Sofra Turkish Cafe and Restaurant
#02-42, Shaw Towers
6291 1433

I've fallen in love with Middle Eastern cuisine ever since I first tried it at one of the ubiquitous Middle East cafes while studying in New Zealand. It's considered as an "exotic" cuisine to most Singaporeans as there are not many such cafes or restaurants in the main shopping and dining areas such as Orchard Road. A pity, as the food is really delicious!

The Salad Plate ($11.50++) is meant as a starter for 2 persons but I chose to have it as my main as I'm hankering for hummus. There's a combination of Sofra salad, eggplant salad and hummus. This was really great, especially the well-marinated fried eggplant with peppers, tomatoes and onions. I also liked the hummus which had a smooth texture and rich, creamy consistency. The plate was supposed to come with vine leaves rolls but the kitchen ran out of them so this was on the house.

Labels: Middle East

2:47 PM

Purple Rose Confectionery cafe
Blk 42, Holland Drive #01-91
6775 9101

Located off the main road leading to Holland Village, this little cafe was a surprisingly pleasant find. Lured by the luscious cakes on display, I couldn't resist the temptation of further indulgence.

The simply named Chocolate Layer Cake ($9) would be a hit for chocolate lovers. 3 rich layers of chocolate cake are sandwiched between chocolate buttercream. What I liked about this was that the sponge was very moist and light. Now, I'm usually put off by buttercream of any sort but this surprised me with its silky smooth texture which complemented the cake very nicely.

There are many other droolworthy cakes such as shortcakes, brownies and fudge cakes that may be worth a try. This is a great place to chill out with friends if you want to avoid the crowds at Holland Village!

Labels: Desserts

5:46 PM

Coffee Club
48A Lorong Mambong, Holland Village
6466 0296

It's been a long while since I've had a good sandwich. The Omega-3 Bomb ($14.50++) sounded delicious with its description of seared tuna, eggs, olive and basil pesto. But I was rather disappointed with it as the tuna was much too tough and overcooked despite being red in the middle.

The signature dessert, Muddy Mudpie ($8.90++), didn't satisfy my sweet tooth this time. The cappuccino and chocolate ice cream was too frozen with embedded crystals, an unforgivable sin for a good ice cream. Personally, I prefer desserts with a contrasting texture so this was too monotonous to me.

Given a choice, I would rather go to TCC as the variety of food from main course to dessert is much more comprehensive. And I'm so in love with its tiramisu!

Labels: Western

3:52 PM

Ben and Jerry's #2
#B1-80, Raffles City Shopping Centre
6336 2143

It's B&J's annual Free Cone Day! This year, there were 5 flavours to choose from, albeit not too exciting ones like chocolate and vanilla. But hey, I can't complain since it's such a nice gesture from B&J's. When we got there, the queue was long (not surprising) but the wait was surprisingly short as we only queued for about 15 mins.


I chose the Chocolate Fudge Brownie since I haven't had it for such a long time. Still as good as ever with generous fudgey bits of brownie chunks. In fact, I think I had this on the Free Cone Day last year! Did I, Ms Noo?


The Coffee Coffee Buzzbuzzbuzz was the underdog as we didn't expect to be wowed by it. It turned out to be quite good as the coffee taste was strong enough but I still prefer the one from Tom's Palette anytime. The studded chocolate pieces were a little annoyingly too much and too large.

Chocolate Macadamia is the latest flavour rolled out by B&J. I found it to be too creamy and more like vanilla rather than chocolate. The only thing I like is the huge chocolate coated sweet macadamia. Oops, by the time this had its turn in front of the camera, the ice cream was melting!

Till next year!

Labels: Desserts

4:00 PM

Rive Gauche #1
#B1-13, Tampines 1
6789 5518

Even though I have passed by the Orchard outlet numerous times, somehow I've never tried any cakes from this patisserie before. The pretty cakes sitting in the display shelves were calling out to me and I couldn't resist them!

Athough I've been roasting chestnuts regularly at home, this was my virgin Mont Blanc ($4.50) as the cream always put me off. 2 layers of soft sponge cake are spiked with beandy syrup, sandwiched with French and Japanese chestnuts and finally topped with a lavish amount of chestnut puree. I wasn't expecting to like this as I don't like cream but boy, I've fallen in love with this! The puree was extremely smooth and not too cloyingly sweet and the candied chestnuts were a bonus! By the way, if you are wondering, the name "Mont Blanc" belongs to a mountain in the French Alps and the cake is named after it due to its shape.


The chocoholic in me craved for the Guanaja ($6) the moment I laid eyes on this lovely cake. This is the No. 1 bestseller of Rive Gauche and rightly so. The chocolate mousse and ganache were bittersweet, the 2 alternating layers of chocolate sponge were soft and moist, and the bottom layer of crispy biscuits gave a nice bite to the whole dessert. If you like ferrero rocher, you will love this as the hazelnut flavour is really outstanding. In retrospect, I think I would be happily satisfied with the Coco Exotic from Four Leaves since they are rather similar.

Labels: Desserts

2:56 PM

Manpuku Japanese Gourmet Town
#03-16/19, Tampines 1
6789 6810

There was much hype in the media about this Japanese food hall when the new mall at Tampines opened recently. The food stalls are pretty comprehensive, ranging from ramen, sushi to desserts such as mochi and parfaits.


The Moonlight Special Okonomiyaki ($12.80+) was nothing special at all. I requested for no pork so there were only squid and prawns in it, topped with a sunny side up egg. The squid was overcooked as it was too tough.

I really don't understand the hype over this "gourmet town" as the food is quite mediocre. One grouse I have is that there are many misleading displays of the food items at each individual stall. I actually wanted to order one of the items but was told that it's not on the menu. Why display them if they are not even on the menu? This culture is common in Japan but at least when I was there, I can be assured that the restaurant does serve all the displayed dishes.

Labels: Japanese

1:31 PM

Ristorante De Parma
14B Kensington Park Road
Serangoon Garden Estate
6281 3380 / 6280 1096

Wanting to satisfy my sudden craving for a good tiramisu, I made my way to this small family-run restaurant after reading rave reviews about its homemade tiramisu.



We ordered two set lunches ($15.90+ each) which came with a starter of either a salad or soup of the day, choice of the pasta or pizza of the day as the main, and a drink. The complimentary foccacia was so good and fragrant with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar dip that Sis ate my share of it!


The soup of the day was the cream of potato and leek. I liked it as it's thick and not too creamy. The tiny chunks of potato gave a good bite and texture to the wholesome soup. One thing that bothered me was that the waiter asked "Would you like black pepper in it?" immediately after serving the soup even though we had not even taste it yet!



The colourful salad was a pleasure for the eyes but ordinary tasting for the mouth.


The pasta of the day was tuna pasta in a spicy tomato sauce. This was wonderful! The smell made my mouth water even before the waiter set it down on our table. Perfectly al dente spaghetti was tossed with tuna chunks in homemade tomato sauce. The degree of spiciness was perfect too as it's hot enough to excite the taste buds but not fiery enough to leave me gulping water.



The pizza of the day was the garden pizza. Mixed greens are topped on a tomato based thin crust pizza. It didn't sound very exciting but all of us enjoyed it! Whatever the style, the crust is undeniably a major factor in good pizza. This rendition is one of the best pizza crust I've ever eaten--perfectly balanced with an outstanding slightly chewy texture and a crispy nature. One word of warning though: Forget using the fork and knife as it's very difficult to cut through the crust. Tuck in with your hands!



Now now, it's the highlight of the entire meal. I was so looking forward to the tiramisu ($12.90+) as previous reviews have rated it as one of the best (and even the best) tiramisu in Singapore. But it fell short of my expectations. Not that it wasn't nice, it was just not mind blowing enough to knock my socks off. I prefer tiramisu with a more generous splash of alcohol but this leaned towards the sweet side with a distinct espresso taste. This was not an issue as I understand that there are people who prefer it this way. However, I have a bone to pick with the bottom layer of lady fingers. It was definitely over soaked as the sponge was too soggy and limpy. See the pool of liquid at the base? That's how wet it was. I did raise this issue with the owner but she said that their version is the wetter type. But it was TOO wet (in the extreme) to me.


Overall, this is a very good value restaurant with more hits than misses. Service was great and portions were generous enough to feed the 3 of us happily. My disappointment with the dessert was more than made up for by the delicious thin crust pizza. Oh, I just found the perfect excuse to come back here again! The only way to finding out whether the tiramisu is a slight inconsistency on their chef's part or it's truly the way it's served is to order it again on my next visit!

Labels: Italian

1:36 PM

Tom's Palette #4
#01-25, Shaw Tower
6296 5239

There's just something about Tom's Palette that keeps making me go back. Maybe it's the great service, or maybe it's just the fantastic ice cream that's keeping the magic alive? Whatever it is, I always enjoy the treats here. As usual, I had the chocolate stout with tiramisu which is only available once a month ($2.50 for a small cup). This time round, the tiramisu lacked that alcoholic taste that I was looking for but the chocolate stout more than made up for it!

Sis paired tiramisu with lychee and rose. The latter was a sorbet-like ice cream with a very refreshing taste.

I'll definitely be back!

Labels: Desserts

5:17 PM

Peony-Jade
Blk 3A Clarke Quay, #02-02
6338 0305 / 6538 3849

The family celebrated Sis's 25th birthday at this restaurant recommended by Wendy Auntie. All 8 of us had the ala carte buffet ($30++) which gave us unlimited orders of 50 dishes. The advantage to dining with such a large group is that we can try many different varieties without overstuffing ourselves.

Instead of the usual peanuts served at most chinese restaurants, we had complimentary roasted walnuts coated with honey and sesame seeds. These were extremely addictive as they were crunchy and not too sweet.


Since I'm not a chinese food lover and bound to be biased against them, I won't comment too much on the dishes we had. The following 6 items are limited to only one order per table. All of us were also limited to a bowl of braised shark's fin soup with crab meat and conpoy. The Poached Prawns in Red Wine were fresh but lacked the fragrance of red wine.


This was my favourite: Deep-fried Scallops with Shredded Taro. I liked everything about this! The scallop was fresh and juicy; taro shreds were crispy and not oily; and the mango sauce lent a sweetness to the whole dish. A pity that we could only have one order of this!


We were served 2 crabs since there were so many of us. The Stir-Fried Chilli Crabs were not spicy at all and though fresh, I faulted them for being too small.


Everyone liked the buns served with the crabs. Soft inside but crisp outside, they were a perfect compliment to the chilli crab sauce.


The Chilled Mini Abalone with Chef’s Sauce were really miniscule! They looked almost too cute to be eaten. The "Chef's Sauce" tasted like a mixture of tomato and sweet chilli sauce which covered the taste of the abalone. But since I don't like abalone in the first place, I don't agree with the general consensus that the abalones were good.


I didn't try all the meat dishes so I'll just show you what the family ordered. This is Sliced Fillet of Smoked Duck with Szechuan Hot and Sour Sauce. The layer of white fats turned me off completely.


Everyone seemed to like the Baked Kurobuta Pork Spare Ribs in Grandma’s Homemade Sauce.


Before we knew it, all 7 items were served. So, we started ordering from the ala carte menu. I had the Braised Sweet Corn Soup with Fresh Crab Meat while the rest had the Szechuan Hot and Sour Soup. I liked this! Thick and not too sweet, there was a chockful of ingredients in it. However, the soup started to thin and became watery after it cooled.


The Jellyfish and Clams with Szechuan Hot & Sour Sauce was decent enough.

I also didn't try the Deep-fried Vietnamese Spring Roll which I thought looked quite ordinary and not special enough for me to warrant a try.

This was another dish I liked: Pan-Seared Prawn Mousse in Sugar Cane. It's interesting as the prawn mixture was wrapped around a sugar cane and the flavour of sugar cane compliemented the prawn mousse well, giving it a slightly sweet instead of savoury taste.




We had two orders of the Braised Sea Cucumber and Fish Maw, both of which are said to have collagen. Collagen is very good for the skin! A perfect excuse to eat more of it.




The Stir-fried ‘Kung Po’ Eel was different from what I had in mind. I thought that the eel would be similar to the unagi I always have in japanese restaurants. This eel was much more tough and lacked the tenderness and softness I was looking for.




I didn't like the Stir-fried String Beans with Dried Shrimps as it was too bland, too oily and the dried shrimps were almost nonexistent.




This was another hot favourite which warranted a second order. The Steamed Seabass with Lemon Jus was very fresh and flavourful. We had to wait for 30 mins as the seabass was steamed upon order but it was definitely worth the wait.




We were very disappointed with the Wok-fried Egg Omelette with Prawns and Chives as it was way too salty. The only saving grace was the prawns which were very plump and juicy!




I didn't like the Stewed Bean curd & Fish Fillet in Claypot as frozen fish fillets were used instead of fresh ones.




Here are 2 more dishes which I didn't try. The general consensus among the family was that the Marinated Egg-Plant topped with Chicken Floss was interesting and delicious.



This is the Stir-fried Almond Cappuccino Pork Spare Ribs.

Labels: Buffets, Chinese

1:44 PM

7atenine
#01-10/12, Esplanade Mall
6338 0789

Having read many reviews about this new kid on the block, I wanted to see for myself how good or bad this place really was. For unlimited lunch ($37++), diners are at the complete mercy of its chef as there is no menu so elements of anticipation and surprise are incorporated into the whole dining experience.


The first dish seemed to portend a bad meal to come. The stuffed pasta salad did not impress me at all as the pasta was undercooked and the flavours were quite bland.


The tomato tartine was beautifully presented but nothing spectacular tastewise.

The celery soup was totally unappetising. I'm strongly inclined to use the word "disgusting" to describe it. At first sip, I thought it would be an acquired taste for most of us. But subsequently, the weird taste was more than I could bear.

Labels: Buffets, Fusion

1:04 PM