Canton-i

Me and my friends meant to try the dim sum at Taste Paradise, but because they only serve it during lunch we decided to head to Canton-i instead for dinner. Interestingly in the recent weekend, Wong Ah Yoke on The Sunday Times Lifestyle rated Canton-i as one of the worst mid-priced restaurants of the year, and to be honest I think that's a bit too harsh. I personally don't think anyone of us is in the position to give "the worst" awards, especially not on the national newspaper right!

Seafood Fried Rice: 3.75/5


The seafood fried rice with eggs, scallops and seafood came in a hot stone bowl and it was still sizzling an hour after it arrived. Everyone around the table was clearly envious over my little gem, not least because it smelled good and looked more promising than their own dishes. I did away with the usual addition of the (pork) chinese sausages, the staff were happy to oblige, and it still tasted pretty alright. Sufficient mix of prawns, squids, scallops and mushrooms.

Wanton Soup with Noodles


HweeGuang didn't like this much, save for the wantons. He commented that the noodles were so much like instant noodles, and the soup quite tasteless.

Char-Roast Duck Noodle


Stella felt that Canton-i's specialty duck is not too bad, better than expected, but overall as a dish it was just average.

Guangdong Style Stir-Fried Noodles


Not sure about the exact name of this dish, but it's close. Leona could only manage an "it's okay" when I asked her about it.

Fried Radish Cake with XO Sauce


This probably came close to saving the dinner for the three. Well-fried and flavourful enough.

Service
It was pretty crowded and understandably so it would be difficult trying to get the attention of the busy staff. To be fair, when we did get their attention, they were very helpful and thorough with our orders, even giving suggestions on alternative choices. I appreciate that.

Price
$10.80 for the seafood fried rice
$8.80 for the char-roast duck noodle
$7.80 for the fried radish cake with xo sauce
(Around the same price for the other two noodle dishes)

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
ION Orchard, #03-14.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Bloggers Outing: Checkers Deli

Our food bloggers' outings have been gradually expanding in size, and if not for appointment and schedule clashes there would easily be twenty of us all gathered cosily in one place. I'm sure that time will come very soon, and it's definitely something to look forward to in the coming new year. As they always say, the more is always the merrier :)


It's usually easier planning for teatime-dessert outings because all we need is some place peaceful that gives us free reign over our cameras, and where we could have as many sweet delights as we can ask for. This time round, after our cameras were being denied action by Cova Pasticceria at Orchard Paragon, we bought our little tickets to sugary heaven instead from Checkers Deli at Hilton Hotel, and I must say that the experience was quite lovely indeed. It's what some may call "a blessing in disguise". First up of course, the food bloggers' "guest list" for the day:

Justin from J2K3Blogs
Kaelyn from My Food Sirens
Elaine from Divine Essentials

Daniel from Memoirs of Food
Gavin from Every Meal an Adventure
Harris from The Simplest Aphrodisiac
Phoebe and Chloe from The Food Chapter

One of the most fantastic things about being a food blogger is about finding like-minded people out there who not only share your almost insatiable love for food but also who have a passion to share the joy of such gastronomic wonders. Dedication then comes naturally, as we spend hours every week updating our blogs, posting on food forums (some even do both!), tagging on one another's blogs with the latest recommendations or with just a cheerful word or two of encouragement. And to make things even better, and what keeps us going day in day out, is our amazing readers out there. These blogs are not only about us, it's also about how much we want to reach out to new friends out there who have kept us on their bookmarks and who would read our humble blogs from time to time. To these awesome people, thank you!


As such, one of my New Year Resolutions is already in place: I would really love to meet some of my frequent readers and go out for meals together! I've been very encouraged by the emails, tags and Facebook messages thus far, and it's certainly spurring me on to organise something within the first quarter of 2010 (make sure you all turn up ah, else I have to start dragging people in as fillers haha!). So stay tuned to this blog as I try to come up with plans for an official blog outing! Till then, do keep reading and do keep eating :)

The Damsels


Ahh, on to the sweet treats, shall we? I hear from Phoebe that Checkers is especially known for its cheesecakes, and amongst the three that we tried, the Blueberry Cheese Cake came up tops, and by a big margin too. The thick cheesecake is nicely paired with the soft, almost jelly-like blueberry top and in itself had a balanced, sweet flavour to it. The Marble Cheese Cake and Walnut Cheese Cake meanwhile didn't impress me much, in fact they were plain (and after the second tiny forkful, boring) and couldn't match up to many of the other cakes on the table. Many others however have continued to rave about these two cheese cakes online, and the general consensus remains that Checkers sells one of the top quality cheese cakes around!

The Beautiful


The pretty lady of the day, the Mixed Berries Tart (almost typically?) charms more on its looks than on its content and taste. The mixture of rum and almond cream was fine, but somehow the whole tart just didn't come together for a full, wholesome flavour. Still, pretty to look at.

The Bodyguards


Surrounding the lady were her two formidable-looking bodyguards, looking all round and tough indeed. I liked the zesty Lemon Tart a lot, and I dare say it's one of my top two favourites of the afternoon. The hard crust is contrasted to the smooth lemon custard interior, but what's worth more mention is how the lemon flavour was of a perfect measure that makes it neither too over-powering nor too fleeting. The Vanilla Chocolate Cake on the other hand looked like a safe bet, but it's description of crispy praline, vanilla cream, chocolate sponge and mousse raised our expectations a bit too much - save for the praline, it seemed quite ordinary to me.

The Specialists


I have to admit that both the Coffee Moka Finger and the Carrot Walnut Cake did not leave a deep impression in me (so much so that a week on I don't quite remember how they actually taste like!) but I do know that the latter had mixed reviews around the table and a couple commented that it was a bit too dry for their liking. This deserves another check. The coffee finger was comparatively slightly better, but only if you like your cakes with a hint of coffee.

The Knight


I'm wondering why, at half past two in the morning, that I'm calling this "the knight", and I remember now that it's only because this cake reminds us all so much of one of the best-selling cakes from a common bakery - Coco Exotic from Four Leaves Bakery - and that this particular one from Checkers is like a refined and "upgraded" version to it, just like how a celebrated soldier is promoted to the ranks of a knight. Needless to say, and before I get carried away (haha!), the Hazelnut Royaltine is certainly one of the best versions there is to the hazelnut praline cake as it has a good balance of soft chocolate cake and crispy hazelnut praline and biscuit.

The Prince


The Prince, naturally, commands all, and for that I'm conferring such a honorary status to the Snicker's Cake, which boasts Jivara milk chocolate, peanut caramel, biscuit Joconde (almond-based sponge), peanut crisps and dark chocolate glaze. The best slice of cake for the day for me, prized alongside it's more fruity and equally tantalising counterpart in the lemon tart. The ingredients speak for themselves really, dark chocolate with peanut caramel and crisps is enough to make any (non-health conscious) boy happy :)

Service
Very good, polite and friendly. Constantly refills our glasses with water.

Price
Dine-In Price (Takeaway Price) Nett:
$11.20 ($7.80) for the blueberry cheese cake
$11.20 ($7.80) for the marble cheese cake
$11.20 ($7.80) for the walnut cheese cake
$8.85 ($6.95) for the mixed berries tart
$8.85 ($6.95) for the lemon tart
$6.95 ($6.95) for the vanilla chocolate cake
$6.95 ($6.95) for the coffee moka finger
$8.85 ($6.95) for the carrot walnut cake
$8.85 ($6.95) for the hazelnut royaltine
$8.85 ($6.95) for the snicker's cake

Place
Hilton Hotel, Orchard Road.
Dine in at Checkers Brasserie within Hilton Hotel.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Bloggers Outing: Gordon Grill

As Christmas arrives it also means that the year is drawing to a close. For many of us, it's a time of good cheer and festivities as we usher in the dawn of a new year. It's also the time we start reflecting (if we haven't done so earlier) on what has happened in the course of the past twelve months and what has particularly been special. For food blogs like this one you're reading here, authors begin to ponder as well on what has been the best meal that they have had in the year. Mine took quite a while, but it has finally arrived.


I've been to heaven and back for so many times thanks to Gordon Grill, and for me it definitely made the grade for THE BEST MEAL of 2009. It passed the test with flying colours in food quality and taste, food presentation, price and service, and all in the most stringent of criteria - clearly I wanted to make sure that I was not carried away by the sheer novelty of fine dining.


Gordon Grill was also the choice of location for the Food Bloggers' Lunch, which was attended by Elaine from Divine Essentials as well as Phoebe and Chloe from The Food Chapter. Another group meanwhile had headed for La Strada at Shaw Centre, and it was arranged that we would meet for teatime desserts thereafter to share even more food lovin'. Look out for that post this weekend, the desserts were really lovely too! :)

Complimentary Bread Basket: 4.25/5


The three-course set lunch that the four of us had was part of the UOB Chef's Creation Series by Executive Chef Gan Swee Lai. The complimentary bread basket that arrived at the start did more than whet our appetite, it got us so full of anticipation of what was to come! Other than the brown sourdough bread that was quite plain and dry, the olive loaf and onion rolls meanwhile were fantastic. I've rarely raved about free bread (the only exception, and close rival, would be the ones served at Barnacles Restaurant with an accompanying chilli crab dip) but these ones were so fresh, fragrant and flavourful that it's difficult not to love them.


The sisters especially gave the thumbs up for the onion rolls and even asked for a refill on those. Just add a simple dash of butter and you've got something so simple yet delicious on your hands. I especially like the way that it was toasted that it was so crisp on the outside yet still so soft on the inside.

Hokkaido Scallops: 4/5


My choice of appetiser was the Hokkaido scallops with apple puree and black truffle vinaigrette. Elaine and Phoebe had theirs with the addition of pork belly too. The scallops were fresh and gently cooked for that golden brown hue. Mushrooms and truffles were nice too.

Salmon Confit


Chloe's salmon confit appetiser was served alongside cold Japanese pasta, seaweed and caviar, with a light addition of white truffle oil. Phoebe who took a forkful of her sister's salmon commented that it had a very "Asian"-flavour to it, and I myself could discern the smell of vinegar and caviar that I would think is very much an acquired taste. Chloe said the exact same thing on "acquired taste".

Grilled Beef Tenderloin and Braised Cheek: 5/5


Yes, the perfect score, the first ever that this blog has seen thus far. I love my beef, but this one was quite something out of this world and in a different league altogether. The tenderloin brought a whole new meaning to "tender", even when it was close to medium-rare, while the braised cheek literally melts in your mouth. A well-grilled steak in a sizeable portion, what's there not to like? The whipped potatoes on the underside meanwhile were so smooth and simply a joy to wipe off your fork. Add some Bordelaise brown sauce and you've got a winner of a main course. Perfect.

Roasted Turkey Supreme


Both Elaine and Chloe chose the roasted turkey, which came in different cuts as well, and accompanied by chestnut ballotine, winter vegetables and winter sauce. I believe the two girls found it just alright, good, but not necessarily something to scream and rave that much about.

Chestnut Crème Brûlée: 4.75/5


Ah, desserts. It wrapped up the superb meal amazingly well. The crème brûlée is certainly one of the best that I've ever tried, with the deliciously burnt and crisp caramel atop smooth and sweet vanilla-chestnut custard. What made this dessert even more impressive was the small pairing of whisky ice-cream, which was just heavenly - the liquer was not too overpowering that it would mask the vanilla-bean based ice-cream, and the addition of a small cut strawberry for good measure was most welcomed. I wish I could have more of this please!

Rhubarb Trifle: 4.25/5


Two of the ladies chose the rhubarb trifle, and just a look at it would make you go, "This is a ladies' dessert". Pretty indeed, and Elaine especially liked this. While the vanilla sugar donut was more or less typical, the trifle on the other hand was what really won the hearts of its owners. There's at least three different layers of custard, fruits and even jelly, and on Elaine's urging I took a spoonful of all three layers at once - oh, yummylicious. Smooth and delightful.

Overall Verdict
Excellent of course! I liked the way the pictures turned out as well, and you might also like to know that these pictures were unedited (as all my pictures are) save for brightness adjustments.

Service
Impeccable. They even brought a small chair out for me to put my DSLR camera bag on, and they definitely won me over with such a thoughtful gesture for my new baby.

Price
UOB Cardmembers promotion: $68++ for two.

Place
Gordon Grill, Goodwood Park Hotel.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Earle Swensen's

Earle Swensen's is the "upmarket" offshoot of the popular chain of Swensen's Restaurants and features an extended menu alongside an all-you-can-eat salad bar (terms and conditions apply). I have to admit I didn't come with much expectations especially after reading so many ambivalent reviews online, and in fact I thought it would only be more of an "inflated" (in terms of price) menu more than anything else. The salad bar seemed alright but I'm not a salad person at all and so stuck to just the cold oriental pasta, which was quite nice actually. Meanwhile, the view from Earle Swensen's at Vivocity would be pretty good once the Sentosa Integrated Resort is up, though for now it's still more or less construction sites or trees steeped in darkness.

Earle's Poultry Combo: 3.5/5


I was late for dinner and so couldn't take pictures of the twelve plus dishes on the table, though I heard that the food here is generally better than the ones served at the typical Swensen's restaurants, save for the fish and chips which my dad had. My poultry combo was a charboiled platter of chicken snail sausage, smoked duck, chunky chicken thigh strips and chicken breast, topped with herb onion gravy. I thought the sausage and chicken breast were delicious, the chicken breast especially was tender and juicy. The smoked duck on the other hand was almost tasteless while the chicken thigh was too tough and dry.

Tenderloin Steak: 3.75/5


Surprisingly, this was quite a good steak, though it may have been better if it was done medium instead of well-done. I expected the steak to be the run-of-the-mill type of uninspiring beef, but this one was actually quite tender and tasty. In retrospect of course, it cannot hold a candle to the best steak that I've ever eaten and it was only just recently too! Stay tuned and read all about my Best Meal of 2009 on Christmas Eve :)

Service
Very good and helpful. I must praise one of their trainee staff, Ms Normala, for her patience and politeness throughout our meal, well done indeed.

Price
$26.90 for the poultry combo
$28.90 for the tenderloin steak

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10& service charge.

Place
VivoCity, #02-117.

Additional Comment
First picture source here.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Sofra Turkish Cafe & Restaurant

I actually visited Sofra twice in ten days, the first with my classmates from university and the second with my teacher and classmates from college. In both instances everyone was very satisfied with the food, a refreshing change no doubt, though we agreed that service could be a bit better at times. Nevertheless, still very positive experiences and definitely a place to recommend if you want something different.

Turkish Bread: 3.5/5


On its own, it's quite dry. Add some kebabs, grilled meatballs or flavoured dips and it will be much better.

Izgara Kofte: 4.5/5


This may look simple but it's really delicious. The grilled flat meatball (I chose mixed beef and lamb) was marinated and done very well that each forkful was a delight. In both of my visits everyone announced this as the best of the sliced meats, in part because the kebab doner meat was drier and much less flavourful. I did away with the salad side and I think they increased the rice portion by a little. The pilaf rice tasted good too.

Chef Plate: 4.25/5


For those who can't decide what to have, why not just have a bit of everything - in addition to a serving of Izgara Kofte, it also has the doner and shish kebabs. Served with some bread too. Both Jasmine and Kenniese agreed that some sauce or gravy would have been good to reduce the dryness of the kebab meats.

Jumbo Kebab Combo: 3.75/5


The "upsized" variation to the chef plate and "perfect for two", but it omits the taste-worthy Izgara Kofte. Certainly an increased portion of kebabs and bread, but now with eggplant kebabs as well.

Chicken Pide: 3.25/5


The Turkish variation to the typical pizza, the pide appeared to have more bread than cheese, and definitely more bread than ingredients. I like the even way that the bread was toasted, but yeaps, too much of the bread in the pizza.

Chicken Baked Rice


Kebabs not your thing? Try the chicken baked rice, though I don't think it's as tasty. Justina who had this liked the tomato gravy and commented that it tasted freshly made, and those around her who were finding their kebabs a bit too dry were using it as a dip.

Turkish Desserts


The Turkish Rice Pudding tasted much better than it looked, a mixture of what seems to be egg, milk and rice and served cold. This was the favourite of the three desserts pictured above, quite simply because it was unique and not too overwhelmingly sweet. The Turkish Chocolate Pudding with Marshmallow on the other hand was a little bit thicker and had the hint of good dark chocolate. It tastes better with each consecutive spoonful. Finally, the Baklava was being compared (rather simplistically and perhaps, unfairly) to the typical Chinese deep fried ham chim peng with a gula melaka (coconut sugar) flavouring. I would think the puddings faired much better surely.

Service
Can be improved, not very consistent. Friendly but inattentive at times.

Price
$2.70 for the turkish bread
$12.90 for the izgara kofte
$17.50 for the chef plate
$34.50 for the jumbo kebab combo
$10.50 for the chicken pide
$13.50 for the chicken baked rice
$3.90 for the turkish rice pudding
$4.70 for the chocolate rice pudding
$4.40 for the baklava (two pieces)

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
100 Beach Road #02-42/43/44
Shaw Tower
Shaw Leisure Gallery.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Black Canyon Coffee

I meant to blog about my dinner at Sofra Turkish Restaurant but I suppose I would leave that for Sunday! Meanwhile, here's a quick post on a quick lunch that I had recently at Fusionopolis, no it's not coffee at all but my favourite phad thai!

Prawn Phad Thai: 3.5/5


The phad thai was just about alright, it wasn't too oily and I appreciated the grated peanuts to add the typical crunch to the dish. The chilli powder was somewhat too fine and powdery though, and for a "prawn" phad thai, it only had three small prawns. Nevertheless, as a noodle dish as a whole, I would say it's close to par with that from Thai Express.

Thai Iced Tea: 4/5


What I liked most was the thai iced tea, in part because it had the authentic tea leaf taste to it and also because I appreciated the fact that they used the shaved type of ice just like in Thailand. It's definitely expensive for a single glass of iced tea, which you could easily get at a maximum of $1 in Bangkok. Tastes great but not exactly worth the price!

Service
Good. Can get very quiet here, perhaps because not many of the office tenants have shifted in just as yet. A MRT station is on its way.

Price
$8.95 for the phad thai
$3.50 for the thai iced tea

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Man, that just made my thai iced tea to cost $4!!!

Place
1 Fusionopolis Way, The Connexis #02-01/02.

Additional Comment
You might be interested to know that they have quite an extensive menu with Western fare as well. I might just try it someday when I return to Fusionopolis.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Gusttimo Di Roma

Feeling in the mood to splurge on something sweet? Want to bask in the warm weather with a cool cup of gelato in your hands? Enter Gusttimo Di Roma, one of the latest addition to Ion Orchard and one that has drawn several curious first-timers to its counters. Walk around with a refreshing cup of gelato or sit around along Orchard Road with a group of friends - there's always time to give yourself a sweet treat :)

Three Flavour Gelato: 4/5


I have to admit that many of the reviews online of Gusttimo aren't all too pretty, and perhaps it's due to heightened expectations arising from the fairly high price tag. A small cup of three flavours would set you at $5.90, so you would need to make sure that your choices count. I chose the hazelnut & chocolate (very average, reminds you of Ferrero Rocher chocolates surely) and caramel (simple, sweet and delicious) gelati as well as the mixed berries sorbet (my favourite of the lot, sweet and sour with some hint of "crunch"; take note that I chose the sorbet not the yogurt). A simple search on the blogs online told me to stay away from the chocolate-based flavours while others have praised the cream cheese one. My verdict on this is that the gelato/sorbet here is actually quite nice and it really depends on what flavours you choose, and where your personal preference lies in.

We're all different food blogs with our different tastes, so my advice to you is if you're in the area, just go ahead and try it! I'd say yes to the mixed berries sorbet, but that's just me! :)

Service
Contrary to some of the reviews, service here was quite friendly actually.

Price
$5.90 for a small cup (three flavours)
$7.80 for a medium cup (four flavours)

Place
Ion Orchard, #01-17.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Food For Thought

Food for Thought is a quaint little cafe situated close to the National Library along Victoria Street, and if you're in need of a cosy place for a sugar fix, this is it. There's something warm and inviting about this cafe and I like how everyone is so friendly in here. While me and my peers from school were here just for the desserts, I also hear that they whip up a pretty good meal too. Maybe I'll give it a try someday :)

Mango Cheese Cake: 4/5


"Non-baked cheese cake on a caramel crusty base topped with a mix of fresh cut and pureed mangoes." This cheese cake is nice - it wasn't too thick nor was it too sour, and having the bits and pieces of mangoes around the cake was just lovely.

Oreo Cheese Cake: 3.25/5


"Non-baked cheese cake full of crumbled mini oreos with an oreo cookie base." The oreo cheese cake on the other hand was just alright, or would I say, typical, of most oreo cheese cakes. I thought the one from McCafe (post coming up next week) was a wee bit better.

Chocolate Banana Malteser: 4/5


"Moist chocolate sponge layered with bananas and chocolate mousse, topped with halved chocolate maltesers and a delicate dark chocolate coating." Mmm, I like this - rich, sweet and chocolatey. Some of the girls found it a little too rich though, guess my threshold for chocolate is much higher!

Old Southern Red Velvet Cake: 4.5/5


"Three layered cherry cocoa vanilla pound cake slathered all over with a lemon cream cheese icing." The ladies' favourite, and with good reason. Maybe because it's pretty, or maybe because it's mysterious - would you expect this to taste like chocolate? Sure, the menu tells you there's cocoa, but when you take a bite of the cake, you would probably expect something more... cheery or strawberry. A mix of both really.

Nutella Chocolate Cupcake: 3/5


"Every Nutella fan's little friend, a small bite of hazelnut chocolatey goodness." I found the cupcake to be very ordinary, and quite dry after a while too. May I suggest someone comes up with a Nutella lava cake, the kind that spills warm and wet Nutella from the middle? Ah, that would be splendid.

Butterscotch Peach Crumble: 4.75/5


"Golden crumble crust filled with peaches, raisins and roasted almond slices in a bubbling homemade butterscotch sauce, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream." Aren't you feeling hungry just reading the description - well, I am! My hurriedly taken photograph could do no justice to this sweet little gem. This was really really good because of the fresh and generous serving of peaches as well as the distinct flavour of the mildly burnt butterscotch. The ladies were going "ooh" and "aah" on this, and we were delighted to see that the crumble was really bubbling when it arrived. Pair it up with a scoop of cold ice-cream and it's all heaven :)

Service
Very good, warm and friendly.

Price
$5.50 for the slices of cake
$3.00 for the nutella cupcake
$7.90 for the butterscotch peach crumble

Place
420 North Bridge Road, North Bridge Centre #01-06.

Additional Comment
Monday to Saturday
9am to 1130am (Breakfast only)
1130pm to 230pm (Lunch Menu)
230pm to 530pm (Drinks and Desserts only)
530pm to 1030pm (Last order for dinner 9pm; after 9pm drinks and dessert only)

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Scoopz Ice-Cream

The sisters from SistaFood were raving about this ice-cream in their blog, and it was only when I got there did I realise that this is the same ice-cream shop that I used to frequent many years ago. It's always nice to know some of the places we remember in our earlier years are still doing fine :)


The flavours here are fairly simple, but at least prices here are lower than the more premium scoop shops like Udders, Cold Rock Ice Creamery and Ben & Jerry's.

The cookies and cream and mint choc-chip flavours were very basic, nothing much to rave about, but the mocha ice-cream was really good with the thickness of both coffee and chocolate. My friends tried a scoop of durian ice-cream as well, though they appeared to prefer the one served at The Daily Scoop because the latter has discernible bits of durian in it. One in the east, one in the west, how far would you travel for ice-cream? :)

Price
$2.90 for a small, single-flavour serving
$3.50 for a medium, double-flavour serving
$4.20 for a larger, double scoop serving

Place
Marine Parade Central, Parkway Parade, #B1-154.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Waroeng Penyet

I was looking for some place around the Marine Parade area for lunch and a quick search on the food blogs led me to this Indonesian eatery just a few minutes walk away from Parkway Parade. I was in a mood for some good ayam penyet (Indonesian-inspired smashed, deep-fried chicken), especially after my recent dinner at Ayam Penyet Ria at Orchard Lucky Plaza proved to be a less than impressive affair.


Waroeng Penyet is situated close to a coffeeshop and opposite the neighbourhood's polyclinic. I kinda like its (cartoon) chick mascot, pretty adorable. I would seriously consider buying a small plush toy of it if they had one haha!

Ayam Penyet Set: 4.25/5


The (lunch) set comes with a bowl of soup, a plate of white steamed rice and the all-important fried chicken, accompanied with fried tofu and tempeh (a popular Indonesian side dish of fermented soybeans). When the food arrived, just one look at it and I knew this was going to be really good.


The chicken was very well-marinated and cooked, and was juicy without being oily at the same time. I like the crisps of batter that they added on for the extra crunch, while the tofu and tempeh helped to balance an otherwise all-chicken meal. It would be good if there was more to the chilli, though at least it isn't as numbingly spicy as the one from Ayam Penyet Ria. My verdict: Probably one of the best ayam penyet in Singapore, but I have to note that it's rare to find the chicken being true to its "penyet" name - even here at Waroeng Penyet, the chicken was not in any way flattened!

Soda Gembira
The "Soda Gembira", translated as Happy Soda, is a carbonated variation to the popular local drink, "Bandung" (milk-based rose syrup). I found this drink quite unique actually, and its sweetness was enough to make my day happy :)

Service
Very good.


Price
$6.50 for the ayam penyet lunch set, inclusive of soup, rice and a free soft drink.
$1.80 for the soda gembira.
(I realised that they didn't get me to pay a little bit more to change my drink, so I paid full for my soda gembira but didn't get my free soft drink!)

For more on the menu, click here.

Place
Marine Parade Central, Blk 81 #01-638.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Bloggers Outing: Royal Copenhagen

There's a mounting backlog of food entries for me to clear but I thought it would be nice to start off the new week with the latest Food Bloggers' Sweet Treat Saturday at Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge. The initial plan was to head to TWG at Ion Orchard for tea and cakes but I got out of the queue immediately after being told that they have a "no photography" policy (I must add that the staff were very polite about it and we even shook hands over the matter). Royal Copenhagen is a pretty nice place and we had a great time not just fussing over our desserts but also getting to know one another better. Here's the "guest list" for the day:

Justin from J2K3Blogs
Kaelyn from My Food Sirens
Harris from The Simplest Aphrodisiac
Phoebe and Chloe from The Food Chapter
Daniel and Lay Sian from Memoirs of Food


As always, we let the food be our models for the day as we passed them around and arranged them as best as we could for that one perfect shot. It was the very first time that I was using my Canon EOS 500D, and I must say that I need much, much more practice with it! So I'm going to upload just a handful of food pictures this time round but do stay tuned for future posts once I get my act together with the DSLR camera. Till then, read on for the food reviews!


Assiette of Citrus: 4/5
The assiette of citrus (picture above, bottom left) is a house signature item of Royal Copenhagen Tea Lounge but we all agreed only two thirds of it is worth such a credential. The lightly citrus-flavoured butter cake was terribly dry and plain, and would need (extra) helpings of the pleasantly sourish sorbet to make it edible. The citrus tart meanwhile was delicious, it had the mix of sweet and sour that I enjoyed very much.

The Mudslide Royale: 3/5
I have high expectations for my chocolate because I love them so. This one is just a bit too thick and rich for my liking, so much so that it's hard to tell what exactly I'm tasting. I don't exactly like raisins, this cake has it, so it's partly personal dislike too.

Banana Bread: 2.75/5
Whoops, what is this?? It looks like a slice of pound cake and eventhough it wasn't dry, it still was quite bland for many of us. We couldn't bring ourselves to finish this, not even with seven of us.

Orange Cake: 3.75/5
This was pretty simple, but the flavouring is quite good. Somehow, when I was munching away at it, I thought this would be best for kids - that familiar orange taste - adequately sweet without being over-powering.

Cranberry Almond Cake: 4.25/5
I liked this almond-inspired cake more than its meringue-cream counterpart. It tastes better with each bite, mixing the sweet cranberry with the distinct almond taste.

Traditional Scones: 3.5/5
The scones are another one of the house signature items but this was something that I didn't see much to rave about. It's what it says it is, just scones with no extra oomph or aah, but at least it went fine with the serving of jam or cream cheese; thought the ones from Pan Pacific's Atrium Deli were better.

Almond Meringue Cream Butter Cake: 3.5/5
The almond meringue cream butter cake had the balance of soft and crisp with the meringue layers amidst the tart-like crust. On taste, it was just alright and didn't manage to impress us. As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the cranberry almond cake much more.

Upside Down Pineapple Carrot Cake: 4.25/5
The carrot cake was the favourite of the day, and we liked it for its texture, its sweetness (thanks to the top slice of pineapple), and its even moisture. A strong contender for Cedele's carrot cake surely, even if they might be a wee bit different.


Danish Butter Cake: 4.75/5
I actually like the Danish butter cake the most, though I'm not exactly sure if the others hold it in that high regard as me - see, taste is subjective! I like it a lot because of it's buttery and "eggy" custard middle that is a joy to eat really. For that, I'll include a picture of it right here :)

Service
Very good.

Price
$11.90 for the assiette of citrus,
$7.90 for the scones,
$5.50 for each slice of (displayed) cakes

* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
Orchard Takashimaya Singapore Department Store, Level 2.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.