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.

Zac's Cafe

I've read about Zac's Cafe in only a couple of food blogs so far, but the reviews have been most encouraging. Serving dishes mainly from Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines, this humble eatery offers a very enticing $9.90++ lunch set (even on weekends!) that's really quite a treat. It's ala carte menu is reasonably priced as well, with prices ranging from $10 to the mid $20s. Simple decor, good service and most importantly of all, delicious food :)

Bread


These little buns came complimentary with the set meal, and could be used as dippers for the soup. Soft and buttery.

Chicken Soup


The soup of the day was chicken soup, and it was alright. Tasted quite fresh (and healthy) with bits of chicken in it.

Spicy Marinated Chicken: 4.5/5


My choice for main course, and it was awesome. Perfectly grilled chicken meat with a spicy but flavourful marinate - tastes even better when eaten with the lightly butter-flavoured rice. The chicken was really tender and you could (almost) smell and taste the charcoal "flavour" to it, a clear sign of an authentic grill for sure.

Grilled Boneless Chicken


The little sister ordered this and she liked it a lot as well. Perfect for the little ones who would prefer their chicken non-spicy. A sweeter marinate accompanied this equally tender piece of chicken.

Grilled Kofta Kebab


My dad did not order the lunch set and went for the ala carte kebabs. I got a taste of the kebabs and it's very good - well-spiced beef that's packed tight in a couple of sticks and more filling than you actually think it is.

Beef Lasagna


The beef lasagna was also on the set menu, but my mum felt it was very average; in fact, its layers of pasta were just a bit too thick and overwhelmed the minced beef inside. Admittedly, it also tasted pre-prepared and refrigerated beforehand.

That said, the other main courses were winners, and I think it's sheer value-for-money given that you get a soft drink, complimentary bread, soup, main course and coffee/tea for just $9.90++. I'm definitely coming back here again to try out the other dishes on the ala carte menu! :)

Service
Very good. The lime juice (left) was tooooo sweet and concentrated though, and we asked for glasses of water to dilute it. Iced water available free of charge upon request.

Price
$9.90 for the lunch set
Around $12 for the grilled kofta kebab
* Prices subject to the usual 7% GST and 10% service charge.

Place
17 Jalan Pinang
Close to Arab Street, Sultan Mosque and Bugis MRT.

Additional Comments
Certified Halal.Call 6295-1816 for reservations.


Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

Dessert First

I have such a mounting backlog of food entries that I have little idea where to start, but I thought I would serve up what would be a new entrant to The A List tomorrow night - something delectable to think about (and for you to visit!) over the weekend - so do check back soon on this blog ya! Till then, here's some good ol' Chinese desserts for you :)

Original Tang Yuan: 3.5/5


I had little idea this was the "original" tang yuan (glutinous rice balls with fillings like peanut, red bean or sesame paste) because I was expecting the peanut "soup" similar to the one sold in Bedok - the "ah balling peanut soup". Here the hot cheng tng soup is used instead, so you can say it's slightly healthier and refreshing to drink too. The tang yuan was alright, and I especially like them with the peanut paste.

Riceballs with Peanut Crumble: 3.5/5


I shared this with the best friend, and it's actually just the same tang yuan now coated with grated peanuts. We ordered the sesame paste fillings since she likes them this way, though I still prefer having more peanuts in them!

Beancurd


For the more boring of the lot (haha!) you can always stick to the traditional beancurd, which is done to a smooth and soft effect here.

Cheng Tng


Another one of those typical desserts. I remember reading in the "Mind Your Body" section of the newspapers some time ago that cheng tng is actually quite a healthy dessert, so if you're looking for something sweet but not too utterly sinful, here's something for you.

Price
$3.00 for the original tang yuan
$2.90 for the riceball with peanut crumble
$1.80 for the plain beancurd
$2.50 for the cheng tng
$1.50 for a cup of soya milk (left)

Place
8 Liang Seah Street #01-04.


Additional Comment
Admittedly Liang Seah Street is especially known for Ah Chew Desserts and Tong Shui Cafe, two Chinese dessert places which are situated further up the lane (closer to Bugis Junction). Ah Chew does have a wider variety but it's almost always crowded.

Pictures taken with the Canon Ixus 80 IS.

The New Baby Has Arrived!

A couple of hours ago I collected this delightful baby to add to my family of cameras and I can only say that she is beautiful. The perfect entry-level DSLR camera that I could ever ask for surely, and I must really thank my parents who insisted on covering the cost of the camera for me - they are the bestest. Hopefully with this Canon EOS 500D I can take my blog to a whole new level with even better quality pictures, and perhaps in time go on to explore the unchartered but exciting fields of photography as well. Of course, there is still much to learn, and I'm so ready to start going out there to snap away! :)


I will not forget my trusted Canon Ixus 80 IS, which has been close to me all this while. In fact I plan to use both cameras interchangeably, especially when I'm still admittedly an amateur at DSLR photography. Moreover, the Ixus is less intimidating when I'm out at smaller eateries and stalls, so it would definitely be the camera of choice then.


Even in instances where I only have my Nokia N85 with me, you can still expect to find pictures from it for some of my blog posts. It still packs a good punch with a clear 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens and can actually pass off as a digital camera in optimum lighting.

So here they are, the babies for The Simplest Aphrodisiac. I will add a "Camera Used" section in all my posts from now on, because I can see myself switching between the EOS and Ixus frequently and it will be good to give credit to where it belongs.

Canon. Delighting ME Always! :)

East Coast Lagoon Food Village

As I was saying before, I was looking for a very good carrot cake - without the pork and without the lard - and Heng's at Newton Food Centre is definitely one of those places that does a really good job at it. You must be wondering just where would the next place be for good, lardless carrot cake. I'm quite sure the title of this post is a great hint on where it is!

Lagoon Carrot Cake


"Black" Carrot Cake: 4.25/5


A pretty even contender to its counterpart from Newton. The black carrot cake here is a little more moist, but I really like the addition of a few prawns to add the extra crunch to the dish. Quite generous amount of eggs for a $4 serving too. Eat when served hot, really good. See, carrot cake can taste good even without lard.

Haron BBQ Chicken Wing


BBQ Chicken Wing: 4.25/5


In case you are here and you're on the lookout for the best chicken wings, I would suggest you head right to this stall. The chicken wings here are fresher, not as dry as the rest of the stalls, and juicy too. There are times when I actually get envious stares from others when they compare their sad-looking chicken wings to my delicious-looking ones.

Sate Selamat


Tahu Kicap: 4.25/5


Since I'm on a roll here, I might as well introduce you to this little hidden gem in East Coast. I've not seen this dish being sold anywhere else in Singapore (if you do, please share) but it has been around for at least ten years and I will always order this whenever I'm eating here. Everyone that I have introduced this dish to loves it, much because it's something simple but tastes really good - deep-fried tofu in egg-like batter, dashed with some dark, sweet sauce. As the name suggests, "Tahu Kicap" just means tofu in dark sauce. Try it, I'm sure you'll love it :)

Overall
Service
Pretty brisk. Be forewarned of the touting by satay vendors, just walk past pretending you're looking for a friend.

Place
East Coast Lagoon Food Village. It's much further up from MacDonald's and Burger King.

Additional Comments
1. First picture source here.
2. Very crowded on weekends, especially evenings. Either come earlier like 6pm or later like 8.30pm. Be prepared to wait for seats.
3. No free parking all day long, thus put out your coupons on Sunday too. $0.50 half-hourly. You wouldn't want your dinner to be more expensive, would you? So be good =)