Valentine's Day Special - Hilton Singapore

Valentine's Day Special - Hilton Singapore

Saint Valentine's Day is just a week away and I still remember the good old days in school where the boys appeared in schools with chocolates and flowers while among the girls, there were exchanges of handmade gifts and gerberas.

In addition, as I grow older, I came to realize that February 14th is not the only Valentine Day. To the Chinese, the seventh day of the seventh lunar month is also known to be the Chinese Valentine's Day (i.e. 七夕节 or Magpie Festival).

Whichever the case, pastry lovers will be delighted that this is the time to go dessert hunting as cakes, chocolates and macarons start appearing in the form of pink hearts.

Valentine comes early for us as Hilton Singapore has generously delivered Executive Chef Christophe Grilo's Valentine's sweet pastry creations to us.


Our favourite among the three, Two's A Company, a duo of heart-shaped passion fruit, banana and caramel cake. As we have always highlight in our previous entries, Chef Christophe has never disappoint with his use of ingredients and it is an understatement to say that this is beautifully executed.


Light banana sponge cake is glazed with tangy homemade banana-passionfruit jam, and filled with white chocolate mousse and passion fruit-banana caramel. The fruity caramel is a delicious marriage of caramel cream, banana puree and passionfruit puree. A layer of blush-hued white chocolate dust on the outside mirrors the warm and fuzzy feeling of love.


The plus point, it comes as a pair and that this cake is sturdy enough to withstand our humid weather for more than 4 hours but yet the cake remains meltingly smooth and soft. The minus point, since white chocolate mousse is used, it might be alittle sweet to some.


Forever Yours, a chocolate creation consists of a heart-shaped chocolate shell encasing raspberry and coconut truffles. The use of homemade ruby-red raspberry dust made from real raspberries, provides a nice tang to neutralize the sweetness of the white chocolate and coconut milk ganache.


I have previously raved about Hilton's cream cheese macarons and this Valentine, Chef Christophe introduce Blush, a rose and raspberry macaroon. Instead of cream cheese filling or buttercream, white chocolate cream infused with rose water from Lebanon and tart raspberry marmalade is used as the filling to complement the light pink shells to resemble the glow of couples in love.

For those who are looking for set meals on this special day, Hilton Singapore is offering two types of dinner menu at il Cielo Italian Restaurant and Checkers Brasserie respectively.

Located by the poolside on top of the 24-storey hotel, il Cielo Italian Restaurant is an ideal choice to dine under the stars. With the menu designed by Hilton Singapore Executive Chef Sandro Flabo and Italian Chef Stefano Arrigoni, this $238++ five-course dinner includes,

An Antipasto Platter of Love -
Oysters, Caviar, Foie Gras and Crystal Bay Prawns.
***
Homemade Heart-Shaped Pasta filled with Alaskan Crab in aromatic Saffron Caviar Sauce
***
A Choice Of Mains -
Vanilla-flavoured Lobster and Rose Petal Potatoes and Seabass on Barley Risotto
or
Pan-fried Veal Tenderloin with Parma Ham, Porcini and Truffles
***
A Raspberry Vanilla and Rose Cake for two
__________
Alternatively, Checkers Brasserie offers a four-course Valentine's Day dinner for two ($188++ per couple). This menu features

Starter - Scallops and Salmon Carpaccio with Caviar
***
Mains -
Baked French Seabass
or Braised Lamb Ribs
***
Dessert - Bouquet of Roses made from a Raspberry, Vanilla and Rose Mille Feuille
Last but not least, we would like to express a big thank you to Marketing Communications Manager, Ms. Joyce Moo and Marketing Communications Executive, Ms. June Wong for the kind generousity for the Valentine pastries. Do note that 2 of the photos that are uploaded on this post is obtained from Hilton Singapore's press release and it is obvious which are the two. =)

Dining Under the Stars
il Cielo Italian restaurant
Five-course dinner at $238++ per couple
7pm - 10:30pm
For reservations, call 6730 3395

Valentine's Day Dinner
Checkers Brasserie
Four-course dinner at $188++ per couple
7pm - 10pm
For reservations, call 67303390

Valentine-inspired sweet pastry creations are available at Checkers Deli from 8 February.
Checkers Deli
11am - 9pm, daily
For orders and enquiries, call 6730 3392

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When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day III

When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day III

Yuan actually has a stronger liking for cookies over cakes and macarons so when he passed by Famous Amos on V-day, he felt that he couldn't resist his urge anymore. Since it was Valentine Day, I have decided to reward him for his tender, loving care with his favourite snacks.

Since the small heart tin comes with only 90gm of cookies, a medium heart tin with 190gm of cookies would be a better bet and frankly speaking, these chocolate chip and pecan cookies were so fragrant that Yuan was popping the cookies while taking photos of this.

Guess he likes this the most when the 3 "hearts" are concerned... After munching all the isaphans and cookies in a go, we were pretty sure to give the Isaphans a miss for next year Valentine. Just too sweet and expensive, macarons on its own are way better and cheaper...

By the way, the heart-shaped tin costs $6.50 and UOB cardholders have 15% off for any heart-shaped items purchased on that day. In total, I paid about $12+ for this.

Famous Amos (Cineleisure)
8 Grange Road
#01-08A Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
Tel: 6737 8066
http://famous-amos.com.sg/

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When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day II

When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day II

Since Isaphan is available at Carousel (all the time), I wasn't keen to purchase one for Valentine. When I saw CentrePs' Sweetheart on the UOB bronchure, my curiousity was stirred to find out how our favourite macaron pâtisserie will fare when it comes to isaphan.

Anyway, the pastry chef of CentrePs did not call this an isaphan since this name was originally given by Pierre Herme. Though it was not trademarked, she felt that it would be ordinary if CentrePs follow suit to sell them. Also, her training in France makes her realize some of the popular creations Pierre Herme has were actually old recipes and the combination of lychee and rose makes no exception. Bottom line, most of his desserts are old recipes but he changes alittle to incorporate a comtemporary feel and since these recipes have been well-accepted over the years, it is not surprisingly that taste so good to be true.

According to Kim Boon, there is a story behind this isaphan. This was designed and made by CentrePs pastry chef Steven Ong to woo his ex-girlfriend aka his wife so Kim Boon was confident that this unique heart-shaped macaron is able to melt the hearts of many females. Though Yuan has praised Center Ps macarons on various occasions, he didn’t enjoy this one as much as Macaron L'amour for 2 reasons. namely, the sugary bits that were sprinkled over the shell and the layer of extremely sour raspberry jam in its filling. Although the texture of their macaron shells remain good, the above 2 points made Yuan decide that Canele’s V-day creation was better.

For me, I felt that CentrePs was pretty adventurous with the ingredients used in this creation. Unlike a typical Isaphan with lychee bits and rose macaron shells, this has a layer of sponge with a custardy texture and a thin piece of white chocolate, making it less cloying when compared to Canele's version. So for bakers out there, based on our experience with the Valentine Isaphans, apart from the conventional lychee cream and raspberries, one can consider introducing jam innards, raspberry jelly, sponge cake, custard and white chocolate into Isaphan.

Sweetheart costs $33 nett and it comes with a stalk of red rose.

Centre Ps Pte Ltd
78 Guan Chuan Street
#01-43
Singapore 160078
Tel: 6220 1285
http://www.centre-ps.com/

Operating hours:
10am to 8pm (Mondays to Thursdays)
10am to 9pm (Fridays and Saturdays)
Closed on Sundays

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When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day I

When mad dessertarians celebrate V-day I

Most people will be wondering where will we go on Valentine and we are those who are unwilling to pay the extra for an express meal with limited dinner menu. So far, we have not attempt to look for a place that is special when it comes to food, location and ambience. In fact, the celebration for each year is determined by what we are obsessed with during that point of time.

Since we have been faithfully trying to build our desserts database, most would have guessed what will be published in the next 3 days and yes... Today's entry is none other but Macaron L'amour from Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie.

I have always been curious about trying isaphan from various places but my attempt to find them failed. However, during the Valentine period, pâtisseries and hotels attempt to create their version of the coeur ispahan.

Decided to order this for Yuan but eventually he paid for it ($30+).

Glad he liked it. To him, this rose-flavoured shell with cream and raspberry jam is a simple combination. But yet is one of the best isaphan he have eaten so far. The shell has a strong almond taste and rose scent. Texture wise, slightly chewy but moist due to the filling. The only fault which he found in this isaphan is probably that there was too much cream.

To me, I thought it was too creamy and sweet; and that I didn't like the raspberry jelly which was almost 50% of its innard.

Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie (Shaw Centre)
1 Scotts Road
#01-01A, Shaw Centre
Singapore 228208
Tel: 6738 9020

Operating hours - 11am to 10pm daily
http://www.canele.com.sg/

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