Peperoni Pizzeria @ Binjai Park

I heard from my friend about this place. He claims that it serves really large and tasty pizzas so I decided to give it a try with some of my other JC mates. It turns out that the pizzas at Peperoni were really as awesome as the rumour has it.

There were four of us so we decided on the family size pizza, which costs $50. The staff told us we could select 2 flavours for a family size pizza so we went with seafood and pepperoni ;D The pizza came after around 15-20min. It was really large, about half the size of the table.

After tasting it, we really liked the seafood half. There were also a lot of oysters and scallops, along with calamari on the thin crust pizza. My only complaint would be that the ingredients were not evenly distributed and they seemed to cluster in the middle portion. On the other hand, the peperoni half of the pizza was a bit too salty for us. In the end, we finished the seafood half way ahead of the peperoni side.

As for drinks, we ordered a Mango Smoothie($6), a Tequila with Sprite($10), and Sparkling Water ($7) that comes in a 1.5l bottle. Basically the mango smoothie was not bad as it was served chilled and was really sweet. On the contrary, it was my first time tasting sparkling water, and I personally found it really bitter.

In conclusion, this place is really good for gatherings and dinners. And the seafood pizza is definately a must-try. Oh I recommend calling to make a reservation first as we tried the Hillcrest outlet on a saturday and it was fully booked and was told to try our luck here. Nonetheless, it was worth it.

We arrived at the pizzeria for our early dinner to find it practically empty, save for one occupied table. That’s the advantage of eating at odd hours but we really wanted to be prompt for the festival.

With 16 flavors to choose from, we had to take some time making up our minds which two to order for the large 12″ pizza ($23). In the end, we had salmon (fresh salmon, caramelised onions, capers) as I wanted some fish and K being a cheese lover, went for four formaggi (mozza, taleggio, scamorza, gorgonzola).

With our order out of the way, we were served iced water along with coasters that highlighted the fact that the pizzeria was under the Les Amis Group.

Expectantly, we dived into the wood-fired pizza when it’s finally presented after a short wait. The crust was nicely-charred and it’s thin enough to produce a good crisp, especially around the edge. Both toppings were on the salty side, though not in a bad way.

The chunks of salmon were concentrated in the centre instead of evenly distributed throughout the pizza, and the amount was a tad small. As for the heady mix of Italian cheeses, it’s richness was simply divine. Not too pungent though the melted cheese wasn’t very stringy.

Since there’s room for a dessert we ordered tiramisu (savoiardi biscuits, coffee, mascarpone $11). It’s a little flat without any alcohol but competent enough with a strong coffee aroma. The ladyfingers were sufficiently infused yet the layers weren’t overly soggy, and the cheese was thick and creamy. A dusting of cocoa powder and some berries completed the delectable dessert.

We had a pleasant meal and service was efficient. With our tummies filled, we were ready to have some fun at the bay!

Note: Prices are nett.

Pictures/Full Review Here

Rocket Salad ($9)

Starting of the meal with much needed greens! A mountain of rocket leaves dressed evenly with olive oil and aged balsamic, garnished with grated Parmesan which added a savory dimension. Sometimes a simple, refreshing but satisfying salad is the perfect way to kick off a calories intensive meal haha.

Deep Fried Portobello ($18)

The size of the portobello was seriously no joke, where the entire mushroom was probably bigger than even a normal human’s palm. Lightly breaded and battered then deep fried, the portobello mushroom had a delightfully crispy crust while the mushroom inside was tender, juicy and packed with flavor. A savory robust red wine sauce with chicken pieces and onions complemented the portobello, where the subtle bitter aftertaste of the reduction was extremely palatable.

Squid Ink Fettucine ($22)

I honestly think i somewhat have a fetish for squid ink, due to the fact that almost every visit to any Italian Restaurant warrants an order for either a squid ink pasta/risotto! I opted for the Fettucine for the choice of pasta due to my personal preference for thicker pastas. The fettucine noodles were a little overdone, probably due to the fact that the pasta wasn’t even handmade, while the squid ink sauce it was tossed in was decent with a pungent garlic flavor. The calamari rings served along with the pasta rendered on the chewy side.

21 Inch Family Pizza ($50)

The highlight of any meal here would definitely be the pizzas, where one can actually catch the chefs in action from kneading the pizzas dough to placing the pizzas in the ginormously huge wood fire oven which definitely costs a bomb. Pizzas served here are those with wafer thin crusts, which I personally prefer as well! Over the course of 3 visits, i have had the chance to sample various flavors: Seafood, Pepperoni, Parma Ham & Fungi, Parma Ham & Rocket and the chicken supreme. While most of the flavors were well executed, I felt that the seafood pizza served here was the most outstanding where each an every bite of the seafood pizza had a decadent crustacean flavor somehow infused to it, while the toppings of cheese were sufficiently rich and dense. The toppings of fish, claims, squid, prawns and scallops were also generous, making the ultimate pizza experience definitely memorable. The beers served here are pretty reasonably priced, so do order a hoegarden to wash down all the pizza goodness as well =).

12 Inch: Seafood & Pancetta ($23)

The seafood pizza was soo good that my family members wanted more so we decided an additional half an order of seafood pizza. The pancetta was somewhat on the salty side with the generous use of bacon ( im not complaining ), paired with juicy roma tomatoes and an egg with a runny yolk.

9 Inch Vegetarian Suprema ($19)

Being stuffed from pizza overload, I opted out of having a slice of the vegetarian pizza which my folks claimed was pretty good! Considering the sizes of the Medium and Large pizzas make the family sized one seem all the more worthwhile!

Creme Brulee ($9)

Peperoni’s rendition of a creme brulee is pretty stellar where the egg custard, infused with fresh madagascar vanilla beans had a delightfully distinct vanilla flavor, while the consistency and texture of the egg custard was pretty sublime. The portion was also pretty generous, where three people could easily share the dessert. The only gripe I had was that the surface of the Creme Brulee could be caramelized more evenly!

Over the course of three visits, the food @ Pepperoni Pizzeria had never once fall short of expectations. Service was extremely commendable considering the fact that the restaurant doesn’t implement service charge or government taxes as well. In actual fact, i think Pepperoni might just have become my favorite haunt for some awesome thin crust pizzas, along with some delectable antipasti creations as well. Oh and just stick to the pizzas, skip the average pastas and you’d definitely be satisfied =).

For the full review with pictures, please head to http://thehungrybunnie.blogspot.com/2011/09/peperoni-pizzeria-binjai-park.html

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!

We had:

1) Pancetta Pizza ($19 for 9" medium) with premium salty bacon, juicy tangy tomatoes and a soft runny egg in the middle was a treat, very yummy

2) 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

3) Portobello "Niru" Style ($18) - a juicy deep-fried and breadcrumbed confection, slathered with a potently spicy chunky zucchini and olives laden arrabiata sauce

4) 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

5) The Tiramisu ($11), tucked into a coffee cup, was an aromatic heady confection of fluffy Savoiyard biscuits and marscapone and coffee accents

Was in the area and decided to check out this outlet's Peperoni and see if as good as the Greenwood's outlet. 

1) Frutti Di Mare - boring me always order this and theirs is not tangy at all. Its for that savoury taste to it and that's make it delectable. I asked for mine to be spicy and that made it even more awesome. Fresh and generous amount of ingredients made this dish a bigger winner with me. 

2) Pancetta Pizza - this thin crust pizza has an egg broken in the middle and that's unique from many mainstream pizzas. The taste is nice too. 

An enjoyable lunch and if around the area again, will definitely pop by.

Went down on a Saturday afternoon. Liked the retro feel of the interior decor and it's not crowded at all. Had pizzas and spaghetti. Best pizza I have eaten in a while.

I'm not a fan of crowds, so looking for a place to eat on a Saturday night is usually abit of a chore. Had been craving Peperoni's for a while now, but having only tried their pizza as a take-away from Greenwood, I decided to give Binjai Park a go.

I called about 45 min in advance to see if I needed a reservation - the staff said it was crowded and took my reservation. Seemed like it wasn't necessary, as by about 830pm the place was about half filled. Quite a few families with young children and several other groups of people, but not overly noisy. Nice!

The decor was rather American Diner-esque but Italian, and with a TinTin Destination Moon (Objectif Moon) poster hanging on the wall? Got my vote ++

With the bright red metal chairs and dark wood tables, the restaurant looked very nice and alive.

We ordered a half-half peperoni and margherita pizza (large), the carbonara and calamari for starters and finished off with a tiramisu. The pizzas are thin with a crunchy yet held-together crust that thankfully doesn't fall to bits on your table once you take a bite. The peperoni was super salty, as a true peperoni pizza should be, and the margherita half was very smooth with a fresh half cherry tomato on each alternate slice. The carbonara was not-too-saucy with bacon that stayed crisp! I'm usually not a fan, but my company wolfed it down happily. Calamari was semi-crunchy, although abit stringy, it was spiced nicely.

I was amazed that we still had space for a tiramisu, which turned out to be big enough for 2 to share easily. More cheese than biscuit, but not heavy at all. Finished up quite fast, service was decent although there were a couple of blur ones drifting about. Got out of the restaurant without having to roll back to the car. Not bad for a 'quiet' Saturday Night!

There were 3 reasons to love the original Peperoni Pizzeria:

1. Lovely Italian food (courtesy of the Les Amis Group) in a comfy, casual setting in the West! Perfect for West-siders like me.

2. XXL-Pizzas. One word. Wow.

3. Good beers and therefore, good bar food - the chicken wings rock.

The Binjai Park gives me another 3 more.

1. Even more West.

2. No more having to tussle with other restaurant patrons for parking (just the patrons of the tze char stall next door)!

3. Same good ol' XXL-pizzas and bar food.

Came here for a casual family dinner; did a walk-in at 7.30pm on a weekday and although the restaurant was pretty crowded (both outdoor and indoor seating), we managed to get a table indoors, courtesy of the friendly and helpful staff who dissembled a table for 6 into two for our party.

While the special of the day was a very yummy-sounding braised lamb shank, we settled on the large Pancetta ($22), the spaghetti with Squid Ink ($22) and the curry samosas ($8). The Pancetta is my default pizza order; it's topped with Pancetta pork bacon and cheese on a tomato-based thin-crust pizza, and what's special is the egg in the middle. Anything-egg on a pizza is a must-order to me. And of course, the pizza did not disappoint one bit. Served piping hot, the crust was light and crispy, and there was just enough balance of toppings to ensure overall flavour without compromising crispiness of crust.

The spaghetti with Squid Ink was nice and black; they are generous with the gravy. Topped with tender calamari rings, the spaghetti was a lovely al dente, and the freshness of the squid ink ensured that there was no fishy aftertaste. The gravy will seem a little sweeter/more sour though  because they add tomatoes to the gravy. Interestingly enough, the portion here also appeared bigger than the one at the original Hillcrest.

The curry samosas were also served hot (literally), with a side of bolognese sauce (or rather, the tomato gravy without the beef), and were nice and crispy. Would have been great with a side of beer.

For desserts, I got the creme brulee ($9). It was not bad; you could see the vanilla bean flecks in the custard, and the serving was relatively generous. But desserts do not appear the be the restaurant's selling point, and although decent, I believe that it would be possible to get yummier creme brulees elsewhere.

Service-wise, this place doesn't disappoint. It may be packed and noisy, but servers continue to be cheerful and efficient. You place your orders and get your food quickly, your glasses of water get refilled frequently, and your servers do acknowledge your presence (i.e. they do say "you are welcome" when you thank them for refilling your iced waters). It's a nice touch, and it means I'm coming back here the next time I want a good ol' pizza.

For the complete post with uploaded pictures, please view:

http://thefoodnomads.wordpress.com/2011/05/07/pepperoni-pizzeria-binjai-park/

Pepperoni Pizzeria has always been a to-go place for a quick pizza fix or takeaways when we crave for sinfully cheesy Italian-style pizza. Famous for its family-sized pizza, Pepperoni is consistently packed with a good mix of the expatriate and local community even on weekday evenings. Under the Les Amis group of restaurants, Pepperoni recently expanded its offerings with another outlet at Binjai Park located a stone throw's away from the original at Greenwood Avenue.

Craving for pizza one Sunday evening, we made a trip down to the nearby Binjai outlet in hope of settling our gastronomical desires. The Binjai Park outlet was much more spacious, airy and brightly lit compared to the Greenwood Avenue branch which shares its premises with a specialty bar serving numerous different unique brews of beer. Arriving early in the evening, it was pretty surprising that the place was already starting to fill up with many of the outdoor seats being occupied as well.

Stepping into the retro-inspired bistro like pizzeria was like a trip back into the past with its black and white floor tiles, jukebox machine and countertop bar. Eager to dig in to our pizzas, we placed our orders in a jiffy.

The Garden Salad was just a pretty simple mix of fresh and juicy leafy vegetables with a drizzle of vinaigrette to taste. A simple dish with quality ingredients, this was our dose of vitamins and nutrients for the meal before the real sinful dishes were served.

Having had a near obsession with anything involving squid-ink recently, I decided to try the Squid Ink Linguine. Arriving in a deliciously appetizing mass of black, the al-dente linguine was well-prepared with the taste of the fresh squid and linguine complementing each other to produce a decent pasta dish that had just the right amount of flavour. Don’t expect anything out of this world though as the linguine was not even handmade!

Nobody ever comes to Pepperoni without ordering their famous family-sized pizzas! Approximately 21 inches in diameter, these monstrous pizzas always come as a shock to first-timers at this pizza joint. With an option to split the monster pizza into two separate choice of toppings on each side, we went for the universal favourites of Prosciutto and Pepperoni respectively.

Luckily this time round, the Prosciutto half of the pizza turned out well with generous strips of parma ham topped with garnishing of rucola leaves. The parma ham was not overcooked by the heat from the pizza unlike the past few times I went and the rucola leaves were fresh and crunchy the way it was meant to be. The bitter taste of the rucola leaves complemented the salty parma ham and slightly sweet pizza base, it’s no wonder this was one of their best sellers! Their pepperoni, another of their favourites, was also a pretty good rendition of a classic pizza topping as the slices of pepperoni was of the right thickness and baked to a slight crisp in the oven. The pepperoni half of the pizza was littered generously with the pepperoni slices and a thick layer of cheese while the crust was thin, crisp and flavourful.

With pipings of buffalo mozzarella cheese, topped with basil leaves and sliced cherry tomatoes, the Margherita was my favourite pizza for the night as I am such a huge fan of cheese. Although I felt they could have been more generous with the topping servings, the chewy and flavourful buffalo mozzarella stood out from the otherwise plain cheesy pizza base. The specks of oregano together with the other garnishing complemented perfectly the taste of the buffalo mozzarella and the crisp, well-baked pizza crust.

The restaurant also features an open concept pizza kitchen where you can observe the staff baking the pizza in a large oven.

Pepperoni Pizzeria is a must-go place for reasonably priced and simply delicious pizzas! With their new and much larger branch at Binjai Park now open, I am sure to dine-in much more often. Service was a delight as well with young and eager staff attending to the needs of the diners. If you are looking for a nice joint to chill-out with friends or if your family’s craving pizza, definitely consider Pepperoni Pizzeria for good hearty food.

For photos, please see Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow.

Hookerlily said she craved for Western roti prata. So we checked HGW for the best pizza and Peperoni, at Binjai Park (not the main branch at Greenwood Ave), came up tops. So we trotted down to one of the richest neighborhoods in Singapore. It is under Les Amis group, one of the more established fine dining groups, and I was pleasantly surprise to find a unpretentious little restaurant. I think food should be this way, making good food affordable to most people, kinda like HDB housing.

Being the cheapskate that I am, I calculated that if we ordered 2 large pizzas, it would come to $46 and we could have 4 flavors, but if we ordered a XXL pizza, it is $4 more expensive and there are only 2 flavors. Being the cheapskate that I am, we went for the XXL one! Hey! I'm a cheapskate but I am adventurous, like to try new things and I like big things.

I asked the waitress for some recommendations and she said the popular ones are the meaty and porky pizzas. 14K doesn't like pork, so I took one of her recommendations, Pancetta with a sunny sideup, and for the other half of the pizza, I picked 4 Formaggi.

Look how huge the pizza was (see photo).

Pancetta is salted Italian bacon. The more interesting one is 4 Formaggi, which means 4 cheeses, I think. Unfortunately, I ah Beng, not educated one leh, so I dunno cheeses. I could tell there are probably mozzarella, a fruity cheese, a blue cheese, and one more I can't taste it out. (Well, I probably could, if I am born rich and learn about the kinds of cheese. But too bad. I ah beng.)

You know how I know the cheeses even though I know nothing about cheeses? Because the pizza was so OUT OF THIS WORLD. Literally. I could actually differentiate the cheeses in my mouth. My friends, they were talking and talking, and when they asked me questions, I spaced out, didn't reply. Whenever I took a slice of the 4 cheeses, I told them, "Ok, I'm going to be transported into another world. Don't talk to me, I can't hear you." I'm serious. Ask Hookerlily or 14K. So I'm not exaggerating when I say the pizza was out of this world. I bet if you flip it into the sky, it will become a UFO and fly out of this world. I kid you not.

I think the 4 cheeses complimented each other so well, creating a wide range of taste, from mildly sweet to salty, fruity to earthy. Even the blue cheese didn't stink because its stench was neutralized by others. Quite a spectacular combination. I think it would go very well with red wine.

I always have desserts, you know me by now, and I think desserts should always come with ice cream, to cool down the digestive system after a hot meal. But the tiramisu ($11) and sformato ($12) didn't. 14K ordered himself a sorbet($4)of the day, lime.

Skip the tiramisu. The lime sorbet was overly sweet and sour at the same time. The sformato is interesting because of the name, pronounced as ssss-for-ma-to. It is supposed to be baked ricotta cheese with something something. But it tasted like a pound cake. So thank you, Sara Lee may be a cheaper option.

Overall, I love the place and would recommend it for pizzas, not desserts. The service was excellent, without being sycophantic. The servers brought us water at regular intervals. (I love how my friends and I interact with servers, we always have such fun with them.) The rustic but unpretentious feel of the place is a very welcome change from the pretentious high class joints. Reasonably priced.