nydc celebrates its 17th birthday with 20 new menu items!

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nydc just turned 17!

Yes, don't you remember the days when you were 17? All you wanted to do was let your hair down, enjoy good food (and desserts!), chill with friends and just be yourself. Well, nydc has always been one of those places where you could do all that. From its first flagship outlet in Holland Village in 1995, it's now expanded to five outlets including Wheelock Place, Bugis Junction, Velocity and Tampines 1.

Of course, a birthday party is a must. We had a blast at the Bugis Junction outlet. And thanks to Nuffnang, I got to meet five of my readers at that party - Eugene, Valentine, Janice, Malcolm, and Kun (above) - who got invited via a Twitter contest!



We had YES 93.3 DJ Lin Pei Fen hosting the party, with appearances from Mediacorp rising starlets Jayley Woo and Edwin Goh. The party also saw popular bloggers Maureen (MissTamChiak) and Velda (Belluspuera) plus many invited guests.




The DJ kept the evening going with lots of entertainment and games. Here's Malcolm trying to beat the longest breath competition, saying "nydc............" -- can do you it for more than 1 minute 38 seconds?




We made a great team collaborating for the activities. We were one of the fastest for the word-spotting puzzle, but our overly excited fingers circled a couple of letters too many on the grid. But we did win in the caption-writing segment - I'll be giving away the S$20 nydc voucher that I got as the prize (details at end of post).

But everyone wins when it comes to the food - there are 20 new items on the menu! Some are familiar favourites that have been brought back by special request, but also plenty of new things to try.

We all got to sample a wide range of the new items (tasting portions shown - actual portion sizes are much bigger). Here they are, along with menu descriptions in italics.



Waldorf with a Hic (S$10.80)
Waldorf salad amped up with whisky. Juicy, whisky-infused grapes, roasted almond flakes and plump rasins dressed in lemon mayo with crunchy Romaine's. *hic!*

A whisky-laden Waldorf! I think even guys will be happily lapping this up. The grapes were bursting with strong whisky, and gave this salad a very grown-up taste.





Skinny Dip Chips (S$13.50)
Three's not a crowd with this chips and dips to share. Warm tortilla chips ready to be skinny-dipped into spiced chilli beef, blue cheese and our favorite artichoke blend.

So good for sharing. I like that the spiced chili beef isn't timid in terms of spicy chili heat! Others at my table liked the creamy artichoke, and we all loved the bold tasting blue cheese (yes, my good readers are adventurous with cheese).

Raspberry Tremble (S$6.80)
A raspberry twist of the all-time favorite Lemon Shiver drink, spritely, tangy and it's pink! So good we get goosebumps!

I really have to give thumbs up to this drink - it literally went viral at the tables. Once someone saw or had a taste of it, we were ordering one each for ourselves.



Other drinks include (from left to right; photos courtesy of nydc) the Berry Freezy (fresh mixed berries, real lemonade and soda), Shake Affogato Shake (a thick shake of vanilla, espresso and Baileys!) and Nutty Cookie Cruncher (cookies and espresso in vanilla shake where you can chose your level of espresso, from one to three shots).




Romeo & Juliet (S$11.90 for full casserole)
This baked baby is back 'cause you asked for it! Smoky crispy bacon stirred with tender sweet corn and hot herbed rice in nydc's signature garlic mayo all topped with oozy, melty mozzarella.

This is one of the dishes that's back by popular request. I wonder if Romeo is the bacon and Juliet the sweet corn. All wrapped up in melted love.

With all those ingredients, this is quite a decadent gratin, and I can see this as a real crowd pleaser and comfort dish





Drunken Masta' 
You have been warned! A feisty, chunky seafood stew of tiger prawns, dory fillet, clams and shell pasta, flamed and spiked with the heat of tequila! 

The salad isn't the only one that's spiked with booze. Choose your drunken master level: Sober (1 shot of tequila) S$16.80, Drunk (2 shots of tequila) S$18.80, K.O. (3 shots of tequila) S$20.80.

Very bold flavours of tomato and seafood, enhanced by that touch of tequila. The seafood is generous and the sauce certainly is good enough to enjoy with some garlic bread as a belly-warming stew.






Picasso Pizza
Put on your artist's hat! Create your own pizza canvas and be the Picasso of the pizza world...

Another old favourite back on the menu, and one that we all relished. Custom design your own pizza - choose a base (S$8.90) of signature garlic mayo, blue cheese or tomato and add three toppings:

Toppings A (S$2.25 each): Bacon, beef pastrami, beef & pork, pork meatballs, Cajun chicken cubes, fresh shrimp, pork ham, pork sausages

Toppings B (S$1.90 each): button mushrooms, pineapple cubes, capsicums, onions

Ours had meatballs, sausages and mushrooms. The crispy thin crust allowed the toppings to really speak for themselves, instead of being overwhelmed by too much dough.






Yankee's in Town (S$14.80 for full portion)
Go Team! Score a duo of hot sauce roasted chicken wrapped in bacon, and more bacon wrapped think garlic bratwurst sausages. With pow-wow wedges, this will get a cheer out for you! 

Mmmmh, bacon... ‘nuff said. The different taste of chicken and garlic sausages make this less monotonous, while the intense BBQ sauce ties everything together.

And of course, after the mains, you must have dessert...


nydc is synonymous with mudpies. Imagine, now there are six new mudpies to choose from! Here are two that we tried:



(Photo courtesy of nydc)

Sealed With A Kiss (S$11.80)
Sinful yet sweet - just like a stolen kiss! Two layers of chocolate ice cream with gooey marshmallow, caramel swirls, fudge, crunchy dark chocolate balls sandwiching our signature brownie in the seam topped with a fresh mint kiss.

This is a decadent sandwich with contrasting textures - smooth chocolate, chewy marshmallow, and crunchy chocolate balls. There’s a cool minty flavour in this mudpie that makes it the perfect prelude for a kiss.



I'm Goin' Bananas (S$$11.80) 
This one will take you ‘round the bend! Heavenly banana ice cream is matched with chocolate fudge brownie ice cream and chunks of fudge brownies and walnuts.

Bananas, chocolate and nuts - always a popular combination. It works equally well in a chilled mudpie!


But mudpies aren't the only new desserts here.




Six new cakes are also on the menu:

(Top row, left to right; photos courtesy of nydc): Englishman in New York (light sponge and white chocolate mousse infused with earl grey tea), Sourpuss on the Loose (tarty lemon tart), Mango Mayhem (mango puree in a cheesecake),

(Bottom row, left to right; photos courtesy of nydc): Raisin' a Ruckus (rum and raisins in cheesecake), A Passion for Cheesecake (passionfruit and raspberry jelly in traditional cheesecake) and P-Nut Buttered Up (peanut butter and black sesame in cheesecake).

The more unusual ones I found are these three - Englishman in New York is distinctive with its earl grey taste giving the cheesecake an almost floral hint. In the P-Nut Buttered Up, the taste of black sesame comes across more strongly than peanut, giving it a very Asian dimension. And if you still haven’t had enough booze in your main dishes, go for more in Raisin’ a Ruckus to end off with sweet rum-laced cheesecake.




Oh, don't you wish you could try them all? Well we did!

We did have loads of fun at the birthday party and made many new friends. It was an evening filled with happy vibes and laughter. Big thanks to nydc for organising this!

I have S$20 voucher to give away to one lucky reader! Just tell me in a comment below which dish you'd like to try most - it's that easy! I will pick a winner by random draw (so everyone has an equal chance). Do let me know how to contact you to pass you the voucher. Closing date is 11 November 2012 (11:59pm). You can also go for a double chance by sharing the post on my Facebook fan page.


nydc’s outlets -- check out their Facebook Page for more promotions and updates!

Holland Village
30 Lorong Mambong
Tel: 6469-2998

Wheelock Place
501 Orchard Road
#02-19
Tel: 6736-3253

Bugis Junction
200 Victoria Street
#02-47/48
Tel: 6333-3161

Velocity @ Novena Square
238B Thomson Road
#03-26/27
Tel: 6358-4924

Tampines 1
10 Tampines Central 1
#02-09/10
Tel: 6588-1592