Breakfast at Choupinette

Breakfast at Choupinette

Met up with my bloggers buddies yesterday and it was yet another round of massive firing session. This time round, apart from Evan, Claire, Vicki, Sihan and Brad, we have a newcomer, Elaine.

Decided to drop by Choupinette for lazy brunch but I was totally wrong. The place was extremely crowded at 11am but crowds don't scare me since it is an indication that the food is worth coming back.


Though the place is small for its weekend crowd, the interior part of the café is crammed full of rustic wooden tables and cushioned chairs with a sitting capacity of about 30 to 35 people. The use of pink gauze curtains provides a classic and romantic environment for the window seats. According to SD food review, diners can actually purchase the contemporary designer lampshades, table-top ornaments and other other quirky items that are exhibited around the café.

On the other side of the café, an array of freshly baked breads was displayed and this reminds me of Swiss Baeckerei since the latter also has a dine-in menu of sandwiches, salads, little French pastries and beverages.


I would say breakfast at this place is not cheap and the ambience is compromised during weekends due to the high amount of human traffic but I will just briefly run through the dishes ordered by the clique. Julie managed to snap a overhead view of the menu so do use that as a reference if you are curious of what they offer.

Anyway, Elaine and Ziheng ordered a ChouChou's Set at $22+ which includes a sandwich or La moussaka with drink and desserts. Le Noe is basically smoked salmon with homemade gravlax sauce in a warm fougasse while La moussaka is actually beef moussaka with rice. An a la carte portion of each costs $17++.


Carnivorous diners such as Yuan will be pondering on his order and thus settled with a cheeseburger ($19++). The beef patty though well-seasoned is way too overcooked till poor Yuan needs to replenish his energy (with more food) after cutting the burger. Claire suspected the beef patty was left on the grill after the café ran out of gas last morning. Thus, might explain the overly well-done beef.

Le Croque (Grilled sandwich) with a choice of Monsieur (ham), Poulet (chicken) or Vegetarian (eggplants) with emmenthal cheese and bechamel sauce ($15++) was either Vicki's or Sihan's order so I am not sure with the taste.


The quiche is a must-try and Claire, Evan, Yuan and I come to a common consensus that this baked dish has a sufficiently salted and seasoned custard with pastry crust of a right crispness.

Since Eggs Benedict's is highly recommended, Evan and I settled with their breakfast sets which comes with a juice and a drink.

Eggs Benedict's ($20++) is served with ham while Eggs Royal's ($21++) is served with smoked salmon and both are served with 2 lovely poached eggs on crispy toasts and creamy hollandaise sauce. Yuan regret not snatching a piece from my plate as I happily licked my plate clean. We liked everything of Eggs Benedict's (ham fares better than smoked salmon for its stronger taste) but not its price.

Before I continue, Choupinette's desserts mysteriously resembles the ones we saw at Swiss Baeckerei and due to the huge kitchen at the back of Swiss Baeckerei and Swiss Baeckerei pricing the cakes lower than Choupinette, I can't help but to think that the desserts either came from the same supplier or were out-sourced. Due to this factor, I wasn't keen to try the desserts at all.

Palais Royal, a dark chocolate with crunchy praline ($6.90++) was the best among the entire lot we have tried but was no where close to my top 4 chocolate-hazelnut favourites. Good but not heavenly. By the way, Swiss Baeckerei claims this to be their best-selling dessert but was sold out by the time we finished our main course that day.

Tarte au citron, a lemon meringue tart ($5.60) which Swiss Baeckerei claims to be their speciality. Yuan and I didn't bother to try it as our description fits Claire's opinion. Oh, Evan felt that Canele's Citron tart was much better so Canele's desserts are good after all, don't they?

Millefeuille frambois, custard and raspberries ($7.00++) was Yuan's choice and I think I enjoyed this the most despite its pastry being alittle soggy. Something light and refreshing after the loadful of eggs.


The Eclair au Chocolat Noir, a dark chocolate eclair ($5.00) has a mysterious resemblance with Swiss Baeckerei's chocolate eclair. Didn't try it either since we were sure that it is going to be a duplicate.

Vendome, a dark, milk and white chocolate mousse ($6.90) is another creation we saw at Swiss Baeckerei except for the different decoration on top of the cake. The chocolate content is weak and thus was too creamy to my liking.

Tarte aux Pommes, an apple tart (a slice costs $5.90++ while an additional scoop of vanilla ice-cream costs $7.90++), is something which Yuan and I have seen in the shelves of Swiss Baeckerei. No doubt it is an extremely thin slice of apple tart and I have neutral thoughts towards it. It is the nicer dessert among the entire lot but the ice-cream was just Magnolia, Marigold or Meadow Golds ice-cream (have I missed out anymore brands, yes... Kings).

Macarons, ah... was a... complete disappointment. The unsightly cracky shells, the hollow pockets... with the chocolate gaunche in almost all flavours... has a distinctive taste that is similar to popcorn.


The thing I enjoyed the most about the Choupinette outing is Yuan was the photographer for this entry.

In short, I was astonished by the close resemblance of desserts with Swiss Baeckerei and I think their breakfast sets is the only thing that will justify my next visit. By the way, they have been opened since 2001, maybe I am just not in the right state of mind for this entry.

Elaine has uploaded her reviews on this place, apparently she didn't like it that much. Vicki, on the other hand, has a prelude to her photos... looking forward to her post. LIC has uploaded has views on Choupinette: Brunch, desserts and outing and Evan presents her lovely pictures on Brunch at Choupinette. Vicki has uploaded her full review on this place too.
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Yuan's Comments

Finally had the time to type in my comments. Choupinette is a really nice place for breakfast if your pocket is deep enough. (The food here is really expensive) However since this is a food blog, lets not dwell too much about the price. Fen and I ordered the cheessburger and the egg Ben. The beef patty was overly done and really a challenge to slice. The egg Ben was delicious. Poach egg with ham, what a way to start the day.

Moving on to desserts, the desserts here look and taste puzzling similar to the one at Swiss Baeckerei. I posted this question to the waiteress and she said they bake their own desserts. Hmm.. are we seeing some copyright infringement going on here.

Since Fen has given a vivid description of the desserts. I shall just highlight 2 desserts which left a vivid impression. First was the macarons. Do not be mislead by the photo you see, in fact when the macaron was served, it was already cracked. The crust was very loose. One bite and everything collaspes and the filling was all chocolate regardless of which flavour you order. Personally I would think this is contender for one of the worst macarons which I have eaten.

My personal favourite for the day is the vendome. Three different layers of chocolate mousse and of course chocolate fudge on top. Not the extremely rich kind of chocolate mousse but good enough to taste the contrast of the chocolates.

Choupinette
607 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01
Singapore 269708
Tel: 6466 0613

Operating Hours:
9am to 8pm (Tues to Fri)
8am to 8pm (Sat)
8am to 6pm (Sun)
Closed on Mondays.

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Tiramisu with Roasted Hazelnut Log Cake

Tiramisu with Roasted Hazelnut Log Cake

This is the 3rd logcake of this week and was specially ordered for my youngest sister birthday. Ritz Carlton has never disappointed in terms of promptness in replying emails, their service and the quality of food served and truly indeed, this log cake didn't disappoint my entire family.

I have previously ordered their "Mango Mousse with Mango Jelly topped with Fresh Mango", which was also featured in the Sunday Times 50 best cakes and has so far been the nicest Mango creation I have ever tried. Just based on these 2 experiences, I can dare say that the ingredients used are fresh and generous.

In my earlier entry, I have made a comment saying that log cakes might need a coarser cake to hold the structure but Ritz Carlton has proved me wrong. The outer ring of the log cake is the same vanilla sponge used in their Mango Mousse, thus uniquely crisp on the exterior and soft on the inside. The mascarpone cheese is light and refreshing while the savoiardi sponges is mixed with hazelnuts to provides the extra crunch. The dark brown core is well-soaked with espresso and rum. Wow, indeed a fantastic tiramisu with an impressive layout.

Ritz Carlton has dedicated a website for this festive season and is comprehensive if one is looking for pictorial catalog of festive goodies or their pricing of buffet lunches and dinners.

Sparklette happens to drop by the Chihuly Lounge and has captured pictures of their log cakes.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore
Greenhouse
7 Raffles Avenue
Singapore 039799
Tel: 6337 8888

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the Deli's Traditional Christmas Chocolate Log cake

the Deli's Traditional Christmas Chocolate Log cake

Sent out a couple of email to various hotels to ask about the log cakes offered and have decided on 2 log cakes this year. One of it is the Traditional Christmas Chocolate Log cake from Goodwood Park Hotel for the potluck on 22nd Dec 08 and the other is for boxing day for my sister's birthday.

Most would have thought that it would be the D24 durian log cake and to be frank, I was tempted to order a durian flavoured pastry but durian is not welcoming to some people and thus I thought it would be better to have something neutral, chocolate.

Made of rich chocolate mousse, rum syrup and homemade chocolate sponge, I thought this should be neutral enough and is also one of the more reasonably priced ($53 excluding 7% GST, 15% discount for Citibank and DBS cardholders). I mean, to spent $60-70++ for a 1kg log cake is far too much and for those who has done log cake hunting this year will know what I mean.

Apart from the price, the staff from Goodwood Park Hotel replies promptly to emails and ensure that my order is processed without much fuss. I am happy with their service. Will definitely order their durian puffs once my body gets better.

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Fen's comments

When it comes to appearance, I cannot deny the fact that it is one of the nicest looking "Yule" log (Bûche de Noël). At least, it is not just a rectangular block of cake.

I was alittle disappointed with the texture of the chocolate sponge. It has this crumbliness and loose after-taste which (in my personal opinion) might be due to excessive baking powder. That is also one reason I didn't fancy Pine Garden's Blackforest, it has a similar lack of velvetiness.

Apart from the chocolate sponge, the chocolate mousse is of sufficiently chocolate content but not the smoothest I have. Maybe a chocolate log has to have a certain degree of coarseness to support the entire log design since BakerZin's Chocolat Grand has a rougher chocolate mousse in comparison to the Chocolate Amer.
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Yuan's comments

This cake gives me the "powdery" feel. No doubt you could tell that the chocolate is very rich but as you bite, it kinds of like loosen in your mouth. Maybe as Fen pointed out, a log cake must have a certain coarseness to keep the log intact.
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The Deli
Goodwoood Park Hotel
22 Scotts Road
Singapore 228221
Tel: 6730 1786

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Swensen's Rocky Road

Swensen's Rocky Road

For some reasons, I haven't eat log cakes for years as my parents thought that it is something that is overpriced, overly sweet and not fantastic. Hence, since young, I have always long to eat a log cake but it has never came for years.

Somehow or rather, this blog has ended up with 3 log cakes this Christmas.

Anyway, Yuan has eaten this log cake with his family

Below are Yuan's comments for Rocky Road...

"
This is your conventional Swensen's log cake.

More ice cream, little cake.

This is as good as eating rocky road ice cream. Dark chocolate with nuts and marshmallow. Those who love dark chocolate will love this. This cake is ideal for those that like bitter dark chocolate as this cake is not sweet at all. I guess this is more to suit the Xmas occasion. Apart from the occassion, I think eating ice cream might be a better idea than ice cream log cake.

"

Swensen's Singapore
Funan DigitaLife Mall
109 North Bridge Road
#03-05/06
Tel: 63383655

Operating hours - 10:30am to 10pm (daily)
http://www.swensens.com.sg/

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Celebrating Pre-Christmas with desserts

Celebrating Pre-Christmas with desserts

It was a day filled with laughter, joy and fun. Claire, being a good host, shuttled us between her home and the nearest MRT station, got us a good spread of savoury food such as Chicken Wings, Ngoh Hiang (五香), Black Pepper Crabs, Pork Balls Wraps and flooded us with free flow of gourmet coffee, lime juice and sky juice.

What happens when food bloggers, dessert enthusiasts and pâtissiers meet? You end up in a live firing zone (it sures look like it when everybody prepares to fire at the array of desserts) and verbal exchanges of praises.

The order in which the desserts are presented in this blog is in accordance to the punctuality of their appearance to the firing zone. To kick start, Evan's bakes, a highly anticipated appearance, is one that requires no further introduction. With so much experience in making macarons, do I need to tempt you further?

Are you drooling yet? The flavours are rose, pistachio and hazelnut. I share the same sentiments with everybody, her macarons are heavenly good. The shells are chewy with the right thickness and is definitely my favourite dessert among the entire selection. Kudos to her creativity to use the right ingredients for her rose macarons, making the entire flavour overwhelming and natural.

Vicki's Swedish Cinnamon Swirls, a much healthier version unlike Cinnamon which is more oily and sweeter. However, the nutty peppery flavor of cumin seeds (my bad, it wasn't cumin seeds, it is cardamom, thanks to Evan for the correction) overshadows fragrantly sweet and warm taste of cinnamon.

It is sweet of Vicki to bring non-cakes desserts, since she might has anticipated what the rest have brought. Presenting her lovely peppermint marshmallows, which simply melt our hearts when we see it. The lovely swirls of pink with the right degree of sweetness and peppermint bring out the Christmas mood.

Yuan took my suggestion and bought a green tea sponge cake (Kasutera, カステラ) from Minamoto Kitchoan, Takashimaya. Based on internet forum, this is one of the best matcha cake available in Singapore. From Claire's experience in Japan, this was no where near from what she had in Japan. Based on my comparison with the matcha cakes I have tried, its degree of green tea is strong but didn't justify S$20 as it was too dry in its texture.

Weili's daring creation of the Eggnog cheesecake was indeed an acquired taste. With milk, cream, sugar, beaten eggs, flavoured with cinnamon and nutmeg and a final touch of whisky and brandy leave you to go ga-ga over its high alcoholic content or ponder what is the content of this cake.

How can we miss out a log cake for Christmas, presenting the Traditional Christmas Chocolate Log cake made of rich chocolate mousse, rum syrup and homemade chocolate sponge ($53 excluding 7% GST, 15% discount for Citibank and DBS cardholders), from the Deli, Goodwood Park Hotel, Singapore.

Last but not least, Sihan has made a bundt cake flavoured with chocolate, walnut, orange and a tint of nugmeg. This soft butter cake marbled with chocolate is just right in its flavour and texture. The chunky walnuts provides an additional punch while the orange gives a refreshing finishing touch.


All in all, this gathering wouldn't have been successful without everybody's effort and I am definitely looking forward to the next dessert gathering...

Don't miss out LIC's Potluck: Dessert Enthusiast Xmas outing, Evan's Xmas PotLuck at Claire's place, Vicki's dessert enthusiasts Christmas Party at Claire's.

Still keeping a lookout on the others' blog for their coverage on this gathering :D

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Grand Cru Alpaco from Peaberry and Pretzel

Grand Cru Alpaco from Peaberry and Pretzel

As mentioned in my previous entry, the dessert platter did impress and thus Yuan has decided to order one of the two cakes that has caught his attention when he first stepped into the cafe. Since we have tried Peaberry espresso chocolate cake in the dessert platter, we settled with their bestseller, the Grand Cru Alpaco ($5.50 excluding 7% GST and 10% service charge).


Basically, this is a dark chocolate mousse and a layer of chocolate cake coated with glossy dark chocolate glaze.

For those who are wondering if macarons are available in this cafe, the answer is no. Those macaron shells seen in the glass display are only for decorative purposes.

I didn't take a close-up of the display as there were dining guests earlier in the evening and as it was closer to closing hours, there were a handful of take-away customers. Moreover, from my understanding from the staff, they don't usually allow customers to take pictures of the place and thus it would be appreciated if the intention was made known right from the start. They didn't stop me but I have decided to ask for permission before firing my camera.
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Fen's comments

Grand Cru Alpaco is a typical combination of dark chocolate glaze, chocolate mousse with a layer of chocolate cake. Since it is available in various bakeries such as Aroma, BakerZin and BreadTalk, what will make such a cake outshine the rest, is an additional ingredient to bring out the chocolate combination. Aroma has a vanilla brulee inlay and since milk chocolate was used, it is generally on the sweeter side. BakerZin, on the other hand, introduce lavender essence, thus appeal more to females. BreadTalk though has a similar combination but its texture was just too rough to reach any verdict.

So where does Grand Cru Alpaco stand? For a price of $5.50++, I would say it is definitely one of the better few. Using dark chocolate mousse, this is not sweet but the chocolate cake fails to stand out. In my personal opinion, I always thought that chocolate cake should be sandwiched between chocolate mousse and not layered at the bottom.

I would recommend this cake if one prefers Caraibe for its high chocolate content as this is a dark chocolate creation but with a softer and smoother texture.
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Yuan's comments
Without doubts, this is one of the best dark chocolate creation which I have eaten. As I mentioned before, a cake which can make you crave and finish when you are full is really good. This cake has just the right composition - rich but not overly rich. Smooth chocolate mousse and chocolate fudge... I am craving for it again.
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Peaberry and Pretzel
Blk 106
Clementi Street 12,
#01-52
Singapore 120106
Tel: 6777 3477

Operating hours
12:30pm to 10:30pm (Tues to Fri),
10:30am to 10:30pm (Weekends),
Closed on all Mondays except PH
http://www.peaberryandpretzel.com.sg/

Peaberry and Pretzel has closed but re-opened as Buttercake N Cream.

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Peaberry and Pretzel

Peaberry and Pretzel

I trust my guts instinct that this place is going to be good and thus explains my enthusiasm to pop by the place. Frankly speaking, I have always thought that Sunset Way is just a sleepy HDB town but never did I expect this place to be a hippy dining spot. What makes this place different from Holland Village and Clarke Quay is the surrounding tranquility and serenity, making this location a romantic place for couples, a quiet place for gatherings and a complete different perspective of city life.

The indoor dining area is warmly lit with the English lamps and decorated with the embroidered lamp shades. The use of golden framed mirrors and cushioned seats provides comfortable seating for gatherings. It kind of provides a similar feel like Sweet Indulgence. In short, it is a dimly lit, nicely decorated, small and slightly expensive dining place.

Judging from the comments posted on HungryGoWhere, most felt that this is not a recommended place for main course, particularly if budget is a factor. Moreover, the limited selection of main courses offered may not justify a trip to this place.

Anyway, it was alittle disappointing that they ran out of pork knuckle and thus we have decided to order a THE HUGE PLATE which is basically a huge assortment of sausages and cold cuts accompanied with traditional sauerkraut and potato salad. I wouldn’t recommend this dish since it gets very cloying to eat so many sausages in a go. They were just too salty but have to admit it was a wide selection, ranging from cheese sausages, mutton sausages and beer-flavoured ones.

The huge plate with a selection of sausages, ham, salami and accompanying traditional sauerkraut and potato salad ($34.90 excluding 7% GST and 10% service charge)

Decided to settle with a dessert platter for one despite Yuan’s pleas and this is basically 5 desserts of petite portions of the best P&P’s chef has to offer.

Dessert platter with Varlhona warm chocolate pudding, Raspberry crème brulee, Strawberry tiramisu, Peaberry espresso logcake and Strawberry Cheesecake ($14.00 excluding 7% GST and 10% service charge)

Since the café adopts an open-kitchen concept, the eggy whiff of the chocolate pudding can be smelt in the air and the attention in which the chef gives to each creation can be observed from where we were sitting.

Before I forget, they do serve complementary bread, nicely warmed up with margarine, they do refill upon request but we were saving room for desserts.
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Fen's comments

Despite a disappointing main course, I have to say that I am satisfied when it comes to the desserts I had for that evening. Unlike weird tasting ones from Pastry Bar and Nectarie or extreme sourish from Obolo, the 5 desserts served for the evening was light and refreshing. When this was eaten individually, I would say there is nothing to rave about and it would not have justify a return trip. However, it wasn't the case since we have ordered a dessert platter.

The Varlhona Warm Chocolate Pudding and Raspberry Crème Brulee were served warm in whisky glasses. Although the chocolate pudding was to be a dessert with molten lava of chocolate with vanilla-bean sauce, there was no molten chocolate lava oozing out. Thus, the overall taste was soft, moist and bitterly rich like a chocolate souffle.

The Raspberry Crème Brulee, on the other hand, was a direct opposite of a rich custard base. Beneath the layer of crispy caramel was a light raspberry mascarpone mousse. I only guessed that it was a Crème Brulee due to its crispy layer of burnt sugar. The good thing about this dessert is it being not too sweet and light.

Strawberry Tiramisu, served in the martini glass was a good variation of the layered Venetian dessert. This refreshing and summery desserts has just the right number of layers and thickness of light mascarpone cheese that melts-in-the-mouth and strawberry flavoured finger sponge are of the right texture and balance of sweetness and sourish.

On the contuary, I didn't like the Peaberry espresso logcake, which is supposedly an espresso-infused chocolate mousse and milk chocolate mousse with chocolate fudge cake. It has a similar taste to the Bailey Parfait from Pastry Bar, smooth mousse but its chocolate and espresso lacks the omph factor. Too mild to my liking.

Strawberry cheesecake was a complete disappointment. It lacks the cheese factor and is completely off from what I have from Obolo and Checkers Deli. For good cheesecakes, this is definitely not the place to go.

Though there are food that I didn't in this place, it is understandable that there are always hits and misses in any eatery. Thus, I would say I have fallen in love with the place and I will be coming back for their Pork Knuckle.

Don't miss out on my next entry as I didn't write the last dessert in which Yuan and I have ordered...

And of course, I am definitely not the first to blog on this place so do check out SD Food advisor for better pictures, the lovely dessert pictures on Singapura Daily Makan Photos, Timeless facade (apparently P&P didn’t impress him that much) and yellow & her true colours.
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Yuan's comments

The huge plate was certainly not recommended unless you are really a fan of sausages. This is also the first time which I have eaten mutton sausage. The down side is that it should have come with some sauce. Either mushroom sauce or BBQ sauce. It is kind of dry on its own.

The real star was really the dessert platter. I have previously mentioned that dessert platters tend to be disappointing. However this one left me dumbfounded. Fen and I compete to finish this platter. The good thing about this platter is that it does not use extreme flavours. Not too sweet nor too sour. Generally light and refreshing.

My personal favourite is the chocolate pudding. It taste similar to the bakerzin warm chocolate cake except that this one is more mousse like.
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Peaberry and Pretzel
Blk 106
Clementi Street 12,
#01-52
Singapore 120106
Tel: 6777 3477

Operating hours
12:30pm to 10:30pm (Tues to Fri),
10:30am to 10:30pm (Weekends),
Closed on all Mondays except PH
http://www.peaberryandpretzel.com.sg/

Peaberry and Pretzel has closed but re-opened as Buttercake N Cream.

[ ... ]

Chocolat Grand from BakerZin

Chocolat Grand from BakerZin

What happens when Fen and Yuan are deprived from cakes for 3 days? Tired after walking for 4 days... Been on the bus for 5 hours... Do we rush for our beds to rest or the nearest bakery to curb our craving... Well, if it is the former, this entry would not have exist.

Since we are so exhausted after all the walking and long journeys, we have decided to pop by BakerZin to grab a cake or two. Yuan was curious what will his verdict be after all this cake spree and thus stick to the Chocolate Amer while I am curious to try another Christmas special of theirs. This time round, Chocolat Grand was my choice as I insist that it is the equivalence of Chocolate Amer based on their description... "Flourless chocolate sponge layered with bitter chocolate mousse"


Each slice of Chocolat Grand costs $6.20 (excluding 7% GST and 10% service charge), the same price as Chocolate Amer.
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Fen's comments

When compared to Chocolate Amer, this is no where near when it comes to its texture of the chocolate mousse. Although its chocolate content is higher than Amer, the texture is relatively coarse, just like how it is portrayed in the photo. The flourless chocolate cake is the same as Chocolate Amer and instead of having one type of chocolate mousse like the Amer, Chocolat Grand has a layer of glossy dark chocolate glaze with crunchy milk chocolate layers. Hence, despite having 4 types of chocolate layers in this cake, too much just makes it cloying instead of addictive.
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Yuan's comments
Effectively, this is simply the harder and less moist version of the chocolate amer. Not sure is it meant this way or its simply left in the fridge for too long. Well the main difference is this layer of chocolate fudge. I always felt that chocolate fudge with mousse is a really good combi but in this case, I found the texture of the mousse rather disappointing.
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BakerZin, United Square
101 Thomson Road
#01-07/60 United Square
Singapore 307591
Tel: 6251 5550

Operating hours - 10:30 am - 10 pm (Sun to Thur)
10:30 am - 11 pm (Fri, Sat & Eve of Public Holiday)
http://www.bakerzin.com/

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Carrot Cake from Dunkins' Donuts

Carrot Cake from Dunkins' Donuts

Surprisingly, after roaming around shopping malls and hotels, it is pretty hard to find cakes in KL, apart from tonnes of Starbucks, Secret Recipes and occasional bakeries with a small selection of cakes. Thus, I am determined to have one slice before returning back to Singapore and since I am still searching for good carrot cakes, I guess I don't have much choice, do I?

Wonder why am I doing stupid things ever since I started blogging, have you heard of 2 jokers eating the same type of cake for close to 2 entire weeks, particularly when there is only enough room for 1 cake. Simply Unbelievable!!!


LIC is gonna whine at me for my poor pictures. I am trying to minimize my load and thus the dSLR will have to stay at home... Moreover, we need to rush for our bus and thus we take away this baby and ate it on the bus... Hopefully, it still looks tempting.
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Fen's comments

The cream cheese frosting has too much magarine content. YUCKS!!! Thus, this is the 2nd cake in which we scrapped away the frosting. However, when it comes to texture of the cake, it is soft with a slight grainy texture. Cinnamon strength is better than Calendar's and Room for dessert but the cake is a little too sweet to my liking. For RM6.00, it is not a bad deal but so far I have not found a second cake that can make me crave as much as Cedele's walnut carrot cake.
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Yuan's comments

Apart from the sweet and buttery layer on top of the carrot cake, this carrot cake is not too bad. Soft and have a slight starchy feeling with strong cinnamon smell. There is no walnut in this cake, just pure carrot with cinnamon.
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Dunkins' Donuts has gotten their cakes from Golden Oven and these bakeries are located at
Ampang Point (03) 4253 2684
Carrefour Wangsa Maju (03) 4142 7254
Jejantas Sg. Buloh (Kaya Kopitiam) (03) 6141 2817
Ampang Petronas-Kolam Air (03) 4257 4124
Larkin Bus Terminal - JB (07) 222 8706
Plaza Angsana - JB (07) 232 1245

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Dunkins' Donuts

Dunkins' Donuts

Dunkin' Donuts, an international donut and coffee retailer founded in 1950, has been one of the first donut paradise we have known since young (at least for the 1970s and 1980s babies). Which child out there can't resist the colourful, sugary treats? Still recall how I plead my parents to get me donuts with the colourful rice sprinkles and toppings of screaming colours. As we grow up, Dunkin' Donuts started to disappear from Singapore slowly and eventually who has remembered this childhood favourite.

Things started to be different when Donut factory cause a stir in December 2006 in which long queues can be seen and people end up queuing for more than 2 hours to try their donuts (I queued twice for about an hour or so each, felt so stupid when I think about it). No doubt, the donuts are richly decorated with chocolate and jam and when I ate it during the hype, I felt oh-so-worth-it. Subsequently, Munchy donuts (now known as Donut Empire), J.Co Donuts & Coffee and all other donuts outlets came popping out of Singapore in a similar manner like the Bubble tea and Rotiboy craze. Singaporeans are just obsessed with food, don't they?

Despite my current dislike towards donuts due to its countless calories and its oily dough, as I gaze towards the various branches of Dunkin' Donuts and saw the array of colourful donuts. My thoughts went back to my childhood. A special treat I once adore, we have decided to get a box of 6. I knew of the calories but just thought I will just give it a try. Then on board the long journey back home, we shared the donuts.
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Fen's comments

Out of the 6 donuts, I shared the Cinnamon Cake Donut and Chocolate Whole Wheat Donut with Yuan. Generally, unlike the donuts available at Donut Factory, Donut Empire and J.Co, Dunkins’ Donuts are not that oily (at least the paper box is not soaked up with oil) and generally adopt a non-bread texture. What do I mean by that?

For instance, for the Cinnamon Cake Donut, it has a very light cakey texture which is a more porous texture than those available at Pop DoH. In terms of its strength of cinnamon, it is not that strong; thereby have a relative plain taste.

As for the chocolate whole wheat donut, despite having a doughnut hole, the chocolate fudge is tucked within the dough itself. Its texture is slightly coarse since whole wheat is used instead and the chocolate fudge softens its overall texture. A direct opposite of a chocolate glazed deep-fried piece of bread.
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Yuan’s comments

The good thing about Dunkin Donuts is that they have many flavours and they taste quite distinct from each other. This is unlike the popular donut outlets here in Singapore (I shall not pinpoint any store) which the donuts just feel and tasted so oily. At Dunkin you can have even healthy choices such as wheat donut. Hence there is surely something you would like here.
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With so many branches around Malaysia, you won’t miss a Dunkins’ Donuts outlet; we have purchased these donuts from the KLCC LRT station, an underground LRT station served by the Kelana Jaya Line.

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Baskin Robbins

Baskin Robbins

I have been eyeing at this ice-cream parlour when I first saw it at Johor Bahru but due to a full stomach, Yuan promise me that I will have it on my next visit to Malaysia. With so many branches across Malaysia, there is no way I will miss out this place.

When the staff at Baskin Robbins are making the waffle cones, the smell produced is so heavenly addictive that it simply attracts me to make an order. Thus, from my supposed chocolate cake order, it became a waffle sundae. Apparently, if one pick the waffle bowl, 2 scoops of ice-cream is a must...

Quite surprised that the branches in Singapore didn't survive despite it being a global chain of ice cream parlors founded by Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins in 1945 in Glendale, California. Long history, huh? Another interesting thing is its "31 flavors" slogan. Wow!!!

Browsing through the lovely colours of their ice-cream, my eyes set on their "no sugar" selection. Trying to find more excuses to eat more and since I have intention to order a slice of chocolate cake, I eliminated all the chocolate selections and decided on the peach crumble (from the "no sugar" selection) and macademia nut... A RM16.80 waffle sundae entitles a wet and a dry topping so chocolate fudge with bananas sound good.

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Fen's comments

The macademia nut ice-cream is filled with lots of nuts, much more generous than Hagan Dazs but in terms of its vanilla base, it is not as nice and smooth as the latter. Moreover, Hagan Dazs has a unique vanilla fragrance which till now I thought only the Line from Shangri-La Singapore is comparable.

Its peach crumble is very refreshing and it tasted like sorbet with some cream content. But what is nice about the entire sundae is the waffle basket that comes with it. The waffle is fresh, sugary-crispy with the right thickness with a tint of fragrance that shows resemble to Marks and Spencer Viennese Biscuits.
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Yuan's comments

The Macademia ice cream is kind of sweet but has this rich vanilla smell. The Peach crumble is refreshing and is kind of like a sorbet. Overall the ice cream is quite nice but I guess the star is really the waffle. As Fen pointed out, it tasted identical to the Marks and Spencer Viennese Biscuit.
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Baskin Robbins
1 Jalan Imbi
Lot K-01-02, 1F
Berjaya Times Square
Bukit Bintang

With countless number of branches, you don't need to go Kuala Lumpur for their ice-cream.
http://www.baskinrobbins.com//

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Waffle World at Sunway Pyramid

Waffle World at Sunway Pyramid

From the bus stop near Chinatown of KL, there are lots of buses that bring you to various areas and to go to Sunway Lagoon or Sunway Pyramid, we took bus 13 which is approximately 20 minutes ride (RM2).

This is a really huge shopping mall with lots of shops that resemble the ones in Heeren and Vivocity (i.e. a wide selection of shops to cater to teenagers and adults). Ate a fair bit of stuff there and thus, by the time we head to waffle world, we only have room for one item. Like some other Singaporeans, we were misled by the name of the place, thinking that it serve only waffles but don't be surprised by the amount of main course offered in this place.

Since we are just here for their waffles, we ordered a basic one that comes with maple syrup and butter. A Classic Belgian Waffle will cost RM5.90. So do we like it or we prefer the ones in Singapore?
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Fen's comments

This place indeed provides alot of variations to eat their waffles, be it with savoury stuff such as ham and cheese or sweet treats such as syrup and ice-cream. Since we are so full, ice-cream didn't tempt us so a basic waffle with just butter and maple syrup will be a test of how good their dough is.

Unlike waffles from Gelare in which its dough has a nice sugary fragrance and its texture is soft and springy or the cake-like texture in which U.d.d.e.r.s adopts, the batter used by his place is closer to what Cold Rock Creamery has. But instead of having a soft waffle, its exterior is crispy with a pretty bland taste. Such waffles are good with ice-cream and syrup but when eaten on its own, I generally miss the pandan waffles in neighbourhood bakeries.
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Yuan's comments

Apart from the wide selection of flavours to go with your waffles, I personally found the waffles at Waffle World disappointing. I feel that it lacks the scent and is more to hard than crispy. Instead of maple syrup, it is simply normal syrup.
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Waffle World
LG2.32,
Lower Level 2
Sunway Pyramid Shoping Mall
Tel 03-74921937

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Cinnabon

Cinnabon

The short trip I was talking about in the previous entry is to Kuala Lumpur. To many, it is just a usual weekend getaway, but to me, it is really memorable as it is the first trip out of Singapore with Yuan.

We tried to search for cakes in KL but alas, either it didn't look tempting or we didn't manage to find any pâtisserie within the vicinity. However, we try our best to bring in sweet entries this week. So stay tune to see what has caught our attention.

Cinnabon does stir some memories as cinnamon rolls are no longer available in Singapore, at least, I don't get to see it as much as in the past.


Since we are pretty full after lunch, we have decided to settle with one Cinnabon Classic Cinnamon Roll. Founded in Seattle, Washington in 1985, this is the roll that made Cinnabon famous! As described, this warm dough is filled with their legendary Makara Cinnamon, topped with freshly made cream cheese frosting.


Anyway, each bonnie costs RM3.60.
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Fen's comments

This indeed fits the description (apart from the cream cheese frosting, more like frosted icing sugar), it was served warm with lots of Makara Cinnamon. The cinnamon scent makes it so heavenly but the oil makes me ponder to have a second piece. Anyway, since when we care about calories when we indulged in desserts. This baby is no doubt moist, soft with the right amount of cinnamon scent.
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Yuan's comments

I have always loved cinnamon and hence cinnabon really appeals. Generous cinnamon sugar with dough is a must try for all who love cinnamon. Must admit that it is kind of sweet and oily but I really enjoyed it.
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Cinnabon
LL1, Sunway Pyramid
Bandar Sunway, Selangor
Tel 03-74920879
http://www.cinnabon.com/

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Carrot Cake from Olio Dome

Carrot Cake from Olio Dome

I have never been to Olio Dome before despite hearing them having good coffee. Anyway, was very thirsty and thus decided to try their cakes instead and for those who have been following the blog, our choice is clear...

Having ate several carrot cakes, I understand why some people are so addicted to them. Apart from chocolate cakes, carrot cake seems to be another that never goes out of style due to its simplicity of the ingredients used. It seems like a carrot cake with rich, soft and moist texture is easily achieved due to the addition of carrots and vegetable oil but whether it is fantastic depends on the spice used, the type and grade of toasted nuts used and its cream cheese frosting.

In this case, Olio Dome has their carrot cake served with walnuts, coconut and pineapple and topped with a rich layer of cream cheese frosting and shredded coconut. Each slice of Carrot Cake costs $5.90 and is subjected to 7% GST and 10% service charge. Citibank, UOB and OCBC credit cards are entitled a 10% discount.
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Fen's comments

Be it the frosting and the cake itself, this is definitely not as good as Cedele's Walnut carrot cake, Room for dessert's Summertime Carrot Cake and Calendar's carrot cake. The cake has a very dry exterior which gives me an impression that either it has been re-heated a couple of times or it has been kept in the fridge for quite some time. The cake itself is denser than any of the mentioned carrot cakes and generally has a coarser texture when compared to Room for dessert and Calendar. It is also sweeter when compared to all 3.

In terms of dried fruits and nuts, it is too finely chopped and not as generous as Cedele's and Calendar's.

The frosting is mixed with grated coconut and is extremely sweet that we skipped it all together. In short, it is not too bad if you are not picky with carrot cakes but once you have eaten better once, I guessed the choice is obvious.
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Yuan's comments
Having eaten so many carrot cakes, it appears to me that to make a good layer of cream cheese is not that simple. Its either too sweet or too buttery. This one is no exception. It is too sweet with slight taste of cream cheese. Nonetheless I think the uniqueness of this carrot cake is the chewy burn sides of the cake. Apart from that, I think this is just another ordinary piece of carrot cake.
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Dôme Parkway Parade
80 Marine Parade Road
#B1-156/157/158 Parkway Parade
Singapore 449269
Tel: 6348 8498

Operating hours
8.30am to 10pm (Sun - Thurs & PH)
8.30am to 11pm (Fri, Sat & Eve of PH)
http://www.olio.sg/

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