Supply & Demand - Modern Italian Trattoria & Pizzeria

In a nutshell
Fudz: Supply & Demand - Modern Italian Trattoria & Pizzeria
Cuisine: Italian-Asian fusion
Location: 277 Orchard Road, #02-13/14, Orchardgateway Singapore 238858 (Flagship is at Esplanade Mall)
Dial: +65 6702 6218
Email: esp@cre8group.com.sg (for reservations)
Interweb: https://www.facebook.com/supplydemandsin?fref=ts
Damage: By the economics of scale, you do the balance yourself

The story

Asians love Italian food. It could be the fact that Marco Polo brought back some of the Asian influences to his country after his travels and that was probably one of the first eastern-western fusions in the history of mankind. To this day, it is still a joy to meld the two together.

A Friday evening demands a good meal to unwind. A meal that erases the fatigue and stress for the entire week spent at your computer desk, talking to unnecessary people and being a useful lego piece to the society. An evening when you can be yourself, with your friends or family or alone, not a provider of answers to anyone's problem but your own.

The same gang gathered at the queue of Supply & Demand. My usual gang of sisters, you-know-who if you've been reading past posts. I eat with other people too but this is my favourite group of people to eat with. Probably because they are more patient with me whenever I want to snap a picture of the food before they can tuck in.

Garlic truffle fries $15

It's hard to eat 'undressed' fries now without thinking it might be better with truffle or parmesan cheese or garlic shavings or sea salt. Check out the cloves of garlic. The thick-cut fries were perfect bases to smear the garlic on. The truffle aroma did not come in as strong. It could have been overpowered by the garlic. S&D also serve sweet potato fries ($9), something I'd really like to try the next time I visit.

Tartufo E Uovo / Truffle & Egg (9" inch - $18, 13" inch - $22)

There's always something to look forward to whenever they leave a soft egg on top of your pizza or pasta. For anyone who likes to destroy.

Aglio olio with shrimps ($14/$18)

All'Arrabbiata with minced pork and pork chorizo ($14/$18)

Ragu di Maiale, rich tomato sauce infused with red wine, bacon, minced pork and oregano ($14/$18)

Frutti di Mare Alla Panna e Aglio, garlic infused cream sauce with mixed seafood ($17/$23)

Pastas come in Tasting or Full sizes to cater to different stomach abilities. There are over 10 different cooking styles of pasta to choose from, with varying ingredients to add to the permutations. We only tried these four during our visit and the general consensus is that S&D does pastas really well. I'm really fond for Ragu di Maiale because of the sauce. It's rich in flavours and simple at the same time. A kind of pasta you like to go home to after a day of hard work.

Lamb rack ($32)

Succulent and tender. This dish is full of heart. I didn't appreciate lamb until this year. When you cut a piece and put it in your mouth, the teenage vocabulary that comes to mind is: AMAZEBALLS. After which, you revert to your adult self and begin to tackle the rest of the meat without words.


Note: I didn't eat anything from the S.E.A menu page. The dishes look exciting. I'm sorry that I missed it out completely. I'll do a follow-up on that. Sorry, no fusion reviews this time round.

Disaster in a jar, chocolate eclairs, brownie chunks, cookie crumble with vanilla cream and banana slices ($15)

Sinful homemade chocolate cake ($11)

Please order Disaster In a Jar. It's absolutely divine. It's far from a disaster unless a disaster can be beautiful in a havoc way. I'm not a dessert person but it tasted so good. The chocolate cake is not half bad but the disaster took the lead and we followed. Other dessert items include Pandan Panna Cotta ($12), Molten Chocolate Cake ($13), S&D Italian Style Tiramisu ($12), gelatos in exciting flavours like pink guava ($7), avocado ($7) and bak kwa ($8), and many more.

This warrants a few more visits before my demands can be satisfied.

Service, presentation and ambience wise, all's good.

Wild Relish

In a nutshell
Fudz: Relish by Wildrocket
Cuisine: Mod Sin (coined by the founder), short for Modern Singaporean. Supposedly a focus on burgers but I got deviated.
Code: Fine Casual
Location: 501, Bukit Timah Road, #02-01, Cluny Court; 1 Maju Avenue #02-07, myVillage, Serangoon Garden
Dial: 6763 1547 (Bukit Timah); 6634 3422 (Serangoon Garden)
Interweb: http://www.wildrocket.com.sg/
Email: relishburger@gmail.com

Damage: $30-50 per pax
Taste: Old favourites with a Singaporean twist
Ambience: Wood and aluminium chairs... and very few vintage furniture
Service: Quick and good

The story
... comes in three parts. I've been to Relish three times before I decided that it's time for a review. 

The 1st Visit

We were supposed to read in a cafe, an attempt to be bookworms outdoor. However, I left the Kindle in the car. I could only study the menu. Flo relegated her bookworm self to an iPhone game player. We stick to plans like expired post-its.

Due to the late, odd hour, we didn't order a real meal.

Chocolate cointreau - one of the better milkshakes around

Thick-cut fries that cut the chase

Late night snacks should always be this good... even if you're not doing any serious reading.

***

The 2nd Visit
My perverted producer's birthday. She was on leave but we called her out to have a birthday lunch together anyway. We were about to finish eating when she finally arrived. It's the thought that counts.

Parmesan wings

The parmesan wings are good for seconds. When you share a plate with a large group of hungry people, you're lucky if you can grab one. This calls for another order and another and...

Ram-Lee burger

The Malays know exactly what they want in a burger. They came up with the hugely popular burger that is being replicated everywhere. It's usually saucy and greasy. Relish does a decent job in achieving that.

Portobello mushroom tofu burger. No carbs, except the fries!

Grilled chicken

Aubergine linguine

Pine nuts usually go very well with pasta. It is something to crunch on amidst the softness of flavourful aubergines and tomatoied linguine. You know you've grown up when you learn to love eating eggplants. If you still hate it, really, it's time to grow up.

Hae bee hiam spaghetti

I only eat hae bee hiam spring rolls during Chinese New Year. Yun Yun said that this is awesome stuff, so I'm giving her the benefit of a doubt and tell you that it is. It's time for me to grow up, you say, but meanwhile, I'll think about it.

Mojito

Dark lava chocolate gateau

If you're a non-chocolate lover like I am, there will be one day out of the entire year when you crave for something like this. It can be any day just before your menstruation period. Satisfy that craving before you turn into a chocolate-raging monster. 

Just saying.

***

The 3rd Visit
A friend who lives in the same neighbourhood as you do comes in handy for short-distance food ventures. In this occasion, she manifested as Amy Tan, an old school mate from my Mass Communication days.

Breakfast platter

Relish serves all-day breakfast on weekends. Few people care about breakfasts on weekdays. The rest are preoccupied in beating the rush hour. I'm not keen about baked beans but in other words, the breakfast platter looks heavenly. (Note: Amy opted for mashed potatoes instead of sauteed mushrooms.)

Benedict

Relish is generous with their servings. The rocket leaves in the eggs benedict come in harvestful. The waiter gave Amy two wedges of butter when she asked for some to slather on a single piece of muffin toast. Two very well-done poached eggs were on my favourite English muffins but unfortunately, I'm not a fan of crispy bacon. They taste like dry bak kwa after a while. It's my personal preference to smoked salmon. 

I appreciate that the waiter asked me what sauce I wanted for my fries. Ketchup is the only way to go. Chilli sauce is for chicken rice, people.

Other good breakfast items include cream cheese bagels, homemade pork and apple sausage patty burger, etc.

Milo and horlicks marble cake

Amy said this dessert tasted 'traditional'. We grew up drinking Milo, Horlicks and eating marble cake from the neighbourhood cake shop. Relish had brilliantly combined all the three items together. No brainer, you think. Bet you wish you thought of it first. Then again, how many of us know how to bake?

I would like to think about what had happened to Milo and Horlicks' understated brother, Ovaltine.

***

Local flavours get entwined in this food establishment that is for once, not in a hawker/food centre setting.