Drips Bakery Cafe

Drips Bakery Cafe

As the print on the window goes, Drips Bakery Cafe specializes in tarts – tarts which are freshly made every day!

Chocolate de Tart

The Chocolate de Tart was pretty decent. The inner chocolate filling was decadent, rich and very smooth. Taste wise, it maintained a mellow bitter-sweetness. This simple tart hit all the right notes but perhaps the fact that it was too predictable, this tart seemed a tad boring.

Macadamia Nuts

We just couldn’t resist the sight of these large macadamia nuts! The nuts were basically the limelight of this tart. They were extremely fresh, crunchy and fragrant – every nut lover’s Achilles’s heel! The macadamia nuts were held together by a sticky caramel glue, which wasn’t too sweet. The cake beneath was pretty bland as well. And in all, it seemed that every thing else was just a sidekick, while the star of the tart was solely the huge tantalizing macadamia nuts!

Drips Bakery Cafe
#01-05, 82 Tiong Poh Road

Tim Ho Wan 添好運

Widely touted as Hong Kong’s most famous dim sum, Tim Ho Wan has never failed to draw long crowds outside their 2 branches since the first outlet opening in March 2013 and its second outlet in September 2013. We are definitely attracted to the Michelin-backed good food, but with mixed reviews about the Singapore outlets not matching up to the Hong Kong’s standards, we stopped short of joining the horrendously long queues during the 1st couple of months of opening. And another way to escape the long queues is to visit the 2nd, off-town outlet outside of peak lunch and dinner times.

Tim Ho Wan

The menu isn’t very extensive and was presented simply on a single page. There aren’t many fanciful offerings, most of them were traditional dim sum fare.

Baked Bun with BBQ Pork 酥皮焗叉烧包

As we observed trays and trays of freshly baked BBQ pork buns being dished out from the ovens and almost every table having at least 1 serving of this, there was no doubt that the most popular dish was the Baked Bun with BBQ Pork 酥皮焗叉烧包 ($4.50 for 3). The buns were unique, and unlike any served in other dim sum restaurants. The crust was crumbly with a tinge of sweetness. The aroma of the freshly baked crumbly crust was irresistible. It wasn’t overly thick and doughy. The inner fillings of the BBQ pork wasn’t as likeable as the outer crust. The quantity of fillings wasn’t to our expectations. It was a bit too sweet as well. Texture wise, the proportion of meat seemed to be lacking, and there just wasn’t enough bite and meaty tenderness to it.

Pan Fried Carrot Cake 香煎萝卜糕

Another one of Tim Ho Wan’s Big 4 Heavenly Kings is the Pan Fried Carrot Cake 香煎萝卜糕 ($4.50 for 3). The searing on the carrot cake was adequately done – just enough to give it that extra crisp and charred flavours, without being overly burnt. The carrot cake seemed pretty soft though, as it was on the verge of disintegrating just be the mere pick up using chopsticks. And there wasn’t any dried shrimps or Chinese sausages embedded in the carrot cake – that was pretty disappointing as it made the carrot cake seemed one-dimensional and boring.

Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver 黄沙猪润肠

One of the more unique items was the Vermicelli Roll with Pig’s Liver 黄沙猪润肠 ($5.50), since in Singapore, pig’s liver is not typically found in vermicelli rolls. The vermicelli roll was thin, semi-translucent, smooth and when immersed in the sauce, it was very fragrant and savoury. The fillings of pig’s liver wasn’t really our favourite, mainly due to the fact that we aren’t fans of pig’s livers to start off with. It had a queer texture and the characteristic taste of pig’s liver just didn’t go well with us.

Steam Spinach Dumpling with Shrimp 鲜虾菠菜饺

The Steam Spinach Dumpling with Shrimp 鲜虾菠菜饺 ($3.80 for 3) was pretty mediocre. The proportion of spinach was overwhelming and completely masked out any taste of prawns. It was just too much spinach and every mouth was just spinach leaves and stalks, which was just not appetizing given that the spinach was under-flavoured and the prawns were just non-existent.

Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork and Shrimp 美味燜鲜竹卷

The Beancurd Skin Roll with Pork and Shrimp 美味燜鲜竹卷 ($4 for 3) was a simple and comforting dish. The sauce was very thick and savoury. There was a good balance of pork and shrimp, with neither outshining the other. Fresh crunchy prawns with the sweet minced pork, tied together with a thin layer of beancurd skin, and drenched in a viscous thick sauce – nicely done.

Tonic Medlar and Osmanthus Cake 杞子桂花糕

The meal ended on a perfect note with a sweet and refreshing Tonic Medlar and Osmanthus Cake 杞子桂花糕 ($3.50 for 3). The jelly wasn’t too soft, was still bouncy and chewy. The wolfberries were almost like raisins, they added burst of sweetness to the jelly. The osmanthus fragrance and flavour formed the backdrop of this jelly. This cold dessert drew a perfect closure to an otherwise porky dim sum feast.

Tim Ho Wan
#02-02, ERA Centre Toa Payoh
450 Toa Payoh Lorong 6

St. Marc Cafe

(from left to right) Green Tea Latte and Hot Chocolate

Nothing like a cup of Green Tea Latte and Hot Chocolate to end a day. And St. Marc Cafe offers a decent version of both beverages.

The Green Tea Latte displayed a well balance between the characteristic bitterness of green tea and the richness from milk. The sweetness level also hit the right note and overall, a very likeable and addictive cup of green tea latte.

The Hot Chocolate, though not overwhelming strong compared to Laurent’s and Max Brenner, still carried a decent chocolately fragrance and taste. The Hot Chocolate was very comforting, in the sense that it wasn’t too heavy on the palate, yet the chocolately goodness was enough to satisfy any chocolate lover.

St. Marc Cafe
#02-105/184/185, Marina Square
6 Raffles Boulevard

Toby’s Estate

Brunch at Toby’s Estate!

Toby’s Estate

Situated amongst the private condos at Roberston quay is Toby’s Estate – a name synonymous with good coffee and all-day-breakfast.

Toby’s Breakfast

We went for the crowd favourite’s Toby’s Breakfast ($18) – bard laid eggs (poached), espresso maple bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes, sauteed mixed mushrooms, brioche toast and classic hollandaise sauce (+$2). It was a pretty sight – a hearty breakfast full of colours and flavours. The espresso maple bacon was pretty unique – on 1st bite, the saltiness was pretty mild but there was a strong charred fragrance. With each gradual chew, the saltiness started to intensify. Complementing the bacon and mushrooms together with the bread  significantly reduced the saltiness. The hollandaise sauce was smooth, creamy and buttery, but not overly rich. The poached eggs were perhaps the most disappointing element of the breakfast. It was overcooked and the egg yolk had already tended towards a slightly solid curd, rather than it being an oozy liquid. And sadly, the lettuce which was placed beneath all the elements had turned into a soggy mess after absorbed all the oil from the bacon and mushrooms.

On the whole, it was still a delightful fulfilling breakfast set from Toby’s Estate.

Toby’s Estate
#01-03/04, 8 Rodyk Street

Strangers’ Reunion

Baked Eggs in Shakshuka

Brunch session at Strangers’ Reunion saw us trying the Baked Eggs in Shakshuka ($17). Shakshuka is a Tunisian/Moroccan dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, chili peppers, onions, and various spices. This dish was more soupy than we thought, as we had expected a thicker and more gooey gravy. The middle-easten origins were quite evident as the shakshuka was accentuated with lots of spices, with the sour tomato-based sauce forming the backdrop. The eggs were pretty raw – on the surface, the egg white seemed cooked, but within the soup, the egg white were still in its original raw colourless form. It seemed like the egg was only cracked and added onto the shakshuka after the dish was removed from the oven. Still, the soupy shakshuka did make an interesting middle-eastern flavoured dip for the accompanying bread.

Matcha Azuki

Be it brunch, lunch or dinner, we can never escape the temptations of having a cake to end our meal. The Matcha Azuki ($7.50) wasn’t too sweet though, as it exhibited the characteristic bitter green tea flavours. This cake consisted of alternating layers of matcha sponge and matcha cream. It was rather light, typical of a Japanese-inspired cake. The red beans embedded in the matcha cream provided that slight additional crunch and sweetness to the cake. Overall, there wasn’t much surprises to the cake – a straightforward matcha cake, everything that you can expect.

Strangers’ Reunion
33/35/37 Kampong Bahru Road

Coffee and Crust – Mandarin Orchard

Speaking about chocolate buffet and the restaurants that come immediately to mind include The Courtyard Fullerton Hotel as well as The Chocolate Bar at Marina Bay Sands. These 2 places are synonymous with “Chocolate Buffet”, with The Courtyard @ Fullerton Hotel being the longstanding, all-famous Chocolate Buffet destination.

Thus, imagine our delight and surprise when we spotted this poster at the lift lobby of Mandarin Orchard Gallery:

Chocolate Buffet @ Coffee and Crust, Mandarin Orchard

Available daily from 4.30 to 6.30pm at $20++ per pax, Coffee and Crust’s Chocolate Buffet promises an array of chocolate cakes, tarts, macarons, pralines, not forgetting the iconic chocolate fondue. The chocolate buffet is also available to diners of the Triple Three’s dinner buffet from 6.30 to 10.00pm.

Chocolate Buffet @ Coffee and Crust, Mandarin Orchard

Chocolate Buffet @ Coffee and Crust, Mandarin Orchard

The Chocolate Buffet at Coffee and Crust probably wasn’t as grand and extensive as the one at Fullerton Hotel. In fact, the buffet spread was only set up 10 minutes before the starting time of 4.30pm, on 5 square tables in the centre of the cafe. The chefs took quite a while to arrange the display of chocolate desserts and by the time the buffet spread was ready, it was already slightly past 5pm. Late service – not a great reflection of the resident cafe of a five-star hotel at Orchard Road.

A cup of coffee or tea was provided along with the buffet. However, do note that the tea/coffee isn’t refillable. 1 glass is all that you are going to get. And by the time the buffet spread was ready for consumption, our teas were already half drunk. No more tea to help to wash down the chocolate. Another minus point.

Chocolate Buffet @ Coffee and Crust, Mandarin Orchard

The buffet spread included 5 different kinds of chocolate pralines – white chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, sea salt chocolate as well as chocolate mint. The pralines were of decent premium quality, and according to the serving staff, the pralines are of French origin. Decent quality, rich and decadent, perfect mouth poppers.

There were also various chocolate cakes like the triple chocolate mousse cake and a brownie-like chocolate cake. The only tart available was a chocolate caramel tart. Breaking apart the chocolate tart revealed a caramel layer within the tart. There were also other chocolate based desserts like macarons, tuile, wafer sticks and our favourite was a nut-crusted chocolate cone containing a caramel custard centre. The 4 main mini glass desserts were: tiramisu (which was sorely lacking in liqueur and tasted predominantly of cream), a passionfruit chocolate mousse (the refreshing sourness of the passionfruit cut through the rich chocolate, allowing our palates to deter away from the heaviness of the chocolate), a white chocolate mousse (with an evident taste of coconut) and a milk chocolate mousse.

On the whole, if you have the appetite and the stomach for chocolate, Coffee and Crust’s Chocolate Buffet is a value for money option.

Coffee and Crust
Level 5, Mandarin Orchard
333 Orchard Road

Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie

With that many artisan bakeries and patisseries flooding the shores of Singapore, every new outlet definitely has to have an outstanding selling point. And for Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie, which just opened for a week, its main selling point is its consultant pastry chef Eran Mayer – a two-time recipient of the prestigious Grand Prix de la Baguette (Best Baguette of Paris) competition in France!

Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie

Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie

The layout setting of Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie resembled that of Tiong Bahru Bakery, with the long glass display of tarts, sandwiches, pastries and various kinds of artisan breads in the back shelves. Not really knowing the specialty offering of Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie, we went for the 2 items that appealed to us most.

(from right to left) Caramel Pecan Tart and Chocolate Lava Cake

The Chocolate Lava Cake ($6.80) wasn’t heated prior to serving, hence we immediately knew that there was a high chance that the centre wasn’t a molten and viscous core. True enough, the core of the cake wasn’t molten and fluidy, though it was still a tad softer and more moist than the surrounding cake. Putting aside all expectations of a lava cake, this Chocolate Lava Cake was actually pretty impressive. The outer surrounding cake was very dense, moist and rich. It was every bit like a fudge cake, albeit a slightly softer kind. It wasn’t too sweet and the chocolate taste was very strong and decadent.

The Caramel Pecan Tart ($6) was equally impressive. The caramel wasn’t too cloyingly sweet hence we didn’t get too sick from eating it. The caramel was gooey and sticky, simply fork licking good. The tart crust was very fresh and crunchy. It had a slight buttery fragrance, which lingered in the background, without overpowering the fillings of the tart. The best part of the tart has to be the nuts. Besides the whole nuts which were visible atop the tart, there were crushed nuts within the caramel filling. The nuts were very fragrant, very crunchy – evident of their freshness. The nuts weren’t salted nor sweetened, they were just simply exuding their intrinsic nutty aroma and flavours. And they were so crunchy and fresh that it was almost like the nuts were just harvested prior to baking the tart. This has got to be one of the best nut-based tarts we have ever tried.

Artisan Boulangerie Compagnie
#01-01, 118 Killiney Road

Maison Ikkoku

Cookie Crunch

Maison Ikkoku’s cakes blew us away on our 1st visit. We were so impressed that we proclaimed we will definitely be back again. Our return visit turned out to be a stark contrast as none of the cakes on display caught our attention. But going against our visuals and hoping that the cakes tasted better than they looked, we ordered the Cookie Crunch.

And today just wasn’t the day for “it tastes better than it looks”.

The Cookie Crunch was a sore disappointment. Well, there wasn’t really any crunch – just crumbly Oreo bits which didn’t quite pack a flavour punch as well. The proportion of sponge cake was too much for us and we just didn’t like the monotonous, bland, mediocre sponge. The cream was sub-standard. In all, it wasn’t a cake of premium quality. No depth in textures nor taste. No mind-blowing moment. Big disappointment.

Maison Ikkoku
20 Kandahar Street

Slappy Cakes

Fancy some Do-It-Yourself pancakes without the hassle of preparing the ingredients or dread the post-cooking cleaning chore? Head down to Slappy Cakes – a newly opened Oregon-originated pancake house, brought in by the folks at TungLok.

Slappy Cakes

Slappy Cakes goes by a DIY concept, where each table is fitted with a griddle and diners are allowed to cook their own pancakes. There are 5 different batter flavours, including buttermilk, peanut butter, zucchini, whole grain and chocolate. The batter is freshly made everyday and comes in a squeeze bottle ($8 per bottle), which makes around 5-8 pancakes, depending on the size of the pancakes. Besides the batter, you can also customize the pancakes from a range of “fixings” and “toppings”:

Fixings (ranged from $1.50 to $3):
Sweet – blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, sea coconut, dried pineapple, banana, shredded coconut, toasted almonds, hazelnuts, pecan nuts and granola
Savoury – brie, blue cheese, pork sausage, cheddar cheese, chopped scallions, crispy bacon, honey ham and roasted mushrooms

Toppings (ranged from $1.50 to $3):
100% maple syrup, lavender honey, homemade chocolate hazelnut spread, coconut peanut butter, greek yoghurt, mango jam, pineapple jam, raspberry jam, lemon curd and whipped cream

Griddle + Peanut Butter Batter + Cheddar Cheese + Pork Sausage + Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread

There are absolutely no limitations nor constraints to the combinations of batters, fixings and toppings. That’s the beauty of DIY – where you get to customize and create your very own pancake. For us, we chose a peanut butter batter with cheddar cheese, pork sausage and the homemade chocolate hazelnut spread. With the griddle warmed up, it was time for some DIY action.

Squeezing out the batter

The batter comes in a easy to squeeze plastic bottle, which allows both adults and kids to conveniently dispense the batter onto the griddle in whatever shape and size.

Pancakes in the Making

At the same time, you can also add in the fixings or toppings into the pancake during the cooking process. We added the cheddar cheese to allow it to melt into the pancake and also additional black pepper for seasoning. Once little bubbling holes start to appear in the pancake, flipping to the other side is a breeze as the griddle has a non-stick coating. Once both sides turned to a beautiful shade of golden brown, it is time to eat!

Pancakes!

Apart from the DIY fun, the pancakes turned out pretty decent too! The cooking process released a peanut butter fragrance into the air. We could also adequately control the texture and taste of our pancakes! Though the peanut butter aroma was quite evident, the taste was not that strong. But our pancakes did turn out soft, light and fluffy! No difference from any professional chef! We could probably do with a little more cheese for that extra goodness, but the addition of black pepper was a great choice as it enhanced the taste of the pancakes. The homemade chocolate hazelnut spread, after being left on the heat for a while, turned into a viscous, chocolately goodness.

Great concept and great food.

Slappy Cakes
#01-20/21, The Grandstand
200 Turf Club Road

MU Parlour

The interesting thing about Holland Village is how certain bistros and cafes are hidden on the 2nd floor of the shop houses. And MU Parlour is one of them – a very serene and small cafe, just above Thai Express.

Manjari Salted Caramel Tart

The place looked pretty nice and we had a clear view of Holland Village. But the same can’t be said for the food. We chose the Manjari Salted Caramel Tart and the Hazelnut Praline. The Hazelnut Praline had a very artificial, gelatine like outing case, which was rubbery and awful. The hazelnut mousse was mediocre, the mini macaroons atop the cake was stale and unappetizing.

The salted caramel in the Manjari Tart didn’t stand out. The tart was pretty mediocre. Nothing which left a deep impression.

MU Parlour
16A Lorong Mambong

Cake Spade

As reviewed previously, Cake Spade does deserve a 2nd visit and we lived up to it!

Nutella Crumble

The Nutella Fudge Crumble wasn’t very rich in nutella. In fact, because the Nutella Fudge Crumble had been warmed up prior to serving, the nutella fudge layer became slight viscous and fluid-like – this resulted in the nutella fudge layer tasting like the inner core of a molten chocolate cake. This was intensified by the fact that the nutella taste was sorely missing and it was basically pure chocolate. Nevertheless, with the fresh crumble coating, the Nutella Fudge Crumble was still one commendable dessert from Cake Spade.

Cake Spade
#01-06, Orchid Hotel
1 Tras Link

Selfish Gene Cafe

Hot Chocolate and Matcha Latte

We are on the hunt for the best Green Tea Latte in Singapore! And compared to drinks like Hot Chocolate, Green Tea Latte is less common and not so widely available at many cafes. And the main reason is probably that Green Tea Latte isn’t all that easy to master. There must be an adequate balance in the proportion of tea and milk, and not forgetting good grasp of the sweetness level. Too much milk, and you lose the characteristic green tea taste and fragrance. Too little milk and you lose the smoothness and end up creating green tea instead.

Selfish Gene Cafe’s Matcha Latte fell short in terms of the milkiness. It’s taste gravitated towards green tea, rather than matcha latte. It wasn’t all that sweet though, which is a good thing. But compared to Tsujiri’s, Selfish Gene was definitely not on par. On the other hand, the Hot Chocolate was still quite decent. Not as thick and viscous as we would have liked, it was still a chocolately drink to satisfy the chocolate lover.

Selfish Gene Cafe
40 Craig Road

Maison Ikkoku

Along the Malay Heritage Centre, you can find many Muslim, Middle Eastern and Turkish eateries and bistros. And then, there is Maison Ikkoku – to some, it is the name of  Japanese manga, but to us, it’s our new favourite dessert bistro!

Blueberry Cheesecake

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn

Blueberry Cheesecake ($8) – The one big attraction of the cheesecake was the shear generous amount of blueberries! Juicy, fresh plump blueberries atop a cheesecake stained with the juices from the blueberries, it was a sight absolutely tantalizing. The cheesecake was a bit soft – which we suspect is due to the cheesecake soaking up the blueberry juice. But the cheesecake was still decently rich and sticky. The sweet tanginess of the blueberries was a good complement to the cheesiness. The crumbles at the back of the cake were fragrant and didn’t taste stale at all.

Chocolate Caramel Popcorn ($8) – The caramel popcorn garnish atop the cake was very sweet. The popcorn was a bit stale though, and lacked the crunchiness of popcorn. The chocolate cake consisted of alternating layers of chocolate sponge and fudge. The chocolate taste was probably not as overwhelmingly rich as we had expected. One mini surprise was the thin insertion of caramel within the layers of chocolate, with that extra sweetness lingering in the background.

Maison Ikkoku
20 Kandahar Street

Glück Bistro Express

Glück, the German word for “happiness” and “luck”, is a quaint cafe situated beside Park 22 Hotel.

Chocolate Therapy

We stumbled upon Glück, which is alongside Keong Saik Street. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping we had found a gem, we decided to try the Chocolate Therapy.

Chocolate Therapy ($7.90) – The chocolate didn’t exactly taste of premium quality, wasn’t really that exquisite nor outstanding. It was a rather one-dimensional cake. The crunchy bits in the cake had already turned soggy and stale. Somehow, there wasn’t any feature of the cake which made us go “wow”.

Glück Bistro Express
26 Teck Lim Road

Gastronomia

Crodo – The Croissant Donut

The croissant-donut hybrid craze has descended to Singapore! Known as Cronuts in the United States or Crodos in Singapore, these hybrids are basically croissant dough fried like a doughnut, and may further be enhanced with chocolate or custard etc. We tried Gastronomia’s Chocolate Crodo which essentially looked like a croissant, shaped into a donut. The Crodo was very oily and greasy, which completely turned us off. There was so much oil left on our finger tips and every bite of the Crodo left our mouths with an oily taste and smell. There was minimal chocolate stuffed within the Crodo.

We absolutely do not understand the craze about these croissant-donuts.

Gastronomia
#01-01 Cluny Court
501 Bukit Timah Road