Yummilicious Feast @ Icon Village

Recently, I uncovered a hidden gem for cosy dining – Icon Village:

Icon Village is a dining haven set within The Icon development, Singapore’s first loft-style inner-city living with more than 640 residential units. With a selection of unique dining concepts, you can savour the finest in life. Need a rest after a hectic day at work? Come enjoy a leisure afternoon of coffee and tea, with delectable pastries and cakes, at the cosy cafes or if you are in a rush, you can also grab a sandwich, wrap or salad to go.

I am not saying this because omy.sg ran a bloggers’ event with them a few weeks back, but because I am truly excited with the find. Centrally located and easily accessible even for those who do not drive, Icon Village is just less than 5 minutes walk from Tanjong Pagar MRT station. I am kind of surprised avid foodies did not discover it earlier.

There are not that many shops in Icon Village, but it still packs an eclectic mix of F&B tenants, ranging from snack kiosks to high-end fine dining restaurants. The place is not too crowded currently. There lies the charm cos it’s so difficult to find a serene sanctuary like this in extremely over-populated Singapore, especially in the CBD area.

Over the past two weeks, I have returned to Icon Village another three times with Rachel to try out different restaurants there. We are highly likely to visit again and have been recommending it to our friends.

For the Yummilicious Feast event, I got to sample food from eight selected F&B outlets in Icon Village, together with a group of 14 bloggers.

My colleague, Hock Chuan with the 14 bloggers

You can read their reviews on the official website for this event. There’s a voting contest going on – simply vote for your favourite blogger and you stand to win $50 Icon Village F&B vouchers!

Below are some photos I took at the event as well as some background information on the eight F&B outlets, taken from the official website.

I particularly enjoyed the food at Salta, Muffet’s Room, Pâtisserie Glacé and Frost Bites. I will be going back for more. 🙂

1. KUMO Japanese Kaiseki Restaurant
Inspired by the wild forests of Japan, the restaurant ambience features natural elements that complement the traditional Japanese school of kaiseki cuisine. Kaiseki, an art that balances the taste, texture, appearance and colours of food, uses only fresh and seasonal ingredients to enhance flavours. Like clouds – kumo in Japanese – the cuisine is constantly changing to bring out the best of each season’s ingredients and specialties.

We were hosted in the VIP room at Kumo - looks like a yakuza gathering isn't it?

Look at these beautiful sushi at Kumo... I could barely bring myself to eat them

2. SALTA Argentine Parrilla + Grocer
Of all seven fires of Argentine cooking, SALTA brings you the Parilla. A 5-metre long charcoal fired grill stands as the spectacular centre-piece in the restaurant. Watch as the grill chef displays his skills to control the heat by manually moving the grill closer or further from the coal. Coated with South American allure, SALTA presents premium Argentine Beef – all of which are free range grass-fed and directly imported.

Love the grilled meat at Salta, I can be a happy carnivore for them

3. Pizzeria L’Operetta
Pizzeria L’Operetta is the sister restaurant of Enoteca L’Operetta, an Italian fine dining restaurant. One of the recommended pizzas is Neapolitan pizza, which is made authentically in a traditional wood oven. The dough is made with flour, water, salt and yeast, and tossed by hand. With ingredients imported from Italy, based over 450 degrees in just about one-and-a-half minute by their Italy-trained pizza chef, their pizzas become crispy on the outside and springy on the inside, offering their patrons a savouring and fulfilling authentic Italian dish.

Fresh from the oven; love the raw egg added in the centre

4. Ramen Culture
Set in a modern and casual environment, Ramen Culture offers a wide variety of Japanese cuisine which includes Ramen, Tonkatsu, Yakimono and many more premium products. They take pride in offering high quality food and great taste for their customers. Some of their signatures are Super Black Pig Shabu Ramen, Ox Tail Beef Ramen and Tonkatsu Ramen.

5. Muffet’s Room
No matter is it the fresh ingredients, the fresh aroma of their home cooked food, or the relaxing yet casual ambience of their artistically designed surrounding, having a meal in Muffet’s Room always make you feel at home. Other than their popular Beer-Battered Fish & Chips, they also serve different pasta, baked rice and other dishes as their daily specials. Their Juices and Milkshakes never fail to complement your meals.

The bloggers enjoying their pastas, fish and chips

6. Whips Cupcakes
Whips Cupcakes is a specialized gourmet cupcake store that provides a selection of authentic American cupcakes to the discerning trendsetter. They use the best ingredients, sourced from France to Madagascar. They believe only the finest can produce the finest. They aim to induce childhood nostalgia with these savory mini cakes, yet provide for a distinct gourmet taste.

Switching to desserts, starting with Whip cupcakes — Switching to desserts, starting with Whips cupcakes

7. Pâtisserie Glacé
Pâtisserie Glacé started in 2008 with the aim of bringing the best of Japan’s cakes, pies and cookies and tarts to Singapore. It is helmed by Chef Higashiguchi Tomoko. The style of Glacé’s pastries resonate with her core beliefs that the ingredients must be of the highest quality without any preservatives.

Love the cheese tarts here - brought Rachel back for more

Assortment of mouth-watering tarts, cakes

8. Frost Bites
Located in the heart of the CBD, Frost Bites is the latest yogurt shop offering frozen yogurt as well as smoothies and fresh fruit juices. Their yogurt has a firmer texture than others. Using their homemade recipe, they created a yogurt blend that is sour like how yogurt should be as well as slightly sweet to satisfy your sweet tooth. Most importantly, it is low in fat and nutritious. They change the flavours on a daily basis and examples of their flavours are original, Greek style, Yakult, mango, strawberry, peach, green tea, blue berries, honeydew and green apple!

I love their Yakult flavour yoguart, Rachel too

If you feel like going down to try out some of these F&B outlets at Icon Village after reading this post, there’s good news – Icon Village is running a series of promotions till 31 July 2011! Visit their promotions page to find out more!

Here’s two promotions which I found particularly attractive:

Pizzeria L’Operetta#01-78 to 81

1-for-1 pizza (valid on weekdays from 2pm – 5.30pm only)
1-for-1 beer (valid from 5.30pm – 8pm only)
Wednesday Ladies Night: Complimentary bottle of beer with purchase of any pizza (valid for dine-in from 6pm till closing only)
Family Special: Complimentary glass of soft drink for children under the age of 12 years old (valid for dine-in only)
Saturday Special: Free coffee/tea/soft drink with every pizza purchased

SALTA Argentine Parrilla + Grocer#01-56