With its newest outlet at Balestier, Collin's has definitely outperformed itself with its slight rustic design and pretty spacious interior. What's more, they have a special woodfire oven used to serve handmade pizzas!Living up to the expectations of the woodfire oven, the 12-inch pizzas were thin and crispy at the edges. Collin's Special had especially juicy mushrooms and the sausages were nicely done. For seafood lovers, Frutti Di Mare is a pizza you've got to try. Its succulent shrimp, together with the soft crabmeat, mussel, pesto, and creamy cheese, created a burst of flavours in my mouth.The other main dish that we tried was the Signature Duck Confit. I'm usually not a fan of duck, but I have to say this is definitely the softest duck I've ever had. Although the sauce is a little too strong for my liking, it does compliment the mango salad, making the dish more refreshing.Besides the main dishes, finger food are my favourites. Collin's offers an Appetizer Platter with buffalo wings, potato noodles prawn rolls, pork sausages and tempura squid. I particularly liked the buffalo wings - a dash of spiciness, not too strong, not too bland. The pork sausages were pretty worth it too, although the potato noodles prawn rolls might have tasted better if warmer.Sweet-tooths, you're in luck! The desserts we tried, Baked Caramel Banana and Grand Marnier Orange Souffle, will definitely not disappoint you. The baked banana literally melted in my mouth! Though in my opinion, I felt that the fruits could either be bigger pieces, or they should just do without it altogether. I also felt that the concept of their dessert is very interesting - having different plate designs for the same dish. The Chocolate Banana Shake that I had was pretty decent, thick but not too thick. Definitely could do with a slightly more chocolatey taste to it.

Christmas Menu

From the 2015 Christmas Gourmet Menu, we tasted the Winter Potato Salad with Ham and Chestnuts as well as the Santa's Baked Seafood Parcel.To me, the concept of having chestnuts with potatoes in the same dish was pretty novel to me. And I especially liked the idea of having cubed hams (instead of sliced), as it gives the chewiness to the whole dish on the overall. However, the potatoes can be a little too hard and the chestnuts were a little too mushy for me.

I thought that the food presentation was really witty - like unwrapping a Christmas present!  The salmon was a little fishy and not consistently done (tasted a little different from two different plates). But the rest of the seafood in the parcel was pretty well done. The calamari were soft to chew, and the prawns were also de-shelled.

This Collin's may be a little out of the way, but their woodfire pizzas is worth visiting for. Another good thing is, even though this is an upgraded version of Collin's from our neighbourhood hawker centres, the price is still pretty much the same - definitely a satisfactory experience.