Peperoni Pizzeria, Binjai Park
Peperoni Pizzeria is the casual Italian arm of the Les Amis Group. Like fellow Italian joints Valentino's and Rubato, Peperoni is designed to be a neighbourhood eatery hidden deep in posh residential enclaves. Since the first Peperoni opened in 2007 at the affluent Greenwood area, it's since spawned another 2 outlets, also situated deep in the equally upscale neighbourhoods of Binjai Park and Frankel Ave.
The atmosphere here is convivial, laidback and very casual, tee-shirts, berms and sandals largely being the attire of choice here. The restaurant is catered to the immediate residential estate surrounding it because it's really quite hidden deep in the Binjal Park estate and out of the way from the main road. You really can't get in there unless you take a cab or drive, which brings on another set of problems...parking. My tip is to park anywhere you can slot your car into without blocking anyone's path and turn on the "Summons Auntie" app!
While the food at Peperoni is good and fairly consistent with the Les Amis standard, its inconvenient suburban location, and the fact that parking's a pain in the a*s, is why I wouldn't come back unless I'm in the area. If I'm craving Italian under the Les Amis group, I'd just go to La Strada, Peperoni's upmarket sister which is a lot more conveniently located at Shaw Lido. (Update 18 July 2012: La Strada has closed so I suppose I'm gonna have to head to Garibaldi instead for my Italian food fix)
We got 3 mains, 2 starters and 4 desserts to share amongst the 3 of us. The bill came up to $122 that night, which is really quite reasonable for a hearty meal.
The Pancetta ($19 for 9" medium) with premium salty bacon, juicy tangy tomatoes and a soft runny egg in the middle was a treat. We had a hoot smearing the perfectly soft egg into the pizza. A nice thin smoky crust was the perfect base to the simply topped pizza.
The Funghi ($19 for 9" medium), with its assortment of shitake, white button and porcini mushroom varieties was a delicious complement to the light cheese and tomato-based pizza.
I love portobello mushrooms and couldn't miss out on one of the two portobello starters. The Portobello "Niru" Style ($18) was a juicy deep-fried and breadcrumbed confection, slathered with a potently spicy chunky zucchini and olives laden arrabiata sauce.
The Mozzarella Fasciata Con Prosciutto ($17) was a pan-fried roll of chewy and milky buffalo mozzarella wrapped in salty prosciutto ham for flavour. A helping of bittersweet rocket leaves drizzled with olive oil completed the wonderfully aromatic starter.
For dessert, we started off with some Lemon Sorbet ($4) to cleanse our palates. Sour and sweet and refreshing, this was a great way to clear our systems of the hearty savouries.
The Tiramisu ($11), tucked into a coffee cup, was an aromatic heady confection of fluffy Savoiyard biscuits and marscapone and coffee accents.
Although I'm not really a fan of Creme Brulee ($9), this was a commendable rendition of the classic Italian dessert. A well-caramelized burnt sugar topping broke away to reveal creamy smooth custard underneath.
The Frangipane ($12) was a dense almond sponge cake, served warm and topped with icy vanilla ice-cream and raspberry drizzles.
Peperoni Pizzeria
7 Binjai Park
Tel: 6463 7800
Open Mondays to Saturdays from 12noon to 12midnight, Sundays from 11am to 12midnight
Website: www.lesamis.com.sg
The atmosphere here is convivial, laidback and very casual, tee-shirts, berms and sandals largely being the attire of choice here. The restaurant is catered to the immediate residential estate surrounding it because it's really quite hidden deep in the Binjal Park estate and out of the way from the main road. You really can't get in there unless you take a cab or drive, which brings on another set of problems...parking. My tip is to park anywhere you can slot your car into without blocking anyone's path and turn on the "Summons Auntie" app!
While the food at Peperoni is good and fairly consistent with the Les Amis standard, its inconvenient suburban location, and the fact that parking's a pain in the a*s, is why I wouldn't come back unless I'm in the area. If I'm craving Italian under the Les Amis group, I'd just go to La Strada, Peperoni's upmarket sister which is a lot more conveniently located at Shaw Lido. (Update 18 July 2012: La Strada has closed so I suppose I'm gonna have to head to Garibaldi instead for my Italian food fix)
We got 3 mains, 2 starters and 4 desserts to share amongst the 3 of us. The bill came up to $122 that night, which is really quite reasonable for a hearty meal.
The Pancetta ($19 for 9" medium) with premium salty bacon, juicy tangy tomatoes and a soft runny egg in the middle was a treat. We had a hoot smearing the perfectly soft egg into the pizza. A nice thin smoky crust was the perfect base to the simply topped pizza.
The Funghi ($19 for 9" medium), with its assortment of shitake, white button and porcini mushroom varieties was a delicious complement to the light cheese and tomato-based pizza.
I love portobello mushrooms and couldn't miss out on one of the two portobello starters. The Portobello "Niru" Style ($18) was a juicy deep-fried and breadcrumbed confection, slathered with a potently spicy chunky zucchini and olives laden arrabiata sauce.
The Mozzarella Fasciata Con Prosciutto ($17) was a pan-fried roll of chewy and milky buffalo mozzarella wrapped in salty prosciutto ham for flavour. A helping of bittersweet rocket leaves drizzled with olive oil completed the wonderfully aromatic starter.
For dessert, we started off with some Lemon Sorbet ($4) to cleanse our palates. Sour and sweet and refreshing, this was a great way to clear our systems of the hearty savouries.
The Tiramisu ($11), tucked into a coffee cup, was an aromatic heady confection of fluffy Savoiyard biscuits and marscapone and coffee accents.
Although I'm not really a fan of Creme Brulee ($9), this was a commendable rendition of the classic Italian dessert. A well-caramelized burnt sugar topping broke away to reveal creamy smooth custard underneath.
The Frangipane ($12) was a dense almond sponge cake, served warm and topped with icy vanilla ice-cream and raspberry drizzles.
Peperoni Pizzeria
7 Binjai Park
Tel: 6463 7800
Open Mondays to Saturdays from 12noon to 12midnight, Sundays from 11am to 12midnight
Website: www.lesamis.com.sg
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