Dinners at Peperoni / L'Estaminet

Looking through our collection of food pictures, I realised we have visited the Peperoni Pizzeria half of Peperoni / L'Estaminet five times over the past two years. Somehow, we tend to order the same stuff (we like it so much!), so today, we ordered one different pasta (how's that for change!).

I had the Funghi & Pollo Pasta [Button mushroom and chicken in a brown sauce]. Not that I'm complaining, because I ate everything on the plate, but this seems to be a larger portion than the other pastas we've enjoyed here so far. I'd just like to say that calling it 'brown sauce' hardly does any justice to the dish. It was a gorgeous, creamy sauce, that, together with the angel hair pasta, was gone before I knew it!! I found myself with mainly the mushrooms and chicken towards the end. That's how good the sauce was. The mushrooms were tasty and juicy too, but somehow, the chicken was a little harder than I'd have preferred.

Beloved had the Aglio Olio & Peperoncino [w extra virgin olive oil, garlic, red chilli], with an additional serving of Bacon. While we almost always order this, tonight's version was not up to Peperoni's usual standard. (the sharp-eyed will have noticed that the date on this picture is from an earlier visit - we wanted to be fair to Peperoni's.) Don't worry, dear Peperoni, we will still be back, and we will continue to sing your praises to our food-loving friends. (So please don't morph into something else, like Coq n Bull did!!)

This evening's dessert was Sformato - Oven baked ricotta cheese and lemon cream in hazelnut caramel sauce. This is one of the fabulous desserts on offer here. The ricotta cheese is nicely baked, reminding you somewhat of light japanese-style cheesecakes - only sformato is more solid; its sweetness lingers on the palate even after you have swallowed the last bite (believe me, you will finish the whole thing - or someone else at your table will). Serving size is Italian (ie, hearty!) - two or three people could share this and be quite satisfied. But bear in mind that there are several other delectable items on the dessert list...

Though we didn't order pizza this visit, we have tried several items on Peperoni's pizza repertoire, such as the Vegetariana Pizza - Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Shiitake, Artichokes, Zucchini, Eggplants, Bell Peppers, Black Olives

Suprema Pizza - Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Shiitake, Chicken, Sausage, Onions, Red Chilli (taken using mobile phone camera)

Ham & Mushroom Pizza - Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Ham & Mushroom (again, w mobile phone camera)

Funghi Pizza - Tomato sauce, Mozzarella, Mixed Mushroom (Button, Shiitake, Porcini) [yay! newly-acquired Canon Ixus!]

Wait!! Here are some starters we've had... This is the Oven Baked Eggplant with tomato, mozzarella, parmigiana style. I have no idea how this one could be classified as starter!! Better share this - you WILL be full and not have space to savour other things.

And the Caprese - Sliced tomatoes, Mozzarella, Basil. Just perfect to whet the appetite.

To desserts. The Pannacotta - Delicate vanilla flavoured eggless custard (thanks to a recommendation by one of the staff). This is probably the lightest dessert, suitable for people who have given too much stomach space to their Mains. Of course we know dessert goes into a different stomach, but sometimes the budget over-runs, doesn't it?

... and (whew!) finally, the Creme Brulee - Smooth custard covered with caramelized sugar. Again, this is Italian-sized, so it's better to share this one.

There is also a Snack Menu, but strangely enough, we never have enough space to try that.

Peperoni Pizzeria [happily, they have a pick-up service too]

6 Greenwood Avenue, Hillcrest Park, Singapore 289192

L'Estaminet Bar

4 Greenwood Avenue, Hillcrest Park, Singapore 289192

Tel 6465-1911

Donna Carmela Traditional Home Style Cooking

Donna Carmela Traditional Home Style Cooking
2 Greenwood Avenue
Singapore 289189
T 6463-4206

Hit Greenwood for a spot of lunch at Peperoni Pizza (6 Greenwood Ave) only to find a notice on the door that they had closed 3 days ago (indefinitely!!) for renovations. Sigh! Thankfully, there’s still Casa Verde at the Botanics. Pity about Peperoni, as we had only been there once and enjoyed the pasta and pizza served there, we had so anticipated an encore visit today!!

[Is it me, or do the places at this stretch of Greenwood Avenue not seem to last very long? It’s definitely NOT that the food is bad, but somehow, restaurant fronts here keep changing, like those mediaboards you see all over town.]

So anyway, two steps along was the newly-opened Donna Carmela (one month old, according to Steven who took care of us)… we allowed ourselves to be invited in.

We took a little time with our order – we to carefully consider how best to fill the limited tummy space available.

They started us off with a bread and antipasta sampler... Freshly baked and sliced bread accompanied by tiny pickled onions, tuna, antipasta pickled veggies.





We decided on the Tomato Caprese salad and Tuna Carpaccio for starters. The tomato and buffalo mozzarella cheese make surprisingly good partners - try it!

The tuna carpaccio certainly didn't disappoint either. It was a pleasing mix of onion, carrot, herbs, cheese among other delectable morsels atop a generous base of cured tuna carpaccio. We finished this in under 5 minutes.


We wanted to order the Porcini soup, but Steven politely advised us to re-consider since we did have plans to try dessert as well.

These were followed by (mains) Aglio Olio Peperoncino (spaghetti) w extra chilli – nice and hot! Liberally sprinkled with sliced garlic (yum) and small red chilli bits, this went down a treat. What I liked particularly was that it was not oversalted. I consumed every single strand of pasta (and it was a rather large plate).



And the chef’s special – the Donna Carmela (spaghetti) was a delicious, creamy tomato sauce with pork sausage – I’m afraid my description does no justice to how good the pasta actually was. This is somehthing everyone should try!

The dessert menu doesn’t feature tiramisu!!! But you wont miss it as there are several other things to choose from, and dessert serving sizes are just right for a sampler-style buffet – 3 people could share 3 to 5 items, something like that. We picked the Perfetto Ice Mango and the Coppa Tartufo – a good way to end a satisfying meal (in the excellent company of Beloved).

The bill came to just over $90 (incl plain water, coffee, no alcohol). Illy coffee (yay)!!

Their name card also has Caipirinha (Brazilian Churrascaria) – anyone know where that is (or did Donna Carmela replace Caipirinha?) No address was given on the name card for the latter.