Before I go into my raves for desserts, I want you to know that Marmalade Pantry at Ion Orchard serves pretty good desserts. Hint hint, just the perfect place to indulge for afternoon tea in Singapore – if you still don’t get what I mean.

Desserts are pleasure guaranteed, with no further explanations needed or what so ever. We can have desserts for breakfast, like pancakes with ice cream & maple syrup, If not desserts for lunch, dinner or supper, or all three combined. But you know what I really like? I think desserts, are meant for afternoon high tea.

Having come up with a list of Dessert Places in Singapore, I’m sure you can tell that I have a soft spot for sweet stuff. Marmalade Pantry has shifted from Palais Renaissance to their current location, and they are an extremely popular place  for high tea in Singapore, alongside TWG Tea Salon at Ion Orchard.

I’m a very visual guy, and the appearance of Marmalade Pantry’s Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake ($7.80) didn’t exactly help to give me confidence. But oh boy, we were so wrong. The cheesecake was good, it was so, so good! Marmalade Pantry’s rendition was softly sweet, with a hint of the sea salt caramel induced within the eerily light cheese-cake.

The Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge Cake ($7.80) on the other hand, was disappointing with the less-than-moist texture. Despite the chocolate-y flavor, the cake was dry and nothing could be done to save it. Maybe a scoop of melty vanilla ice cream would do the trick. Maybe. But we will never know.

I’d definitely order the Chocolate Truffle cake, but it seems that they have pull it off the menu and it is now only available at Toast Cafe Takashimaya.

If you are craving for something chocolate-y, I’d suggest to go for the Nutella Cupcake ($4.20). With a smooth, creamy layer of hazelnut spread on top of the chocolate cake, this is your gateway to heaven. Marmalade Pantry has some of the best cupcakes in Singapore, and the Limonta ($4.20) is the one reason I go back to Marmalade Pantry over and over again.

Marmalade Pantry also has an Afternoon High Tea set at $20 each which is available from 3pm to 5pm daily with a minimum of 2 sets per order. The afternoon tea indulgence includes Gryphon tea, a selection of egg and cress, beef & horseradish and green land shrimp finger sandwiches, buttermilk scones, and a cupcake.

Desserts will save the world.

Restaurant Review
Marmalade Pantry
2 Orchard Turn #03-22
ION Orchard Singapore
Tel: +65 6734 2700

I wasn’t kidding when I said that I have been hanging out in the East of Singapore. That’s probably good news for the folks who are living in the East as I will be blogging more about the best food places in the East of Singapore.

Stepping inside The Cheesecake Cafe at East Coast road near the Frankel Estate, I was caught off guard by two things: 1) the place is huge for a cafe that only offers cakes, finger food, and drinks, and 2) the Victorian-style interior design of the cafe.

Prior to this visit, I heard nasty rumors that there’s a no-sharing rule for The Cheesecake Cafe, but we didn’t have this problem when we were there. Somebody was disappointed that the popular Peach Jelly cheesecake was sold out, so we had the chocolate banana cake, tiramisu and the Vanilla Chocolate chip cheesecake instead.

Coming in the form of a triangular sliced cake, the Tiramisu ($7.20) at The Cheesecake Cafe surprised me with the unusual appearance. I’m accustomed to seeing tiramisu in cups or squares, and it took a while to get used to the sight of a sliced version.

The tiramisu was decent, with a strong espresso and vaguely weak liquor taste. It’s amazing how fast we could gobble down desserts, especially when it was directly after our dinner at The Garden Slug.

By normal circumstances, I’m not a big fan of the banana + chocolate combination. But The Cheesecake Cafe’s Chocolate Banana cake ($7.20) was acceptable as the banana taste wasn’t potent enough. The darkly chocolatey cake layer tinkered on the tongue, silently dissolving into a subtle banana composition.

I know this sounds kind of silly; it’s like having chicken rice without the rice, or chili crabs without the gravy, but I like the simplicity of the chocolate cake without the undue influence of the banana. It’s comforting to know that there’s banana present, yet it didn’t disrupt the taste of the cake.

Out of the three desserts that we had, my vote would go to the Vanilla Chocolate Chip cheesecake ($7.60). There wasn’t much of the vanilla, but I like the big, dotty chocolate chips that were on top. They melted seamlessly with the layer of thick and heavy cheesecake that had an uneven edge with a crunchy base.

All of us were charmed by her effortlessly, and it’s enough, really, to make me believe that happily-ever-after fairy tales ending do exist.

* * *

The Cheesecake Cafe is a great dessert cafe in the East of Singapore to chill out over a sliced of cake and drinks. Even though they do not have that many different types of cheesecake on the menu, the prices are reasonable and if you have not been here before, give it a shot.

Restaurant Review
The Cheesecake Cafe
685 East Coast Road
Frankel Estate
Tel: +65 6448 7725

It’s really amazing what cravings can do.

What was supposed to be a light dim sum lunch to the newly renovated Lei Gardens, continued with desserts at B Bakery. I need cakes. No, I want cakes!

Nestled in a shop house on Bussorah street, B Bakery is a charming little patisserie, right in the middle of the Arab street area. Despite its tiny size, B Bakery has an impressive array of desserts. Besides the cakes and pastries, they also served salad, pasta and sandwiches at very reasonable prices.

The twin strawberry on the Passion fruit Cheesecake ($4.80) caught our eyes immediately. What do you call a cheesecake that does not taste like one? The texture wasn’t heavy at all. Instead it was airily light, and incredibly smooth – just like the perfect rendition of the Japanese cheesecake. With a subtle hint of sourish aftertaste from the passion fruit, for once, I actually like a passion fruit cake.

I always have this thing for lemon and lime. Call it a fetish if you want, but I like citrus fruits. There’s this tangy zest that always send a wave through me, and e Manjari Chocolate cake ($4.80). But unfortunately, the marriage of chocolate and lemon is an ill-advised one – they simply don’t work. On it’s own, the chocolate layer was a delight, but with the addition of the lemon component, everything tasted weird.

After having very good carrot cakes from Cedele and Prive, I was not having any high expectations when we ordered B Bakery’s Carrot Cake ($3.50). And surprisingly, it’s good! With a lightly fragrant cinnamon scent, the moisture was just right and the layer of cream cheese topping was not overly-sweet.

* * *

I will definitely be going back to B Bakery whenever I need some cake. Now, if only Arab street is more accessible. Anyway, walking there-and-back sounds like the perfect excuse to indulge and binge on all the cakes.

Cravings must always be satisfied, I want to eat cake.

Restaurant Review
B Bakery
15 Bussorah Street
Tel: +65 6293 9010

It’s not difficult to associate District 10 with Wild rocket, not when they have the bitter green for almost all their dishes.

Much as I agreed that Wild rocket is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but it’s too much when all the appetizers and the mains are adorned with the same greens. And yes, we started our first appetizer with Wild Rocket Salad ($10).

The Selection of traditional cold cuts ($14) had an assortment of parma ham, salami, chicken, with grilled ciabatta bread.

How about some Deep fried calamari and tiger prawns ($10) to get you started? Oh yes! I was actually looking at the portion and realise there’s at most one prawn and two calamari for each of us, so I immediately took my fork and started eating. And after that? I kept a lookout for signs to see whether the others wanted their share!

Wow, there’s even duck in spring rolls now?

The name Homemade duck spring roll ($10) caught my attention first, from the exterior you would have think that it’s just like the other normal spring roll, but there’s shreds of duck meat enveloped within the crispy fried skin. There’s a subtle taste of duck meat, and I like how the sweet sauce actually complimented the dish very well.

The Chili crab pizza definitely has the “Made-in-Singapore” brand stamp all over it. While credits have to be given to the chef who came up with the audacious creation, but the chilli gravy meant that the crispy pizza was moist and soggy. There’s other interesting new school selections such as the sambal chilli prawn and chilli flakes pork floss pizza.

Wagyu meat balls? Isn’t that a waste of the Japanese beef! I’m never a fan of penne, and this case the pasta was a bit over-cooked. But somehow I got hooked to the fulsome tomato sauce in the Rigatoni ($18)

When we were browsing through the menu, I knew we had to order the Crispy Duck Confit ($24). One of the things that I always lamented about, was the lack of duck dishes in restaurants, there’s nothing like a good duck confit to make you happy all day! The duck confit here was a lot smaller than expected, and while I tried very hard to convince myself this will be good, but it wasn’t. The lack of the crispy skin and the dry duck meat – let’s just say I had better duck confit elsewhere.

I thoroughly enjoyed the steak fries that came along with the Country style baby back ribs ($24), but the portions of the ribs were not as hearty as I would like it to be. Come on, give me a full rack, I can finish it!

Did I tell you how I like the way District 10 presented their fish and chips on the old-fashioned newspaper? And how excited I got when I saw peas (yes green peas) served along side the chunky fries and beer battered fish? Fish & chips is all about the crispy battered fish, the thick-slab of fries, with tartar sauce and green peas! I couldn’t remember much of the beer-infused taste in the soggy buttered crust though. But everything’s forgiven with the fresh fillet, and not to mention I totally adored the way they dressed up the fish & chips ($19).

I was tempted to order the beef burger but reckoned that we should save some room for the many desserts that were coming up. And luckily among the six of us that night, there’s four desserts enthusiasts, so we ordered almost everything from their dessert menu. The tiramisu ($9) caught my eye immediately, I’m a sucker of the Italian dessert and all of them tasted good to me.

The American Bramley apple pie ($9) was sweet-licious too. We ignored the accompanying butterscotch set cream and attacked the crusty apple pie. Every mouthful was filled with delightful apple flavour.

This wasn’t the typical heavy type, you know the thing about cheesecake; it’s the kind where you either love it or hate it. For those who preferred the creamy texture, this was a no-no, while for those who enjoyed the light airy cheesecake, the white chocolate and strawberry cheesecake ($10) will be the one for you.

I always wanted to try profiteroles ($9) and you must thinking how can I have not tried since I absolutely swore by my cream puffs. Taking a spoonful of the choux pastry, I carefully placed it into my mouth, and swoon! At that precise moment, I kicked myself for not knowing you earlier, it was good – it was damn good. If cream puffs with whipped cream is wonderful, imagine what’s it like when there’s ice cream in cream puffs!

For a split second, I thought that my taste bud must have gone haywire as punishment for being a glutton. There’s liqueur taste in creme brulee! But luckily the others reassured me that I’m not the only one who tasted that, there’s really rum-infused with the burnt cream. Traditional creme brulee with Bourbon vanilla & rum ($9).

Oh-oh-oh! the Palvova must be the prettiest among the rest. She’s so sweet, and charmed everyone with her beautiful red coat. You like meringue? You will like her here.

There’s something about old school that’s irresistible to me; the charming environment as though you are taking a trip back in time, with flashbacks of your carefree innocent school days. It was District 10 (by Bonta Italian restaurant) second week of operation when we went, and they were packed full house (160 seaters) on a Tuesday night. That’s something to reckon with! To be frank, there wasn’t any particular memorable dishes which wow me, but the reasonable prices and charming location might just do the trick. I’ll like to thank Hungrygowhere.com for the invitation to the food tasting session.

District 10 Bistro
10 Winstedt road
#01-17
Tel: 6738 4788

Ever since I discover the existence of macarons, I’m hooked. There are some fantastic ones, while some are just very bad; macarons are lovable, how can something so small and petite, taste so, so good!

The most delicious way, to eat a macaron will be: admire her perfect figure, pick it up and smell her fragrance. Never shovel in and swallow the whole thing in one bite. It’s like foreplay, you need to arouse the palates first; you nibble a bit of it, and I finish it up the rest. Macarons, taste the best, when I share it with you.

The very pretty lady in raspberry winks at me as I walk over. Hello, can I buy you a dessert? Do you want chocolate fudge? Or how about some cheesecake? No? You want both? Okay sure, in that case I’ll get you the Raspberry Cheesecake ($7.50).

Rosemary Chantilly with a layer of raspberry jelly, adorns the top part of the cake. There’s cheesecake sandwiched in between, with the chocolate fudge layer completing the dessert. My only grudge? It tasted weird when everything is combined together, raspberry, cheesecake and chocolate fudge just do not works for me. But eaten separately, it’s good.

Having seen the Fondant Choccolat ($8), I happily/naturally assumed that it will be the type that has lava chocolate oozing out. Except, it did not. No chocolate lava. No warm chocolate oozing out from the middle. And oh, the fondant wasn’t heat up too.

Luckily there’s Chantilly. She is pleasant, sweet and makes everyone around happy.

Which one is the mousse and which one is the cream?

Dark chocolate, your love. I know you’ll have like this one. The flourless chocolate sponge increased the density of the chocolate, with the dark chocolate cream in between layers. And I like how they pretty things up with a spot of chocolate on top; simple and chic. Gateaux Chocolat ($6.50)

* * *

After so many times to Canele, I’ve yet to try out all their creations. Maybe some day, definitely one day.

Canele Patisserie
1 Scotts road
#01-01A Shaw Centre
Tel: 6738 9020

Black pepper Sri lanka crab

Ginger Scallion flower crab

Fragrant Thai sauce crab

Nonya curry crab

Stir-fried slipper lobster in black bean sauce

Chili crab with deep-fried mantou

Oh man, She’s grabbing all the good stuff; the big pincers, the meatier crab legs, all gone! Everybody behind the woman, stared at her as she made away with the “goods”.

With the crab tong in hand, it was used to hammer the shell. The fellow diners on the same table immediately dispersed, “watch it! The crab gravy is flying everywhere!”

The lady eyed the seafood section, carefully choosing the biggest white fresh oysters on the bed of ice. She proceeded on to squeeze lemon wedges onto each of them, not wasting a single drop. Taking a fork, she slurped down five oysters, in one shot.

Wash your hands clean and crab-free in the lemon water, we are going for the second round!

The team of eight sat down at the table to discuss their plans, like true elite commando fashion; they attacked the crabs in the precise and deadly manner that they were known for.

“Mommy, I want that slice of very delicious-looking, oreo cheesecake!” The small girl told her mother, even though their stomachs are bursting from all the crabs.

* * *

(1) The commentaries were some of the conversation that I’ve overheard, and observed during the buffet, and I thought it would be interesting to write about this.

(2) I don’t like to eat crabs; I’m too lazy to dirty my hands shelling the crustaceans. And if I do, the chili crab will be my favourite; I love the thick, spicy chili gravy. And there’s the best company in the form of the deep fried mantou; I always poked a hole in the middle of the fried bun and poured lots of gravy inside. Then the soaking of the whole bun within the goodness of the gravy, they are oh, so-good! And I kept a bowl of chili gravy filled throughout the buffet, dipping everything in it.

(3) The crab buffet at Ellenborough market cafe is only available for dinner at $46++ per head, and will last for two weeks, starting from the 25th June. Singaporeans, love (read: love), their crabs, I went during the first day of the promotion and it was full house, on a weekday dinner! So if you are heading down, please remember to make reservations in advance. And my appreciation to Sok Hoon, the marketing communication manger for the invitation to the food tasting session.

(4) Just some more information about the buffet: There’s chefs-on-the-spot cooking crab risotto, frying mee goreng, and wrapping crab popiahs, the seafood area which has sashimi, prawns and seafood, the usual western/Asian cuisine selections, the omnipresent chocolate fondue, with a pretty decent choices of desserts ranging from cheesecake, to shooters, and their famous Durian Pengat. And I love having some Chinese desserts like tou suan with you tiao too!

Read my fellow floggers post on the crab extravaganza:
Camemberu here
& Aromacookery here

Ellenborough market cafe
20 Merchant road
GF Swissotel Merchant court
Tel: 6239 1847

Dear diary,

I have sinned. I have a confession to make: since the start-of-don’t-know-when, I found myself deeply enthralled by her, I just couldn’t stop thinking about our past encounters – all the more needless to say, to take my eyes off her. I’m head over heels, so deeply in love, with..

Desserts!

As sinful as they are, I couldn’t stop myself; every time after we are done, I rested on my back and sworn not to get involved with you again. But it happened again, and again, and again. Our messy affair, the love-hate relationship, oh dear.

You speak torta alla gianduia? No? How about crème brulee, panna cotta, charlotte aux poires, or mille-feuille aux fraises? Come on, I’m sure we have a common language.

I don’t know about you, but I always, always have problems passing by a patisserie without trying to splurge my monthly allowance there. The beautiful shop-front attracted and suck me in like a magnet; I couldn’t bear to leave without saying hello to those pretty and delicate desserts!

And remember the time when something terrible happened? One slice of mousse will wash those tears away. It can even heal all your scars! When you are with your loved one, even a spoon of the simplest cheesecake would do wonders, creating memories for eternity.

You know that thing when you see a cutie and she smiles; your heart skipped a beat and your legs go wobbling like a jelly? Well that’s what feels like whenever I see a dessert.

I’m a dessert-holic.

* * *

The carrot cake came across as rather dry, like I’ve mentioned before; I’m not a good judge of carrot cake since I’ve not tried Queen cedele’s, yet. What’s there not to like about a slice of really good strawberry cheesecake? Big, bright red strawberries sitting prettily on top of creamy thick cheesecakes! And my weakness, chocolate cake. Heat it up and you got the molten texture, paired with a scoop of chilled icy cold ice cream, ding, the elevator reached level heaven.

Note: Sweet nibbles column will be a regular fixture every Monday, I hope some sweets can help to chase your Monday blues away

AllanBakes
3 South Buona Vista road
#02-13 The Village centre
Tel: 6774 7100

ONIM. Since we have TGIF to show our appreciation that the weekend is here, I thought it will only be appropriate to have ONIM as well, Oh no it’s Monday! I know, I know, it’s the day of the week that you dreaded the most, what they called Monday blues. To soften the blow, let’s make the Monday blues go away, by having some sweets!

I love (read: head over heels with) nutella. It ought to be the most amazing creation this world ought to offer. Never mind the bizarre increase in price (a 375g bottle used to cost $3.90, but it’s $4.90 now at fairprice), I still need my nutella fix regularly.

Toast, which is under the Marmalade pantry, has got some of the best cupcakes, and by that I didn’t meant that they were fanciful. Hell no, they are anything but pretty. There’s no frosting, no beautiful decorations on top, but just a messy spread of the cream. But it’s good. It’s damn good!

The nutella cupcake, which was basically chocolate cupcake with nutella frosting, was so nutella-ish! I did find the cupcake to be slightly dry, I guess the nutella’s the cause for it, since the other cupcakes were not as dry.

The carrot cake came highly recommended by the staff. At the slightest mention of the two words, carrot cake, it’s bound to have the question asked back in return, “Is it better than Cedele (read: Sir-deli)?”

I’m sorry, but I have not tried Cedele’s legendary carrot cake yet! I’m a simple person with a simple taste bud, and anything with thick & generous cream cheese frosting works for me.

How about some cheesecakes to make you happy? Add in some blueberry, I offered. From my vague memories, the cheesecake was light and airy, the blueberry toppings were sweet and combined well with the light cheesecake. But the base wasn’t the crunchy type that I’ve in mind. My dear, have some blueberry cheesecake to chase your blues away!

This, was THE cupcake, Limonata. Whimsical name, and that’s it. The lemon tart limon graze cake, let’s just call it the lemon cupcake, was one of the best cupcake I’ve, the lemon taste was infused and spread throughout the whole tiny cake, it was moist, and fluffy. I love it!

There might be an identical crisis since the William looks rather similar to the Limonata. Note the colour of the base, the latter is lemon cupcake, while the former is a chocolate cake filled with William pear & topped with a delicious layer of the butter crème frosting. There’s bits of william pears within the cupcake, and I’m a sucker for the sweet butter crème frosting, but still, I preferred the Limonata, and the rose.

You winked at me when I entered the shop. I was deeply captivated by our first encounter; I couldn’t stop looking at you, and for a moment you’ve stolen my breath away. Without taking my eyes off you, I told the assistant, the “lemon meringue tart.”

You tasted as good as you looked, the curvy golden brown wisp, blond is beautiful; the delightful lemon, with the crispy tart, and the sour-sweet meringue, now I know what they meant when they say,  love at first sight.

* * *

The desserts served at Toast are all part of the Marmalade Pantry’s offer, but at a slightly cheaper price. A hidden gem, that’s how I will describe toast. I wouldn’t be surprised if you haven’t noticed Toast while you are shopping at Takashimaya, since I also wasn’t familiar with it until a friend brought me there. This post is a compilation of my three visits.

I hope by now, you are already feeling happier, at the sight of all the lovely creations. Desserts always make us cheerful, have some sweets my dear, they will chase your monday blues, far far away.

Read my dining partner Pamela’s post here.

Toast
391 Orchard road
#02-11 Ngee Ann city
Tel: 6733 8489

My eyes strayed to the corner as we walked in, the desserts section; I saw the chocolate cake waving to me, the dessert shooters like a lighthouse beaconing the direction. And not lest, the-sight-of-it again: the omnipresent chocolate fondue, my heart just flew over with hugs and kisses.

Not able to resist the seduction, I dropped every last bit of pretence in me and embraced the temptation; lets start with the desserts shall we? We took a bit of everything, and started tucking in. We decided just to have some, and come back for more later. It was a difficult decision; to stop after we started, it was akin to asking a vampire to stop after he started sucking blood from your neck.

And so, the cold seafood counter. There were prawns, there were crabs, and there were mussels & scallops.

A sniff of the icy chilled oyster, the sea breeze gusted into my nose. The hassle of opening up the clam creature was avoided, for it was already prepared nice and clean on the bed of ice. I squeezed a whole wedge of lemon onto it, careful not to spill any outside the shell; every drop of lemon was precious, to fully bring out the quintessence of it. I pitched it up with a fork, and slowly put it into my mouth, one swallow, one gulp, and it was gone.

Our stomach has served us well, and to reward it for the hard work, let’s start with some salad. We took a bit of all the different greens, and dressed it up with the many-variety of dressing available; I always preferred thousand island, while you went for the lighter Italian dressing, and also the adventurous yoghurt one too.

It was fun, the process of ‘playing’ with the Kueh pie tee; we took the shell, add in the typical popiah turnip fillings, sprinkled a bit of the crushed peanuts, drizzled the sweet sauce, beautify it with parsley, and had options of tuna, chicken, and prawns to top with. Boy, it was good! The crispy shell, with the turnip fillings, but it was the sweet sauce and peanut which provided the difference.

There was roasted meat selections, Indian food, Western & Asian mains to choose from too. Again, we ate some of each, and finally it could wait no longer! This time, for desserts, we shall try everything, one of everything. Two if we can help it!

At first glance, it looked like pandan cake. Then, the pistachio financier name tag appeared, in a concealed corner oblivious to the naked human eye. The green stuff, they called it the pistachio nut, it was a personal favourite of our friend; and surprisingly, the pandan-cake-lookalike had a flavourful pistachio taste!

I remembered the truffle berry compote cake for its smooth and silky chocolate, with composition of berries within.

For some unknown reason which continue to evade me, passion fruit seemed to be a popular choice for patissier, I did not have any nice experience with it so far; but I guess it’s the intriguing combination of that-something-sour with the strong cheesecake. I, however, did not like it. I like sweet stuff, something sweet please.

While it had became a common thing for buffets, the chocolate fondue still never failed to excite me, I dipped fruits, puffs, marshmallows, and everything I could find under the flowing chocolate lava.

This, was my favourite part of the buffet. There’s a chef specially preparing waffles and crepes on-the-spot. The waffles were excellent, but they used the same mixture for the crepes, which turned out to be overly thick. And the staffs actually delivered the waffles to our tables when we forgot to collect it, now my dear, that’s what you call service!

I used syrup and butter for my first waffle. Then I returned for more with a topping of all the ice creams available, creativity struck me as I poured some of the lava from the chocolate fondue over my piece of crispy waffles.

The weekend dinner buffet from Mon to Wed is $45++, while dinner from Thursday onwards to Sunday is $50++ per head. We were too full to try all the food; we missed out on the Indian food, and the roasted duck selections. Eating a little of everything was almost enough to fill up the tiny stomach of ours. Plenty of tea and a long chat after the meal aided in the digestion too! My appreciation to Helen, the F&B manager of Traders Hotel, for the food tasting invitation.

Read about my other posts on buffet here.

Cafebiz
1A Cuscaden road
GF Traders hotel
Tel: 6831 4374

Alighting at EW XV, red dot was at the rear, and I passed by amoy. Stanley, Stanley where were you? I looked high, I searched far. Lo & behold, there you are. I hold you dear in my heart, Sweet Indulgence a year ago.

Gone were the white, in came the yellow. With a touch of blue, everything lingers fondly deep inside. Memories. This is the stuff that life is made of. I want to hold onto this moment forever.

The hot and the fury. What was supposed to be a routine simple appetiser ended up in the fast lane instead. We were too ambitious, and nodded when the manager smiled at us and asked innocently, extra spicy? Boy. This, was one hot chick. Only for the daredevil, Chicken wing in spicy sauce ($9.50).

A bit of everything from Nature’s best, garlic, basil, pesto with a variety of mushrooms. The result, a delicious comfort food. Sauté mushrooms ($9.50)

The Seafood platter ($19.50) was an assembly of seafood sauté in a white wine herb reduction, which came on the recommendation of the manager.

The problem, with not reading the fine print of the menu, meant that we were surprised when the platter arrived, completely opposite of the usual Fish & Co style. Overcoming our initial reaction, we dug in and found ourselves with mussel, scallop, clam, fish, squid and prawns.

Skinny seems to be the In-thing at the moment. 10 inch thin crust Siciliana pizza ($22). Home-made with a spicy element. With bratwurst sausages, roasted capsicum, onions and semi-dried tomatoes. Personally I felt that it wasn’t cheesy enough, but it garnered enough support from my mates to overrule me.

Call me ignorant, but I did not remember seeing crayfish served with pasta very often. It was usually the limelight of its more popular cousin, lobster instead. Much as I was tempted to go with the salmon pasta which I always have, a adventure was on the cards. And hence the pick, Crayfish linguine ($25) I liked the fact that everything was executed very nicely. The flavours were delicate and did not overwhelm.

We did not want to have everything from the land, so it was a tough fight between the baked salmon fillet, and the Pan-fried seabass ($26.50). The latter won of course. On paper, a pan-fried seabass served with mashed potato, daily vegetables was as safe as anything could be. But it was not to be. The fish was slightly over-aged, and I wouldn’t exactly use fresh to describe it. It wasn’t all over, the unique taste of orange based salsa was the saving grace.

The most expensive item on the menu, the lamb rack ($40.50). With portobello mushroom, daily vegetables, mashed potatoes and the beautifully grilled rack of lamb certainly looked enticing. But there was a snag. The proportion of fats to meat was equally balanced, which did not go well with the ladies.

The portobello mushroom made its second appearance with the Beef Tenderloin ($37.50). It was another tough decision to choose between the pork rack or the steak, but we were glad to have this. The roasted baby potatoes were snapped up in two seconds, the steak was the best among the three mains we had.

Desserts were done in-house by the chef, and we had the New York Cheesecake ($11). For such a hefty price tag, we were expecting a lot more, but sad to say it wasn’t good enough. The dessert lacked the dense and creamy aspect and somehow was sticky and crumbled easily.

The Warm Chocolate Lava Indulgence ($13) made up for the previous mistake.  Like all warm chocolate pudding, the melted dark chocolate oozed out and this sight never fails to excite me. Also impressive was the use of vanilla bean ice cream. My dining mates found it too light, but anything with warm chocolate and cold ice cream couldn’t possibly go wrong with my sweet tooth. We agreed it was slightly better than Bakerzin’s rendition.

I had a sweet memory of the tiramisu I had a year ago. At this very place, Sweet Indulgence’s tiramisu ($13). The coffee and liquer taste was very subtle, but that was exactly what I liked about you. The dessert was very smoothing to the palate, and if you do not think of it as a tiramisu, it is actually very good. But if you are expecting a typical strong coffee & liquer rendition, then you are just not that into her.

***

Photographs are the best memories keepers, and I have added more sweet memories with this. I’ll like to thank Chris for inviting me for this food-tasting session. There was some hits and misses, but Sweet Indulgence remains a nice place for couples to have a romantic dinner without any disturbance. I did find the prices to be rather steep, there is a current promotion of 1 free dessert with any 2 main courses or pastas.

Read my previous visit here

Sweet Indulgence
2 Stanley Street
Tel: 6223 7707

Strolling down the Singapore River, we found ourselves mesmerised by the scenery, the cool evening air, the group of angmohs enjoying some beer before the sun sets, and the occasional harass from a few of the “eateries” which touted free drinks to entice us.

History has it that this beautiful watershed was the place where the myths and legends conjured up memories of the lighters, bumboats, tongkangs with their painted eyes to see the danger ahead and sampans of yesteryear. This is the place where the Chinese, Malay, and Indian once lived. This is the the place where Sir Stamford Raffles once sailed through to land on Singapore.

The charming Boat quay offers a magnificent view of the Singapore River, with the Fullerton hotel as the backdrop, and the towering skyscrapers in the buzzing CDB just behind. Since the area is famous for its vibrant night life, one will certainly not associate the place with food, I had the same impression, that is, until I visited Dallas restaurant.

Entering the second level, it was a complete stunner as we experienced the hundred & eighty change in environment. From the blasting pub, we stepped into a room befitting of a semi-formal dining restaurant. With nice furnitures, carpeting, and  the natural lighting from the windows, this room was ideal for a quiet and romantic dinner.

And if you think that is the end, you are in for a surprise. The bar and restaurant concept was fully displayed in the third level of Dallas. With a slightly tone down attitude compared with the second level, this one was all about the causal and relax approach for a hearty dinner. And the smoothing lounge music overhead certainly helps too.

To begin the long dinner which we realised in the aftermaths, lasting almost three hours, we started off with the Dallas platter ($12 for 2 person). The succulent mushroom immediately made an impact as the juices gushed out when we took a bite.

Chicken wings, and the Cheese Quesedillas completes the platter. There wasn’t anything extraordinary about the wings, but the garlic mayonnaise that came along was everything about garlic. On the other hand, the popular cheese quesedillas fared reasonably on my score sheet. Tasting almost like a Mexican taco, there was chicken bits soaked with tomato in chicken broth, but I lamented the fact that it wasn’t cheesy enough.

My dining companion is a big fan of prawns, and the Salad of green mango & prawns ($16) definitely worked its magic. While I felt prices did seem slightly steep for a bowl of greens, but there was a generous portions of the fresh & juicy prawns. And the crisp, tart green mango reminded me of the refreshing Thai-style salad.

Our first main course was the BBQ Barramunudi fillet ($20), one of Dallas’s signature dish. The watercress that accompanied the dish caught my attention, since it wasn’t that common to see this vegetable as a choice of green for salad.

Gigantic, huge, enormous are probably some of the terms you will link the baby back ribs ($22 for 1/2 rack, $28 for full rack) with. I’m a sucker for pork ribs, and the sight of this ginormous baby aroused the carnivore in me. Man, I can still clearly recalled the sweet and juiciness of the ribs now, and if it wasn’t for the fact that we had other food after this, I’ll gladly go for the full ribs instead.

I could only stared at the Tenderloin with shitake mushroom sauce ($28) when it arrived. Being almost full by the previous ribs, the thickness of the steak did shocked me for a bit. While some people would insist on medium well to prevent seeing red, I felt that it would not do any justice to the piece of tender meat.

Medium rare it is.

By the time the Roast chicken and Penne pasta ($16) navigated its way to our table, we were completely stuffed by the multi course dinner. Nonetheless, we did a sampling, and since I’m not a fan of penne, maybe it wouldn’t be a completely fair comment. I found the pasta pretty plain in taste, but the restaurant manager Kenneth, told us that it was a favourite among his angmoh customers, Acquired taste perhaps. And not to forget the roast chicken did wonders for me, it was akin to our roast pork, or more affectionately known as, sio bak.

We were told frankly by the manager that Dallas is still working on their desserts, and there was nothing to rave about. But being the dessert enthusiats we were, a meal wouldn’t be complete without any sweets, so we decided to go for the Dallas Cheesecake ($8). It could be due to the fact that we had zero expectations, the cheesecake actually didn’t turn out to be as bad as we thought. We couldn’t resist the rich and cheesy dessert. But for the price, I wouldn’t exactly recommend trying the desserts, just get another appetiser!

Dallas Restaurant & Bar stands out as one of the few gems among the food outlets in Boat Quay. I certainly changed my mind about the impression I had of the area, and Dallas proves that there can be a good place for you to dine and drink at the same time. Their set lunches are pulling in all the office crowds, with the 2 course lunch at $18++, and 3 course dinner at $28++.

I would like to thank Rayner from creative partner for inviting me for this food tasting session, and Kenneth the restaurant manager for hosting us for dinner. And oh yes, for you guys who are looking for a venue to have your birthday bash, or a group outing, Dallas has their function room on the third level with a private bar, and a balcony for this. For more information, email to events@dallas.sg

Dallas Restaurant & Bar
31 Boat Quay
Boat Quay Conservation area
Tel: 6532 2131
Website: http://www.dallas.sg/

Three. It is the natural number following two, and preceding four. It also represents the three of us, the memories; of the fun, joy and laughter that we shared throughout the years. No, although we didn’t meet frequently, but somehow our conservation always continue smoothly from the previous meeting which was a few months ago, as though we just met yesterday.

Friends, are like the macarons you see. They come in all shapes and flavours, just like friends who has different characters and personality. And how long have we all known each other; with each finger representing a year, I count almost nine out of the ten fingers I could afford on both of my hands.

Friends. There isn’t a need to contact with each other all the time. A simple greeting, uncomplicated chit-chats, and a sincere well-wishes, are the ingredients needed, just like how a good macaron is defined by having chewy shells, with flavourful fillings.

Friends, we automatically updated and filled in on each others life, the gossips and chit-chats that make a whole afternoon passed by in a blink of the eye. A place to sit, some desserts to go along with a cup of tea, are all we need.

She giggled, you chuckled, and we smiled. Much as we used to complain about dragging ourselves out of bed on a Saturday morning just for the practice, thinking of the silly times we had, those were the days.

All of us had moved on, to new pasture, and a different world. But we still managed to meet up even though the rest often had excuses to miss our gatherings. Yes, always the three of us.

Bakerzin is currently having their Macarons promotions, selling at a dollar for each macaron (usual price $1.60++). And since it is a promotion, their usual flavours will not available, instead there’s ten different flavours to choose from. We had seven out of the ten, namely; lemon, coffee, Peach, Pistachio, Sakura, Blueberry, and Chocolate.

In short, not all the macarons impressed. We like the coffee, with the strong after-taste lingering on our tongue. The pistachio was chewy and sticky. The first bite of the chocolate was overwhelming bitter, but the taste became sweeter for the second bite. The different macarons have different texture, the lemon and the blueberry’s shell crumbled easily, while pistachio and chocolate have slightly crispy ones. But still, a dollar a macaron is cheap, and you can’t complain.

I was sceptical about choosing the Mango mousse ($6.20) initially. But since I’ve try most of the other cakes available at Bakerzin, we decided to take a risk and go ahead with it. And I must say the mango cake, or rather mousse was better than what we thought. Two layers of thin sponge with thick layer of mango mousse in between. The mango mousse, was naturally fulsome with mango.

With a name like Lavande ($6.90), we were perhaps expecting something more of the lavender flower, but it never came. Instead, the cake was very rich, with the goodness of dark chocolate fudge, and the velvety lavender-infused chocolate mousse. The very subtle lavender flavour in the cake meant that it was simply a chocolate cake, with a slight hint of flower.

As with most tastings, we always leave the strongest for the last. Sweet Pleasure ($6.90) is what my friend call it, my-kind-of-cake. How very true. A top layer of chocolate, jivara milk chocolate ganache, a layer of chocolate mousse, and hazelnut praline dacquoise. All in all, it did seem like a ferrero rocher cake. And having tried about thirteen of Bakerzin’s cake so far, sweet pleasure together with the chocolate amer are two of my favourites.

Friends are one of the nicest things you can have, and one of the best things you can be. One year technically isn’t very long, and with the advancement in technology, there’s always msn and email to bridge the gap of the two countries. Have fun in the coming months, my friend, my senior, my big sister. The three of us, yes as always, three, will meet once you got back.

***

Total Bill was $37.25 for 3 cakes, 7 macarons, and 3 drinks. With the promotion of getting a drink at $1.90 each with the purchase of each slice of cake during tea time. As you will know by now, I don’t like to repeat visits, but the one-dollar a macaron was too tempting for me to resist. Having tried thirteen cakes on two visits, it is unlikely that i will visit Bakerzin in the near future, but yeah, you shouldn’t missed their current promotion until end of Feburary.

Read about my previous visits to Bakerzin here, and here

Bakerzin
9 Raffles Boulevard
#01-23 Millenia Walk
Tel: 6837 2422

It’s all about you. It’s all about you baby. Yesterday you asked me something I thought you knew. So I told you with a smile, ‘It’s all about you‘. Say ‘if you made my life worthwhile it’s all about you’. It’s all about the company, it’s all about the cakes, it’s all about the laughter, it’s all about the fun, it’s all about the sugar-rush, from the desserts.

It’s all about pistachio and strawberry. The fraisier ($6.90++) was the first one we started with. The very subtle & mild pistachio butter cream, worked for me, but it might just disappoint the pistachio purists. A simple dessert, with the almond sponge cake enveloping the butter cream. I’ll pick this again, yes I will.

On my first time trying the Strawberry shortcake ($6.50++), I was disappointed by Canele’s rendition. Well still basically a shortcake sponge with cream and strawberry, Bakerzin’s version appealed more to me. But, for people with stronger taste buds, go for other highly-flavoured cakes instead of this.

It’s all about New York. No, you do not need to go all the way to NY just for a slice of the famous New York cheesecake ($6.50++). Possibility one of the most popular cheesecake, this one here came with a coat of tangy strawberry glaze, topped with a sole berry. Light and airy, a few of us preferred this to the stronger lemon cheesecake.

Lemon, cheese, and cake. I’m talking about the Bloom cheesecake ($6.50++) of course. Cheesy flavour with a strong hint of lemon. In the battle between the supporters of the heavy-cheesy, and the light subtle dessert, I’m leaning towards the light airy camp in this case. It’s not that I do not like the cheesy type, but the bloom somehow was overwhelming, although I like the lemon zest.

It’s all about the love of coffee, and chocolate. The Sumatra ($6.50++) coffee mousse with the combination of dark and white chocolate. I ain’t a coffee lover, so it didn’t quite worked out for me.

It’s all about childhood, birthday, and nostalgia. I remember the time when I was a kid, eating my black forest cake to celebrate the-day-I-was-borne. The Foret Noir ($6.90++) was the biggest in slice, with chocolate flakes showered all over the chocolate almond sponge cake soaked in kirsch. You know, the only reason why I detested eating black forest cake was the presence of brandied cherries within. Why can’t we do a black forest without them inside!

It’s all about chocolate. It’s all about chocolate baby. The sweet, o so sweet chocolate mousse with the flourless chocolate sponge. The “oomph” and “ahh” all came out. Heavenly chocolate. I can’t imagine somebody who will dislike this, and chocolate. The Chocolate Amer ($6.20++) was by far, one of the best cakes among the 10 that we tried.

With crunchy walnuts, chocolate ganache, and caramelised bananas. Ambrosia ($6.50++). I’m always against the marriage of banana and cakes. And now, there’s even a third party, walnut involved. Not my cup, or rather slice of cake.

I called this the cousin of Foret Noir. Having similar ingredients like chocolate mousse, and brandied cherries, the Coeur Noir ($6.50++) has dark chocolate glaze instead of the chocolate flakes, and a hazelnut dacquoise base.

Bakerzin’s signature, warm chocolate cake ($4.90, usual price $9.80). The chocolate ooze out like lava erupting from volcano. Like I mentioned before, when you eat the warm chocolate with the cold ice cream. The chemical process between the two combined together, was magic. At the current promotional price, i’ll agree its a good deal to try this out.

I must say the arrays of cakes Bakerzin offered, make them one of the leaders for gourmet cakes. But I still think that in terms of appeals, Bakerzin loses out, with Canele having stronger marketing and branding. I’ll like to thank the warm hospitality of area manager, Miss Janet Chua, who was around at the Novena branch.

Bakerzin
101 Thomson Road
#01-07/60 United Square
Singapore 307591
Tel: 6251 5550

A year, twelve months, fifty two weeks,

& three hundred and sixty five days.

A day, twenty four hours, one thousand & forty minutes,

& eighty six thousand & four hundred seconds.

Breakfast, brunch, lunch, tea, dinner & supper.

That’s how much we eat, and for the last meal of the year,

Something sweet.

A typical New York Cheesecake ($6.80), with a twist at the bottom. Instead of the usual digestive biscuit crumb base, this one had oatmeal mixed with digestive biscuit, resulting in a softer base. While it scored brownie points for creativity, I still preferred the original version. The cheesecake was the very rich and cheesy type, nothing like the light & airy type.

Something not-so-sweet. Strawberry yoghurt mousse ($7). Topped with pretty strawberries. I ain’t a big fan of yoghurt, but this hit the right spot with the perfect balance between the berries and mousse. The best part of a shooter dessert was digging into it. And sharing of course.

Now, my favourite. I left the Hazelnut Praline Royale ($6.80) for the last, since i knew me being me, i’ll definitely not like the other two desserts if I’ve started with this. Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder, and i only have you in my eyes. The praline base was definitely one of the thickest I’ve before. The richness of the chocolatey cake did not overwhelm in the first bite, but the cake was surely too much for one to finish alone. In short, think ferrero rocher cake.

Privé bakery café
2 Keppel Bay Vista
GF Marina @ Keppel Bay
Tel: 6776 0777

A classic Italian gastronomic, Galbiati gourmet deli actually started out as a takeaway place for its gourmet products. I’ve been wanting to give the place a visit ever since a friend highly recommended it, and railmall is so near to my place.

The interior of the deli was very small, with seating of at most 30. The simplistic environment of the place does makes one feels comfortable, a place where you can call your own Italian joint. The food offered are mostly simple food, with a wide array of home-made pastas, appetizer and main courses.

The Salmon asparagus linguine ($18) was based on the recommendation of the serving staff as my friend’s a great fan of the fish. A very light cream base accompanied the linguine, with the salmon stronger in taste. The asparagus seems to act as the neutralising balance between the salmon and the overall light taste of the dish. A fairly good home-made pasta.

I’ve a sneak preview of their pizzas at the counter, and was excited to hear that they’d served it fresh from the oven. The popular Hawaiian pizza ($8) was our choice for the night. Coming in squares of 6, the pizza was value for money. But, there’s no free lunch in this world, i thought that the ingredients were miserable, with one small cube of pineapple and ham. The pizza crust was very hard, and dry for my personal liking. And the tomato spread for the base was insufficient.

One of the unique characteristics of Galbiati deli was they actually encouraged takeaways. Dining in, the Lavender cheesecake ($7) is a dollar more expensive than if you opted to takeaway their desserts. The lavender flower infused a aromatic fragrant into the light cheesecake. The crust base was always a welcoming partner, to provide the crunch.

We always like to save the best for the last, to savour every bite of the Tiramisu ($7) for a lasting moment stored in our memory. Well i didn’t exactly had many tiramisu before, but Galbiati’s one is probably one of the best i’ve before. There wasn’t any deconstruction, nothing fanciful about the famous Italian dessert. Just a solid good one. The mascrapone cheese, with the the coffee-liquer infuse flavour, i was sorely tempted to order another one.

Total bill was $44 for two person. While the dinner didn’t exactly turn out to be as good as what i’ve expected, it’s easy to imagine myself back here for a simple meal. The only problem? The restaurant doesn’t allow photography, so i was taking photos secretly while they were not looking.

And i do enjoyed my rights of taking photos openly, so this may be the reason a revisit will eluded me. One thing’s for sure, i’ll definitely be back to try the other desserts, and the tiramisu of course. But the next time round, i’ll probably takeaway their desserts, and snap shots of it just directly outside their shop!

Galbiati Gourmet Deli
400 Upper Bukit timah road
RailMall
Tel: 6462 0926

The official term is potluck, some called it an outing. You can also see it as a pre-xmas celebration. Whatever, it is just a bloody excuse for the dessert enthusiast to get together, have fun and eat! Everybody brought something along, for those experts in baking, a chance to showcase their amazing skills, while the rest of us brought it from elsewhere.

Macarons, the speciality of Evan. She made hazelnut praline, rose, and pistachio flavours this time round. You might be think that i’m biased, but her macarons are one the best i tried so far. And we got some of the strictest dessert authorities who tasted them. Her macarons are available for sale on her site, do order some and give it a try!

Well, i tried rose flavour macarons from Canéle before, and i must say i wasn’t too impress with the rather artificial rose flavouring. While Canéle’s one was subtle in flavour, Evan’s rendition was fulsome in rose flavour. The shell was crispy, not the brittle type. The innard cream fillings were moist and light, and the aroma of the rose spread through, and was contagious like happiness.

Bright green in colour, the pistachio macaron was easy to spot among the desserts. I ain’t a big fan of pistachio, but this one was good enough, with the use of pistachio and almond. Personally, I felt that the almond taste was a tad strong though, and sort of covered the pistachio nut.

The hazelnut praline macaron, was clearly the best among the three. Everybody love hazelnut, who doesn’t like nutella? The strong hazelnut flavour was very nice, with the shells chewy and the whole taste simply blew me away. Everybody had one, while i couldn’t help myself and secretly took two! And do you believe this is actually Evan’s first time trying out with hazelnut for her macaron?

Next up, Vicki’s Swedish cinnamon rolls. Warmed up in the oven, sprinkled with icing sugar, the pretty cinnamon roll wasn’t as soft as i thought, but i enjoyed eating them round and round. Only the mountain of desserts behind stopped me from taking second helpings.

If we were to give out the best actress award for the event, it’ll definitely be the marshmallows. Her sweet looks deceived us completely, as she didn’t turn out to be as sweet as we thought it would. And that’s a good thing, most marshmallows are usually too sweet, but this one was just nice, and there was the hint of peppermint within. Another of Vicki’s creation. Her first time.

The Macha sponge cake ($20) was brought from Minamoto Kitchoan in the basement of Takashimaya. Some felt that the macha flavour wasn’t strong enough, and the sponge cake tasted more like our Chinese Fa kueh. Quite a disappointment actually.

There was rum, and there was nutmeg. The eggnog cheesecake was all about the liquor, and a hint of cinnamon. With the decoration of the pretty strawberries, the cheesecake was simple, and pretty enough. But i ain’t a big fan of liquor desserts, so this one didn’t make it for me. While others thought the liquor level was still acceptable and enjoyed it. Brought to you by caicancook.

Being the novice baker i am, it’ll be very embarrassing to bring my amateur bakes along for potluck. Therefore, i shared the Goodwood Park Hotel traditional Christmas chocolate log cake ($53 before 15% discount) with Fen.

How can Christmas be without the iconic log cakes? Goodwood Park’s one was very chocolatey, with rich layers of chocolate mousse, in between the home-made chocolate sponge. I haven’t had a proper log cakes for years, and to share it with friends who appreciate desserts, it was even more significant.

I wasn’t sure what the cake was initially. With some explanation from Sinny, who made the dessert. I googled the term, and here’s what i got. The bundt cake identity attributed from its ringed shape, it is pronounced “bunt” with the ‘d’ being silent. And guess what again? This was Sinny’s first time making this cake. The bakers were all like, “oh this was my first time making this and that“, when all of us were enjoying their desserts thoroughly!

We ended off our meal with some awesome pepper crabs by Claire’s father. There was also chicken wings, prawn rolls too! What are you thinking? We didn’t just ate desserts for the whole day!

Claire’s dog come out to play

Our first-ever potluck outing was a blast, and i believed everybody thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We spent like two hours taking photos of the food, and there was laughter the whole day. Thanks claire for hosting us at her house, and there’s definitely gonna be more potluck outings in the future!

Check out the rest of the dessert enthusiast entries:
Fen @ sgcake.com
Evan @ bossacafez
Sinny @ Fundamentally-flawed
Vicki @ herlittleblackdress

Until our next dessert enthusiast outing then! Happy Christmas everybody!

While co-owner and partner Mac excel in decorating the desserts, June enjoyed researching the use of new flavours instead. Perhaps it is the unique combination and strength in the partnership that gave Obolo Patisserie its success. ladyironchef decided to organise a dessert outing there and it went on smoothly with the support that the partners provided.

The interior of Obolo is very small, and could only fit in 15 people. Mac and his team rearranged the tables and did the settings for us, with the print of our dessert degustation menu, Obolo’s christmas catalogue, and a small gift in the form of cookies.

Our dessert degustation menu consisted of 12 desserts platter, namely 7 petite cheesecakes & entremets, 2 petite tartlets, 1 dessert shooter, and 2 les macarons. As always, i requested sampling portions for the menu as it’ll allowed us to try a variety of the desserts available at Obolo. Therefore, the pictures that you’ll be looking at are all mini-size, and does not reflect the actual size of the desserts.

Tartlet filled with milk chocolate & passion fruit ganache. The chocolate-passion was a sourish petite tart, mainly from the passion fruit used. Most of us found it too sour for our liking, and the sourness from the passion fruit completely overwhelmed the milk chocolate. I preferred it sweet.

Dark Chocolate ganache mousse, cassis ivoire mousse, praline feulletine base and moist dark chocolate-almond biscuit layers. Having tried Le Cassis before, i still enjoyed the contrasting taste between the slightly sour blackcurrent and the sweet of the chocolate ganache. I’m a big fan of the crunchy praline feulletine, but i thought that the layer was too thin, and not enough! Nonetheless, Le Cassis is definitely a hit with most of us.

Baked cheesecake infused with mango and passion fruit. While i didn’t really fancy passion fruit as i found it too sour, but in this instance the mango actually provided a better balance in the overall taste. The layer of biscuit crumb base would be nicer if it was thicker. The Mango-passion cheesecake had mixed reactions, with some finding it too sour, and some giving a thumbs up for the creative use of flavours.

67% caramel chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache, pecan chocolate fudge cake base. We were debating whether the nuts at the base were walnuts, but it’s actually pecan. The caraibe was one of my favourite of the night with the velvety chocolate mousse, dark chocolate ganache and chocolate fudge base. It was all about contrast and layering, really.

Tartlet filled with dark chocolate ganache. One of the few real chocolate of the night, the Chocolat Noir was better than the one that i had at Cova. One of the main feedback from the rest was, there was more sour than sweet dessert for the night. Mac explained that for decoration purposes, they liked to add in berries. But it ain’t the season for berries, and those that looked nice actually taste sour.

Some would prefer her to be drenched with liqueur, but the purist certainly say no! If you asked me, I’m on the purist side. The light mascarpone creme, dark chocolate ganache & chocolate genoise infused with coffee. Pull-me-up, of sugar and espresso. The tiramisu au chocolat.

Remember Pineapple tarts? You reminded me of Chinese New year, even though its only two months away. Pinada cheesecake, despite given a make-over, I still missed my pineapple tarts. The rum-soaked raisins didn’t help also.

Looking at the pistachio ivoire mousse, your eyes must be green with envy. Not to mention there’s still the cherry-raspberry gelee to deal with. I never like jam, definitely not the gelee in between the way of the dark chocolate ganache mousse, and the chocolate almond biscuit with kirsch. Almost prefect, the Nikta.

All the way from the states, there’s the New York cheesecake. Smooth, creamy, with a hint of lemon. At the pinnacle, seats the stunning strawberry. She’s the one that teased me all right, during our precious encounter. And now that I’ve conquered you, what do you have to say?

Appearance is secondary, they say inner beauty is more important. Nonetheless, the outer beauty sure makes a good impression. Sprinkle with gold dust, the ginormous strawberry garnished the top. There was tangy mascarpone mousse, and there was red berry gelee. Add in some kirsch-mixed berry compote, and i give you Summer Berries.

Miss macha was a last minute substitution, simply we got sick of Mr passion fruit. By common consensus, the shell was very thick, chewy, and a tad sweet. It’ll be better if she was lighter. But you couldn’t deny the fact that the macha macaron’s filling was prettily done.

Always a safe choice, the pairing of hazelnut and chocolate. Certainly a crowd teaser with that fulsome filling. Once my favourite, always my favourite. I don’t care what they say, i’m in love with you.

I’ll like to thank everyone who attended the dessert outing last night, and hope you all had a great time. There were old friends, and new faces, but everybody’s welcome! Also my thanks to Mac and June who supported and hosted us, for without them, this outing wouldn’t be possible.

For the rest of you folks who missed out on this dessert outing, not to worry. Details for my next food outing will be out tomorrow! So do let me know ASAP if you can make it for the lunch.

ps: read fen’s detailed review at sgcake.com
evan’s beautiful photos at bossacafez.com
jia xin at foodies queen

Cheers,
Brad

Another very familiar biscuit that you will surely see before in your childhood days. Collon is virtually present at all leading supermarkets, so you must be wondering, why did i even bother to do a write-up on this? The typical collon is in the standard, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavours. But this one here caught my partner’s attention as there’s a cheesecake picture on the box. Picture does tells a thousand words after all!

However, the small tiny roll with “cheesecake” cream sorely disapointed us. The taste was very subtle, almost non-existance, more like the normal vanilla than cheesecake. So don’t bother buying this when you see it the next time round at Meidi-ya.

This is a series of posts on Japanese snack, stay tune for the
Japanese snacks part 3!

Beard Papa Sweets is famous for their cream puff from Japan, with a tagline similar to that of Carlsberg, “probably the best cream puff in the world!”. I think i am kind of slow here, since Beard Papa has landed on our shores for quite some time, but i am only trying it now.

Today you can find Beard Papa throughout Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, China, Taiwan, Indonesia, Australia, US, Uk, and of course, Singapore. And there are currently 6 stores island-wide.

Besides their original vanilla cream puff, there’s also the cookie choux puff, strawberry puff, eclair puff, coronet, chocolate eclair, fondant chocolat, cheesecake stick, and tiramisu. All in the range of 2 dollar plus per piece.

It’s always a burden on the pocket eating and trying so many different type of food, so when i saw they are having a promotion of $1.60 for their original cream puff, i didn’t think twice before buying the cream puff. But pity they only have it for the original flavor, i wanted to try their strawberry and chocolate too!

Anyway there’s always this promotion coupon on Sunday times where a cream puff also cost $1.60 each, but i was lazy to cut it out everytime though.

Original Vanilla cream puff ($2.20)

I’m a sucker for cream puff, so the following comment would certainly be bias, and even exaggerating. The first bite of the cream puff brought me to the heavens, the fluffy and airy filling was a perfect complement to the light, chewy and slightly crispy pastry.

And i think at even at the $2.20 usual price, where else can you get such a big and awesome cream puff? I can hardly think of any place else, the durian puffs at Goodwood park hotel is excellent, but i don’t eat durian, and they are not exactly cheap.

After tasting the cream puff, i was reluctant to pass it to my friend who also wanted a bite, and was tempted to get a few more if not for the fact that i had dinner afterwards. I think i won’t have any trouble eating a dozen of it anytime.

Cheesecake stick ($1.30)

The cheesecake stick at $1.30 is the only item at Beard Papa sweet that sells for less than 2 bucks. And i think at #1.30, its definitely a good deal for a cheesecake stick that is cheesy in flavor, and has a biscuit crust base to go along with the cheesecake.

Total bill was $2.90 for two nice piece of desserts, and i won’t stop myself the next time i pass by another Beard Papa Sweets, oh the tiramisu, the chocolate and strawberry cream puffs, and the chocolate eclair!

Beard Papa Sweets
200 Victoria Street
#B1-12A Bugis Junction

Caffe Beviamo actually manages to catch LIC attention because of its apparent lack of signboard. The first time i know of this self-effacing and laid-back restaurant is during my visit to Tetsu at Tanglin Mall. The Caffe Beviamo there is located on the ground floor and i walked around the restaurant three times trying to spot its name but to no avail.

After knowing that Caffe Beviamo is also available at Paragon level 5, a visit looks to be on the cards. And after some “investigation”, LIC found the signboard for Caffe Beviamo!

Paragon level 5 is hardly a place i’ll go, not that i don’t visit Paragon, but that who goes to level 5? Its always at the first few levels that are most crowded. Therefore its rather a surprise when i reached level 5 and all the seats at Caffe Beviamo is taken.

The area isn’t very big, with rough estimates of at most 40 seaters. The light serene green of the woody seats coupled with white simple tables actually gives an unpretentious feel.

The most amazing thing about Caffe Beviamo is actually its simplicity. The whole cafe is so straightforward in the sense that it has a easy and pleasant ambience, the food they served are your simple and comfort food like sandwiches, toasts, salads and pasta. So much so that they bear a reminiscent of Epicurious.

Linguine ($11.50)

Linguine with tomato, basil & bocconcini. There are only two type of pasta available on the menu, with the other being Torchietti. The linguine served here is very simple, not very flavorful in the sense that it does not packs too many type of different ingredients in. Just simple tomato and bocconcini with a hint of basil.

Its rather hard to describe the term “Australian cuisine” as there’s rather few of such places in Singapore. But Caffe Beviamo quintessentially categorize its food as Australian. I’m not sure how “Australian” is the pasta, but its comfort food to me, simple and good.

Chicken Sandwiches ($10.50)

Basil pesto, zucchini, poached chicken breast and cheese makes up the chicken sandwich. The chicken sandwich is rather good too, nothing too complicated. I’m rather skeptical about the zucchini initially, but it actually taste quite well together with the chicken breast sandwich in between the bread.

Strawberry Shortcake ($3.5)

The strawberry shortcake rendition at Caffe Beviamo is given a make-over, not quite like your usual ones. With a big red juicy strawberry sandwich in between the pastry, it does provides an inspiration with the “playing” of food by constructing them different from the norm.

The desserts are not on the menu, and its rather pick-your-own from the counter. So grab yours fast because once they are out, other different ones will be offered instead. I saw a carrot cake before we started our meal, but after we finished it’s gone!

Cheese Cake ($4)

The normal cheese cake at Caffe Beviamo is real good! Cheesy yet not to the extent overwhelming. The biscuit crumb layer underneath the cake provides a different dimension to the soft and fluffy cheese cake. The “oomph” feel immediately make its presence known.

So good! And at 4 bucks, it’s really a steal. Appearance-wise it looks very ordinary, but the taste is definitely not!

Total bill is $31.55 for 2 person. The food and ambience at Caffe Beviamo is bona fide simple, but the simplicity is exactly the beauty of the place. Price-wise its certainly affordable in a cafe style, prices for pastas, sandwiches and salads ranges in the tens, and different varieties of toast at $4.5 each.

I’m not saying the food is excellent, it isn’t. However the comfort and simple food is exactly what you need sometimes after feeling jade from eating. The price won’t hurt you in the pocket, and the place’s nice to hang out with a couple of friends.

Desserts are excellent, although this can come to be rather a big tag since i have only tried two of their desserts. But given the prices, i think they are definitely worth a try, and i’ll be going to the other one at Tanglin Mall again.

Caffe Beviamo
290 Orchard Road
#05-K3 The Paragon
Tel: 6836 2535