Italian Casual Dining @ Blend It Up

 You wouldn’t have expected an Italian restaurant to be named as ‘Blend It Up’ but it did catch hold of my attention. Is it a gelato or a smoothie shop? It’s actually an Italian casual restaurant that serves Italish dishes with a modern Asian twist and some Singaporean flavour in it too.

This founder of this restaurant is Chef Peter Neo, who has made several appearances on Mediacorp Television programs and radio shows in Singapore too. He has over 35 years of culinary experiences and was a former Chef di Partie at Raffles Hotel. Fuelled by this passion in Italian cuisine, he traveled to Italy and was taught by some of the best Italian chefs on authentic Italian cuisine. 

So let’s see how Chef Peter marries and blend Italian and Asian tastes together using the fresh ingredients he bought from the local market each morning. 

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Blend It Up is located along Upper Paya Lebar Road, which is about 10 to 15 minutes walk away from Bartley MRT. The restaurant setting is pretty much similar to the cosy and quaint Italian al fresco cafes along the sidewalk in Rome, Italy. You will notice a fun play of colours here which makes it looked rather family-friendly and kids-friendly.

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We were there one afternoon to tried some of their signature dishes and you’d be surprised to find out which ones were our favourites. It’s not their pasta or pizzas but…

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Chef’s specialty chicken wings
This is deep-fried chicken wings marinated with fresh grated ginger, garlic and coated with curry sauce. It’s savory chicken wings which were a little spicy.
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Seafood Soup
In each bowl, you will find prawn, clams, mussels and squids. It is served with a few slices of bread. They are definitely not stingy with the seafood here but I would have prefered the soup to be a little thicker and richer in taste.

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Roasted Pork Belly with Porcini Sauce
The roasted pork has an Asian flavour to it and it tasted a little like those crackling Asian pork belly you would have at a Chinese restaurant. So, interestingly, it goes really well with the pineapple sauce that it served in a small dish. The refreshing citrus flavour dampens that raw pork taste and brings out that the aroma of the pork fat.

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Spaghetti Vongole
The saving grace of a mediocre meal is this plate of pasta which filled with so many fresh clams. It is a little salty to my liking but I love the spaghetti that is drenched in white wine, garlic and olive oil. The chef is pretty generous with the clams, I must say!

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Mushroom and Wild Truffle Pizza

This was a much-awaited pizza because who doesn’t love truffles? The crust was good and the truffle flavour is definitely present but I wish they had added more mushrooms or truffles to intensify the taste of the pizza. It just needed that punch of flavour for us to yell ‘ MAMA MIA’.

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Black Sesame Lava Cake

Now, what really came as a surprise to us is their black sesame lava cake. I am not quite a fan of black sesame because black sesame itself has a tad bitter after taste to it. To balance out that bitter taste, some would add spoonfuls of sugar in and that makes it overly too sweet. But this black sesame lava cake is something quite legendary. Who would have thought of making black sesame lava cake? This is one of the best Western-Asian fusion desserts I’ve tasted.  I don’t know how the chef does it but the sesame ‘lava’ is not too sweet and it has a nice balance of black sesame and sugar. The crust was soft and warm. And when you pair it with vanilla ice cream, the deal is closed. I’m sold.

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I would come back for their Black sesame lava cake and Spaghetti Vongole. The menu there is actually pretty extensive and I do believe that there’s a lot more dishes to try especially their pastas and lasagnas!

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Blend It Up

325 Upper Paya Lebar Road
Quemoy Building S(534946)
Tel: 6281 2688
Operating hours (daily):
Lunch: 11.30am to 3pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10:30pm

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