Singapore – Modesto’s, #01-166/167, 1 HarbourFront Centre Walk S(098585), VivoCity

When my parents and I were in Singapore a few months ago, one of our close friends took us out for lunch at VivoCity. It was a bright, sunny day (just a few celcius cooler than Malaysia, but that was the difference between sweat patches and sophisticated dryness) and along the way to the restaurant, we went by a large ship that had just docked by the marina.

The crew (who surprisingly dressed like how guys on stag nights pretending to be sailors would look like) were bent down over the side of the ship, giving the name plate a good scrub. Not entirely sure up to now where they were from, but during the course of our meal, we noticed them coming out of the shopping mall with boxes after boxes of new, flat screen tvs. Either these guys were in the import/export business, or they watched alot of tv on the boat.

Right, back to the restaurant. Once we got inside, it was really airy and bright. Surprisingly, despite it being lunch hour, there weren't that many people in there - a couple who looked like they were on holiday, a table of students sharing and caring, and a bigger table with corporate suited types who looked like they were celebrating a deal of some sort.

It was really refreshing coming into the air-conditioned restaurant from the heat outside, but something about heat makes me really hungry. The menu actually shows real-sized pizzas, good for those who have eyes bigger than stomaches (like me) so that you can kinda measure it against your body to see what the possibility was of you finishing the pizza by yourself.

Look, no one in there yet.

After we made our order, the waiter came around with some bread. None of that hard, crusty type bread that makes your gums bleed, no sir. This was lovely, soft, herbed bread to be dipped in the balsamic vinegar and olive oil mix. Could have had lots of that if not for the pizza (measured, nonetheless) that was to be coming.

The antipasti which had the usual mozzarella and tomato (soft and springy, very nice), bruschetta, grilled aubergine and melon and prosciutto mixture.

Excellent grilled aubergine also, not too greasy but still very well flavoured with the olive oil used.

The melon was so deliciously sweet it was almost as though it had been drizzled with syrup. Lovely stuff. Coupled with the salty, chewy ham, this was as good as the ones I had in Italy, and so fresh.

Then we shared the funghi pizza, which had a lovely, thin crust base which broke apart delicately like the thinnest wafer being cracked in half. Mushrooms tasted good (as good as mushrooms of the non-truffle variety can taste), and again they weren't greasy as I'd expected roasted mushrooms to have been.

And then, we had some rocket.

It was actually meant to be rocket and parma ham pizza, but they must have had a rocket sale or something in the market, as the amount of rocket on that pizza was phenomenal. It could have populated about 5 more pizzas, if it hadn't all been chucked on our one pizza.

Having fought aside the insane amount of green on top of the pizza, we finally found the good stuff - gimme ham! OK, so they might have been a little heavy-handed on the rocket, but boy were they generous with the ham also. Lots and lots of ham beneath lots and lots of rocket. It seems the only thing which was presented in moderation was the pizza base. Absolutely excellent quality again, really surprising for a chain restaurant located in shopping mall.

After all that tussling with the green stuff, I was in awe of the next plate that was taken to the table. The seafood linguine - remember how I said they were quite generous with the rocket, and the ham? OK, the same chef made this linguine dish.

Crab claws, mussels, prawns, fish ... you name it, we had it. In large quantities also. I'm not sure what the prices were as it was our friend's lunchtime treat, but assuming reasonable prices, the portions here sure are worth the price. Excellent lunch with lovely company.