A Medley of Cakes

A late Tuesday afternoon, Clarke Quay was a deserted spot. With the river and the warm striking sun, it's suddenly became a cozy place to chill out peacefully.

Since we wanted somewhere to sit and have some coffee and perhaps cakes, we headed to Nectarie. It seemed like we were the only customer at that time since the tables looked empty. And so we chose our cakes and sit outside to enjoy the afternoon air..

Strawberry shortcake ($7), one of the house specialities, was eye-catching. Topped with gigantic plump berries and crunchy almonds, i just had to have it. It taste good too! The sponge cakes are light and airy, with some not-that-sweet fresh creams and succulent strawberries.

I was highly impressed by the caramelized banana and white chocolate ($7). Also one of the recommended cakes by the waiter, it tasted heavenly. The combination of bananas on a crunchy base and banana sponge was just scrumptious! With that, I felt that I shall come back to try their other creation of cakes. And I will. Cheers!

Nectarie

Blk C, the Cannery

#01-05, River Valley Road

Clarke Quay,

Singapore 179022
Tel: 63056728

This Week's Brunch

It's Sunday, and it also means time for another brunch! We picked PS. Cafe in Palais Reinessance for today. It has the second best ambience after their other branch in Dempsey. We arrived there around noon and saw that the place has already packed with eaters which are mainly foreigners.

We chose to dine outdoor for the fresh air and a better view. It's good when the weather isn't too hot or raining hard. During the weekend, brunch is provided up to 5 p.m. (last food orders at 3 pm), allowing us to stretch out a little bit and enjoy another tea or coffee after the meal.

I was in the mood for some eggs and therefore I decided to go for the breakfast stack ($22), which taste as good as it looks. It's a homemade zucchini and parmesan bread topped with poached egg in tomato, grilled portobello mushroom and hollandaise sauce with some grilled asparagus and rocket salad on the side.

A had the PS. lasagna ($23) despite his usual attempt to get the brunch burger. The homemade pasta is filled with gingered lamb mince, eggplant, mozzarella and bechamel with some greens on top. The taste of ginger is pretty strong, make it tasted rather weird for those who dislike ginger.

Old ginger root tea ($7) that came with a cute pot

They also has various fabulous looking desserts, both on their menu and also on the cake stands along the counter near the entrance. The only drawback is that they're all in a very huge size, so I could only have one to share.

The carrot cake ($10) wasn't satisfy me at all. Though it was loaded with big chunks of walnuts, the cake structure was too dry for my liking, and the cream cheese taste very bland instead of sour.

Nevertheless, I would highly recommend this place for brunch, lunch, dinner and tea. They have excellent foods as well as good venue. Do make a reservation for precaution, they'll get really packed during meal times.

PS.Cafe at Palais
Level 2, Palais S.C.
390 Orchard Road
Singapore

Apple Pie Ice Cream

What's your favourite ice cream flavours? Mine was always been green tea and pistachio 'till I met Island Creamery. This Singaporean home-made ice cream company have fabulous and unusual flavours with some local twist that I found very unique.

Kahlua Latte and Apple Pie ice cream

The apple pie is the best ice cream I've ever taste. It's a mix of vanilla ice cream with some pie crust and caramelized apple chunks and cinnamon in it. They're using real alcohol for the Kahlua latte with a strong coffee flavour. Their ice cream is very soft, creamy and melt easily, which proved that they used very little preservatives.

Nutella and Milo Marshmallow ice cream

The nutella ice cream was far from I thought it would be. Instead of being chocolaty like, it's a vanilla ice cream with some nutella chunks. Milo marshmallow taste very real, though. You can't really see the marshmallow in this pic, but they're actually there inside the ice cream. It taste very nice paired with the chocolate milk.

For around $2 per scoop, I would say that these yummy ice creams are very reasonable. They also provided some ice creams in tubes for take-away, but in limited flavours. Some other unsual local flavours that I didn't try are teh tarik (milk tea), cendol, cempedak (jack fruit), bandung (happy soda) and pulut hitam. Pay some visit to their shop one day, you won't be disappointed.

Island Creamery
10 Jalan Serene
#01-03 Serene Centre
Tel: 64688859

Akashi

I'm a big fan of Japanese foods. Somehow they just attracted me in any way: the taste, the variations and most importantly, the presentations. Akashi, being one of my Japanese restaurant satisfy all of the above categories. Greeted by the friendly waitresses in kimonos, we walked to our accustomed seats and start ordering..

Today, I opted for a change. Instead of getting the usual set meal, I gave the soft-shell crab maki a chance to prove themselves. And they don't disappoint me, at all. I really like the way the coated the rice: with seasoned seaweed. It gives that extra taste to the crispy soft shell-crab. Dipped in the soy sauce with a little wasabi, they're easily became a stealer. I finished them all, with no trace.

We shared a plate of pan-fried gyoza as an additional side. It was in petite portion and the pork filling taste rather usual, though the thin skin may have given them a little credit.

A had the beef yakiniku set. It came with a bowl of rice, miso soup, side salad and a dessert (fruit). It's very tasty without being too salty and I quite like it, despite the fact that I don't fancy any meals with beef that much.

.

I was too full for any dessert but I took a glimpse at their dessert menu earlier, and all that they have are fruits and ice creams. The flavour? Apart from the usual, they have black sesame, sweet potato and pumpkin! I wonder what they're taste like..

.

Akashi

290 Orchard Road

#B1-01 The Paragon

Singapore 235859

Tel: 6735 8887

Pretty Cupcakes

There is this new small pastry shop I saw the other day in front of the entrance of Orchard road's Marriott hotel. It's the same one with Marriott's pastry shop in the hotel's lobby, though it's a lot smaller. I found mainly sweets such as cakes, cupcakes and macarons. I know I'm gonna get some, but there are so many cupcakes with different flavours and icings that I didn't know which one to choose. Finally, I settled up with these two beauties:

The berry cupcake has a surprisingly nice icing. It's soft and has a berry taste, though it looks hard and bland. The cake is very moist, and there's some blueberry jam hidden inside.

Any desserts with lemon are always be my favourite and this lemon meringue cupcake satisfy my crave. The baked meringue on top was airy and not too sweet, making it a good combination when paired with the sour lemon in the cake.

.

It was $5 for a piece of cupcake, but you'll only get to pay $7 for two. I would say it's very reasonable given the quality of the cupcakes. Looking forward to have some more!

Singapore Marriott Hotel
320 Orchard Road
Singapore 238865

Tel: 6735 5800

Relish by Wildrocket

It's not a secret that I love brunch and a sunny lazy Sunday is a perfect day to go for it. I've heard so much (and also read, from other blogs of course) about Relish, lots of people reviewed that they have really nice burgers.

A ordered the bacon and cheese burger ($19). Every burger here comes with the fries. The beef patty is very thick, tender and has juicy flavour. I warn you, by the time you try this you'll stop going to Carl's Junior, Burger King, or other fast food joints which serves burger in Singapore. Though it might be more expensive, it's absolutely worth more to go for. For dinner, they have an option for the beef patty on the burger. If you feel hungrier, you can opt for the 180 grams of patty instead of the usual 150 grams.

I had the smoked salmon, scrambled eggs and cream cheese bagel ($18). It was a true indulgence, I've never eat salmon bagel this good. Toasted just perfect, the bagel has a crisp outer but still soft inside. The rocket leaves give a balance flavour to the creamy eggs and cream cheese. And I love the crispy diced potatoes, they're amazing! I would certainly prefer this compared to the usual fries. This item is only available for weekend brunch, so I need to wait for a week for another bite. (;p)

.

I saw that they have several sweet items for brunch and some desserts too. We were quite full and decided to go for some ice cream from Island Creamery next door instead. I will certainly come back to try their burger and of course, the dessert next time.

Relish by Wild Rocket
#02-01 Cluny Court (next to Serene Centre)

501 Bukit Timah Road

Singapore 259760
Tel: 67631547

A visit to the zoo

Singapore Zoo is located on the northern part of the island. People who lives in Singapore for quite a while will know that there's not many places we can go apart from the crowded shopping districts. The nature can do a good job in relaxing and refreshing our mind. So my friend and I decided to check out the zoo on a sunny weekend.


Since we went there during the daytime and haven't had our lunch yet, we decided to try the pizza from Pizzafari. They have these Italian square wood fire-baked pizzas that looked very tempting. We chose two from the displayed: spicy chicken pizza and mushroom pizza, $7-$8 each.

The pizza crust is just nice, not too thick or too thin. It was nicely done on the outside but still soft and a bit chewy on the inside. A portion of it could be filling enough. Generous amount of mozzarella and tomato paste used makes the taste even nicer. They put simple toppings on the pizzas, makes them more original like the Italian version.

There are not many eating places that we can choose from the zoo area and most of them are fast food outlets. Pizzafari is located at the entrance, fuel your energy up before the long walk.

.

Pizzafari

Singapore Zoo

80 Mandai Lake Road
Singapore 729826

Cupcake bites

The very first time I saw those tiny colourful cupcakes sitting on Da Paolo's cake bar, I immediately knew that I would have them. I mean, who wouldn't? They're so irresistibly cute.

The mini cupcakes ($6) came in a box of five with various icings and decorations. They're using simple butter cakes for the base, similar to some of their normal size cupcakes. I would personally prefer the normal one, as the smaller size makes the cake a bit dryier. Anyway, you can still use it as a gift, as the kids would definitely love them.

.

Da Paolo Gastronomia

501 Bukit Timah Road

#01-01 Cluny Court
Tel: +65 6468 7010

The Marmalade Pantry

I took my best friend T for a dinner yesterday at Marmalade Pantry in Palais Renaissance. I've been telling her about their amazing sticky date pudding but she never had a chance to try it. Since it was during the weekday, I decided to just walk in without reservations. Sure enough, though it was around 8 p.m., we were the only guests at the restaurant.

We ordered this homemade pita wedges ($9) for starter. It went very well with the dips.

T had the warm spinach & roast onion salad with bacon & mozzarella ($21). It came in a quite huge portion and served with the poached egg on top. The caramelized onion gives a subtle flavour to the fresh spinach and crispy fried mozzarella.



I had the penne with fresh pesto, tomato and grilled butternut ($18). I've always love pesto and pumpkin, the combination of both in a pasta is just wonderful.


Finally, the sticky date toffee pudding with vanilla bean ice cream ($12) that we shared between us as we were quite full. Though it was my fourth time eating this dessert, it gave me an "oomph" feeling. The warm date pudding is not too overly sweet, perfectly paired with the toffee sauce and cold vanilla ice cream. I personally think that this is the best dessert from this place. Even T has agreed with me now.

We got a little surprised when it came to the bill. They are having a "ladies night" every Wednesday and 20% discount is given to every girls dining in. Now girls, you know the best time to visit them. And don't forget the sticky date pudding! ;)

Marmalade Pantry
390 Orchard road
#B1-08 Palais Renaissance
Tel: 6734 2700

Welcome to my blog!

Hi there! Thanks for visiting my blog.
After spending months strolling on other's food blogs for their reviews and recipes I've finally decided to start my own food blog.
I'm very passionate about foods (particularly desserts) and I love taking pictures them.
Stay tune for my reviews about foods in this blog.. I really hope u guys will enjoy it! ;)