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.
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.
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…
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’.
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.
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!
Lunch: 11.30am to 3pm
Dinner: 6pm to 10:30pm
Website: blenditup.sg
Instagram: www.instagram.com/blenditupsg
