Flor Patisserie by Chef Yamashita is a new Japanese Patisserie in Singapore. The talented chef was previously from the ever-popular Patisserie Glace, left and set up his own dessert place at the quaint Duxton Hill. Japanese patisseries and cake shops in Singapore are in the trend, with Kki at Ann Siang and Flor Patisserie joining the likes of Tampopo Deli, Patisserie Glace and Provence Bakery for a share of the pie.

I wouldn’t call the Napoleon ($6.20) a cake since it has a bigger proportion of puff pastry to cake. But this is exactly what I love about the Mille-feuille. Flor Patisserie’s rendition has a layer of cake in between the layers of puff pastry and cream. I love how the puff pastry crumbled in the mouth together with the cake and cream.

During his stint at Patisserie Glace, Chef Yamashita’s Strawberry Souffle ($6.0) was so heavenly that it was something I must order with every patronage. I am usually a generous person, and sharing is a form of love to me. But you cannot say the same for Strawberry Souffle because no one is to fight with me over that dessert. I would peg that as inhumane.

Essentially an open-faced cream puff, the Berry Choux ($6) uses Flor’s special pastry cream, fresh cream and berries. However, I wouldn’t pay six dollars for Patisserie Flor’s choux pastry since I can buy two of the best cream puffs at Tampopo Deli for the same price.

Baked till golden at its most precise perfection, the Mango Pie ($6.0) took us completely by surprise. Atop the pie sat the rich-coloured mango, looking pretty from all angles and our appetite were instantly whet from its delightful appearance. But apart from its superficial beauty, we were not expecting Heaven from the tart – or what the chef calls a Pie.

Let’s make this clear first – the mango pie isn’t the regular ‘perfect 10′ dessert you would fall in love at first sight. The one that I had grew on me after a few bites. I was so greedy about them that I took to licking my spoon to get every last smear of the pie. It took the promise of a ‘good dinner’ to stop me from placing more orders at the Japanese cake shop.

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Patisserie Flor is located at the slope, right before the rows of Duxton Hill restaurants. The Japanese desserts are reasonably priced around $5-6 for each slice of cake. For lucky ones who work at that district, it is such a blessing because you can now cultivate the new habit of popping by for a tantalizing dessert after lunch!

There is something inherently enchanting about pretty desserts on a clean white plate. It felt as thought everything would be okay after I’m done with the cake. Desserts, will save the world!

Cakes make me very happy. I want to eat cakes!

Restaurant Review
Flor Patisserie
2 Duxton Hill #01-01 Singapore
Tel: +65 6223 8628
Mon – Sat: 11am – 7pm
Sun: 11am – 5pm

In this world, not everything that happen will be bad. And I believe some things occur in one way or the other, for a reason. It must be fate that I get to know Cream Puff (C). I remember vividly the first time we met; she was sitting in a corner, dainty, and oh yes, stunning. I hesitated a while, then with the corniest pick up line that I can think of, I approached her:

“Hello, my name is Brad. I couldn’t help but noticed you when I walked by just now, and it will be such a regret if I didn’t say hi. I know this may sound superficial, but you are really pretty, can I get to know you?”

With that, we became lovers. It’s almost like an affair actually, I mean you don’t go around telling everyone about your great love. We are friends, we are lovers, we are soul-mates, we are life companions; she’s the half apple that I have been searching for.

I love you because I know you will always be there, whenever I’m feeling down and unhappy, when we are seeking for some thrill, when I need nobody, nobody, but you. I love you because you never fail to make me smile, our kisses are the best thing ever in this world, there’s nothing so magical, and wonderful. I love you, because I love you.

Give me a cream puff, and I will love you forever.

Forever, till the far side of forever? That was before I met Mont Blanc (M). I’m not sure if this is what you call destiny, but I’m very sure our meeting was a beautiful accident that was always meant to happen. In every way, she was very different from C. If C is summer, M will be winter. The former is full of passion, warmth and love, but the latter is the exact opposite; she’d keep me at an arm’s length and push me away, she’d ignore me whenever I tried to get to know her. Maybe this is why I’m so attracted to her. Man always like to chase, the things that we cannot have – all the more we will try and get it.

I shouldn’t be telling you all this, now it makes me feel guilty to C. I’m sure I told you this before,  C is incredible, like really really incredible. She kissed me lightly on the lips, and before I knew it, I swallowed her in a mouthful. I’m not sure if there’s anything on this world that can make me so happy.

But I like M too. I knew of her existence from a long time back, but somehow, she never interest me even though there were countless of opportunities for us to get acquainted. Her chestnut cream, was surprisingly, not as sweet as I thought, and somehow I’m grateful that the chestnut taste was quite subtle as I have never been a fan of the nut. Oh, the dilemma. I like Mont Blanc dessert too.

In between our love triangle, there’s Matcha Chiffon. I like her, in a platonic way. You don’t believe in platonic friends? Neither do I. But we seem to be able to get along very well, to begin with, she’s light, moist and airy in all the right places, and I did mentioned that she’s matcha right?

With this Matcha chiffon, will you please forgive me?

Restaurant Review
Tampopo Deli
177 River Valley road
#B1-16 Liang Court
Tel: 6338 7386

This is a story of boy meets love, and you should know up front, this is definitely a love story. Boy meets dessert, boy fall in love, oh yes, this is a happily-ever-after ending.

The Tart pudding was highly raved upon by the staff at Tampopo Deli; we decided to get it since there’s no harm trying – I mean how bad can custard and tart be? It’s almost like an egg tart, albeit in an Japanese manner, so lets just call this the Japanese egg tart. I enjoyed every bite of the crispy tart, with the soft eggy custard sitting on top; it was not wow, but pretty good.

Meet Chiffon, she’s terrific, if I may: light, moist and airy in all the right places. The texture of the chiffon is amazingly soft, and it’s one of those things that you have totally no idea of what you are eating, and you just keep putting more into your mouth, until it’s gone. And there’s the shredded cheese which gave the light chiffon an additional distinct taste. This is it.

Cream puff is one of my all-time favourite dessert – they are incredible. Like really really incredible. The sweet Japanese cream within the crispy choux pastry was amazing, I took a bite and I don’t know if there’s any thing else that can make me feel so happy. I swear – Tampopo Deli has one of the best cream puffs!

Apparently, the cream puffs are in such great demand that they get sold out very fast. Either make a call to reserve them, or go on the hourly spot (they baked each batch by the hour). There’s no denying that I have a massive sweet tooth. Cookies, chocolate, fudge cake, cheesecake, give them to me, give them all to me. Can you ever say no to them? In short, I like anything sweet, I’m definitely a dessert-holic! It’s so tempting to just order every single dessert from the shelf, and for now, boy will meet love in the dreams.

Tampopo Deli
177 River Valley road
#B1-16 Liang Court
Tel: 6338 7386

Tampopo Deli is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

Our very special night with DBS Foodster started with the limo fetching us to The Queen & Mangosteen. Cheerful staff greeted us, the smoothing sea breeze, with the relaxing ambience, the stage was set for a wonderful dinner.

We started off by ordering from the Nibbles menu. The portion of the Fish & Chips ($15) was more than enough to be served as an entrée, three pieces of fish with a big bucket of fries. Mind you, it’s not just the usual side fries, it’s a whole bucket of tasty potatoes! I would prefer them to come in thicker wedge with some green peas by the side – the traditional British good O’ fish & chips. But still, it’s good enough.

And oh yes, I forgot to mention about the special curry tartare sauce. It was awesome! Indian cuisine has always been a big influence on the Brits, the sauce provided another different dimension which we never had before.

The shredded slow-braised duck with crusty bread ($13) was ordered out of curiosity, and the staff did warn us it could be an acquired taste, but we went ahead anyway. The taste was quite close to a pate, but somehow it reminded me of the tuna spread that I put on my bread.

Following on the adventurous tone that has been set, we went for the Spicy minced beef ($14). There wasn’t anything spectacular when we had the minced beef or corn chips separately. But it was a hit when we spread a generous layer of minced beef on top of the chips and drizzled some sour cream together.

Love comes in all shapes and sizes, the Mini hamburgers & chips ($18 for 3 mini burgers) were not only cute but also pleasing to the palate. I didn’t think much of it initially, but after taking a bite, the small beef patty was delicious! And just like the fish & chips, it came with a big bucket of fries too.

Just in case you were wondering, no we’ve not started on our main courses yet, all those you seen thus far are all just appetisers. At The Queen & Mangosteen, they offered a wide range of its signature craft brews including old favourites like Archipelago Straits Pale to pair with the food.

We wanted to order everything from their menu; the wild mushroom risotto is totally my kind of dish, the clayfish cooked in beer and fisherman’s pie are crowd-pleaser, roasted rack of lamb is music to the ears of a carnivore, but there was just too many to choose from so in the end we didn’t have all of them.

The rope-grown blue mussels ($28) came highly recommended and it did not disappoint. Using a fork to pitch the shell, we slurped down each mussel which was cooked in chilli, with delight.

I always wanted to try Bangers & mash ($26) which was quintessentially three sausages – pork, lamb and beef with mashed potatoes served with caramelised onion gravy. The lamb sausage had a very distinct and gamy taste that might be too much for non-lamb eaters, and the beef was fairly good too. But it was the pork sausage that grabbed our attention!

Bea’s a big fan of beef, so naturally we ordered the rib-eye of beef ($38). Steak with thick cut chips, yorkshine pudding and a choice of wild mushroom sauce, thyme jus or caramelised shallot pepper sauce. We chose the latter with the steak done medium rare.

“It’s one of the better steaks that I’ve!” She exclaimed. I like the thick cut chips, while the chewy texture of the Yorkshire pudding sort of tasted like choux pastry.

The Cambridge Burnt cream ($10) or affectionately known as Creme Brulee was our favourite dessert. Beneath the beautifully burnt caramelized sugar, was a rich custard base. We dug in, and finished every bite of it.

“Whoa“, and “Ooh” were heard when the Mango coconut truffle ($12) arrived on our table. Our first impression: was it ketchup? There was a generous amount of berries and mango within the layers; the strong mango taste hit us first, with a subtle hint of coconut.

Between you and me, this shall be fondly remember as the ketchup soap.

It was one of those desserts that you didn’t know how they manage to make it this way, which you just keep on eating, and eating until it’s gone. I totally enjoyed the White chocolate & Cassis cake ($12). Interestingly, the triple chocolate ice cream on top of the cake took very long to melt. The white chocolate cassis cake was sweet, the girls found it too sweet, and so I had most of it to myself!

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While the menu doesn’t have a wide variety of selection, there’s some pretty good selections for sharing and the portions were substantial too. My appreciation to Lynda from DBS, Cherylene & Seema from Eurorscg, and the folks at The Queen & Mangosteen for making the dinner a blast!

I will be going to different restaurants for three consecutive Saturdays with DBS Foodster, find out more information about the DBS Indulge Series here and you can also watch a video which I took in the restaurant here. I’m definitely looking forward to the next dinner at Umani this coming Saturday!

The Queen & Mangosteen
1 Harbourfront walk
#01-106 Vivocity
Tel: 6376 9380

I have a sweet tooth

Contrary to normal beliefs that guys don’t like sweet stuff, I, for one, however proved to be the complete opposite. I like things that make me happy; food that can cheer me up, the happily-ever-after fairytale-like stories, and naturally, sweet nibbles that I always crave for.

The lady took one, from the pile of mountain-stacked high; this was the one destined for me. Poking a hole into the bottom by tucking it in, she pressed the pump; the lovely custard swam into the tiny hole, just big enough, for everything to flow inside.

Dusted with some icing sugar; it was akin like putting on the make-up for the pretty. I was excited by the sticking in and out, with each done, I could barely hide my excitement. And she repeated this process, six times in total.

Do not, I repeat, Do not (note: in bold), share your sweets around, they are not meant to be shared. What’s the point of passing them around, only to feel slightly agonizing over the fact that you are going to have less for yourself?

Stop staring at my cream puff. They are mine, and mine alone.

This, will come down as, one of the toughest decision you will make in your life. Chocolate, vanilla, or strawberrry? And there’s the lovely eclair winking at me, the tiramisu trying to seduce me. It is a land, of temptations. I decided, like what seemed to take an eternity, to go for just half-a-dozen with the chocolate and vanilla flavours. The rest, are my excuses for coming back next time.

And I regretted just getting six.

Beard Papa Sweets
391 Orchard road
#B2-07-9-1 Ngee Ann city
Tel: 6238 8819

The constant upgrading and renovation of our heartlands, together with the ageing of the older chefs will mean that many delicious food will be soon extinct, and forever gone from us. We have seen many of your favourite childhood hawker stalls, and the old-school bakeries disappearing from our sight.

Love confectionery is located just beside the Alexander Village food centre, opposite of Queensway shopping centre. Having been there for very long, I knew about its presence before, but just didn’t pop in, until now.

Cream puffs ($0.40 each)

The cream puffs was merely 40 cents each, yes 40 cents! They came in two flavours, cream and custard. We immediately grabbed half a dozen of this, and looked around to see if there’s other steals, but to our disappointment, most of the their other bakes were sold out already.

The custard puffs were not too bad, i wasn’t too sure whether i’ll like them or not, so i only had two out of the six i got. The eggy taste was evidently present, and you could do yourself no harm since they are only 40 cents each.

The cream puff was good, the pastry skin was soft and fluffy, the only gripe – it wasn’t sinful enough. Of course you can’t compare it with the one at Beard Papa with such a big differential in price, but i did find that the cream used here wasn’t that fantastic, if only it’s made with the superior Japanese cream.

I think i’m asking too much for a cream puff which was 40 cents. Given the price, and the nostalgic of the cream puff, do grabbed a dozen the next time round.

Butter cakes ($0.90 each)

They also had two types of butter cakes that day, with the body being the same, peanut and almond separating both. It’s so old-school! The butter cake was very soft, and to say it melt softly with a deft bite wasn’t exaggerating.

Total bill was $4.80 for half a dozen cream puffs and two slices of cakes. They have other type of bakes, but it was either sold out or wasn’t available when i was there that day. I’ll probably get a dozen of those cream puffs the next time i’m in the area. And oh by the way, just to not mislead you, they don’t serve the pastry there, i brought them home to put on nice plates for the photos!

Love Confectionery
Blk 122 Bukit Merah lane 1

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