small but I must say that the ambience is one that is very relaxing and cozy. I am greeted by a friendly service staff who leads us to our table and hands us the menu.

What I always appreciate at a dinner place is set menu. So here, there are two different dinner sets. One is a normal set for 2 persons  @ $33.90++ and the other is a wine dinner set going for $39.90++. For me, I do like their lemonade so I chose the former set. The normal dinner set for 2 includes:

• 2 Soups
• 1 basket of garlic bread
• 1 basket of chicken wings
• 1 pasta
• 1 pasta / pizza
• 2 drinks

What I really like their lemonade is that it is not too sour nor is it too sweet. Its just really cold and refreshing especially after spending a long tiresome day in the office. I suppose it is less sharp in taste as compared to Auntie Anne's where I feel it is not that cold, sharper in taste and a tad too sweet for my liking. In fact, I ordered a second one soon after this arrived at my table.

Here comes the soup of the day. Hmm... well the soup of the day is clam chowder. I guess it is the typical kind of soup that you get everywhere. Nothing fab about it. I would actually say that the clam chowder that is sold at Mos Burger. The soup is served with...

Yup. Nicely toasted garlic herb bread which carries with it a tinge of garlic butter taste. Oh well, the clam chowder soup did taste much better with this. 

This is a killer. Really. This place serves seriously good  chicken wings. I would say it is a MUST TRY! The wings that are served here are really crispy and tasty. I suppose the wings are well marinated over quite a bit of time. the tender meat under the skin is also tasty, unlike some places where only the skin is crispy cos it is heavily dusted with tonnes of powder but the meat inside is tasteless. the wings here are good in and out though the health conscious ones might think it is a little too oily. Oh.. come on.. 

Hmm.. Awesome. This is not part of the dinner set but I was having a craving for something loaded with cheese and I thought.. "Hey, we might as well get it too!". The fries is nicely fried. Thick strips of crinkle-cut fries deep fried to perfection, served crispy with a generous serving of cheese and mayo. You seriously won't regret it. 

Here comes the star of the night. I chose the Bacon Aglio Olio as I wanted to have something tasty yet simple. This is classic. Here, when you place your order for an Aglio Olio, you get to choose the level of spiciness. It determines how much chilli padi is thrown into the pasta. Please do not be over adventurous with the level of spiciness if you are an average chili-tolerant person. Al dente pasta tossed in olive oil with a  mild garlic flavor and bursting fiery taste of the the little ones, a.k.a chilli padi. Nice.

You can choose to have your Aglio Olio plain, or with other ingredients such as ham, bacon, seafood, etc.

It was indeed a good dinner I had and I would definitely revisit them again. Check them out too!

Info:

Aglio Olio - Singapore's Version of Pasta

3 Pickering Street #01-40/41

China Square Central

Singapore 048660

Tel: 6327 3622

Aglio Olio Bistro

8 Shenton Way #B1-14

Singapore 068811

Tel: 6226 1622

Email: aglio@aglioolio.com.sg

Website:  http://www.aglioolio.com.sg   

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