Chanced upon Oregano's from Soshiok and out of utter randomness made it a dinner choice one weekend. Disregarding reviews that mentioned the place was small, I did not make reservations. True enough, it is tiny! Next to Bakery Depot, Oregano's looks like half a shopspace and like the previous occupant was a laundry shop. Heat is all you feel when you step into the tiny shop, tables are lining the walk way, at best sitting 12.
There was only a vacant table for two at the entrance of the shop that was by all means h-o-t, the lady so nicely shifted it slightly and then at the entrance of bakery depot and finally decided to give us the table reserved. Three changes in seats even before I could read my menu.
Two people given one menu that was poorly arranged, seemed as if put together haphazardly with pen scribblings of new additions, cancellations of dishes.
The view from my cool-er table.
Grapetiser
A drink from South Africa, a normal fizzy soft drink in a bottle form.
Meatballs
I was egged on to order this after my initial order of 2 regular pizzas was changed to 1 large one. Like how two negatives get you a positive, I originally wanted a Meatball Sandwich but a plate of meatballs arrived. Thank goodness they were good, if not it would have been another "pass the meatball around the plate" exercise. The meatballs tasted home made and served scalding hot. The minced meat balls with a moat of tomato gravy sauce and topped with a layer of melted mozzarella cheese. I wish I had a side of toast to soak in all the gravy. I was pleased with the appetizer which warmed the tum greatly and set the standards high for the pizza. Compared to IKEA's swede rivals, these triumph over them by a fair bit...not overly MSG packed, these flavourful balls should be their signature!
Large 12" pizza (Half Tandoori Chicken, Half Funghi)
This was served a good while after we licked out plates clean. The one man show certainly has its shortfalls and one of which definitely is the limited space the oven has. At any one point it can only bake one large pizza or two small ones, or so it seemed. By 730pm, most of the items in the pizza menu was "sold out" but thankfully I was offered the option of having two flavours within a large pizza because the small 8" pizza bread was all gone.
The thin crust pizza when flipped over. Was not expecting a biscuit crust base...reminded me of Fou De Fa Fa's pizza. It could have been the thickness of the base, Oregano's slightly thicker hence making it heavier on the palette than it should have been. The mushroom pizza did not have the melted cheese topping but rather cream cheese which I did not hugely fancy. Between the two flavours, both somehow tasted similar in taste. The tandoor chicken was just grilled chicken.
Service has heaps to improve on though one will empathise with the cook and his earnest assistant. Our glasses was constantly refilled. I had to make payment at the counter and boy, the kitchen is burning out! They should really do something about the overall ventilation. No receipts given, $31 later...and a night without extra glasses of water (as I would if the food is soaked in MSG), not too sure if I'd be back so soon.
Oregano's
Frankel Ave (Next to Bakery Depot)
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