Donna Carmela is an authentic family owned Italian restaurant located in the heart of Bukit Timah. In terms of accessibility, it is best to drive if you are heading there. It is located along the shophouses within the residential area.
Donna Carmela served authentic home-style South Italian fare and the foods are prepared using traditional recipes that have been passed down for generations. The restaurant has a homely bricks interior and alfresco dinning style for outdoor settings. We decided to enjoy our dinner outdoor to get a better snap on the foods that we ordered.Once we placed our orders, we were given a complimentary basket of breads and two sides.
Our main course was Carbonara Spaghetti S$21.00 that serves in carbonara sauce made with eggs, bacon, cream and black pepper.Aragosta (Lobster) Risotto S$29.00. It has a slight taste of spiciness and sweetness flavours in it. I personally like this dish as it has the interesting combination of ingredients for the sauce to tantalize the tastebuds.Lastly Quattro Formaggi pizza S$24.00. The pizza has the tomato, mozzarella, four cheeses and oregano. Dedicated thin crusted pizza where the cheeses are widely spread all over. I could taste the rich cheese flavours in it.
We also ordered a glass of house pour wine and a glass of prosecco S$12.00 each to enjoy with the foods.
Overall was a pleasant dinning experience. Lucky for us as I read online reviews about the restaurant and it was not that pleasant. I was quite skeptical initially but it was fine for us though. I felt the prices here are quite affordable for an Italian cuisine and would be a nice place for chill and relax with families and friends. That’s explain the restaurants are mostly filled with families or neighborhoods customers.
Total Bill : S$112.99 inclusive of 10% service charges and 7% GST.

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Whenever I heard about waffles, the image that appears in my mind is the squarish shape with ice-cream toppings or savoury items on top of it. Oh boy, this time round is different! It is served is thin long waffles stick!
Located at Basement 3 of 313 Somerset shopping mall, there is another form of waffles that think out of the box. This waffle bar is operated by a young couple, Benmin and Lynette. The waffles are categorized into “ Fruitalicious” and “ Timeless Desserts”.
The business is apparently well after office hours on last Friday when we dropped by. Since it’s freshly made upon orders, you may need to wait a while. We had Smurfy S’mores S$3.80 and Berries Delight S$3.80. Healthy fresh fruits topped with the yogurt and cream cheese frosting. But my favourite is the Smurfy S’mores. The chocolate fondue with flame-touched marshmallows and graham crumbs and not overwhelmed with the chocolate sweetness.
Real Vanilla Soft Serve S$3.00 is available with a choice of chocolate fondue, maple syrup or salted caramel sauce. You can add S$2.50 for a cup of vanilla soft serve with waffles too. We tried their vanilla soft serve with maple syrup recommended by Benmin. The soft serve doesn’t melt that fast as we took some photos before enjoying it.
If you are craving for waffles and mind your calories or easy to take away, you can give Hvala Waffles a try when you are nearby. It is convenient to enjoy while doing some window shopping too! Show some support to them and give it a try! Perhaps you might love it!

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Ippudo in Mandarin Gallery is always in long queue whenever we passed by. I am glad to they have decided to open another branch which located at Shaw Centre. I remembered Ippudo was one of my first few food tasting with OpenRice two years back. If you have trouble finding the place, you might want to enter the Isetan cosmetic area at the familiar Lido Shaw on the first floor and turn right to Shaw Centre.Beef Tataki is definitely my favourite here. Loving the beef marbling with slightly seared at the top . The yuzu pepper paste was placed around the beef to give a slight appetizing taste.
Beef Steak S$15.00 serves in cube size and sizzling teppan plate with black pepper sauce. It was medium done and you can taste the tender and juicy of the meat.Tsukune Rice S$7.00 was served with a juicy minced pork patty and sweet sauce. And not forgetting the soft-boiled egg that runs through the Japanese rice. Splendid satisfaction I would say.Tomato cream sauce-drizzled Kani Cream Croquette which was served in golden flaky crust. The fillings were filled with creamy crab that was gives a ‘wow’ after a biteIppudo Original Salad S$12.00 indeed gives a surprise taste. Eric was saying to have some greens for dinner so we decided to go for salad. Mixture of avocado, tofu and grated deep-fried potato created a good chemistry and the wafu sauce enhanced the flavours of the dish. We are so into the sauce and approached the staffs on the ingredients used. Mashed carrots and onions were added into the sauce which makes the sauce has the spicy and sweet taste. Good job for the chef’s creation.Gyoza served here is consider one of the good ones that you can find in town. The skin is very thin and the pork filling is tender and soft to enjoy.We moved on to their signature ramen. Shiromaru Motoaji is Ippudo’s original creamy gelatinous tonkotsu ramen. It comes with char siew and our choice of noodles done hard. S$12.00 for small and S$15.00 for regular. All I can say is awesome. I love the thickness soup base which is quite addictive.Tan Tan Tonkotsu S$16.00 is the specialty ramen for this branch. The ramen is modified to suit the local taste. It is blended with Japanese sesame paste and of course their creamy and thick soup base.As for desserts, we have sesame ice with shiratama S$5.00, matcha ice with shiratama S$5.00 and Strawberry parfait S$8.00. If I were to choose for second serving, I will go for sesame ice with shiratama.
For more reviews, check out my post: http://hazeldiary.com/media-invite-ippudo-shaw-centre/

Located deep inside Serangoon Gardens is the newly Korean dessert shop. Nusongyee (snowflake) is an authentic Korean dessert that owned by Koreans. Since my brother-in law is driving, we (sisters) decided to give it a try. The shop is evolved with variety flavors of bingsu, Korean rice cakes and variety flavors of toast breads. Korean folks are managing the operation here with the self-service concept. Customers will place an order and make payment at the counter. Once everything is done, we are given a device to notify on the collection at the counter.Here are the lists that we explored:-Injeolmi Bingsu S$14.90.
It’s recommended by the staff as one of the signature dessert in-house. Injeolmi is sweet Korean rice cake made by steaming and pounding with powdered coating. It’s like having muah chee texture as the desserts are made from dried beans, nuts and seeds. The roasted soy bean and almond taste with added sugar definitely enhance the sweetness and crunchiness of the dessert.Chocolate Banana Bingsu S$13.90.
You will never go wrong the combination. Sweetness taste of chocolate and banana with fine ice milk shaving like snowflakes works pretty well. It is best shared with friends as it is quite a sweet tooth for individual.Garlic Cheese Toast S$9.90.
Toasted with flavorful garlic cheese comes with 8 slices. We love the crispy crust with cheese toasted.
Total bill does not include GST and service charge. Although the price is to the higher side, it does served authentic taste of Korean dessert. This is a premium price to pay if you want to get a taste of it.
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The Betterfield Cafe is 1-week old cafe that located within a walking distance from Bugis MRT station. The cafe's not easily noticeable as the storefront is currently facing the construction and it is not at the front entrance of the road. Thus, you might to search them within Waterloo Centre.The staff recommended Pulled Duck Burger S$20.00 and Secret Thai Chilli Chicken S$14.50 for our dinner. Pulled Duck Burger was served with charcoal bun, french fries and tangy sauce. The sauce is specially made-in-house recipe by the chef to enhance the flavor of the pulled duck. The duck meat was moist and tender to enjoy.Secret Thai Chilli Chicken served as ala-carte in the menu list. 8 pieces of chicken with symphony of spices, coriander and thai chilli sauce. Crispy skin tasted like KFC but the difference lies in their sauce.The cafe also has all day breakfast menu. Some of the customers ordered egg benedicts for dinner. I also observed orders from other tables and duck confit is also one of the well-received dish here. So, if you are dropping by, you can have choices to give it a try. All prices are in nett price.
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