“Three is Never a Crowd”

omy.sg (online mobile for the young) is Singapore's first bilingual-friendly (Mandarin and English) news and interactive web portal by leading media group Singapore Press Holdings Ltd (SPH), primarily targeted at online users from 18 to 35 years old. The portal provides the latest news and infotainment for web-savvy users.

omy.sg is currently visited by over 400,000 unique visitors monthly and enjoys more than 10 million page views per month*. It is one of the top news/entertainment/blog sites in Singapore.

In the midst of the September holidays, OMY celebrates their 3rd birthday! WELL, anniversary of being in the showbiz 'business' you could say. Turning 3 this year seems young for a baby but for an online portal (Looking at its milestones) it has really been a great journey for OMY ever since it started.

I remember I was still in Secondary school and upon seeing the portal in Chinese, I had to think twice about discovering further abt the website (Because I needed lots of time to decipher the Chinese characters, haha!) How I wished there was a English translation! :/ Despite my personal preference, or you could say, 'literal handicap'... I tried to be involved in OMY events, which I must say has catered to bloggers like me.

3 years old.

The number 3 may be weird to some of us.

Come to think of it, it takes 2 for a candlelight dinner & 4 (At least!) to play mahjong! What can 3 do?

Well, if you ask me, I actually like 3!
Because I may feel awkward being alone with another person, we might run out of topics for a conversation unless we are really close. 4 is fine but more than that, it's hard to interact with everyone in the group, on a personal level. What an irony!

So the main question is: What can 3 people do?

If I mention things like picnic, movies, dinner, clubbing, reading & the list goes on... I could tell you straight, anything that 2 people or 4 or more people can, 3 people can!

It's not so much about the number of people or the activities that the people of the number 3 can do, but it's what things having at least 3 people is of good in the activity!

Heard of 'Good things come in a pair?' Now hear 'The Story of the 3 Musketeers'!
三人行 - Nope, don't worry, it's nothing cliche about having a triangle relationship "三角恋"

through you need at least 3 to form a family! Father, Mother & Child!

So, my 3 activities are:

This is really when the POWER OF THREE comes into play!

To get bargain wholesale prices at BKK/CHINA, it's a minimum of any 3 piece from a store! So get going with at least two other friends if you are travelling for shopping! (: Each one of you could simply get any one item from the store & get it at a wholesale prices. Sometimes it doesn't make much of a difference (Eg. 50 Thai Baht is actually only S$2) but everything adds up & it will make a difference in your overall spending. Every shop save S$2, can buy another piece of clothing okay! Each cent counts for girls in shopping! HAHA!

What's a better deal? 3 people can save on Hotel $! 3 is usually the MAXIMUM number allowed in a hotel room overseas, right? (: Sharing the room means sharing costs which ALSO means more shopping!

Ever read a review on a specific food place and get your friends to go along with you? Well, in such cases, I suggest that at least 3 people go together to try it out! 1 person will be lonely, 2 people may be boring and may disagree on the quality of the food. For example, Jessica loves the frozen yogurt but Alisa says it's not very good and won't come back again. They could disagree and give their personal comments, but wouldn't it be good to hear a 3rd person's opinion? They could talk more about the food and things regarding it! See, the conversation doesn't end when both parties disagree! haha!

Besides 1 person taking all 3 in a picture, also known as 'Self-Shot' or setting your camera on timer, having at least 3 people is good! One could take for the other 2 people (: You don't have to ask some random stranger on the streets to handle your camera anymore! You see, the person may not know how to use, but most importantly, what's on my mind everytime I ask a person to help my friend & I take a picture, is 'OMG WHAT IF HE RUNS AWAY WITH MY CAMERA AHHH!' haha! So yeah, minimize the risk, trusting a friend with my beloved camera is better choice!

The Gatherings

PERAS Epic Outing.

We supposed to fly kite at Marina Barrage, but on the day itself, there was a downpour:( Met at Cityhall instead for a 'mini picnic-like meal at Esplanade, followed by a Movie at Suntec 'Wall Street Never Sleeps'!

Took the train all the way down to Novena to meet the ZETTEN peeps for Steamboat. ZETTEN is really very ZAI.

Italiannies

Somewhat hiden in the corner of TripleOne Somerset, Italiannies is a new American-Italian dinning place.

I found out that it originates from Malaysia, surprisingly. I mean, I would expect it to either be opened in Singapore or originating from either the US or Italy!

I first saw its advertisement on the IS Magazine, showing 'S$15.90 NETT for a never ending lunch consisting of free-flow soup, spaghetti & pasta lunch' as their promotional introductory offer! I thought to myself, What A Good Deal!

(Okay, now it's S$16.90++ already, but still worth it!)

As it was only offered during lunchtime hours on weekdays, I don't have the luck of trying it due to school. However, come this holiday, I finally managed to try it and I can say I have found myself another good chill out place!

The Interiors:

Upon settling down in the restaurant, I was already impressed with their service.

Out of so many working adults, here comes 2 teenage girls, yet the waitresses treated us as princesses (Unlike some places where they 'look down' on youths) kneeling down to ask us what we would like to drink (It's complimentary BTW!). I felt as through I was on a plane because that's the only place so far I know that servers kneel down while asking you questions! I asked for a Menu, because my impression was its either buffet style or that I could order any type of pasta and spaghetti from their menu. To my dismay, it isn't what I thought of it as :(

Apparently, their 'Menu', which changes daily, is written on a chalkboard & it consists of only 1 soup, 3 pastas & 2 pizzas daily. You can't exactly choose what you want, it's pre-set the night before already. So when you enter for your lunch, it's somewhat by luck! (But of course, you could call to ask what's the menu for the day...) Well, not that it matters entirely, because out of the 5 dishes written there, you are bound to love at least one of the dishes!

I could say it's half a semi-buffet style because main courses are served to your table with servers going round the tables to top up those food for you.

The appetizers and desserts are buffet style, you got to get them yourselves!

Their appetizers are really generous, ranging from raw salads & mixes sauces, to seafood and bread sticks. Dessert-wise wasn't good because there's only 1 type to choose from :(

MY 1st TIME THERE W YU XIU:

We started off with the Appetizers:

1st dish on the menu for the day:

1) WHITE BEAN SOUP

2 & 3) ANCHOVIES & CAPERS PIZZA ; GARLIC & MIX PEPPER PIZZA

4 & 5) (L-R) DEEP FRIED DORY W VEGETABLE CREAM SAUCE ; LINGUINE W CHICKEN IN AUJUS CREAM SAUCE

The fish was really fresh & tasty! I don't really like the spgahetti because it is really creamy :/

6) PENNE AL FUNGUI

Having eaten so many mushrooms and penne, I must declare this is the best I have ever eaten!
Imagine this, I had triple portions of this!

Real mini-bites...

XOXO,

*********

See, it's so good that I told Mum about it & she's excited about trying it out! So we went over one of the weekdays!

MY 2nd TIME THERE W MUM:

Yup, so I left my table and went to get some goodies to start with! ...

I particularly enjoyed only what I took. The potatoes & mushroom in tomato sauce were awesome! Soft potatoes and juicy mushrooms. Literally, very juicy. I didn't know so my first bite into it, juice splat out and onto my lap. OMG!

Not much compared to others because not that it's not nice, but I personally don't like the appetizer menu for today.

Then the waitress started serving the 1st dish on the menu for the day:

1) CREAMY CHICKEN MUSHROOM SOUP

Very sweet and soft textured. I can't eat much cream (Besides mushroom soup which I like), I only tried a few mouth-spoon of it. But, I quite like it! Minus, the green thing, which I have no idea what it is!

Main Course-wise: Trust me, they are VERY GENEROUS with the food portion. The waitress scooped one big portion of spaghetti for me, but being a small eater, I even had to tell her to stop & give me just a little of everything.

2 & 3) (L-R) TUNA W PINEAPPLE PIZZA ; ROASTED MUSHROOM PIZZA

The freshly baked pizzas which I would consider skinny pizzas, are tasty and simply wonderful! Plus, you won't feel too bloated because its crust is thin so less carbs and that also means, more room for other food in the place! What I tried that day was Mushroom Pizza & something like Hawaiian Pizza. The mushrooms 'melt' in your mouth. A pity because I felt that they should have warmed up the pizzas before serving them (It's fresh still and acceptable - Not that it's super cold through).

4 & 5 & 6) (L-R) SPICY LINGUINE SEAFOOD BASIL PESTO ; SPAGHETTI PRIMAVERA ; CHICKEN ALLA PUTTANESCA

The chicken was the best. It's so soft and tender, I like it just the way it is.

I've never tried Pesto Spaghetti before cause honestly, green spaghetti itself scares me! But, I courageous tried the one served and wow, it certainly was a pleasant surprise - I ended up having double portion of it!

The waiters there are very attentive to every table, seeing if you need more water or food etc. and even if you don't call them to bring more food to you, they would walk around with the food portions in their hands and ask if you want some more of it. Staff efficiency shows well because even if you call for them, they would come to you immediately.

Generally, the dishes there are really nice, it's just some are creamy which I can't eat (Personal!) but sure it looks good!

Comes with Complimentary Coffee/Tea!

I love their bakery as well. They decorated & presented their pastries very nicely! Would try in future if I'm not going for their buffet, or else I would have no food-space in my tummy to contain them! hahaha! (:

For the quality & quantity of food served coupled with the good service, it's definitely worth your money & time!

Italiannies offers a ‘Never Ending Lunch” which is only available from Mon- Fri (11.30-2.30pm)

Italiannies Pasta Pizza & Vino

#01-02, TripleOne Somerset 111 Somerset Road

Singapore 238164

Tel: +65 6736 4211
Email: guest@italiannies.com.sg

Operational hours: Sunday – Thursday : 10am – 11pm

Friday – Saturday : 10am – 12mn

♥

SAMANTHA