Tuesday, March 18, 2008

n.y.d.c. @ Holland Village

Like any other second in life, I inhaled another dose of harmful gases and like any other minute that goes passing by, I asked myself, "what the hell are you thinking?!". And not unlike any other of my Big day, I was late...for work.

Life is beautiful, ain't it?

n.y.d.c. , I said, when a kind soul offered a B-day treat. I had no freaking idea why I uttered those four letters. I've come to know their gorgeous cheesecakes through an equally gorgeous ex-colleague whom has since became the wife of another ex-colleague of mine. That was three freaking years ago. I even forgot her name. Was it Felicity or Chastity?

Apparently, this is da joint for the young crowd to hangout. Teenage girls with their Junbug-like vocabulary and boys with their way-cool new toys. Even the blaring music was a mix of neo-emo-gothic-punk-rock noises kids worship these days. Awesome! or Awesome??

The menu was equally funky and diverse. Somehow, I ended up with Tears In Heaven at S$15.50. Rather inauspicious, I'd say but with a description that included words like spaghetti, caramelised onions, bacon and cream sauce, I reclaimed my sensibility. The verdict? Tears in my eyes, I had. The sauce was bland and reminded me of a thicker version of fresh milk, nothing more. The onions, caramelised? Definitely, and I'm suddenly Chico Latino. On the other hand, the spaghetti was done al dente and the ensemble was served warm. Not solid, man, definitely not solid.

A pizza-lover, the kind soul decided to order The Picasso, a 7-inch personal pizza which consisted of a basic tomato sauce and mozzarella. As the name suggested, the idea was to personalise a pizza with toppings listed on the menu. The Kind Soul Pizza included toppings like Italian ham and fresh mushrooms (S$2.25 each) with vegetables such as bell pepper and pineapple (S$1.50 each). The crust was slightly thick but crispy. The ensemble tasted generic but I must say the Italian ham was rather tender and flavourful.

My B-cake came in form of a Mochamisu (S$6.95 per slice). Though tad too sweet, the texture was well-refined and dense. The strong mocha flavour encapsulated the rich, milky tiramisu in a rather subtle way, which was interesting. Think of what a few drops of brandy or kahlua can do wonders for this dessert. Then again, there are plenty of minors here.

I couldn't even sway my fingers, let alone my body as I took a bite of the Mango Tango Cheesecake (S$10.50). What was supposedly a signature dessert, the Ally's New York Cheesecake tasted rather bland while the texture was powdery. The side mango ice-cream was equally bland. As for the colourful sugary rice and cream, well, served no purpose, I thought. As irrelevant as Abba's Fernando to Evanescence's My Immortal.

Was it me who has wrinkled up and turned cynical?
Or was the food really average at best?

Awesome! or Awesome??

Thanks, kind soul, for the dinner!

n.y.d.c.
30, Lorong Mambong
Holland Village
Tel: (+65) 6469 2998
Website: http://www.nydc.com.sg/index.htm

Check out kind soul's review here and her wonderful elder sister's take here.

20 comments:

red fir said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
JOjo said...

hah! Yup, agree on the part, "awesome???"

I think nydc's prices are way too steep when their food are like...hmm...not really that fantastic anymore???

Still, it's a cool-looking, hippy place to hang out,for sure. The youth factors are there which i couldn't deny.

"Joe" who is constantly craving said...

yo dats no cool..yaw...wahahaha..

bacon in spaghetti not tasting nice is a sin man..

Xiu Long Bao said...

i heart my kind soul pizza.

I tried but couldn't recover this morning. The snigger doesn't work n' i lost my passion in my work.

ling239 said...

Happy Belated Birthday Nic ! ^_^


Mochamisu... what a combination ^_^
as for the mango cheesecake it seems too colourful to me... =.="


btw why no see candles de ? :p

tomato said...

just love the way u describe the food!

fatboybakes said...

be grateful you can have bacon (presumably pork) in your spaghetti...

what does NYDC stand for again? new york something something? (aren't i the brilliant one today).

how sad, nothing more disappointing than a disappointing dessert.

Jason said...

Hmm... the Mango Tango's colour looked a bit artificial.

Lyrical Lemongrass said...

Your photography sure takes the cake. Gorgeous!! But I trust you guys man...if all of you say the food's so-so, then so-so it shall be! Yar...I'll have to echo FBB....what does nydc stand for anyway?

Big Boys Oven said...

I am familiar with NYPD . . . lol! food sure looks good I need a pizza now!

Hazza said...

Wow since when did Singapore become so expensive to eat out? Nice as it looks, I would find it hard to pay those prices, even in Europe!

wmw said...

Yahlo...overprice for average food, so, it wasn't because I was ill lah.

HairyBerry said...

jojo, yeah, i thought it was a nice place to chillout at holland v but then again, i would have preferred coffee club there cos the view is better :)

joe, tolllltally, dude! that ain't cool at all. hehe...yeah, i thought all the right ingredients were there. but too bad the taste was not..sigh..

xlb, i hope you are fine by now cos sometimes, life is like a plain pizza...we need to take control of things and choose our fave toppings. and if u've decided you had enough of pizza, try sushi!

ling239, thanks for your wishes! :) i thought the mochamisu was interesting and flavourful but yeah, the mango tango was a no-no...hehe...this pakcik is too old and malu for candles lar..hehe...

tomato, thanks for the compliment! food can be both delicious and inspiring...and it really helps in writing my posts....

fbb, great finding, dear Watson! n.y.d.c. stands for New York Dessert Cafe. got to know about it from wikipedia..hehe...yeah, and that spaghetti! gosh...

jason, i hope it's not my camera...hehe...the cheesecake was average at best and i couldnt really get a taste of mango in the dessert.

ll, thanks for the compliment! i love that spag pic despite the taste..haha!! yeah, food bloggers unite!..hehe...oh, apparently, it stands for New York Dessert Cafe.

bbo, aiyer, you selalu kena tangkap police one ar when u were in ny?? hehehe...wanna come here when u r down in sg later?


hazza, the prices here are almomst similar to many other cafes/bistros..prices are definitely going up and up. nothing is being spared, i guess.

wmw, yeah, i guess you are right. a very brave foodie too...hehe...this post kinda makes me miss the spag at marmalade and delicious.

~Christine~Leng said...

so too good eh? but your pictures are killing me... softly... ;P looks good!

Bernsy said...

wow nick, happy birthday, another one of those places, with nice decor, with pretentious food at steep prices...

HairyBerry said...

christine, thanks...the food was definitely so-so only. i think i enjoyed the photography session more..hehe

bernsy, thanks for the wishes. this was long time back..hehe...a fun place to hangout but not a great place for serious food, i think.

LianneK said...

i love the sound of mochamisu ;-p why don't we have more dessert varieties here as compared to singapore ?

HairyBerry said...

lianne, ya lor..makes me wonder too...but i think kl is catching up lar...then again, most are branches of singapore chains..hehe..

Jun said...

oh hey old guy! happy belated!!! :D

u finally went to try nydc huh? i tried it last yr, and i found that the cheesecakes are not bad, but the mudpies even better ;) too bad ur experience hadn't been that great...

HairyBerry said...

thanks, jun! perhaps i should give them another try...no the mains, but the cheesecakes. and now that u mentioned it, mudpies too! hehe!