By now one should know that one of the highlights of Chinese New Year is “festive cookie”, the pineapple tart.
Why so?
Because the word pineapple is translated to “ong-lai” (in Hokkien dialect) which mean wealth come, thus it is a must to have pineapple tart during Chinese New Year. Also, pineapple in Teochew dialect sounds like 'Wang Lie', which means imminent luck.
Fen's comments
The appearance of the pineapple isaphan simply catches my attention. I can imagine the striking yellow shouting "try me" and I simply succumb to my temptation.
On the other hand, Yuan wanted to have get their new flavours macarons ($2.30 each) to contrast the size of the Isaphan and thus explaining our purchase.
The pineapple isaphan is refreshing, with the sweetness from the pineapple cubes and a slight sourishness from the raspberries, this is indeed a perfect combination of the two. What makes it unique is the filling, which has the texture of a custard enveloping shredded pineapples. Indeed an expensive alternative to traditional pineapple tarts.
Mandarian orange macaron with chocolate ganache was alittle diappointing as fruity flavours generally don't gel with chocolate. On the other hand, the pineapple macaron was not bad, something similar to Amande's passionfruit macaron but the isaphan definitely fair better.
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Yuan's comments
Fen and I have been quite fond of macarons hence when we saw the CNY series from Carousel, we felt that we simply must try. What's surprising is that the pineapple Isaphan tasted pretty similar to a conventional Pineapple tart. Apart from the usual macaron crust, there is this layer of custard which tasted like the crust of a pineapple tart. Overall, I would say that the pineapple isaphan is rather refreshing and deserve a try. The mandarin macaron too is not bad except that I personally do not like chocolate ganache in my macaron.
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Michinoku & Hokkaido Fair
Isetan Scotts Supermarket, Basement 1
9-19 Jan, 10am-7pm
Gourmet Carousel
Royal Plaza on Scotts, Singapore
25 Scotts Road
Singapore 228220
Tel: 6589 7799
http://dining.royalplaza.com.sg/
Note: These product will be available from Wednesday 14 January, 2009 to Monday 9 February, 2009.
19 comments:
waaa u really went to try the pineapple ispahan lol. that gives me an idea, maybe i shd do something like that oso haha. it looks unique indeed!! and $7.50 is reasonable compared to the mezza9 one!!
btw, correction. its chocolate ganache, not gauche :p
Haha, I do like the colour, does look yummy... Wonder what other variations of isaphan can it be created apart from pineapple and chestnut...
Oh, thank you for the correction. I must be thinking of Rive Gauche...
variations...i've seen strawberry & pistachio one on some japanese/french pastry cookbooks! reminds me of the fraisier we had yest haha.
ya i know, i thought so too, u must be thinking of rive gauche haha.
btw ask u dear, normally when u upload photos to flickr u put them as private huh? after u blog abt it then u "release" the photos n put as public? LOL
Wow, strawberry and pistachio... sounds good wor... are you trying it out? Hehe...
Rive Gauche has really good cakes too... and the best part is that it is reasonably priced... the only setback is that it is only a take-away counter...
Yeh, I will put it private and only release it after I publish my post, if not you guys will know what to anticipate for my next entry...
i did the strawberry & pistachio one, but felt it didn't look very nice! coz i made the shells green when i shd hv made it pink instead :( plus it looks abit flat. you can see the photo here.
eh i tot centreP's is also a takeaway counter, so is perla pastry boutique that sihan mentioned yest. nvm la, we all just takeaway and eat at claire's place :p
haha good idea, LIC does the same too, never releasing the photos until the blog entry. looks like i must do the same too. so nx time you'll never get to see my pics until i blog abt it lor hahaaaa.
Yah, the shells are alittle flat but your usual macarons are pretty thick, even Macaron Bijoux has pretty thick shells.
Maybe you can replace strawberries with raspberries or even blueberries and arranged it with whole pistachio? I am not sure about the taste but it might help in the presentation...
But how does it taste like?
Yeh, CentrePs is a takeaway outlet, so is Perla's Pastry Boutique. I can't wait to go Claire's place... We can take the photos and chill the cakes later =) Maybe we can put it on the 15th Feb (Sunday) since Valentine falls on a Saturday... or 21st Feb...
Hehe... the art of being secretive...
yea i guess the thickness of the shells are dependent on the ingredients put in and how u mix it. if u mix it too much it'll become more watery so when u pipe out it'll go flat very fast. i've seen somebody do blueberries b4, but very ugly la. unless i make the shells purple maybe. replace with raspberries then wouldn't it look like the normal ispahan oredi? BUT i tell u, this pineapple one really gives me some inspiration, im really eager to try out!! but i really wonder what i'm gonna put into the cream, shd i use pineapple paste or fresh shredded pineapples haha. i notice the cubed pineapples outside this one u bought from carousel has like black bits...looks like they've been cooked in a spiced syrup or something. hmm.. then again if i make i'll just do it for fun and just let my family try during CNY :p
yea i can't wait to go claire's place oso!! but elaine wants to go oso and she'll be in taiwan from 13 feb until 23rd (i think) so maybe we can arrange a day b4 she goes or until she comes back? she said she wants to bring her bf along (who also owns a DSLR - 400D) and i think u guys (u, yuan & him) can just enjoy the technical talk on photography whereas we pig out on the cakes hahaaaaaa! i think i'll ask claire which are the dates she can, ask her give a few dates and u all also give a few available days...so we can choose one where everyone's free lor. either sat & sun afternoon maybe =)
ya la and talking abt the cakes, in future when we go out n eat cakes we shd just order like 2-3 varieties 1st, after that order another 2-3 more so they all won't get cold (or rather, warm) after taking photos. good idea?
Hmm... true, macarons shells depend alot on mixing... I didn't try enough but I have a rough idea since I attempted twice... Upload your pineapple isaphan if you happen to make it... The filling Carousel used is a pineapple flavoured custard-like filling and the centre of it is the pineapple puree found in pineapple tarts...
It really depends on Claire since the 15th day of CNY ends on the 9th Feb 09 (Monday). Neh, I am not into technical talk, only give some tips to close friends only... hehe... but keep it on weekends...
Not a good idea to order 2-3 as you will keep the non-photographers waiting for 2-3 rounds... Plus the entire clique seems to take a long time to finish taking pictures, so in the end, there won't be much time to chat... I think Yuan's suggestion is better, order 2 slices, the non-photographers can dig in first while the photographers end up with a penalty of eating warmed-up cakes...
pineapple custard? cool! maybe i shd make something like those custard used in fruit tarts then flavor it with pineapple ;p ok will post up the pic when i do it (thats if i get to it at all hehe).
eh but what has going to claire's place to do with CNY? u wanna go during CNY or...? of coz hv to keep it during weekends lor, weekdays u work how to go? haha
aiya so bad la u, i dun wanna eat warmed-up cakes :( best is EVERYONE takes pics, so there won't be anyone waiting haha.
I am not sure if Claire and family will be busy during CNY... So if we wanna avoid CNY then it will be 28th Feb 09 (Sat) / 1st March 09 (Sun) since Elaine will be away...
That will be a month away...
wow a mini conversation here! hahaha.. im here! ^^ nice ispahan :O
oh dun worry.. u gals go ahead with meeting first.. after i come back we can meet again ^^
dar: high alert! then again if i make i'll just do it for fun and just let my family try during CNY :p AND ME TOO PLS :D
fen : i don't think anyone celebrates CNY past the 3rd day haha. we're not malays! but i will check with her la, anyway 1 mth wait will be too long for u? hehe
dar, cannot la, i absolutely don't hv the heart to make u my guinea pig hahaaaaaa
Etel: You will be surprised Evan and I are pretty active online, that is why we manage to meet up with the rest...
Evan: Let me know once the date is confirmed so that I can place the orders...
fen, i'm active online becoz of u lor! since u don't MSN, i hv to chat with u here haha. but seriously speaking, do u mind our mini conversation in your comment box? coz i'm afraid you may not like it and wanna keep the comments solely to those relating to yr blog entries. if u r not comfortable must let me know so we can chat elsewhere, like email or facebook :)
No prob, I am ok with it... Anyway, this is more to a hobby for me...
wow, you all having a chatroom here eh! haha. what's this about going to claire's house? let me know about the date once u all confirmed then :)
yeah i heard about the Chinese festivals flavours which carousal comes out with, but haven go try. have to see whether got time to go buy or not. haha. i tried a mandarian orange cheesecake at the Straits cafe, but wasn't very good
We were thinking of buying cakes from take-away outlet and eat at Claire's place... After you guys left, Evan was asking me when is the next dessert meet up... That was when I thought we would try the cakes from take-away outlets...
Read about the cheesecake on your entry but isn't other desserts pretty good. My impression of Straits Cafe wasn't that good before the renovation.
As for Carousel, I would prefer the ispahan more than the new year macarons...
Wow, pineapple macaroon. Awesome!
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Hey Annie, thank you for dropping by too.
Surprisingly, pineapple macarons taste pretty good. I was expecting it to be either artificial or sour.
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