Pizza Maru @ Northpoint City – Korea’s Largest Pizza Chain Makes Debut With Their Popular Pizzas And Korean Fried Chicken

The world's largest Korean pizza chain, Pizza Maru arrives at our shores, offering an impressive selection of their popular Korean pizzas, fried chicken and more. With 530 franchises sprouting around the country, as well as existing branches in the United States, Hong Kong and China, Pizza Maru launches its first Singapore outlet at Northpoint City, the latest shopping-residential development in Yishun where crowds have been steadily thronging the area.

Their immense popularity is due to the patented well-being pizza doughs, healthy ingredients and special flavours. Their green-tea wellbeing pizza dough, which is fermented for more than 48 hours with micro-algae chlorella, as well as 12 kinds of natural grains including rye, black rice, barley and oats, making each slice of their pizza a delightfully nutrient-packed one. The quality over at the Singapore franchise is maintained as authentic and consistent as possible with flour and most of the ingredients directly imported from Korea as well.

Real BBQ Chicago 4.5/5

Under the Chicago Pizza category, we had the Real BBQ Chicago ($26.80/regular 9”) which features a special thick puffy pizza crust made using fibre-rich, antioxidant-packed black rice dough and stuffed with cream cheese mousse. The pizza is further layered with double mozzarella cheese, string cheese before topping with chicken chunks, roasted onion, mushrooms, tomato, potato, honey, and sprinkled with almond flakes, icing sugar and BBQ sauce. The black rice dough boasts a pillowy soft texture with an addictive chewy bite to it and a cream cheese surprise within. The copious amounts of different cheeses present in the pizza resulted in a pizza slice with so much cheese stretch when a piece is pulled out. While the generous amount of tender and juicy chicken chunks, together with the multiple complements added to the pizza contributed a great medley of rich flavours and textures that elevated the dish to a sublime calibre. Their Black Rice dough pizzas are definitely something not be missed if you’re dining at Pizza Maru.

Mango Ocean 4.2/5

The Mango Ocean ($19.80/regular 9”; $23.80/large 12”) is under the Premium Pizza category which features a pizza crust made using green tea dough. The pizza is layered with mozzarella cheese, before being topped with fresh seafood including the juicy shrimps, scallops, squids, and other complements of mushrooms, mango, broccoli, black olive, pilaf and spicy buldak sauce. The green tea dough boasts a soft chewy texture with very subtle hints of the green tea flavour which was overwhelmed by the generous blanket of mozzarella cheese and spicy buldak sauce. We were told that the green tea dough used focuses more on the well-being benefits it provides rather than the prominence of the green tea taste itself. Although mango is not a usual choice for pizzas, the freshness and juiciness of the sweet mango cubes added complement the assortment of savoury seafood well, rendering an execution excellence with a perfect sweet-savoury balance and additional spicy notes from the spicy buldak sauce.

Supa Hot Dak Ganjeong 4/5

The highlight of Pizza Maru does not just end with their selection of pizzas. They are also lauded for their Korean fried chicken as well. The Supa Hot Dak Gangjeong ($16.80/6pcs; $29.80/12pcs) features juicy chicken and an extremely crispy skin with a robust spicy flavour from the coating of the hot sauce. It comes with a choice of level 1 or 2 spiciness. So if you’re up for a heat challenge, go for the level 2. (Note: Picture is not representative and only displays a sampling portion of the dish.)

Honey Butter Coat 4.2/5

For the non-spicy version, go for their Honey Butter Coat ($16.80/6pcs; $29.80/12pcs) which features the consistently well-executed crunchy juicy chicken with generous amounts of fragrant honey butter powder, constituting a sweet-savoury combination that works perfectly. (Note: Picture is not representative and only displays a sampling portion of the dish.)

Onion Tartar 4.2/5

The Onion Tartar ($16.80/6pcs; $29.80/12pcs) features its undeniably crispy juicy chicken. It comes with dollops of aromatic onion tartar sauce and onion strips on top which provides an additional crunch. (Note: Picture is not representative and only displays a sampling portion of the dish.)

Spam Tower 4/5

A deconstructed approach to the usual bibimbap rice bowls, the Spam Tower ($12.80) comes in a bibimbap tower of chicken spam slice, generous amounts of fried kimchi, bell pepper, onion, cabbage, mushroom, egg and seaweed on a bed of fragrant rice, before being sprinkled with heaps of potato crisps, parmesan cheese and drizzled with siracha sauce. The crispy potato crisps complement the tenderness of the chicken spam, softness of the well-seasoned fried kimchi and crunchiness of the other complements perfectly, as sharp spicy accents of the siracha sauce kick in between the medley of ingredients. The Spam Tower embodies the korean style with finesse, blending the well-thought interplay of flavour and textural variations within the dish immaculately.

Nok Cha Latte 4.2/5

The Nok Cha Latte ($6.90) comes in a glass of milky matcha latte perfumed with a rich matcha taste which has a good bitter-sweet balance that I really enjoyed. The two dango balls on a stick sitting atop the drink has a soft chewy mochi-like texture, albeit rather tasteless.

Nok Cha Waffle Ice Cream 4/5

The Nok Cha Waffle Ice Cream ($11.90) features matcha flavoured waffles with a fluffy interior and slightly crispy exterior. A distinct matcha taste with a bitter undertone, the waffles also came with azuki beans and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. However, a choice of the matcha flavoured ice cream would be a better option to further accentuate the green tea flavour of the dessert.

The latest entrant from Korea, Pizza Maru is set to take Singapore by storm with their award-winning pizzas and fried chicken. With the first outlet already seeing long lines of diners at meal times, there are plans going well under way to launch more outlets somewhere with a more central location this year. Note: Pizza Maru is pork-free, lard-free and is currently applying for Halal certification.

Words and photos by Crystal. A girl who likes to eat, photograph, and write about food, and dreams about travelling around the world one day. Note: This is an invited tasting.


Pizza Maru
Northpoint City (South Wing)
1 Northpoint Drive
#B1-192/193
Singapore 768019
Tel: +65 62544307
Facebook
Nearest MRT: Yishun (NS Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 11am - 930pm

Direction: 
1) Alight at Yishun MRT station. Take Exit C. Walk to destination. Journey time about 3 minutes. [Map]

Bobii Frutii @ The Clementi Mall – Taiwan’s Most Instagrammable Bubble Tea Has Arrived In Singapore

Bubble tea fans rejoice as Bobii Frutii, a popular and premium Taiwanese bubble tea brand is making its way to our shores this year, with the first outlet set to officially open in The Clementi Mall on 10 January 2018. Tapping on the lively local bubble tea culture, this latest entrant is anticipated to take Singapore by storm with its catchy moniker and gorgeous Insta-worthy cups of delicious drinks concocted with top quality ingredients.

Not only high on the visual scale with its carefully curated layers of beautiful colours, each cup is also made with natural ingredients and fare even better in taste. To ensure the quality of its ingredients, only premium brown cane sugar from Taiwan is used, oolong tea leaves are sourced from the tea plantation in Miaoli, as well as red tea from Sri Lanka and green tea from Vietnam. The mochi-like high quality bobii (tapioca pearls in colloquial Taiwanese) are specially imported from the factory in Taiwan, and contain no preservatives, additives and artificial colouring. Customers are also able to choose the sweetness level for the tea-based drinks as well.

Offering uniquely concocted drinks under 5 categories namely the Tea/Au Lait series, Fruit Tea series, Ice Blended series, Matcha series, and Cheese Tea series, it features a wide variety of bubble tea offerings – a total of 37 different drinks for it’s Singapore menu, which constitutes almost 80% of the selection in Taiwan. You can also add The bobii – available in original, butterfly pea, and brown sugar flavours on to any drink with a small top-up ranging from $0.60 to $0.90.

Expect drinks with whimisical names such as the Don’t Want to Work ($4.50), Mermaid’s Tears ($5.90) and Don’t Want to Grow Up ($6.90) that give each creation its very own narrative and ‘soul’, making the Bobii Fruitii experience a fun and happy one.

source: Bobii Frutii

Brand Ambassador and artiste Nat Ho serves as Creative Director for Bobii Frutii Singapore.

Uji Snow 4.2/5

The matcha series feature a variety of authentic matcha beverages made with only the highest grade of matcha powder sourced from Uji. Each cup is hand-whisked to order, with a Japanese ceremonial bamboo whisk till an ethereally-light froth is formed and carefully topped onto the drink, in order to ensure the freshness of each drink served. The Uji Snow ($6.50) comes in a cup of matcha drink layered with fresh milk. Smooth and creamy, the drink boasts a fresh milky body with an authentic flavour of the Uji matcha powder used, presenting a well bitter-sweet balance. The original bobii added has a soft bite with a chewy texture to it. Other variations from the series include the Dawn of Uji ($5.90) a matcha and lemon mix, and Uji River ($4.90) a pure green tea drink as well.

Extraordinary Bubble Milk Tea 4.2/5

The Tea/Au Lait series feature specially curated blends that use single-origin tea leaves to boast an authentic, inimitable fragrance. In addition, only fresh milk is used, resulting in a rich flavour worthy of a tea au lait. One of the drinks from this series – The Extraordinary Bubble Milk Tea ($4.50) comes in a cup of fragrant black tea layered with fresh milk. The addition of brown sugar bobii contributed a subtle sweetness on top of the strong tea aroma, and soft tapioca chewiness to the drink which gets addictive after a while. After taking your insta-worthy shots, the drink is best enjoyed upon mixing of the perfectly proportioned tea, milk and bobii.

source: Bobii Frutii

Bobii Frutii Singapore works closely with the Taiwanese team and undergo strict tea-making training to ensure the best customer experience. With the first outlet to open in the Clementi Mall well under way, there are even plans of expanding the outlet to more branches in prime shopping malls such as Suntec City later in 2018.

Words and photos by Crystal. A girl who likes to eat, photograph, and write about food, and dreams about travelling around the world one day. Note: This is an invited tasting.


Bobii Frutii
The Clementi Mall
3155 Commonwealth Avenue West
#04-K4
Singapore 129588
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Clementi (EW Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 10am - 10pm

Direction: 
1) Alight at Clementi Station. Take Exit A. Walk to destination. Journey time about 3 minutes. [Map]