The fuss about Crust.

I succumbed. Yep. J said it best when I happily announced to her over gchat that I had posted my first EVER blog post. And she said, "lol you succumbed".

And since I'm on a roll, might as well leverage on that rush of excitement, almost akin to going on a first date, or opening the letterbox to find that long-awaited mail sitting inside. You get the idea.

Anyway. I was watching Food Network Asia last night and could not stop salivating at the food that host, Guy Fieri, got to try in Diners, Drive-Ins & Dives. That punk has an awesome job (he really is a punk. His hairstyle, I mean). Heck, I want his job!

He goes around all of America, susses out the most popular family-run establishments (aka diners, drive-ins & dives) and checks himself into the kitchen with the chef (who is also usually the owner in such cases). The chef whips up one or two of his/her most popular dishes, walks through the whole preparation and cooking process and eventually invties Guy to a bite of the final product. And the expression of pure ecstasy on Guy's face is enough to send any craving pangs through the roof!

Ohh that charcoal-roasted medium rare beef rib he had yesterday had me dreaming about steak all night....

So...on that (food) note, I'm going to do a little food review myself since my mind thinks of nothing else most of the time anyway.

Read about the new Australian gourmet pizza joint, Crust, that had made its way into Holland Village and was already embroiled in a legal tussle over the use of the domain crust.com.sg with some small mom-and-pop shop inside one of the east coast condos.

I'm a pretty big fan of gourmet pizzas, and figured that this Crust place should have something to show for given its "publicity" gig so early on in the game!

The place was pretty busy for a Friday night, al fresco dining with bar-high table tops and stools along the pavement, affording unrestricted views of the night revellers starting out their evening in the laid back neighbourhood.

Mood-candle lighting, bar-tops and an attractive menu.

The pizzas come in 13" x 8" rectangles, made fresh from scratch when you order.

Fresh ingredients laid out in front of your eyes.

M and I shared the Moroccan Lamb Pizza which was topped with fragrant marinated lamb, spanish onions, baby spinach, a drizzle of mint yoghurt and finished off with a lemon wedge (S$23).

Moroccan Lamb Pizza

The lamb was done very nicely, succulent and tender almost like straight off the kebab spit, without the heavy meat smell that tends to come with lamb. Loved the mint yogurt dressing, perfect accompaniment to the whole Middle-Eastern combination. Pizza crust remained nice and crisp throughout, which really is the point of a good pizza dough -- most of the time, the crust gets soggy especially in the centre, weighed down by all the toppings. Then again, this place is called Crust. Would be ironic if their pizza dough was anything but crusty!

Service was chirpy, friendly and quick, aided no less by the enormous machine of an oven that sits directly behind the pizza bar. Pizzas go in on one side, and roll out the other in no time, perfectly browned, piping hot and ready to be served.

That being said, on an overall sensory taste experience, think it's a tad short of Skinny Pizza. Don't get me wrong; Crust is nice, but for that price, I think I'd pick other joints.

Maybe I'll give it another try since I was really drawn to the Five Spice Pork Belly and the Spicy Pesto Scallops, which we didn't get a chance to taste this round. The descriptions sound good though!

Photos taken with a Nikon D5000.