Vanilla Bar & Café

Vanilla Bar & Cafe along Boon Tat Street is one of those charming little places that offers you a brief but much welcomed respite from not only the hustle and bustle of working life but also from the tormenting elements of the weather, be it the scorching sun or the pouring rain. This is also the perfect place if you want your little corner for a cosy lunch, even more so if you have the company of a wonderful companion like I did.

Vanilla Smoothie


Let's just call my companion Ms Val, since we're after all at Vanilla Bar & Cafe, and also since vanilla is no longer "just plain vanilla" but is all hip and sexy again what with all the fawning over vanilla bean ice-creams and vanilla custard puddings. Here, the both of us naturally chose the Vanilla Smoothie, which to me didn't quite qualify as a smoothie per se because I've always associated it with fruity ice-blends instead. Not that either of us was complaining about our vanilla milkshakes, no, in fact it was so rich and creamy that it was a pleasant accompaniment to the meal.

Pumpkin Croquette


Ask me what you should pair creamy milkshakes with and I'd tell you, add more sin and decadence to that and let's go for something deep-fried baby. The Pumpkin Croquettes were nicely battered and fried to a lovely golden-brown, and was all crisp on the outside and soft and smooth on the inside.

Pan-Fried Udon with Chicken


If you like simplicity, the Pan-Fried Udon with Chicken would do well with you. Shreds of lightly fried chicken cutlets line the top of a sizeable portion of thick and chewy pan-fried udon, with tasty teriyaki sauce for added flavour.

Norwegian Smoked Salmon & Egg Mayo Sandwich


Ms Val enjoyed her simple but well-prepared Norwegian Smoked Salmon & Egg Mayo Sandwich as well, though there were definitely more ingredients put together for her sandwich as compared to my udon dish. A hearty enough portion for lunch.

Molten Chocolate Cake with French Vanilla Ice-Cream


Even with the fuss over vanilla beans, the cool and smooth French Vanilla Ice-Cream still fared decently when matched with the hot and rich Molten Chocolate Cake. The disappointment came when the cake was pried open, as the chocolate sauce refused to spill out in flowing beauty and instead stuck out slowly in a semi-coagulated... slush. Nevertheless, it was good enough chocolate to wrap up a lovely lunch in a sweet way.


Service
Very good.

Price
$5.90 for the vanilla smoothie
$4.90 for the pumpkin croquette
$9.90 for the pan-fried udon with chicken
$7.90 for the norwegian smoked almon & egg mayo sandwich
$10.90 for the molten chocolate cake with french vanilla ice-cream

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

Place
3 Boon Tat Street #01-01.

Additional Comment
1-for-1 house pours and draft beers from 4-8pm.

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Chocolate DeSténation

While the original De Sté at Mandarin Gallery features only a takeaway counter, a five minute walk away would take you to 313 @ Somerset's Chocolate DeSténation (read: destination, or even more abstractly, De Sté nation), which has outdoor seats for you to sit, enjoy your cakes and drinks, and people-watch.


The setting here is minimal, with no air-conditioning (except at the takeaway area) to save you from the sweltering heat and humidity. One thing is for sure though, being in a café that tries to style itself as an Italian café is only making me all excited about my graduation trip to Italy at the end of the month! Thank goodness there's no overweight charges for passengers!

Nocciole Caffe Frappe Hazelnut


The Hazelnut Frappe was decent without being anything worth shouting about. It just wasn't rich enough to set you on a caffeine or chocolate high. Nuts aplenty though, for that extra crunch in your drink. The best friend enjoyed her Mocha Caffe Frappe much more.

Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Wrap


You've often heard me talking about "the best friend", so well, here she is! She was reluctant to pose with our sweet treats for the afternoon, but had no other choice because my camera was acting all weird and had trouble focusing on the items. About the Chocolate Strawberry Shortcake Wrap, she found it too dry and it was ordinary, to say the very least.

Soffiato


The Italian version to the chocolate lava cake, the Soffiato was chocolatey good and I especially liked the rich and warm chocolate "lava" spilling out. It's a pity that the chocolate chip gelato that was served with it was terribly watery and melted incredibly fast, else this would have been pretty good as a whole.

Service
Very good. Free iced water is served here as well.

Price
$6.80 for each flavoured frappes
$5.50 for the chocolate strawberry shortcake wrap
$8.90 for the soffiato

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

Place
313 @ Somerset, #01-25/25A.
Behind the Pan Pacific Serviced Suites.

Footnote
Rachel is better now. Thank you everyone for your concern :)

Pictures taken with the Canon EOS 500D.

Ricciotti

I've always wanted to give Ricciotti a visit for its much reviewed desserts but haven't really found the time to do so until most recently. Some of the desserts were good, some were utterly... horrid. I'm not sure if it's because we can't appreciate them but it was pretty unanimous across a table of seven that we didn't like the ricciotti or the profiteroles at all.

Morbida: 4/5



The good things first: the morbida. A curious name, certainly strikes up the word "morbid", but hey, this is good stuff. It tastes better than the way it's described - "mouth watering chocolate mousse on a base of supple chocolate sponge" - as it combines soft chocolate mousse with a solid core and well, delicious liquid chocolate inside. Pity the pictures are quite out of focus, but this is one dessert from Ricciotti that you should try!

Soffiato: 4/5


This warm, dark chocolate cake was a joy to behold (and to eat), much because of the richness of the cake and the oozing liquid chocolate inside. My friends were saying that this soffiato's pretty good because the cake is adequately moist as compared to some others which are quite dry.

Ricciotti: 2/5


We thought the ricciotti, being from a restaurant named as such, would be good. It turned out to be as unimpressive (and boring) as it looks and no one bothered to finish it. A couple of my friends were a little too loud in sounding their displeasure and I think, from the dark looks of the waiters, that they've gotten their audience alright. Tsk. Tact, people, tact.

Profiteroles: 2.25/5


Ah, the profiteroles. When it came to the table, my friend shrieked and said we shouldn't have ordered it (she was too busy fussing over something else when we were making our orders). Later, I understood why she reacted that way. The profiteroles were made of three custard balls moulded together, one being vanilla custard, the other was chocolate custard, and the third, some bright greenish "sludge" that I couldn't quite identify. The chocolate custard was the most bearable of the lot, the greenish one on the other hand was the least edible, at least to us. I'd spare you the picture of the close-up because it turned out looking quite gross! The chocolate coating over the cream puffs wasn't very nice, and the exterior of the cream puffs was actually rubbery.

Haha, I'd stick to the morbida and soffiato anytime! :)

Service
Very good, but we noticed a change in the waiters after my friends' outburts.

Price
$7.80 for the morbida
$8.90 for the soffiato
$7.80 for the ricciotti
$7.80 for the profiteroles

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

Place
The Riverwalk (Upper Circular Road / Boat Quay), # B1-49/50.

Additional Comments
1. I heard that the main courses here are quite good, so you might like to give them a try. Click here for the menu.
2. Lots of daily promotions, including daily one-for-one beer. Click here for the list of promotions, and look up "seasonal promotions".