If you have been reading my food blog for a while, you would know that I love cakes and I am always on the lookout for dessert places in Singapore. With so many new patisseries, cake and pastry shops opening this year, I think dessert lovers are living in exciting times.

Bonheur Patisserie at Duxton road, is a fairly new confectionery in Singapore which specialises in customised wedding cakes. They also have a dine-in cafe where you can order a slice of cake for a nice afternoon high tea.

Currently, they have an on-going Weekday High Tea Set (before 5pm): 1 cake and 1 drink for $8.5. Otherwise, you can always drop by after work and enjoy the Weekday after 7pm promotion: buy 3 cakes and get 1 free.

We were quite fascinated by the dome-shaped Tiramisu ($6.5) which you see in the first picture of this post. Both the Tiramisu and the Light Peach Sakura ($6.5) had a biscuit-like crust base, and we had lots of fun digging into the desserts. If you like tarts, go for Bonheur Patisserie’s Chocolate Hazelnut Tart, which was pretty good with its crisp pastry shell and bitter-sweet chocolate filling.

Amongst the cakes that we’ve tried, my favourite was the Strawberry Balsamic ($6.5). The pretty cake was deceptively light, with a nice touch of balsamic strawberry.

On my second visit, we shared four cakes: Mango Cheesecake ($6.5), Carrot Cake ($6.5), Caramel Opera ($6.5) and Chocolate Pound Cake ($6).

I thought that Bonheur Patisserie’s Carrot Cake was exceptionally ordinary, and so was the Chocolate Pound Cake. Thankfully, the Caramel Opera was not too bad, with the fatal (extremely sweet) combination of caramel, chocolate and coffee.

The Mango Cheesecake was the crowd-pleaser. With a smooth mango flavour and crusty base, the cheesecake was delightful and not too overwhelming.

The Tangjong Pagar/Duxton area really is a mini dessert paradise. Besides Bonheur Patisserie, Kki Cafe, Patisserie Glace and Flor Patisserie are also located in the same area. So if you are craving for cakes, I’m sure you know where to go now.

For more cakes, read my list of Best Dessert Places in Singapore | Best Cakes in Singapore

Singapore Food Blog Review
Bonheur Patisserie
70 Duxton Road Singapore
Tel: +65 6221 1148

Operating Hours:
Mon to Thu: 10am – 8pm
Fri to Sat: 10am – 10pm

When it comes to chocolate desserts, no one does it better than Laurent Bernard Chocolatier. Formerly known as The Chocolate Factory, the newly renamed Laurent’s Café & Chocolate Bar has two branches at Robertson Quay and Portsdown road. Whenever I’m having dinner at the Robertson Quay restaurants, I always find it hard to decide between Canele Patisserie or Laurent Bernard for desserts.

For those of you who are having a chocolate craving, I’m sure Laurent’s Cafe & Chocolate Bar can satisfy you with the chocolatey truffle cake, my favourite Plaisir Sucré, the delicious chocolate tart and of course, their famous Chocolate Souffle.

One of my favourite cakes from Laurent Bernard Cafe is definitely the Pleasure ($9.80). The classic Plaisir Sucré comprises whipped chocolate cream and ganache in between the beautiful and delicate chocolate sheets, and a base of hazelnut and praline; it is out-of-this-world.

The Trianon ($7.80) reminds me of the Plaisir Sucré. In place of the chocolate sheets, it has the dark yet rich chocolate mousse, and the base of hazelnut dacquoise is excellent. Look at the picture on top, the dessert looks so gorgeous!

Having the Chocolate Soufflé ($16.50) may takes time and patience, but straight out from the oven, it’s instant gratification. Once you start digging your spoon into the souffle cup, it’s almost impossible to stop, that is, until you are down to the last smear of the spoon.

The chocolate souffle is moist, dark, rich, and intense while the accompanying raspberry sherbet is sour, tangy and provides the perfect balance to the dessert.

There’s a waiting time of 15-30 minutes for the chocolate soufflé, and like they say: good things come to those who can wait. But sometimes, I’m not so sure. Between the chocolate soufflé and warm chocolate lava cake, I’m inclined to go for the latter – who can resist the magnificent oozing effect? Not me.

Laurent Bernard has possibly the best chocolate souffle in Singapore, but I’m not encouraged by neither the long waiting time nor the price tag. Most people will probably disagree with me, but if I’m craving for chocolate souffle, I will go to Bakerzin which serves a pretty competent rendition at only half the price.

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Chocolate bars are my Disney land, somehow they know how to make me happy. If you are in the Esplanade or Vivocity area, go to Max Brenner Chocolate Bar, and if you are somewhere near Robertson Quay or Portsdown road, then it’s a must to go Laurent Bernard Chocolatier to satisfy your chocolate craving.

Which is your favourite dessert from Laurent’s Café & Chocolate Bar?

Singapore Food Restaurant Review
Laurent Bernard Chocolatier
80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-11
The Pier @ Robertson Singapore
Tel: +65 6235 9007

5B Portsdown Road #01-02
Wessex Village Square Singapore
Tel: +65 6475 9410

// Read my list of the best dessert places in Singapore.

Everything With Fries Cheese Burger

I was joking on twitter that restaurants are coming up with all sorts of fanciful name to catch the attention of diners. We have Mad for Garlic (an Italian restaurant at Suntec that is obsessed with Garlic), Once Upon a Milkshake (the ice cream/milkshake parlour), and now Everything With Fries (but apparently not everything comes with fries).

Gimmicky names are fine since they help customers to remember and associate the restaurant’s brand identity. For example, if it’s just called ‘another Italian restaurant’, chances are no one will take notice of it. But you know, if it’s up to me, I’d totally call my cafe Death by Nutella!

Okay that aside, I have been to Everything with Fries’s original outlet at Joo Chiat before, but I only had their popular Nutella tart that time. Fast forward half a year later, now they have a new branch at Lorong Mambong, Holland Village.

Everything With Fries Lamb Burger

Top of their main course list on the menu is the Cheese Burger ($9.90). All mains at Everything With Fries are served with a choice of fries and a coleslaw or baby caesar. While this is not as confusing, nor as complicated (or comprehensive if you prefer to say it in a nicer manner) as Aston Specialties just a stone throw down the road, there was some problems when it comes to deciding the fries.

Given it’s call Everything With Fries, nobody expects it to have just one type of fries. There’s two types to choose from, shoestring and straight cut – and five different ‘flavors’: Original, Curry, Salt & Vinegar, Sour Cream and Onion, Garlic and herbs.

I’m just guessing here, but they probably got the inspiration from potato chips. Doesn’t Sour cream and onion reminds you of Lays potato chips? Anyway among the few of us, we preferred the Straight cut (thick fries) to the Shoestring (skinny fries).

The staff strongly recommended the One Egg Soup. It was pretty value for money granted that the soup was only $3.90. Taste wise, it was not too bad, with a deep fried egg in the middle of chicken broth. But personally, I’d rather order an additional dessert.

Among the main courses that we have tried, I like the Pork Cutlet Sandwich ($8.90). There’s something about a pork cutlet sandwich that makes it so nostalgic.

If you do not want something so sinful, then go for the Grilled ham and cheese sandwich ($8.90). Lightly toasted bread with ham and cheese enveloped in between, accompanied by shoestring Sour cream and Onion fries, and coleslaw.

For desserts, we opted for the Mille Crepe ($5.90). On it’s own, the crepe was weak, bordering on bland. But when I dipped it in the chocolate sauce from the nutella tart, everything tasted so good! Maybe it’s the chocolate sauce then.

Mention Everything With Fries, chances are people will reply Nutella Tart ($4.90), which is one of their popular items on the menu. For five dollars, I am not complaining, but it will be perfect if it comes with a bigger scoop of ice cream.

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It’s a very simple formula: Decent food + Catchy marketing + Affordable prices. But most places just don’t get it. They either tried and failed completely, or missed out on one of the factors.

I am hoping that the folks at Awfully Chocolate who are the ones behind Everything With Fries (EWF), will not go down the cafe-chain route. It’s cool to have two to three branches so that we can visit Everything With Fries without having to go all the way to Katong, but I think it will be a mistake if they are going to open a dozen cafes all over Singapore.

Everything with Fries is affordable, serve pretty decent Western food and now that there’s a new branch at Holland V, I’m very sure they will have many new supporters in the West.

Restaurant Review
Everything With Fries
458 Joo Chiat Road
Tel: +65 6345 5034

40 Lorong Mambong
Holland Village
Tel: +65 6463 3741
(Closed on Monday)

Right on the heels of a romantic dinner at Forlino, I had another amazing Italian feast – the following day. The original plan was to have a simple lunch somewhere else.

“Why don’t we go to Valentino?” I asked jokingly.

Apparently, my lunch date took it very seriously. To cut the story short, we ended up at Valentino’s after calling to confirm a table. Stepping inside Ristorante Da Valentino, it feels like we are in our charming Italian neighbours’ house for dinner.

Most squid ink pasta, or at least the ones that I’ve tried, had the quirky and murky flavor. This one tasted like squid ink. It tasted like fresh ink extracted on the spot.

Like the one that I’ve at Forlino the night before, the Fettucine al Granchio ($23.9) here was also infused with squid ink. Huge chunks of crab meat with the fettucine, tossed with the creamy tomato sauce – it was absolutely wicked!

Now we have a problem. I want every slurp of the pasta. No, I do not want to share.

Option A: Finish everything and re-order before my partner returns from the washroom.

Option B: Try to convince her that the mushroom risotto is better than the squid ink pasta.

I could see no Option C, even though I was secretly praying that she’d not like the pasta.

Unfortunately not. In case you are wondering, we wiped the plate clean. I’d die for the squid ink pasta, or less dramatically, save up and come here every week – just for this.

I want Risotto. My dear Seafood linguine, it doesn’t mean I don’t like you anymore. It just means right now, I’m craving for risotto more.

Mushroom risotto has a very important place in my heart. I don’t always order it, but when I do – it has to be good. Maybe subconsciously, we wanted more of the squid ink pasta, or maybe we had small appetite that day. Either way, just a word of caution: see the plate of Porcini Mushroom Risotto ($23.9) up there?

It might not look like a lot, but trust me, both of us couldn’t finish it.

Sweetie, it’s desserts, and Perla’s Pastry Boutique is calling!

Right beside the restaurant, there is Perla’s patisserie by Valentino’s sister. There’s no dine-in area for the patisserie, but the desserts are available if you are dining in the restaurant. It was an agonizing choice between the tiramisu, panna cotta, frutti bosco and their signature chantilly cake. But the sight of the gorgeous mixed berries were simply irresistible.

There’s a wise saying that goes like this: never trust a beautiful woman, and if I can add on to it, never trust the beautiful berries to taste sweet. Call me shallow, but I actually fall for it. Oh well, what to do, I’m superficial. Anyway I believe there’s blackberries, raspberries and strawberries in the Frutti Bosco ($8.80).

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A romantic dinner for two is not necessary just about fantastic view or fanciful cuisine. Lovely, lovely place. Valentino is my definition of a romantic restaurant, it is all about us having good food in a cozy ambiance. Here’s a restaurant for Valentine’s day, reservations are definitely a must for dinner.

I’m going to bring all my friends to Ristorante Da Valentino for their homely, authentic Italian food. Rifle range road is directly opposite King’s Albert Park & Bukit Timah Plaza. Pick up your phone, and dial the eight digit numbers. Get on with it.

Restaurant Review
Ristorante Da Valentino
11 Jalan Bingka
Mayfair Park
Tel: +65 6462 0555

Ristorante Da Valentino is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore.

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

Even though I can’t really take spicy food well, I do enjoy Indian cuisine. Many people dream of opening their own restaurant or cafe one day, I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but not everyone has what it takes to be a restaurateur.

There are so many aspects to make a good restaurant; other than delicious food, there’s the training of your staff, gorgeous interior design, an accessible and attracting location, a good wine list, visual-appealing menu, handling the suppliers and one, ten, twenty other small minor details.

The Muthu’s Flavors is the latest brainchild by renowned Muthu’s curry on Race course road. Now you get to enjoy the same good Indian food in a contemporary restaurant setting, with everything plated nicely, in the lush Dempsey hill.

Interior design wise – I’m a sucker for white. It’s interesting to see a traditional Indian restaurant using a bold and unique orange-white combination, and this actually makes The Muthu’s Flavors different from the  original Muthu’s Curry. Well I can’t say for all the staff service wise, but I do think that they have a good manager in Joseph, and his assistant is equally knowledgeable about all the food.

Photo Credit of the second interior shot: Monoxious.com

When a restaurant is located in Dempsey, it’s difficult not to get noticed by people. While I used to think that Dempsey is all about three things: over-rated, over-priced, and over-crowded; but there are some really good restaurants there.

If you know me well, I’m very particular when it comes to the menu, it shows everything about the restaurant. Well it may not be true for all places, how much can you expect when they do not even put in effort into doing out a good menu? Small tiny details like the font, the positioning of the words, the use of colour of font and background, the visual aspects of having some good photos (it can works either way) and the pricing of the dishes; while some restaurants’ menu disgusted me with either messy layout or lousy photos, there are efforts put into Muthu’s flavors menu.

Pappadam, the Indian flat bread was used instead of the typical toasted bread for the Pappadam Bruschetta ($5.50). I always have a thing for diced tomatoes. I’m not sure why, but somehow, they just look so appealing when it’s diced into tiny squares.

Eating the Crab meat stir-fried with fennel ($18.9), it makes me think that I’m eating chicken floss, with the addition of green chili and onions.

I was tweeting the previous night before this dinner, that I’m craving for some awesome curry, lo and behold, the famous Muthu’s Fish Head Curry ($25). Served with ladies finger and pineapple chunks in a rich gravy of aromatic spices, the tangy, slightly spicy sweet curry gravy makes me blush, like a young boy meets love.

Why do we even bother to order the other dishes? This is as good as it gets, and no, we are not going to debate on the ‘best curry fish head in Singapore’ topic. Pour the curry gravy on fragrance white rice, and that’s my dinner.

Tomato and garlic marinated chicken served with Cheese naan, frankly speaking, I could not recall much of the Chicken Tikka Masala ($15.5). Barring the fact that I was already sweating profusely after the sensation from the curry fish head, I stuffed myself with cheese naan.

Between the Massala prawn and the Muthu’s Prawns 65 ($17.9), we decided to go for both. I have no idea of the reason behind the inclusion of 65 in the name, but all of us agreed unanimously that Massala prawn was a better choice as the freshness of the prawns were lost in the deep-frying process.

The Massala Prawns ($23.9) were definitely much better. Huge tiger prawns cooked with a combination of chilies, tomatoes and spices. It’s one of the sweetest thing in life to have someone peeling prawns or crabs for you, some love to get their hands dirty, while others either try to use a fork and spoon to shell the prawns, or simply refused to eat it.

In between our debates over the proper terms of whether it is called de-prawning or de-shelling the prawns, here’s my version of ‘how to peel a prawn‘. 1) Use both hands and hold the god-damn prawn steady. 2) Remove the head and all the tiny legs. 3) De-shell the shell starting from the legs area 4) Pull off the tail and eat your prawn.

Okay fine, so I got greedy. We were full but still, the Lamb Rack Ananas ($22.9) was too alluring for us (or rather, me) to resist. I like how they barbecue the pineapple and add the distinct fruity flavor to the meat. They look good. They smell good. I like to hold it by the bone, gnaw it right up and finish every single bit.

Lamb rack aside, I didn’t know barbecued pineapple can actually taste so good! The others were too full to finish the rack. If the lamb isn’t attractive enough – there’s the tantalizing tandoori chicken beckoning to us.

This Tandoori Chicken ($16.9) is a wonderful all-weather kind of food: I’d imagine holding the drumstick and biting off the meat on a cold rainy day, and feasting on the flavorful chicken during summer. I usually don’t like chicken breast because it’s tough, dry and unappetizing (at least to me), but you know what?

I absolutely love the chicken breast here. It was so tender, and moist. This is the first time I’m giving such high praises to a chicken breast, and I actually like the breast as much as the drumstick.

So, it was a choice between Kulfi or Masala Chai Flan ($7.9), I never enjoy the Indian style ice cream, and having a good impression of a flan dessert helps. The ladies thought that the flan was too sweet; if you’re anything like me, I bet you’d happily finish the whole dessert on your own – I did.

This, is the Beetroot Halwa ($6.9). I know what you are thinking. Beetroot, and dessert? Weird? Yes. As much as I agree that beetroot is always very interesting as it provides the natural reddish purple coloring, but I’m sorry darling; beetroot just don’t work very well with dessert, for me.

Photo credit of restaurant exterior: Monoxious.com

Being a new restaurant, there are still a lot of teething problems to sort out, but it will be interesting how people react to the new Muthu’s Flavors concept. Purist and loyal supporter of Muthu’s Curry at Race course road may, or may not receive well to the idea of dining in such a classy and contemporary Indian restaurant, but I’m sure the younger crowd, and especially those who frequent Dempsey often, will be happy to have a new option for good and affordable Indian food.

I’ll like to thank Rayner from Contagious and the folks behind Muthu’s Curry for the invitation to the food tasting session.  If you are keen to try out the food, The Muthu’s Flavors, Dempsey is having a 25% off total bill promotion from now until 28th Feb, and they have a new outlet at 313 @ Somerset too.

Restaurant Review
The Muthu’s Flavors
Blk 7 Dempsey Road
#01-01 (Near B&J)
Tel: 6474 5128

My adventure in Australia is drawing to a close, but I will like to share one final post with you: Adriano Zumbo. This is the patisserie that has caught Sydney by storm, this is the bakery that has created many lovely creations each season – this is the place in Sydney that I wanted to go the most.

Cakes arrived at our small round table, plated nicely. I’ve no idea exactly how the name Google it, Real life ($7.9) came about. But I do know for a fact that it is banana passion-fruit creme tart, and it is not just a pretty face. The diguise of almond croquante within the midst of the creme was clever; it added a crunchy dimension and provided a slightly salty aftertaste to the tart.

First and foremost: banana passion-fruit creme, a pretty orange-yellow layer on top of the crispy tart, beautifully dressed by the presence of the fresh berries. Banana and passion-fruit provided a good balance with each other, on it’s own, passion-fruit taste slightly sourish, but the banana is like the key to the lock, just like how chocolate always works with hazelnut.

The fine balance meant that neither fruits were overbearing, and in this case, it was rather surprising that both the banana and passion-fruit maintained a subtle, yet distinct flavor.

Your frund in the frudge.. toasted ($7.90), turns out to be a quirky interpretation of sandwich with tomato and cheese, in the body of a cake. I’ve ordered it solely based on the crispy puff pastry; the toast mousse had one of the weirdest taste I ever came across, flanked with the addition of the tomato jelly and the melted cheese creameaux, with hints of black pepper; I’d give it full marks for the creative idea, but it was too much for me.

Most of the creations have cheeky and whimsical names, and the 5, 6, 7, 8 ($8) is no exception. The flavors practically exploded on my tongue, each portion was trying to out-do the other; the lemongrass pandan & vanilla creame legere was by far my favourite among the three components of the cake.

You can discover the robust lemongrass taste among the smoothing and fragrance pandan; to the right of it there’s a case of identity crisis with the pineapple palm sugar sous vide – Adriano did something to it, but I’ve totally no idea whatever that is.

Coriander creamaux completes the trio with a peanut stable base the the bottom. 5, 6, 7, 8 is a highly complex creation, it looks good with the three complimenting colors, and there’s an intense mixture of different taste and texture involve – you’d either love it, or get lost trying to follow each and every unique flavor.

I’m glad we left the Not too S-h-a-b-b-y ($7.9) for the last, it was again, a combination of many different individual flavor, blend in to make one wholesome cake. There was flourless biscuit, muscavado creme brulee plantation chocolate mousse, and chocolate malt creme legere; all of which did not make sense to me. Tasting the stuff, one struggles for words, memories came flashing back and I felt like a kid again; I remember the first time I tried nutella, the first time I put foie gras into my mouth – I know my life will never be the same again.

It took every bit of discipline I had not to moan and giggle and rave after my first bite. I’m in love with this cake, so in love, she’s the reason for my very existence.

I’m really happy that I went to Adriano Zumbo patisserie before I left, his bold yet unique creations are indeed worth the effort to travel all the way there, I think Adriano Zumbo really deserves the accolade he has earned so far.

The fact that the patisserie is out of town in Balmain, yet managed to garner so much support, tells you everything about the desserts. Adriano Zumbo – he’s a genius! Thank you Richard & Simon for bringing me here!

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This is the last post of my Twelve days in Sydney. It is not exaggerating to say that I planned the itinerary based on food, and all these will not be possible without the awesome food blogs in Sydney. I had the pleasure of meeting 50 Sydney food bloggers at a Christmas party while I was there; Helen & Lorraine are practically food bibles of Sydney, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading Billy’s, Howard & crew and many other great food blogs that is impossible for me to list all of them here.

I’m not sure when I will be back again, but there’s something I’m certain of: Sydney is a great city, with real friendly folks, and good food. See you there!

Adriano Zumbo Patisserie
296 Darling St
Balmain, Sydney

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

I eat desserts first. There is not a single day that I will stop thinking about them. I have a really sweet, sweet tooth, and I don’t know how to control it. Oh heck, I don’t want to control it. Sweets are good, they make me happy.

First bite – wow. This is definitely a ferrero rocher cake. Even though the Caraibe ($8.50) was touted as a dark chocolate cake with dark chocolate cream, but it was really a lot sweeter than what we would like it. And this comes from someone who has a penchant for sweet stuff. It would be nicer if there’s more of the crunchy hazelnut nougatine. If you are a big fan of anything-hazelnut, go for Canele’s Le Royale instead.

Among all the different cakes on showcase at Canele, the Jupiter ($7) must be the most outstanding one with its attracting dome shape. The combination of the 64% dark chocolate mousse provided a good counter-balance to the flourless chocolate sponge; the sweetness was done just right, with a subtle hint of caramel and pecan nut nougatine in between.

If I have to use a word to describe the Baked fruit tart ($5.50), it will be pleasant. The whole thing was so nice, we thoroughly enjoyed the lemon filling on top of the tart. You definitely will not go wrong with it.

The Nougatine ($8) is one of the best ice cream around. No kidding. What’s there not to like about hazelnut praline ice cream and salted caramel? The ice cream was divine, and the salted caramel drip by the side was literally the icing on the ice cream. I fell in love, all over again.

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I’m a guy. I like desserts. And I think you should too! Come on, take a nibble, sweets make you happy. This is my fifth (or sixth) time to Canele, and I almost tried all their cakes with just a couple of them left, so another visit should do the trick.

Canele Patisserie
290 Orchard road
#B1-25 Paragon
Tel: 6733 8893

It probably seems that I belong to the live-to-eat camp, everything I do revolve around food and that includes tweeting. And you probably envy me for the feasts and good food that I have all the time, right? Actually not quite. The truth is, there are many times where I get sick of everything.

Initially I thought it was because I had too much good food – that my taste buds were numbed so I didn’t even feel excited, not even when there’s so many delicacy in front of me, But really, it’s a lot more serious than that. My problem is nutella. I can give up everything when there’s chocolate hazelnut around, all I need is white bread, no I don’t even need bread – I eat nutella from the jar.

I will never forget that fateful day, flashed back many many years ago; I was young and inquisitive, which was not a good combination. I saw a jar with white lid on the table, it smelt good, and I wondered if it tasted as good. So out of curiosity, I turned the top and stuck my finger into the dreamily sexual-looking spread. My shoulders shuddered as I carefully placed my thumb that had the glossy, brown spread, into my mouth. It tasted like chocolate, and there’s something nutty about it. And I felt like I was in heaven, and you know what? I still feel the same way, every single time when I have it. Nutella is sex, no, nutella is even better than that.

It’s one of those defining moments in life where you know everything will never be the same again. I blame nutella for everything.

As we entered the place, my eyes scanned through the menu and I knew immediately what to order – nutella tart. The thing about it was, you can never go wrong with nutella, unless, you put too little of it. And here, they manage to grasp this simple, yet profound logic. They drizzled tons and tons of nutella with the tart; the half-melted chocolate hazelnut on top of a oreo-based tart, perfect! I enjoyed every bite of it, and it tasted even better when you shared it. We also had the vanilla eclair, while it was pretty good, but it pales in comparison beside the nutella tart.

Everything with fries
458 joo Chiat Road
Tel: 6345 5034

I think I did it again. I make me believe we’re more than just friends. Oh baby, you smiled at me and I thought we were good again; please don’t be so nice to me.

I know we shouldn’t, I know we mustn’t, but I still did. I couldn’t help the way I feel, nor could I stop myself. I don’t need nobody telling me just what I want to – I just want to eat you.

Strawberry on the soft sponge bed and yoghurt – Fraise ($4.50). You love yoghurt? And you like strawberry too? Good, this is so your-type-of-cake.

The marriage of chocolate and banana has always been a widely debated issue, at least in my world; I’m never a fan of the two being together. Chocolate and Banana, simple do not taste/look good together! Or maybe I haven’t had a good chocolate-banana dessert before, prove me wrong then. Until then, I stand by my verdict that they aren’t compatible with each other, notion passed!

The Banaan chocolat ($4) however, is a version which I could accept; it was essentially fresh banana fruit in the middle of the crispy chocolate roll. The marriage was a scam; it was like what you see in dramas where they had contract marriage pretending to be lovey-dovey and live happily-ever-after. The banana-chocolate combination was minimum, which was why I could accept it.

The talk-of-the-town, RinRin ice cheese tart ($2.80 for original). There’s the “powerberries” in the form of strawberry, raspberry & blueberry options, if you ain’t a berry person, then I’m sure there will be something that fancy you among mango, chocolate caramel, or earl grey. No? Then go for the original which I did.

Opps I did it again!

Read the rest of Sweet Nibbles here, and my previous visits to Patisserie Glace here and here.

Patisserie Glace by Yamashita
34 Craig road
#01-10 Chinatown Plaza
Tel: 6400 0247

If 7atenine was the best meal I had so far, then Au Petit Salut would be its equal.

I was the passerby in your colourful life, we never seem to meet, until now. Our encounter is but an absence and a providence: now that we’ve met, I hold you dear. The place of eternal memories; Au Petit Salut.

Lush, lush, lush and green. It seems so near, yet so far. Right in the middle, but not in the middle; I had to admit – I was wrong. Overrated, you are not, there’s just something special about you. I wished we’ve met earlier, but like they say, it’s better to be late than never.

It was all we need to get started with, a piece of bread, and a stick of butter. We threw envious glares at the seemingly-softer white-looking bread at the table adjacent to us; it was just, human nature.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do – and in a French restaurant, eat snails as the French does. This was my second time eating the slimy-looking creature, and as much as I thought it looked similar to cockle; I love the strong butter and garlic smell. Half dozen baked Burgundy snails with tomato and garlic butter, way to go!

I’m-a-carnivore! And the only appetiser on the menu which seemed to satisfy the meat-eater in me was the Pork terrine and mesclun salad, shallots, gherkins and capers vinaigrette. I took a bite, chew-chew-swallow-swallow, and I took another bite. A piece of pork with really extraordinary subtlety and texture. And my dear, this was where the meal just began.

Words are powerful stuff, they can make you happy, sad, angry or nervous. In this case, I was excited by the mere-presence of the word, beef cheeks.

What part, you asked again?

Beef cheeks. Pardon me, but I have never eaten somebody’s cheek before.

Red wine braised beef cheeks, carrots, mushrooms and parsley potatoes. I realised I couldn’t really tell the difference between the different parts of the cow, but did it really mattered? The braised beef cheeks were tenderly-done, and there was the potatoes which were a-part-of-it.

I had to agree that braised beef tasted better than lamb shank, or maybe I haven’t tried one that is worthy, yet.

If the beef cheek were tenderly-done, then the Pan seared onglet beef was done exactly the way I love it! And just exactly what was Onglet, I know it’s a prime cut of beef, but past that I’m beyond caring. Don’t talk to me about the different grade, the marbling of the meat, there ain’t no need to discuss the cooking technique, I-just-liked-this!

With a tinge of pink, the medium-rare meat was per-fect! And I love the confit shallots which spreaded over the top of the beef, like the sky covered over the land. The presence of the French fries were puzzling, I decided I was going to ignore its guest appearance on the plate and focused on the beef instead.

The lemon tart was fabulous – how can something so simple. be so, absolutely wonderful. The texture of the lemon curd was done just right, and paired with the subtle ice cream with a hint of lavender-honey, I’m a happy boy.

I had a quickie with the Crème brulée; I took the first taste, stunned for a moment, and took my second. This continued until I finished the whole dessert. Beneath the nicely-touched caramelised sugar, was the smoothest yet firm, custard, infused with vanilla beans.

Till we meet again, my love

* * *

Total bill was $70 for two set lunches. I, had an awesome time! Which left me with this question, why didn’t I go there earlier! Au petit Salut has one of the most reasonable set lunches at $30++, comparing with most of the restaurants which are doing theirs at $38++, I thought it is a steal. Of course, there are certainly better restaurants out there, but I love the place as a whole. See you there!

For more recommendations, read my list of the Best French Restaurants in Singapore

Au Petite Salut
40c Harding road
Tanglin Village (Dempsey)
Tel: 6475 1976

Au Petite Salut is listed as one of ladyironchef’s favorite restaurants in Singapore

There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.

While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.

I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.

Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.

The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.

The chouchou’s set ($22+) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.

The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22+ from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.

Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.

I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.

Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21+) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.

Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20+). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.

It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.

On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.

We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.

I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.

A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.

The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.

Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.

The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut.

Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it.

Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artifical colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.

Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20+ per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.

Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!

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

Choupinette (beside coronation plaza)
607 Bukit Timah road #01-01
Tel: 6466 0613

Sometimes it is a hassle to cook up a meal, and especially so if you are talking about a three or four course meal. But all of us can’t live without desserts, well at least i can’t. So when i saw this simple and “instant” recipe by Nigella Lawson, i immediately wanted to try it out. Chocolate mousse is a great dessert to serve to your guests since it is pretty, everybody gets their individual serving, and you can prepared it in advance in one two hours (if you do it correctly).

But it isn’t easy to make chocolate mousse, that is at least for the “normal” recipe, which needs to incoporate egg yolk into the chocolate. Therefore, her recipe solved this tricky problem, since it didn’t use any eggs at all. Instead, we used marshmallows, to provide the texture. Well, my first attempt didn’t exactly went according to plan, the chocolate mousse was a tad watery as a result of adding too much water. So as a last resort, i put it into the fridge, and after chilling, it was not too much, just not fluffy enough. Other than that, i thought it was acceptable for the first try.

Since i wasn’t preparing for many people, and after my first attempt, i decided to half the recipe instead. But still, there was too much chocolate mousse leftover, since it was extremely sweet and we couldn’t finish everything.

Ingredient (the original amount)
Mini marshmallow 150g
50g Butter
250g choc chips
4 tbsp water
284ml cream
1 tsp vanilla
Small slad of white choc

Directions
1. Put in the mini marshmallows, butter and chocolate chip into a pan, added in 4 tbsp of water, stir and let it melt under fire.

2. The marshmallow will take longer to melt, but after everything melt, leave it to cool for a few minutes.

3. Meanwhile, Add in a tsp of vanilla to the cream and whisk. Fold the melted chocolate into the cream, and mixed.

4. Served in a glass, and grate white chocolate on the mousse for decoration.

I made some extra butter pastry skin while doing the pineapple tarts, and the chocolate mousse taste great together with the tart too!

While it took Nigella Lawson very fast to make the chocolate mousse, i’m a slow baker and it took me quite a while to prepare this fuss-free dessert. I’ve made try making some cupcakes last night too, will be posting it soon. Stay tune!

Cheers,
Brad

With the world in it’s current chaotic state, the financial crisis which is turning the world around, the Mumbai terrorists attack, the airport saga in Bangkok, who knows what just might happen next. Banks who are supposed to know their stuff, suddenly appeared, like the amateur on the street, not knowing what they are really selling.

From planting bomb & hijacking planes secretly, they have decided to come out into the open, and sprayed at every happy folk on the street. My heart goes out to the family of the female lawyer, our people.

It’s disheartening when you know there are people struggling to survive and live a longer life, and there are people out there wanting to destroy life, the beginning of everything. And what’s with the people over at the Bangkok airport? Don’t they know that by stopping the planes in, they might have just stopped the future money coming into their country?

Working hand in hand, we try to mix everything, in an attempt to get it right.

In times like this, it is just so difficult to find a moment of peace isn’t it?

Mixing everything together, the sound of the machine goes churning away,

Staring at the square box, watching them grow and turn golden,

I listened to my own heart beat, and i found my calm and peace.

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

I’ve always love my cakes and desserts, so it also came as a surprise to me that i only visited Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge now. Furthermore, it helped that the place is located in town area, right in the middle of level 2, Takashimaya. I went to the second level all right, but couldn’t find the place until my companion told me it’s beside Burberry. And it’s until then i realised i been passing by the place last time but didn’t notice it.

The restaurant interior surprised me as i thought it was bigger on the outside. With an elongated L shape area, customers enjoying their meal can look out to the busy street of Orchard road. While others are rushing around, you’re enjoying your cup of tea with some light desserts. Life’s bliss.

Having the other tables so closed to each other, and with no walls in the whole area, the place was very noisy with all the chatterings and crying sound of the kids. This on the whole, dampened the relaxing mood slightly.

High Tea is served from 2.30pm to 6.30pm. There’s their high tea set for one person at $20.90, and two person at $ 26.90. Obviously the set for one person isn’t worth the price, so if you’re going alone, you’ll be better off ordering a la carte instead. We had the high tea set for two person since it’s our first time there.

The tea that came along with the set was really just, your normal lipton tea. The porcelain tableware with its blue foral prints had a very English feel.

A blueberry cheesecake ($4.90 a la carte) that didn’t taste like blueberry. I usually didn’t quite fancy blueberry but this one was very good. The blueberry was very sweet and flavourful, layering on top of the slice of cake. The taste was very similar to the one that i’ve at Caffe Beviamo.

Cheesy yet not to the extent overwhelming. The biscuit crumb layer underneath the cake added the crunch to the soft and fluffy cheese cake. The “oomph” taste immediately announced its presence. It’s light and airy, and unlike some cheesecakes which are really heavy, you won’t feel sick of eating this one.

Another dessert which we selected for one of the two home-made pastries was the bakewell tart. I didn’t have much similar tarts before, but i must say the tart was excellent by its own standards. The crispy texture of the top, together with the soft body provided a nice compliment to each other. And there was a layer of jam in between which also added flavour to the tart.

A good try if you are going to Royal Copenhagen.

The shrimp sandwich was one of the two mini opened face sandwich ($10.90 a la carte) of the chef’s choice. Basically a sandwich without any top, it consisted of shrimps, caviar and lettuces. Coupled with the mayo sauce, the opened face sandwich reminded me of the one I’ve at Caffe Cova. The shrimps serving was generous all right, the caviar added intense flavour to it, but the lettuce wasn’t very crunchy, and somehow I don’t think I really enjoyed the dainty petite sandwich. After finishing it, i was wondering, was that it?

The big slice of smoked salmon was a surprise, but again opened face sandwich and me just don’t click. My friend enjoyed the popular shrimp sandwich more than this. The thing about opened face sandwich is you feel that you are just eating the fillings without any bread, which doesn’t have the sandwich-feel.

It was the famous Copenhagen scones ($6.90 a la carte) that we eyed for. The one which got everybody talking about. Royal Copenhagen chef’s speciality, fresh daily baked scones served with butter, whipped cream and jam.

There were five types of Danish fruit spread selection, namely blackcurrent, raspberry, strawberry, orange marmalade, and rosehip with apples. We were contemplating between the safe choice of raspberry or the adventurous rosehip with apples. In the end the spirit won, and we chose the latter.

This was the very first time both of us tried scones, while i spread my cream, jam, and butter in the middle of the scones, my companion preferred to tear bits of the scones and dipped them into the jam and butter to eat. The scones were very fragrant, slightly hard on the exterior, soft & fluffy inside. The only gripe – it wasn’t warm! It would be prefect if the scones were warm and freshly baked from the oven.

Total bill was $31.65 after the extra charges for the 2 person high tea set. The experience was a pleasant one, although it was blotch by the rather noisy atmosphere. Service wise was still acceptable, there were a couple of staff which we thought wasn’t very happy serving people, but there was one staff whom was the saving graces with her friendly smile and services.

I’ve called up beforehand to make a reservation, but the staff told me there was no need to for a weekday high tea. And when we reached the place at around 4pm, it’s packed to the house, but luckily there was still seats for us. Which made me wonder whether was it coincidence that they saw a rush in crowd that day, or it was always busy everytime but the staff didn’t want to take the reservations.

Frankly speaking, i didn’t fancy the opened face sandwich, so chances are if i come back again, i probably won’t order the high tea set. The cakes and pastries are really good, and at $4.90 they are a lot cheaper than patisserie like Canele, even though they are not as attractive looking, but it’s the inside that counts isn’t it?

Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge
391 Orchard road
Level 2 Takashimaya
Tel: 6735 6833

SLII Muffin is quite prominent in the Marina Square food loft, since its the only shop that looks rather empty and selling muffin in a food court certainly draws attention. Curiosity kills the cat, and i can’t help myself in buying a muffin and tart.

Prices are reasonable, with $1.50 being the highest. There’s the promotion of buy 5 get 1 free, however i wasn’t feeling very adventurous that day, and my friend ain’t a fan of muffin and tart, so there’s no way i can finish all 6.

There are quite many variety to choose from, and i find myself looking at strawberry, raisin, lemon, cranberry, even black sesame muffin! In the end LIC decided to go for the safe choice, chocolate chip muffin and chocolate cheese tart.

Chocolate Cheese tart ($1.50)

I didn’t make a wrong choice on the chocolate cheese tart. The fillings were cheesy and coupled with chocolate, wins the thumbs up from me. The tart is cris, and not those soft type, the chocolate swirl does makes a pretty scene. And at $1.50 for quite a big tart, i think its rather worth the price.

Chocolate chip muffin ($1.20)

The chocolate chips on the muffins are big and chocolaty, and the muffin body is soft and fluffy. Always a safe option if you are not feeling too adventurous. While not exactly a fan of muffins, i thought this one is rather all right, given i did not set high hopes since this is found in a food court.

SLII Muffin
Marina Square Food Loft
6 Raffles Boulevard
Level 4 Marina Square