The Marmalade Pantry
I went out on a casual lunch date over the weekend with my fave lawyer couple, Shaz and Aidil! I’ve not seen Shaz in months, Aidil and I haven’t officially met so the lunch date was a long time coming. It was very impromptu honestly, Shaz had been tweeting about how deliciously light the food at The Marmalade Pantry was the past month, especially the risotto so I was like wait, hold on thar – did she just say RISOTTO?!
Here’s the sad truth: I’ve never eaten risotto in my life. I know it’s hard to believe since I’m pretty hardcore about food but yeah, srsly this girl here has never tasted a grain of the delicately flavoured arborio rice in the 21 years of her life.
So that was it, I had to ask Shaz out for lunch/dinner/supper/WHATEVER I DON’T CARE AS LONG AS I GET MY RISOTTO…Somewhere out there in the universe, the stars aligned in perfect symmetry and cleared Shaz & Aidil’s schedule on Sunday! We were all set for a gastronomical adventure whoo hoo!
God they are such an amazing couple. They have this special ability to make you feel comfortable, like you’ve known them for years because we just kept talking and talking and talking with no awkward pauses! They’ve been to the restaurant a couple of times already so they recommended me a few star dishes.
For starters, we shared this Warm Spinach Salad with breaded cubes of mozzarella and burnt butter dressing. It was served with a perfect poached egg on top and MY GOD IT WAS SOOOO GOOD. I have no clue what went into the burnt butter dressing but I did taste some hints of balsamic vinegar which I adore so that’s extra brownie points for The Marmalade Pantry!
* Muslims, please note that this salad originally has bacon in it, make sure to ask for the salad without the bacon when ordering!
Aidil had the Crabmeat Linguine with pine nuts in a tomato base. I had such a kick out of sampling his dish because I didn’t expect it to be…spicy. I love its spiciness, the crabmeat was flaked nicely and it was just really refreshing!
Shaz ordered the Cappellini Aglio Olio which had roughly a million tiny shrimp in it lol! I don’t know how to describe the taste of the pasta, it’s got a nice crunch and the shrimp added a slightly sharp contrast of flavour to the aglio olio – you guys just have to try it k!
And now the moment you’ve all been waiting for – wait NO! it’s the moment I, ILYANA, HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR ALL MY LIFE…the Truffled Field Mushroom Risotto! My very first risotto and I am happy to say I’m not disappointed at all. It’s everything I’ve imagined it to be: creamy but light and absolutely bursting with flavour. Sigh I wish I could turn back time and savour it all over again!
CUPCAKES! So pretty to look at, no? They sell out really really fast and the ones we got were basically the “leftovers”. Shaz & Aidil recommended me the chocolate cupcakes the restaurant had like The Chocolate Deluxe (O.M.G) and The Nutella (how can u go wrong with nutella right?) BUT EVERY CUPCAKE WITH SO MUCH AS A DUSTING OF COCOA POWDER WAS SOLD OUT. WHY GOD WHY?!
We settled for the Limonata which is, if you might have guessed, a lemon glazed cupcake and the Strawberries and Creme (no explanations needed for this one I’m sure lol) They were nice but Shaz told me the chocolate cupcakes were much better in terms of taste and texture so I’m going to skip out on the fruity flavoured cupcakes and beeline for the chocolate ones next time.
Not only was it my first time eating risotto, it was also the first time I ventured into sticky date & toffee pudding land aka real-life heaven. This was actually Aidil’s but us girls being girls, we stole some baha! I LOVE THIS STUFF. I heard from the couple that this was the restaurant’s best seller and it’s no wonder really – the pudding was moist and slight chewy, accompanied with a sweet caramel toffee drizzle + a scoop of some damn good vanilla bean ice cream. Such a perfect symphony of flavours, yummm.
I think I’m in love with The Marmalade Pantry. I like the atmosphere, the food, the whole brand identity (srsly how quaint is the logo?!) I love this huge ass flower that sits prettily on every table (can someone identify this flower for me?), the prices, I won’t lie, are a little steep compared to what most people are used to but I believe you get what you pay for so if you have a special occasion coming up, bring that special someone here!
Lol moment: Aidil playing around with my wallet while we were waiting for the bill, you don’t mess with PRADA k!
A quick shot of me, Shaz and Aidil before we headed home! We watched Julie & Julia in the cinemas after lunch, you should check it out – it’s a nice heartwarming FOODIE movie! Just don’t watch it on an empty stomach, you’d be lusting after french food during the entire movie.
The Marmalade Pantry
Unit 03-22
Orchard Ion
2 Orchard Turn
Singapore 238801
Til next time~
Edit 10/11/2009: Okay guys I’ve just been informed by a commenter that the Risotto and the Cappellini Aglio Olio contains white wine in it! We were totally clueless about it and I’m slightly devastated that I can’t eat my risotto again. Muslim readers, I don’t want to go all preachy because I’m sure we get enough from our parents to last us a lifetime lol but please take note!
Wow that looks absolutely lovely! And lol – I never had risotto until earlier last year when SO and I made some for the first time! It is really amazing! We usually use the butternut squash or mushroom recipes from Gourmet. Turns out delicious (especially if you use a cast iron wok instead of a pot so you don’t have to constantly scrape/stir in fear of the rice burning itself to the bottom of the pot – ours happens to be particularly cheap).
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Thursday – Risotto?
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@ Catherine
OMG is it hard to make? Sounds so delicious! I’ve been too scared to cook my own risotto so maybe I should really pluck up the courage and try huh? ;D
@ Qai
LOL I’M BROKE DARLING!
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amazing food and i love ur pics!
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November 4th, 2009 at 10:16 am
@ yumeko
thank you, you should totally grab a bite here next time you come to sg!
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omg totally
you’re welcome, i’m going to review the older eye jelly packaging and formula too! but i will be very busy for the moment, lol. Midnight Shine is gorgeous, if you’re looking for a brown one, you might wanna try 10. Vintage Deco, Gold Light or Platinum Satin – these shades are pretty universal 
http://hk.jillstuart-beauty.com/#/Products/ –> Eyes, Eye Jelly –> more colors
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November 5th, 2009 at 11:25 am
@ jennifer
you’re such a diligent blogger! You totally read my mind! I was going to get Vintage Deco too!
Thanks for the link <3
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dear god, I want to taste risotto so badddd.
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November 5th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
@ nadz
someday we’ll go there together bb!
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Hi, came to your blog via Shaz’s twitter link
I must say that the food looks wonderfully tempting with the lovely pictures that you’d put up
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November 5th, 2009 at 9:08 pm
@ rinaz
Aah Shaz is such a sweetheart! Thank you for dropping by and I’m glad u liked the photos!
you should really check out the marmalade pantry ;D
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hi, was it possible to get the food prepared without white wine?
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November 7th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
@ a
As far as I know the food wasn’t prepared with white wine, check again to be sure.
The waiters there are very thoughtful, we didn’t know the spinach salad originally had bacon in it but we were informed before they served the dish to us and we asked for the bacon-less version. I hope that helps and thank you for reading!
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don’t think risotto can ever be prepared without white wine.
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November 7th, 2009 at 6:17 pm
@ zara
I have been to restaurants/seen recipes that don’t involve white wine but yes I do agree it’s better to be safe than sorry so if you do want to eat at The Marmalade Pantry, just double check to make sure and if they do prepare it with white wine, please let me know!
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okay i asked because i’ve gone there before. wanted to try the risotto but they said white wine is essential in it. thought maybe you had a different experience. same goes for the capellini aglio olio. crabmeat linguini has no white wine. but am not sure if it has any other alcohol… fyi.
anyways the spinach salad looks good and you have some really nice pics here. =)
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oh yes hope your friends will read this because it seems surprising that they seem unaware despite being regulars. it is ok if they are not particular themselves, to each his own, but if recommending to other muslims in future, like they recommended to you, they may need to point it out.
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OH MY GOD.. the food looks beyond amazing! Now im hungy.. again!!!
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@ a
thank you for informing me! It’s our responsibility as muslims to be careful of what we eat and my friends probably had no clue about it – don’t worry, I’ll tell them and edit this entry accordingly.
Meanwhile, the spinach salad was pretty delightful so I guess the next time I eat at the marmalade pantry, I’ll just stick to the salads lol. Thank you very much for reading and I’m always happy when someone tells me they like my photos ;D
@ Tali
Heyy! Yeah the food’s pretty good in terms of taste and presentation so if you ever find yourself in Singapore, go check it out!
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