FOOD REVIEW: Il Piccolo @ Toa Payoh/Bradell

Rating: 8/10

Location: Near Botak Jones near RJC, behind SPH

Haha my first review. Looks horrible but oh well let's see how far this idea of mine goes. Does anyone know how to like group the posts into some segments like how some sites put under "Videos" or "Pictures" for those blog entries with those?

Yep Il Piccolo. A small stall almost like a normal hawker centre one, except that the eatery itself is filled with people drawn to the large portions and sumptious food of.... Botak Jones, 2 stalls to the left of Il Piccolo. But there's no reason to overlook Il Piccolo, since it serves authentic Italian food (where authentic means delicious, since I haven't tried real italian cuisine before). At least not as much as Kim Chi La La or Ah Gang Seafood, stalls coined "sad" by Auyong as he remarked their desolate shopfront.

The best thing about this stall, and this specially for our friends in school slogging for As who might want something other than the daily exciting RPA menu for dinner, is that they deliver. The food arrives in less than 10 minutes, which means you get it hot. And don't be deceived by the small portion: pasta can make you really full, especially if it's couple with their delicious cream-based sauces. The number can be easily found on their website, or ask me for it.

Today I had the Quatro Formaggi, which is penne very generously doused in a rich sauce that boasted of 4 different kinds of cheese and cream. I may not have been able to tell what cheeses these were, but I definitely tasted the cheese. It may be a personal liking, but for some reason such sauces (think Al Funghi at Pastamania) keeps whetting my appetite for more with every mouth I take -- something like Pringles. And this one was very well done, no discounts on the cheesiness.

Friends (namely Jiening and Lynette) had chicken and beef lasagne, which was touted by Jiening as "even better than my mother". In my context I can't really gauge how nice it is, but usually if a food is better than your mum's it's pretty awesome.

Pizza was good too... If I have to pick one good thing about the pizza is the soft crust. Not overcooked, and once again the toppings were generous, with the pepperoni just the right degree of softness. Not hard or brittle. Garnishing blended well together (though huge chunks of onion and olives may not be everyone's favorite).

Do try it, it's not that ex either. Be prepared to pay about 7 dollars for your pasta (ranges between 5 to 8 thereabouts) and remember to get the pizza to share (costs about 8 dollars for a 7" one). If you're a sucker for taste, then this is definitely value for money.

posted by wei @ 11:29 PM