Sunday, February 8, 2009

Valentino Pasticceria

Yesterday's gathering was yet another successful one where friends (Evan, Sihan, Claire, Weili and Elaine) of the same interest meet up for a round of desserts, chat and express photography (yes, it was indeed stressful but fun).

I have first known of Perla's Pastry Boutique through Sihan's entry on the Tales of the Japanese Maiden and the Italian Baker and I have to admit that the entry did tempt me to drop by to pick up a few cakes. Sure glad she has made the trip for us and share the wonderful treats. Once again, thank you for picking up the cakes and pastries for us to try.

By the way, I thought we are supposed to have the tiramisu?

From the selection of cakes we had yesterday, Pasticceria Da Valentino adopt a very traditional style of baking which is simple without a drastic combination of flavours. Such pastries are often neutral and will never go wrong when catered to a group of friends with varying taste buds.

Let's start with the best selling cake at Pasticceria Da Valentino, none other but the Chantilly Al Cioccolato Bianco. As described in their brochure, the light sponge cake soaked with rum and milk with custard and chocolate cream fillings has a melt-in-your mouth texture and a light and refreshing after-taste from the chantilly cream. The white chocolate shavings just brings in a different type of sweetness and contrast with the soft sponge of the cake.

Chantilly white chocolate cake

This is indeed one of the best cakes when white chocolate is concerned (Tien Tien from CentrePs and Strawberry Shortcake from Mezza9 were our previous encounters with white chocolate). What makes it good was the tint of rum and it being not too sweet.

The general pricing is 5" - $18.80, 6" - $25.00, 7" - $32.00, 9" - $45.00.

Torta Valentino, was a chocolate creations that is coupled with rum-soaked raisins and dark chocolate sponge; covered with dark chocolate ganache and chocolate cream. The winning factor of this cake is its bittersweet aftertaste and the sticky fudge that coats the cake. The rum-soaked raisins just finishes with a punch in every bite.

Chocolate fudge cake

However, having ate a large selection of chocolate cakes, we thought that the quality of the chocolate used was not premium enough to provide the oomph factor and its texture of the sponge is not moist enough when compared to popular chocolate fudge players.

The pricing is the same as Chantilly Al Cioccolato Bianco which is 5" - $18.80, 6" - $25.00, 7" - $32.00, 9" - $45.00.

Custard tart with blueberry and raspberries

Originally, our intention was to order the Crostata Di Pere Al Cioccolato but Sihan switched to Crostata Ai Frutti Di Bosco instead due to the praises tagged with this tart. Pasticceria Da Valentino felt that this is a must-try for berries lovers and true enough the tart is generously topped with blackberries and raspberries and the custard that comes with it just complements perfectly. However, the tart pastry lacks the cookie-like texture and extreme crunchiness found in tarts offered by Pâtisserie Glacé and thus Yuan and I would prefer the cheese tarts and strawberry hills from the latter.

The pricing of the tart is 5" - $10.80; 7" - $26.00; 9" - $36.00.

Mini Vanilla puffs

Bigne (mini puffs) with vanilla cream or hazelnut cream ($0.75 each) were indeed miniature and we thought that it was pricey since it is only enough for a mouthful. I haven't tried the hazelnut ones but the vanilla cream used is pretty similar to Beard Papa but the choux pastry available at Pasticceria Da Valentino is softer and not crispy.

Mini Hazelnut puffs

Perla's Pastry Boutique
7 Jalan Bingka
Singapore 588902

Operating hours - 11am to 10pm (Closed on Monday)
Website

9 comments:

red fir said...

I've tried both the Chantilly Al Cioccolato Bianco & Torta Valentino both at the restaurant proper and I must say though both were just ok, they didn't leave of an impression that would make me want to eat them again. The chantilly tasted like a normal light cream sponge...quite sad. Sorry to burst your bubble, but their tiramisu is one the worst I've eaten. Maybe it's just me, but it's personal preference.

Vicki's E-Portfolio said...

Oh man.. I think I wld love the berry tart! Lovely pics, Fen! :)

Anonymous said...

hahaha yeah man. thanks for the detail write up, now i know which ones to go for the next time i go to perla's. its been like since ever i find out about their existence i wanted to try some cakes from there man. lol. but sadly, even tho i passed by them every week, haven go get some yet.

Anonymous said...

hey gal, wa u blog so fast! i going to blog now hahaha. btw wanna send u the photos i took of u n yuan! how do i send u? email?

Fen said...

Ice: They are not bad but for that price, it is pretty ordinary. In fact, I prefer the cakes from Pâtisserie Glacé.

Anyway, I am surprised to hear from you that the tiramisu was bad since Sihan mentioned in her entry that it was one of the best she has tried.

Vicki: You can always pick it up after school, it is within the vicinity. Thank you for the compliment...

LIC: Haha, you can always pick it up since you are living nearby...

Etel: Hope you enjoy yourself yesterday and I look forward to your entry...

My email is fenfen_83@hotmail.com
I want the dog portraits too...

bossacafez said...

thats really fast!! i haven't edited the pics :D had a lovely lovely time and everytime it just gets better! guess its becoz we're alot more comfortable with each other now :D looking forward to more! love the lychee macarons from centre p's and yes it definitely gives me the inspiration to try something like that for the filling! i wanna try gobi's macha macaron nx!

red fir said...

fen: Perla's tiramisu is an non-alcoholic version. I prefer mine with alcohol so I didn't quite like it, somehow the overall combi & relative proportions of sponge fingers and mascarpone didn't go down too well on me. Like I told a hgw reviewer, it's not a cake that would make me want to dig in a 2nd spoonful haha. Anyway, I just back went to read your past innumerable tiramisu entries, you seem to like yours with alcohol, which only means you need to try Ristorante de Parma's version. Theirs is the best in SG in my books. The tiramisu is laced with a combi of 3 different types of alcohol, kahlua, marsala & another I can't remember, rum I think. Overall the proportions are just perfect.

Btw, most or some wetter versions of tiramisu is layered with not only mascarpone cheese & sponge fingers, but also mixed with zabaglione custard or creme anglaise, which explains why they're creamier & wetter or even "sink in" as you start eating it.

Like I said, different strokes for different folks, you could still try Perla's. :)

Fen said...

Evan: Haha, I started with Valentino as there were lesser pictures, I am just done with selecting the CentrePs pictures so will need the time to sort them out and present them nicely... close to 250 photos were took in total...

Yeh, when I first tried your macarons at 12+1, I have been trying to tell you the beauty of CentrePs filling... Glad you have found some inspiration... As mentioned, Le Bon Marche have the rose biscuits (from France) which are in crumbs form, not sure are they useful for macarons...

As for Gobi's matcha macarons, the shells are nothing fantastic but the way they flavour their macarons with matcha is one of the best I have ever tried so far... Also the prettiest in terms of appearance...

Ice: You are right about our liking towards alcoholic tiramisu... LIC mentioned about Ristorante de Parma's tiramisu but Serangoon Gardens is quite out of the way for me, so I will need to find some time to drop by... Nevertheless, I appreciate the recomendation...

I didn't know the use of zabaglione custard or creme anglaise in tiramisu. I did felt a varying wettness and I have to admit I prefer the wetter ones... Thank you for the information... Now I know what keywords to use in my google search...

Anonymous said...

email sent! :)

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