Casa Verde

Situated in the greenery of Botanics is Casa Verde(which means Green House in Italian). They're under the Les Amis Group which also owns Peperoni Pizzeria. This of course, made me think that the pizzas at Casa Verde will be as good as or even better than Peperoni Pizzeria's. Thus, I was keen to bring my family there for dinner(knowing how much they love pizza) and also because they allow dogs in their alfresco area. So we decided to have dinner there one Sunday evening. Casa Verde is located right at the visitor centre, which is nearer to the Nassim Gate entrance of Botanics. There is a sheltered parking area which is connected to a walkway which leads to Casa Verde.

It was raining really heavily as X and I were making our way there. It was pretty sad because that meant that we couldn't bring Waffles on a walk around Botanics.

So anyway, we reserved a table at Casa Verde beforehand as we were afraid of the Sunday dinner crowd. It wasn't as crowded as I had expected it to be when we arrived. It might be due to the rain. Their staff were really friendly towards Waffles. Waffles is extremely outgoing and he stands up to greet every human that passes by. Haha. The waiters did not shun him or look at him in disgust but they smiled and even asked about him. I like people who like my dog haha








Superdog!!



Okay, lets get to the food.


Pizza Rustica - tomato salsa, streaky bacon, asparagus, sunny side up - $23

I thought this was pretty good! The crust was of the right thickness and the ingredients tasted really good together. But X felt that it was just alright. I like all pizzas with a sunny side up in the middle. Haha


Sfilatino Casa Verde - mozzarella, ham and mushroom(spring roll style), served with tomato salsa dip- $24

This was their specialty.
However, we all thought that it was just average and there was nothing special about it. In fact, it was a little hard to eat as the crust was too hard. We were pretty disappointed as this was supposed to be their specialty.



My mummy has a weird habit of ordering fries everywhere..
So here's a basket of fries.
They were really crispy!


Calamari Fritti - served with arrabbiata sauce and tartar - $14
We liked the calamari! They went extremely well with the arrabbiata sauce(which actually tasted like the tomato salsa dip from the sfilatino )

Overall, we felt that the pizzas were pretty average. The best item was probably the calamari. Service crew members were attentive, friendly and efficient. They all wore smiles as they attend to us, whether it was the refilling of our glasses or the taking of our orders. We had quite an enjoyable time there.


Visitors Centre, Singapore Botanics Garden
Cluny Road

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Love, K

K's rating of Casa Verde : 6.5/10

(CLOSED)L'etoile

L'etoile which means The Star in French sits right at a cross junction. It catches your eye immediately with the huge words painted on the pillars. We decided to head to L'etoile for brunch on a Sunday, with stomachs empty of food but full of expectations.





L'etoile has two levels. Here's the first!

Cozy area with a strange guy...













Selection of cakes and sandwiches









The first level was more minimalistic and simple. Quiet and calming to the soul.


The toilet


Up to the second level




LOVED THE DESIGN OF THE ENTIRE SECOND LEVEL.


Cute vintage decorations and furniture


Isn't it beautiful?










So pretty


A corner for kids


That's the sewing table, used as a dining table here.

When I stepped into the second level, I went "WOW" It was amazing. The whole place was so delightfully pieced together with carefully selected furniture and decorations. I really liked the wall decals. A whimsically beautiful place it sure was.

Now, to the food.
We were utterly disappointed at the few options we had. There were around 5 types of sandwiches on the menu. And that was it. We were hoping for some delicious pasta or eggs or any other breakfasty items. But nah.

Looking for more? Desserts and drinks are just about everything else that is available.

We sure had a difficult time choosing from the limited options we were presented with.


Raisin Scone - $2.90
X said that the taste of raisins was too strong and you could hardly taste the scone. 


Ciabatta with apricot roast chicken. - $6.90
X didn't like it but I thought that the apricot roast chicken had an interesting taste. It was too dry though.


Ciabatta with smoked duck -$6.90


Oh smoked duck, how can smoked duck go wrong?
Yes it can, when it's engulfed by extremely strong pepper. I couldn't even taste the duck..

Needless to say, X wasn't happy with my choice of brunch location. And I wasn't happy either. The sandwiches are all pre-packed and wrapped up in cling wrap. They just lay in the fridge waiting for someone to order them and they are warmed up and served. I thought we should have left the place when we saw the menu but I wanted to give them a chance. Guess the only saving grace is the pretty second level and the absence of gst and service charge.

160 Owen Road
Tue–Sun: 9am – 8pm

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Love, K

K's rating of L'etoile's food : 3/10
rating of the place : 8/10

15% off total bill at Jimmy Monkey!

Hi fans! You guys should know how much we adore Jimmy Monkey by now. To share our love for Jimmy Monkey with you guys, we're proud and thrilled to present to you, our dear readers, a 15% discount at Jimmy Monkey on weekday nights! Awesome coffee, great food, unique setting and a 15% discount! How much better can it get? (:

Here's how our discount voucher looks like!



To be entitled to the discount, all you have to do is complete a few simple steps!

1)   Like Strictly Ours on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Strictly-Ours/12116944463932

2)   Like and share our post about this discount on your facebook page with the caption "Jimmy Monkey!" 

3)   Take a screenshot of the newsfeed as it appears on your facebook page and email it to strictlyours@hotmail.com (so we know that you've completed the simple steps and have your email address to send the discount voucher to!)

4) You'll receive a discount voucher with an unique discount code from us

5) Print it out

6) Head to Jimmy Monkey for an awesome night!

Trust us, Jimmy Monkey will make your weekday nights SO MUCH BETTER!

With all the love, 

X and K

Pizzeria L'Operetta

I planned a birthday dinner for one of our friends at Pizzeria L'Operetta awhile ago. Having heard of their Vera Napoletana Pizza which is a first in Singapore, I was excited to bring my friends to this place. There were 7 of us and we shared 3 pizzas.

VPN pizzas aren't your normal pizzas. There are many criteria to meet before they receive certification to be VPN pizzas. I was particularly excited about the pizza base which was supposed to be soft and elastic.

We had calamari fritti - $12++ (no picture!) which was just a basket of a few calamari rings which were not impressive at all. I mean, if your calamari is so ordinary, maybe you can serve dips that are unique?

Bismark  - $28 ++
Tomato sauce, mozzarella, mushroom, ham, poached egg, parmesan

Being a meat lover, i managed to convince my friends to order this. I felt that it was okay


Pescatora - $30 ++
Tomato sauce, garlic, prawn, squid, octopus, oregano, basil

Sadly, this seafood pizza did not meet our expectations.


Panna e Prosciutto -$28 ++
Cream sauce, mozzarella, cooked ham, basil, parmesan

This was our favourite pizza out of the three. We adored the cream base which is something different from the usual tomato base. Pretty interesting. But we wouldn't say that it's really good. Slightly above average maybe.

I was disappointed with the design of the place as I'd expected it to be prettier and maybe to look more like a pizzeria. Or maybe I just didn't like how open the place was. As for the pizzas, they were alright. The crust wasn't really outstanding to us. I guess the pizzas were a tad too expensive for their portion. And for the price that we were paying, we were expecting tastier pizzas of better quality. Although my friends were still hungry, they felt that the price wasn't justified for what they were getting and we went for more food elsewhere.

Well, you can guess I sure was embarrassed. Being the supposed "foodie" of the group, I brought my friends to a place that is not really worth a mention.. I will not recommend this pizzeria but I guess the pizzas are worth a try if you're interested to taste VPN pizzas. But there are definitely better pizzas you can get at such prices.

12 Gopeng Street #01-78-81
Icon Village Singapore 078877

Lunch: Mon-Fri 11:30am-3:00pm
Dinner: Mon-Sat 6:00pm-11:00pm
Last Order:10:00pm
Closed on PH and Sundays.

Love,
K

K's rating of Pizzeria L'operetta : 4.5/10

Old School Delights

Looking for a place where you can dine and relive your childhood memories? Look no further. Here it is!




Located along the busy Thomson stretch, it was no mean feat locating this gem. Parking lots are available just outside the shop.


Look at the vintage metal biscuit tins and all the cute toys and accessories!!
Oh and those Enid Blyton books, I still have like 60 of them now haha.
Memories.








I absolutely adore the whole chalkboard idea, cement floor, and how they put in so much effort to decorate every single part of the shop.


Array of cakes


Look at the fudgeeeee. It's calling out to you, isn't it?


The menu!


Every table has one of this box which contains kuti kuti, country erasers and a pack of old maid/snap/etc cards. X was quite excited and wanted to challenge me to an eraser fight. HAHAHA.


That's a list of things that act like a checklist so you can see if you're really old school! Haha.


We loved the paper table mat. May I emphasize again the amount of effort that was placed into the whole design and concept?


Barley Lime - $3.50
X LOVED it. Hahaha it was really thick and pretty good!


Chocolate teh-cino -$4.50
There was more tea than chocolate. And I was hoping for the opposite. I still liked it though! Interesting twist to your usual teh tarik.


Laksa that X said was gooood.


I was too full from a birthday party earlier and so I only ordered this.

Basket of Wings! They came with this homemade sauce that was creamy and spicy at the same time. We couldn't stop talking about how good the sauce was. So unique and what an impression it left! Thinking about it now brings me back to that moment when I was savouring the wings, with the sauce of course. I can literally taste the remarkable sauce in my mouth right now.

And there my tummy goes.. Rumbling again.

We enjoyed our late dinner at Old School Delights and would definitely go back for more! Will love to try their fudge cakes and other old school items on their menu! I know X really liked the place. He has this thing for chalkboards and cement floors. And he likes cute places that are elaborately designed. (: How do I know that he really liked OSD? He actually said "I wanna blog about OSD!" Hahaha now, that's rare.

215M Upper Thomson Road

Tue - Fri:	11:30	-	23:00
Sat - Sun:	11:00	-	23:00

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Love, K

K's rating of OSD : 7.5/10