Established in 1993, Dino Cake House & Cafe is one of the most underrated cake shops in Singapore.

It currently has two outlets in Singapore. Their main outlet resides at Upper Thompson, offering main dishes and a wide range of pastries while their other takeaway outlet is a hidden gem in Bukit Timah Plaza.

It is one of those places that we can never get sick of, because simplicity always works.

Located near popular Korean eatery Ming Jia Korean Food, you can take away your cakes and other pastries from the Bukit Timah outlet, and enjoy them in the comforts of your home or office.

Durian Well (S$3) is generously topped up with D24 durian flesh, and it is one of the all-time favourites. We are such fans of the King of Fruits and this creamy cake cup is what we needed to end the day on a good note.

Dino Cake House & Cafe’s New York Cheese (S$3.80) is moist and rich in cream cheese flavour. The buttery crust at the bottom has been made with just the right thickness and we like how the crumbly texture goes well with the smooth cheesecake. Fans of cheesecake will enjoy this!

Their Royal Chocolate (S$2.80) is what you will expect from a classic chocolate cake—soft chocolate sponge with a layer of dark chocolate fudge in between.

The sliced cakes at Dino Cake House & Cafe are affordably priced at less than S$4 and you can also get whole cakes that come in many different flavours such as Tiramisu (500g, S$16), Rainbow Cake (500g, S$28.80) and Blackforest (500g, S$16).

Besides that, you can also purchase other pastries such as tapioca slice, chocolate chip and mixed nut cupcakes, pineapple tarts and cornflakes cookies.

Dino Cake House & Cafe
1 Jalan Anak Bukit
#B1-K70 Bukit Timah Plaza
Singapore 588996
Tel: +65 6464 7115
Mon to Fri: 10am – 8.30pm
Sat & Sun: 9am – 8.30pm
Nearest Station: Beauty World

Cakes were invented, I believe, for the sole purpose of making us happy. With so many dessert places in Singapore, we are simply spoiled for choice.

Among all the bakeries, cake shops and patisseries in Singapore, where can you find the best cakes? Which sweet treats are worth a try?

There really is no “best cake” since each one has a different story and appeals to different people accordingly. We all have our own favourite desserts, but whatever yours is, I hope you’re eating it.

Here’s my list of the top 10 cakes in Singapore.

Antoinette from Antoinette Patisserie

I had the namesake cake (milk chocolate mousse is infused with earl grey tea) when I went to the new patisserie by Chef Pang Kok Keong, and I fell in love with it.

30 Penhas Road
Tel: +65 6293 3121

Napoleon Cake from Flor Patisserie

Flor Patisserie’s Mille-feuille (also known as Napoleon cake) 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.

2 Duxton Hill #01-01 Singapore
Tel: +65 6223 8628

Plaisir Sucré from Laurent Bernard Chocolatier

One of my favourite cakes from Laurent Bernard Cafe is 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 good.

80 Mohamed Sultan Road #01-11
The Pier @ Robertson Singapore
Tel: +65 6235 9007

Strawberry Shortcake from Barracks Cafe

Barracks Cafe’s rendition is the one that most people mention when you ask them where to get a good strawberry shortcake.

8D Dempsey Road
#01-01 to 06 Tanglin Village
Tel: +65 6475 7787

Tiramisu from Da Paolo Gastronomia

When it comes to the tiramisu, very few can do it better than Da Paolo. Considered by many people to be the best tiramisu in Singapore, this is definitely a must try if you are a fan of the popular Italian dessert.

290 Orchard Road
#B1-20 The Paragon

Matcha from Canele Patisserie

Smooth and delicate green tea mascarpone mousse, with chestnut cream in the middle of the cake – the Matcha cake from Canele Patisserie is a must-try for green tea lovers.

11 Unity Street #01-09
Robertson Walk Singapore
Tel: +65 6738 8145

Chocolate Amer from Bakerzin

The flawless combination of flour-less chocolate sponge and bitter chocolate mousse makes the Chocolate Amer one of my favourite cakes from Bakerzin.

3 Temasek Boulevard
#B1-016 Suntec City Mall
Tel: +65 6338 4656

Chiffon Cake from Tampopo Deli

The chiffon cake from Tampopo Deli is one of the most under-rated cakes. Try it and you’ll know why it is in my list of top 10 cakes in Singapore.

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

Chocolate Cake from Max Brenner

No words are required. This picture tells you everything you need to know about the chocolate lava cake from Max Brenner.

8 Raffles Avenue
#01-06/08 Esplanade Mall
Tel: +65 6235 9556

Strawberry Souffle from Patisserie Glace

This is Patisserie Glace’s Strawberry Souffle, also known as the gateway to heaven. To me, this is one of the best cakes that I’ve ever eaten.

12 Gopeng Street #01-33/34
ICON Village Singapore
Tel: +65 6400 0247

For more recommendations, please read my list of best dessert places in Singapore

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!

* * *

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

The idea was to eat, eat, and eat, but plan b, or rather the lack of a proper plan, meant that we start at Plan B. We started off easy, but it was surely one of the best burgers that I’ve.

It took everything that I got to resist ordering another burger for myself, and missed out on all the stuff that was about to come – and so three hungry dude shared one burger.

Plan B by Becasse is famous for their wagyu beef burger, and at just ten bucks, you must try this burger! What is wagyu, anyway? When even the MacDonalds in Sydney sell Angus beef burgers, you probably think it’s not a big deal.

But the real wagyu burger, comes in the form of a thick beef patty, everything was kept simple; there’s no exotic ingredients like foie gras, nor were there redundant sauce – it was so good that you could feel the sauce gushing out! Interesting, beetroot was used, and it provided the contrast from the other burgers.

Plan B, 204 Clarance sheet, have you taken down the address?

It will be disappointing if one did not step into any pub/bar when in Australia. The folks here simply love (read: adore, head over heels, cannot do without) drinking. Be it a glass of the fine wines from the vineyard, or a pin of beer straight from the brewery, say cheers! There’s a strong drinking culture here; it’s not surprising to see people drinking during lunch time, or 3pm in the afternoon.

I was glad when Richard proposed that we make a trip to his favorite pub, Bavarian Bier Cafe for some beer to chill down the hot afternoon heat. Since I always have a sweet tooth, I went for the Mango, which had a smell consistency of the fruit. The taste however, did not have such a strong mango flavor.

No one in their right mind will pass on the chance to have German Sausages, and so we ordered a platter to share. There was a krunching sound when I bite the cracking roast pork, as with the German food that I visualize, it was hearty, tasty and definitely not enough.

‘Deep-fried sushi?’

Richard casually asked if we are keen to try it out, but I could sense the excitement in his seemingly-subtle-tone.

‘I don’t know, I’m not so sure.. about this’

And the next thing I know, we were standing in front of Kana Express kiosk. This is one place where most people wouldn’t have heard of, much less try the snacks here; an oblivious kiosk by the corner of a back alley.

The sushi was done Korean-style, and there’s other popular Korean snacks like spicy rice-cake, but our focus was on these two words: Deep-fried, & sushi.

As the guest, or so they said, I was entitled to the first bite. It was edible. I think one’s enjoyment of this sushi comes from the revelation of deep fried to the mind. On it’s own, the sushi tasted very tame, but the addition of the fiery hot chili sauce enhanced the flavor greatly.

I love summer. I really do.

Summer, is the perfect excuse for us to indulge with ice cream, and more ice cream. We dropped by Passionflower, a dessert cafe which exotic ice cream flavors. The choice of vanilla hazelnut & burnt caramel was made by me, the former was evidently the favorite, and I liked the nutty taste in the vanilla ice cream, while the latter had a strong burnt caramel taste.

Summer, is not summer, without ice cream.

I stole a glance at Krispy Kreme when we walked by the shop, and was immediately dragged in and convinced to have one (just one) of the original donut. This should be the definition of how a good donut taste like: glazed with a layer of sugar, yet not to the point of being cloyingly-sweet, there wasn’t any hint of oilyness that a poor donut will have. One, simply isn’t enough.

Our original plan was to have tonkatsu at a nearby Japanese restaurant, but it was closed by the time we got there, so we went to Harry’s instead. I’m sure, any reputable guidebook will list the pies & hotdog at Harry’s Cafe de Wheels as one of the must-try in Sydney. Tiger pie is particularly famous, but to be honest, I’m not very certain of it. Mashy and meaty, maybe it’s just me, but I didn’t really enjoy it.

On the other hand, we thoroughly enjoyed the hotdog, it was a shame that we only had one to share. I’d imagine one to hold the big sausage with both hands, and put the whole thing into the mouth!

While on the way to Max Brenner, we passed by Le Patissier and decided to stop here for some sweets instead. For a small place, they have quite an array of desserts to choose from. I wanted to try vanilla pastry cake but it wasn’t available that day, so we had the Lemon Ganache. The sourish lemon ganache provided a good counterbalance to the sweet chocolate layers, but the whole cake was too dry, and I’m not a big fan of kirsch that’s also present in the cake.

When the fork first sank into the Creme Brulee, we already came to the conclusion that it failed. And unsurprisingly, the surface of the dessert was not caramelized properly; it was either a leftover, or they had torched and caramelized too early. However, the custard underneath was actually quite decent, and there’s even vanilla beans used.

* * *
Just in case you are wondering again, yes, we ate all of these in one afternoon.

Plan B by Becasse
204 Clarence Street, Sydney 2000
Tel: 9283 3450

Bavarian Bier Cafe
24 York Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Tel: 02 8297 4111

Kana Express kiosk
Corner of Central Street

Passionflower
580 George Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Krispy Kreme
Queen Victoria Building
429 – 481 George Street,
Shop 95 – 97 Lower Ground Floor,
Sydney, NSW 2000

Harry’s Cafe De Wheel
Haymarket, NSW 2000
Next to Paddy Maguires Pub
Tel: (02) 9281 6292

Le Patissier
50 Clarence Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: (02) 9299 0015

Ah ma! Ah ma! I want another slice of that. The brownish-orange cake with the smooth cream frosting on top. What is that name again? Yes, carrot cake. Another slice please, before kor-kor comes back from school. Time passed, and ages caught up with us eventually. Ah ma is no longer as young as she was before. And the energy, effort put into making the kuehs, also diminished with every passing day.

***

Coffee Bean’s carrot cake isn’t the best carrot cake that I’ve. But then again, I didn’t have that many before to compare it with. And yes, I know I haven’t try the legendary one from Cedele yet. Anyway, even though the cream frosting was generous, but the raisins were too much for my personal liking. And the No-study sign is a joke.

Coffee Bean & Tea leaf
1 Fifth Avenue
#01-01 Guthrie House

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

* * * Now closed * * *

My fourth, her third, another’s second, and many others first. Our common love for food. That’s how it all began. At the heart of East-Meet-West. Persimmon.

Kopitiam, the symbolic of our local heartlands. The place where everybody grew up sipping their milo & coffee, where everybody settled their three meals when their mother was on strike, and the gateway to many delicious heritage hawker food.

Persimmon is quintessentially a swanky and upmarket kopitiam, retaining the traditional feel by using the classic kopitiam furnitures and floor tiles. The furnishings were a combination between comtemporary and rustic. And not to mention her location is right in the middle of Tiong Bahru, with the shophouses and kopitiam lining side by side.

Choices of desserts pick from a la carte buffet. Bread pudding, carrot cake, mango pudding, panna cotta, chocolate mousse. For the discerning us, perhaps only the carrot cake made the cut.

The kong ba bao (stewed pork belly) was way off my radar. The bun was hard and dry, the meat was not fatty enough, and lacked the delicious gravy. And oh ya, it wasn’t part of our menu, but was under the a la carte buffet offered.

Inspired by NoSignBoard white pepper crab, Persimmon white pepper Crabcake is all about that. Enjoyed the white pepper “crab”, no doubt in the form of crabcake, without any hassle. Under the sunny weather, the crab was toned prefectly brown, with a crisp-cross shell, and savoury meat within. Adiós

The crown of Persimmon. Hainanese Chicken Salad. Featured in almost all the media publications, there isn’t any excuse for you to miss this dish. The concept is simple, Singaporeans loved their chicken rice, but dreaded the calories. So what do you do? Remove the rice, throw in some greens, and voila! Singapore’s very own Hainanese chicken salad. Poach chicken, fresh local herbs & mesclun greens, rise crisps, and special dressing.

Tomato base pasta? Boring! How about our rich cream base instead? I hate cream! Right, why not try our Linguine laksa leaf Pesto? Specially created for your exquisite taste buds, the laksa infused linguine will definitely blow you away with its unique taste. Think laksa, but swop the thick rice noodles with pasta. Some felt that the laksa leaf was too heavy and overwhelm the whole dish. On the other hand, i thought the pasta was perfectly fine. Innovative with a big I.

Mixed blonds (fusion) are interesting in some ways, and the 8 treasures certainly roused my curiosity. Three mushrooms, two nuts, chinese sausage, parmesan cheese and risotto. What happens when Italian Risotto combine with the 8 treasures? You get the 8 treasure Risotto! The intial impression was Glutinous rice, but it was way better. I need to be honest, i couldn’t taste all of you. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter, you are all mine!

Staying true with the principle of fusion food, we have the European-style steak meeting heads on with our Asian carrot cake. The grilled ribeye with “chye tao kueh” carrot cake is bound to make your eyes popped out. The carrot cake was fried with XO and balsamic, with the latter providing a sour taste. A vast contrast with the steak. Not everyone could accepted sour carrot cake with steak though. Aspiring combination, but somehow failed to sizzle with the seemingly weird taste.

Eaten alone, the Slow poached salmon with zuchinni ribbons didn’t come as tender as we thought it will. But dipped in the green curry sauce, the fish went through a make-over in the taste department. There was cucumbers used in the green curry, which caught my attention. Like what one of our fellow friend say, when you don’t understand, just say “fusion!”

Our humble Otak is given a upmarket transformation by going créme brulée. With richly flavoured spicy kaffir lime & coconut used as the main ingredients, there was fish mousse hidden beneath the otak. The otak creme brulee is a very creative fusion dish indeed, but the experiement could perhaps be better. Some of us found the otak to be too watery, and maybe it’s meant to be this way. But is créme brulée ever so soggy?

There was a slight tweak to the menu compared to the one i previously shown. And the cost per person was 20 dollar nett, which everybody agreed was a reasonable price given we managed to try a variety of food. I hope everybody enjoyed their meal, and see you all at the next LIC food outing! We had 27 people for this outing, which was quite a healthy figure.

Well, like what some of you mentioned, it was a case of hits and misses, fusion food is pretty much an experiment between the Asian and Western cuisines, and it was certainly interesting to try some food which we’ll never get to try elsewhere.

And not to forget, LIC outing is all about the fun, joy and laughter during the event, and getting to know more friends. I’ll also like to take the opportunity to thank Helena and Sharon, the co-owners of Persimmon for having us there.

Do add me on facebook, if you missed the links earlier.

Read Jaime-la-nourriture chinese post on the outing here

For those who missed this Persimmon outing, you can get the best discounts when you mentioned ladyironchef while you are at Persimmon. So do go down and give the fusion food a try.

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

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

Epicurious, located on the banks of Robertson Quay, has been in operations for close to 6 years now. The restaurant is the brainchild of the duo owners, Helena and Sharon. The concept for the restaurant is like a neighbour joint, serving casual food where you can chill out and enjoy a meal without any qualms.

The interior of Epicurious is surprisingly small, from the outside i thought it will be bigger. There are only three tables inside, with most of the seats in the al fresco area.

Unpretentious and comfy, Epicurious is really a place where i can sit down there all day with my friends

The al fresco area offers a view of the river by Robertson Quay, its simple furniture make it seems as though you are having picnic out in the natural.

The food which Epicurious offers are simple and comfort food, like sandwiches, salads, pasta. On weekends from 9am to 1pm, they have the brunch menu which include choices like pancakes, toast, bagel, eggs, ommelette. And i am really tempted by their brunch menu, you’ll be seeing them here in the near future.

At Epicurious, there is the blackboard specials, which is not on the normal menu, and these are changed regularly to allow customers to experience different type of food.

The lunch menu does not have much selection of mains, in fact they only have three to choose from, with mostly sandwiches and pasta otherwise.

For dinner, the menu is a different one all together, with starters like beef carpaccio, smoked salmon tartare, to main course like their signature epicurious burger, and there are also quite a variety of grills to choose from. Price ranges from 10s to 20s.

Turkey Breast Sandwich ($9.50)

Turkey Breast with roasted bell pepper and havarti cheese. The sandwiches are all freshly made with lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, with choices of country-style white or wholemeal sunflower bread.

The turkey breast sandwich is fairly good, served with keropok.

Spaghetti vietnamese chicken bolognaise ($14)

The chicken bolognaise spaghetti is served with cheese flakes, your good old reliable fix of pasta.

Asian Sloppy Joe ($12)

Pork and beef mince with hoisin and lime. The Asian Sloppy Joe is under the blackboard special for sandwich. The unique name caught our attention, and the sandwich does not disappoint.

The pork and beef mince combination creates a rather distinctive taste, slightly sweet and spicy.

Epicurious Burger ($18)

House-made beef patty with sautéed onions, mushrooms and fries. The Epicurious Burger is the signature dish of the restaurant, having heard many good things about the burger, it is inevitable that this is a must-try dish when you visit epicurious.

Although i just had burger at Seah Street Deli the previous day, but i have no qualms tasting the epicurious burger. And indeed, the Epicurious Burger is the star of the show, the beef done medium-rare, is tender and retains the juiciness of the meat.

And you can choose to add cheese, bacon or a fried egg for $2 each, or $4 for all three. But i choose to serve my burger the original way without any toppings.

I like the fries too, which comes with cheese flakes, the overall taste is buttery and cheesy!

Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream ($7)

The Apple crumble with vanilla ice cream is recommended to us by Helena the owner of Epicurious. Now who can finish a meal without having desserts? Definitely not me! The apple crumble is sour-sweet, and the taste of it together with ice cream does it for us.

Bread and butter pudding with custard ($8)

The bread and butter pudding is also another of their more popular desserts, the way to eat it is by dipping the pudding into the custard, but i preferred to taste the bread and butter pudding on its own.

Carrot Cake ($5)

A slice of the Carrot cake is enough for anyone to end their meal on a high, and the cake certainly taste good here. With a layer of cheese on top of the carrot cake, the effect is a melt-in-your-month. The cheese is relatively light and does not overwhelms the carrot cake.

Total bill is $82.48 for 4 mains and 3 desserts. However, Helena kindly has the desserts on the house, so the total bill is $64.90 instead.

The owner Helena is friendly and warm, we had a chat and she explain the concept of Epicurious to us. So if you saw her at the restaurant, do not hesitate to have a chat with her!

The current location however is a tad too small, and cannot serve more customer. But then again this can be a double edge sword, more seats serves more customers, but in the process you might just lose the wonderful ambiance of the place.

And by the way, Helena and Sharon have recently opened another fusion western-local restaurant, Persimmion which is located at the Link Hotel. Do give them a try if you pass by Tiong Bahru area.

Epicurious is one place which i’ll gladly return again to try out their brunch and dinner menu. The reason is simple, Epicurious serves casual food, the price will not hurt your wallet, and the ambiance of the place is relaxing. Despite my usual practice of not repeating visits to a same restaurant, i’ll bend the rule this time, for Epicurious!

Epicurious
60 Robertson Quay
#01-02 The Quayside
Tel: 6734 7720

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

Balmoral Bakery is a very old-school bakery which is evident from the box they use for their bakes. Located at Sunset way, the bakery offers the type of breads and pastries which we grow up together with, but sadly are slowly disappearing from our sight.

Under the “undue” influence of my secret food partner, we jogged from our place to Sunset way, and pay the bakery a visit. She introduced me to Balmoral Bakery as she has been munching on their breads since young.

Egg tart ($1)

The egg tart at Balmoral is those ‘watery’ type, my secret food partner love this type of egg tart, but i prefer those with crusty sides and firmer egg-fillings.

Custard Buns ($1.1)

The custard buns are the star of the show! Billed as Balmoral Bakery’s signature item, the custard buns are really excellent! There are other customers who brought half a dozen or more at a go. Must try!!

Cake ($1)

The cake is the very traditional type where you can only get at such bakeries, nowadays seldom do we still see such cakes around, well maybe if your neighbor still has such old-school bakeries around.

Char-siew Sau ($1)

The char-siew sau is cripsy and the char siew inside sweet!

Cake with cream in centre ($1.20)

I liked this one! The cake is very soft and fluffy, whipped cream in the center, and sugar white powder spread on top.

Total Bill for 5 items comes up to $5.50. I only brought 5 items as this is my first time there, but my secret food partner brought about more than 10 items!

The bread and pastries at Balmoral Bakery are mostly in the range of $0.80-$1.50, and there are really a lot of different types of traditional bakes which isn’t so commonly found nowadays. Go, and relieve your childhood memories!

Balmoral Bakery
Blk 105 Clementi St 12 (Sunset Way)
#01-08
Tel: 6779 2064

” Relieve your childhood memories! “

ladyironchef’s Food Event Outing at Ochacha!

A total of 20 people graced the event, with bloggers, readers of LIC’s blog, and their friends joining us for the green tea appreciation at Ochacha.

There was supposed to be more, about 15 more, but they all last minute had something on, anyway 20′s a big number, considering it’s LIC first time organising an event.

Dinner was supposed to start at 730pm, but you know Singaporeans tend to come late, so we actually started the ball rolling at 8pm.

Ochacha’s boss Miss lee arranged her cafe and gave us half the space, so thankful for that.

The menu is as follow :

Drinks: Matcha Rocks, Azuki Freezie, Ochacha Rocks, Ochacha latte or ochacha silk (3 cold and choice of 1 warm)

Soup: Shiitake Mushroom or tomato soup

Sandwiches: Sakura Egg, Wasabi Tuna, Furikake Salmon

Desserts: Matcha Cotton, Matcha Azuki, Financier, Matcha Panna Cotta

Its $17.50 per person to try the wide range of items in this menu. For all the food i’ll be putting the normal price beside it.

Reserved for LIC food event outing!

And apparently our ladies like green tea more than guys, hence the bigger differential in the numbers.

Complimentary chips

The chips were on the house, for our hungry guests before everyone turned up

Salad

The salad was also not included in our original menu. Miss lee thought that it will be better if there are some greens to go along with.

From left to right: Matcha Rocks, Ochacha Rocks, Azuki Freezie

Matcha Rocks ($4.95)

Chilled Matcha with sugar (no milk). I think most people preferred the Matcha Rocks one to Ochacha rocks which has milk

Ochacha Rocks ($4.95)

Chilled Matcha Latte. The Ochacha rocks is the middle one, coming with milk, its a lighter shade of green than the Matcha Rocks

Azuki Freezie ($6.50)

Ice blended matcha with azuki (Jap red beans). I believe the Azuki Freezie won quite a number of fan tonight, it stood out with the matcha taste on ice blend.

Please be reminded that what you are seeing are shooters, not the actual size of the drinks. The prices indicated are for the normal size.

Shiitake Mushroom soup

I think quite a number of people found the shiitake mushroom soup to be a tad too salty for their tastebuds.

Tomato soup

The tomato soup is more on the sweet and soup side. It really depends whether you are a fan of tomato and soup or not. I’m not a soup person though.

Sakura Egg Sandwich ($4.80)

The sakura egg sandwich is still my favourite among the three sandwiches at Ochacha. See here for the picture of the normal size sandwich on my last visit.

Wasabi Tuna Sandwich ($5,90)

Wasabi (spicy!!) tuna mayo fills up the delicious bread. This is my first time trying this, on the previous visit i had only the egg and the salmon ones.

For the wasabi tuna sandwich, i like tuna, but i don’t like wasabi.

Furikake Salmon Sandwich ($5.90)

Smoked salmon with Japanese seaweed. I had the Furikake Salmon sandwich on my previous visit too.

The Japanese seaweed added the salty aspect to flavor the salmon, but i found it to be a tad on the salty side.

Matcha Financier ($2.90)

French cake named after its shape like gold bar. The Matcha Financier did not disappoint, but then again i could be bias as i’m totally a dessert person.

Matcha Azuki ($4.90)

Layered matcha cake with azuki beans & cream. The Matcha Azuki totally rock my world, the usage of azuki red beans gave the matcha cake a sweet twist.

I had this on my second visit too!

Matcha Cotton ($2.90)

Fluffy Japanese souffle cake with fresh cream in the center. The extremly soft sponge matcha cake simply melts in the mouth!

Matcha Panna Cotta ($4.90)

Italian creamy dessert with matcha flavor. This dessert had mixed reviews, some didn’t like it and found it to be too soft for a panna cotta, while others adored it and find the soft texture, coupled with the matcha flavor a delight to have.

Again this shows that taste is subjective, what some might like, others might not like.

Ochacha Latte ($4.80) or Ochacha Silk ($4.80)

Hot matcha latte & soy milk with matcha. We had the choice of either one for our warm green tea.

Total Bill was $350 for 20 people ($17.50 fixed price for each person). For $17.50, i think its definitely a very good price as we got to try out a whole wide range of green tea, sandwiches and desserts.

If you go on your own, i highly doubt that you’ll be able to have so many items unless yours are a big group.

I didn’t have much tonight, mainly because as the host i need to walk around and entertained my guests, and its really stressful organizing an event. But its all right because i had most of the dishes on my previous visits.

Its a real pleasure for me to organize this event, and i sincerely hope that it’s good for all the diners. Do pardon me if any of you guys did not enjoy the dinner. And no refunds please (if any)!

I always believe that food is a very wonderful gift to us, it can bring like-minded people who love food together, people from different ages, background, to come together and enjoyed the good food.

Its an honor to have some of the food bloggers and readers of LIC, their friends, who in turn bring more friends to this event. See you all at the next LIC food outing, it’ll be soon : )

OChaCha
252 North Bridge Road
#B1-44F Raffles City
Tel: 6333 5886

PS: Let me know once you guys make write your reviews on this post, will linked everyone here!

Michelle’s @ Never Trust a Scrawny Foodie
Sihan @ Befuddlement
Jia ying @ Brownbread girl
Zheng Ning @ The Blue Plate
Styke @ Creations Wing

For those who went, got blog, but haven blog about it

Evan @ bossacafez
Jon @ newfoodie
Hisham @ mhisham
Vicki @ My Sweet Niblets
Claudia @ Claud talk

The rest who went but no blog

Christine, Melissa, Andy, Jane, Estelle, Shu qing, fz, Elisa

Thanks to all for coming, without you guys the event will go on smoothly!

Here’s a sneak preview of what to expect for LIC food event @ O Cha Cha next tue!

A friend and I went down to O Cha Cha last week after i got my DSLR, we went to discuss the menu with Ochacha’s boss Miss Lee Yin Siau.

From left anticlockwise, is Mr.Ochacha Mondo, on its right is our friend Miss Matcha Panna Cotta, and followed by Ochacha Rocks, and the top is Gyokuro.

Gyokuro uses the same tea leave made into Matcha, just that the whole tea leave is being use for Gyokuro which is evident inside the tea.

Say hello to Ochacha Rocks! He rocks all righty! There’s also Matcha Azuki at the left background of the picture!

And Miss Matcha Panna Cotta! We will be seeing all of them next tue!

Just in case you do not know what’s going on, LIC is proud to organise a food event outing at Ochacha, raffles city basement next tue 13th May.

The Place: OChaCha

The Date: 13th May Tuesday

The Time: 730pm

The Price: $17.50 per person

The Menu:

Drinks: OChaCha Rocks, Azuki Freezzie, Passion Rocks, OChaCha Latte, Chado

Sandwiches: Sakura Egg, Wasabi Tuna, Furikake Salmon

Soups: Shiitake Mushroom

Desserts: Matcha Cotton, Matcha Azuki, Financier, Matcha Panna Cotta

All the cold drinks will be served in the shooters while the hot latte in individual cups.

Attendance:
1. LadyIronChef
2. Claudia
3. Jiaying
4. Sok Peng (2)
6. Qiu Gui
7. Caleb
8. Hisham (2)
10. Elisa
11. Christine
12. Peter Tan (2)
14. Jasmin (2)
16. Zheng Ni
17. Vicki (3)
20. Andy
21. Michelle (2)
23. Estelle (2)
25. Jon (2)
27. Anonymous (2)

Currently a total of 28 people have signed up for the event, the maximum capacity is 30, so RVSP now! Drop me a sms at 9623 2581 to confirm your place or should you have any enquiries. All are welcome, and feel free to bring along your friends too!

See you all at Ochacha next tue!

Bistro One Zero Three sounds quite interesting right? Being the inquisitive me, i was naturally attracted to the name, and hence the visit to the place. Located at Pasir Panjang, its not a place where you’ll imagine a restaurant like Bistro One Zero Three will be situated. Nevertheless, the ‘ulu’ place makes it fun to go to, as though like we are on a food-hunting trait.

Initially we thought it was near the Haw Par Villa area, so we started looking for it there, but then how wrong we were, Bistro One Zero Three is at the other end of Pasir Panjang Road, quite near to PSA Building. If you are going there by train, i suggest stopping at HarbourFront and take a bus there, its only a couple of bus-stops away from HarbourFront.

The cosy 52 seater bistro is into its tenth-month, and started by the owner Eric, together with his sister and his sister-in-law as the chef. Stepping into Bistro One Zero Three, we felt totally at home, the homely-wood furniture plays a part, but it is the friendly service of the owners who welcomed us enthusiastically, and serving us ice-water while we were going through the menu, that impressed us.

The Menu comprises of sandwiches, gourmet salads, some sides, spaghetti and the mains. They are actually in the midst of introducing more items to the menu, but meanwhile, this are the options available.

Besides dining, Bistro One Zero Three also provides services for birthday-party events, company functions. The previous night they just had a event where guests let their hairs down and party till late night at the bistro. The bistro is a draw for the working crowd during weekdays, and on fridays & saturdays there are people like you and me who specially visit the place.

Well, i like the early-bird feeling, when we got there for a early lunch, we had the whole place to ourselves, totally like what i experienced in Sweet Indulgence! Being hungry people, we went through the menu and didn’t have much problem ordering the food. My dining companion being a Salmon-lover, naturally she’ll order Pan-fried Salmon. My two other mates had Cajun chicken wrap and Salmon & crab meat spaghetti, while i had the bacon, ham, mushroom spaghetti.

Salmon & Crab Meat Spaghetti ($14.50)

We began our meal at Bistro One Zero Three with the Salmon & Crab meat Spaghetti. With two generous piece of salmon on the tomato-based spaghetti, it got our salivary gland working even before we started eating! While slurping down the pasta, we can also taste the crab meat which goes quite well together.

Bacon, Ham & Mushroom Spaghetti ($13.50)

There are tomato, carbonara style and aglio olio options to choose from, I chose carbonara style since the other spaghetti is tomato-based. The carbonara Bacon, Mushroom Spaghetti here at Bistro One Zero Three is slightly different from the usual one you’ll find in other restaurants.

Usually the egg in carbonara style will be mixed together and cook with the heat of the pasta itself, but in this case, the chef put on his thinking cap and played with his creativity by leaving the egg yolk on top of the pasta. This is a pleasant surprise for us knowing the chef actually put in his heart & soul into making something different from the norm.

Well, i’ll preferred the salmon spaghetti to this one, not that this is not good, but after trying both pasta, we come to a consensus that the tomato-based spaghetti here taste better!

Pan-fried Salmon ($16.50)

With Balsamic glaze & acompanied with seasonal vegetables, the Pan-fried salmon is a must-have for all the salmon-lovers out there. Balsamic dressing is a traditional flavoured vinegar commonly used in Italian cuisine, the Balsamic glaze here added a slight twist of Italiano to the salmon.

Cajun Chicken Wrap ($15.90)

Tomato herb Tortilla & Mesclun mix are found inside the Cajun Chicken Wrap. The chicken wrap does give me an oddly feeling of ‘popiah’. The two Cajun chicken wrap serving is rather small, and definitely not enough to serve a grown-up (well depending on the appetite also). My mate wasn’t full after he finished it.

Warm Brownie w/ French Vanilla ice cream ($5)

Who can resist the temptation of desserts after a meal? Not me, there is always room in my stomach for them! For the record, i love my desserts more than my main.

The warm brownie together with a scoop of the cold ice cream seems to match nicely together. The brownie is not too sweet also.

Panna cotta with Mocha ($5)

One thing about Bistro One Zero Three is that they currently have limited desserts selection, only two! So we ordered both the brownie and this one to share. The owners are looking for new additions to the desserts section, so we had to make do with this two for now.

At first glance, we thought that the dessert was a soup, but on second note, it was not! Panna Cotta is actually an Italian Dessert made by simmering together cream, milk and sugar, mixing this with gelatin, and letting it cool until set.

Panna Cotta is usually eaten plained or sweetened with vanilla, chocolate or fruits. But the one we had at Bistro One Zero Three gave a different twist by adding Mocha to flavour the dessert.

Total bill for 4 person (4 mains & 2 desserts) adds up to $82.86 (including GST & service charge). Overall the experience at Bistro One Zero Three is a positive one, and its a good place to chill out & dine with your friends. The place isn’t really inaccessible if you know where it is, just a few bus-stops away from Harbourfront. And the cozy environment and friendly service from the boss definitely makes it a plus for a revisit, but they need to work on their desserts selections if they are to satisfy my desserts-demand.

Bistro One Zero Three
103 Pasir Panjang 118531
Tel: 6476 6373

” Who say guys don’t like their desserts? I do! “

Sweet Indulgence, the petite cafe at Stanley Street is as charming as its name. From the decorations, to the food, to the service, everything just made you feels at home. Your cosy corner, in the hearts of the city. My female companion and i arrive at the place at 530pm, but the restaurant was not opened yet as their kitchen starts at 6. However the staff warmly welcome us in to the place. Being early-birds, we were the only diners there, and we enjoyed every moment there. The feeling was though we had booked the restaurant, and had the whole place to ourselves.

Upon stepping into the restaurant, I felt as if I had transported into another world all together. The bar counter, the simple yet comfortable furnitures under the dim spot-light made us feel totally at ease. The staff was very friendly, and he told us to make ourselves at home. So we heed his words, and literally make it our home.

Pretty is the word to describe the place, cozy is the word to describe the feeling, and indulgencing in the sweetness basically sums up everything else. We took photos, every shot and angles of the whole restaurant. While being overly engrossed in taking pictures, we even forgot to take our orders until we saw the chef sitting behind us.

The menu ranges from appetizer, salad, tapas, to the main course like pasta, fish & seafood, meats, to desserts and wine. Although under each category there might not have a wide range of selections, but for what it lack in variety, it made up for it in the pure quality and the presentation of the food.

And just for your information, the restaurant starts its lunch menu from 1145 to 230pm, dinner is served from 6 to 10pm. Indulge in a sumptuous three course set lunch at an additional $6.80 on top of the main course’s price.

Selections of wine available

The painting of the wall and the furniture colour blends in well together

The cozy corner seats

As we were in quite a rush for time, we didn’t have any appetizer or tapas to start the delightful meal, so we proceed on and begin with our main course. A peek into the menu, we immediately know what we wanted. As my female companion is a fan of spaghetti & also a lover of fish, the spaghetti salmon & mushroom seems to be tailor-made for her. To complete the fish-lover experience, i had the pan-sauteèd salmon steak.

The spaghetti selections come in the price range of $13.90 to $17.90, while the main course starts from $14.90 to $23.90 for its beef tenderloin.

Spaghetti Salmon & Mushroom ($15.90)

Spaghetti tossed with fresh salmon, mushrooms & seasonal vegetables in cream sauce. Being the fan of cream base rather than tomato base, the Spaghetti Salmon & Mushroom suits the tastebud of my companion perfectly. The sauce isn’t very strong, therefore it doesn’t overwhelm the overall taste of the dish. Coupled with the generous helping of fresh salmon & mushroom, every slurp of the pasta seems to exist for your savour of it.

Pan-sauteèd Salmon Steak ($19.90)

Pan-grilled salmon accompany with daily vegetables, serve with vanilla infused cream sauce, finished with balsamic reduction & caramelised cherry tomatoes. First taste into the Pan-sauteèd Salmon steak tell me this is something special, the second bite confirms the truth. The salmon is pan-grilled perfectly, where pan-grilled salmon in the hands of less-skillful chef will becomes hard and dry, this is definitely not the case at Sweet Indulgence.

The Salmon fillet that i had at Friends @ Jelita was slightly different, that one is coated with cripsy cajun crust. In this case, the grilled skin did not prevent me for tasting the soft and freshness of the juicy salmon. Some pepper and salt are sprinkled to add additional flavouring to the salmon, not that it is necessary, the salmon is so good that it can be eaten on its own.

The daily vegetables of broccoli and carrot helps to balance the meal, and the mashed potato together with the vanilla infused cream sauce certainly taste specially good. The only thing that i have to add will be the serving could be better, but i guess good food comes in appropriate serving, too much of a good thing spoils the taste.

Warm Choco Lava Indulgence ($8.90)

To end off our delightful meal, there is no doubt desserts are a must at such a sweet place like Sweet Indulgence. Warm chocolate cake filled with melted dark chocolate, served with tropical fruits and a scoop of ice cream.

Warm Choco Lava Indulgence’s filling very much satisfied the chocoholic in me. As our spoon cuts into the chocolate cake, the melted dark chocolate ooshed out and filled our spoon. Eaten separately, the warm dark chocolate taste like dark chocolate, and the ice cream like any other ordinary ice cream, but combine both together, the result is totally different. The warm dark chocolate seems to fuse perfectly with the cold vanilla ice cream, and the effect is a yummy sensation.

Tiramisu ($7.90)

Dessert couldn’t have been more satisfying than in the form of the popular Tiramisu. Original Italian tiramisu made with mascarpone cheese and Italian sponge fingers soaked in espresso and lots of kahlua, rum & brandy.

The Tiramisu i had at Wild Rocket was creative, but in my personal opinion, this ought to be one of my favourite Tiramisu. The first moment the tiramisu goes inside my mouth, I fell in love with it. Touching the tip of my tongue, the super soft texture of the cake immediately melt and touch my heart. Beautiful is the word, heavenly is the feeling, and falling in love with it concludes the tiramisu. I’ll be back for this one, watch out for it yeah!

Total bill for 2 main 2 desserts for 2 person comes up to $52.60 which is definitely not expensive, given the quality and presentation of the food, the excellent service, the comfy environment, which makes our dinner perfect. Also please be reminded that the restaurant is currently opened during weekdays only, there are plans to open on Sat in the near future.

After we finish our dinner, the boss of the restaurant, Christopher came and we had a friendly conservation, and the restaurant even gave us two complimentary orange juice on the house. The orange juice are some of the ones that they are looking to bring in from new suppliers and are not on the menu as yet.

If you visit the place and may not agree with me that the place is that good even its a small restaurant, hidden in the heart of the city. But the fact is I enjoyed the place very much indeed, and that is enough. We received dining vouchers in the form of $15 discount for every $60 spend in the dinner menu for our next visit. I will definitely be back for more. memorable dining experience – Sweet 2 Indulge

Sweet Indulgence
2 Stanley Street
Tel: 6223 7707

” I fell in love with you “