Showing posts with label ~ Prive. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ~ Prive. Show all posts

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Privé bakery café ~ The sun, breeze and surroundings...

I presume Privé is not unheard of among the foodies in Singapore. Comprising of a modern New York-style restaurant, an outdoor gastrobar and a bakery cafe, Privé, a stone's throw from Sentosa, is located on Singapore's first "private" island, Keppel Island. Don't worry if one don't drive, a short cab ride from Vivo City only costs less than $4.50 so don't miss out on this multi-concept waterfront dining experience.

Clubhouse I

With the yachts aligned neatly on the tranquil waters of Keppel Island and that the Caribbean clear in sight, the view is magnificent.

A row of yachts @ the parking berths

As the sun sets and candlelight glows, the place transforms into a charming waterfront venue with twinkling lights from Caribbean. With the occasional sea-breeze and the sound of the rippling water, I don't think I need to go on further to explain the scenery further.

Twilight along the landmark bridge

Having said so much about the fancy bridge, yachts and Keppel's signature residential developments Caribbean at Keppel Bay, Privé bakery café is a place we will recommend for a lazy weekend.

Privé bakery café

As one can guess, this place offers a wide selection of freshly baked breads, pastries, sandwiches, fresh pies and milkshakes.

Interior of Privé bakery café

With the brightly-lit interior seating and the spacious exterior seating, the ambience offered by the place is beyond one's imagination, particularly when Singapore is such a congested and overpopulated place.

Overlooking the charming waterfront of Keppel Island

In some of the reviews I have come across the internet, people have mentioned about bad service, exorbitant pricing and mediocre quality of food but I beg to differ. In fact, this is one of my most memorable and pleasant dining experience over my blogging days and this place is more than just the waterfront and yachts.

Display of Prive's selection

The selection of pastries offered by the café is of a decent collection ranging from cakes, tarts and mousse. According to the staff, the popular choices are the rum and raisin cheesecake, hazelnut praline royale, chocolate tart and chocolate fudge cake. Seems there were only two of us, I have to resist ordering the entire array of desserts available for the day.

The Fabulous Prive Burger & French Fries with Truffle Oil

I have decided to come to this place after seeing the lovely photos of Keppel Bay and I chanced the recommendation of Prive's fries with truffle oil by one of her readers. No doubt the fries are crispy and crunchy with a nice hint of fragrance but it is expensive to pay $12 for a plate of fries ($10 for the fries and $2 for the truffle oil). A better bet would be the The Fabulous Prive Burger ($26). We had the patty medium well and Yuan felt that it is one of the best burgers he has eaten. Complements to the chef for getting the patty just the way we requested and that the burger bun is delicious on its own – lightly toasted & slightly sweet.

Of course, we have forgo the highly recommended milkshakes for desserts and ta-dah, the entries of all the desserts we had for the afternoon and the reviews of each can be seen from the hyperlinks below.
Hazelnut Praline Royale, $6.80
Baked Chocolate Tart, $7
Rum and Raisin Cheesecake, $6.80
Tarte Tatin of Pears (complementary)
Sticky Date Pudding (complementary)

An aerial view of Privé bakery café

The nightscene of this place is completely different from the day but the place is close to full house at about 7:45pm.

Looking across the cable-stayed bridge

And for the many praises about the drive-in, this is how our private island looks like under Singapore's starry sky.

Lastly, many thanks to Natalie and Elaine for making this dining experience so memorable. Also, these pictures would not have been possible without the help from Suhaila. Definitely looking forward to more visits to Prive and Keppel Bay.

Privé bakery café
No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Singapore 098382
Tel: 6776 0777

http://www.prive.com.sg/
[ ... ]

Hazelnut Praline Royale from Prive bakery cafe

Bearing close similarities to the Hazelnut Royaltine from Hotel Hilton, Singapore, this is no doubt my favourite. The creamy chocolate mousse with a thin layer of fine hazelnut praline is so smooth and crunchy. Although the chocolate content may not be as rich as Canele's Le Royale or Peaberry and Pretzel's Grand Cru Alpaco, this is one chocolate mousse I will recommend if one prefers a creamy and milky base. The velvety smooth chocolate mousse is indeed memorable.

Hazelnut Praline Royale

However, Yuan would prefer Prive's version over Hilton's for its higher proportion of chocolate mousse while hazelnut praline lovers like me would probably loved the Hilton's version for a thicker layer of hazelnut praline.

Privé bakery café
No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Singapore 098382
Tel: 6776 0777

http://www.prive.com.sg/
[ ... ]

Baked Chocolate Tart & Tarte Tatin of Pears

Baked Chocolate Tart ($7) is one of the highly recommended pastry at Prive and we are indeed impressed by the thick and rich layer of chocolate. This is a must-try for those who loved Canele’s chocolate creations. It adopts a typical bittersweet dark chocolate that would curb your chocolate lust. As for the tart pastry, it is relatively thick with a buttery but not-so-crunchy base.

Baked Chocolate Tart & Tarte Tatin of Pears

Tarte Tatin of Pears is complementary and we were impressed by the excellent pastry with caramelized sugar. The resulting effect is the thin and fine pastry sheets with a crunchy sugary glaze. The effect is simply heavenly. Even Yuan applaud the crispy and lightly burnt pastry. However, the pears share the same taste as the pastry and thus fail to contrast well. Do note that the serving is relatively big so it is indeed to be shared between 2 to 3 people.

Privé bakery café
No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Singapore 098382
Tel: 6776 0777

http://www.prive.com.sg/
[ ... ]

Rum and Raisin Cheesecake

This is another popular item, the Rum and Raisin Cheesecake ($6.80). This is the first cheesecake which we have come across so far which contains alcohol and being a fan of rum and raisin ice-cream, Yuan kind of liked the combination as it moistens the usually dry and sticky cheesecake, thus adopting a similar texture as a "cheesy" mousse. I guess this is a must-try for rum and raisin fans like Yuan.

Rum and Raisin Cheesecake

On the personal note, I prefer my cheesecake to have minimal flavouring to allow the texture of cream cheese and the slight saltiness to stand out. As pointed out by Yuan, the addition of alcohol softens the entire texture of the cake and the resulting effect of alcohol and cream cheese does provide a different perspective to cheesecakes.

Privé bakery café
No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Singapore 098382
Tel: 6776 0777

http://www.prive.com.sg/
[ ... ]

Sticky Date Pudding

Another complementary dessert given by Prive and somehow or rather the recent few bakeries has presented Sticky Date creations as they signature or bestseller.

Frankly speaking, I am not a fan of Sticky Date so maybe I should drop by Marmalade Pantry to set my benchmark since the former is a die-die must try.

The texture of the pudding is soft with a slight porous texture. In addition, having served warm with the sticky date sauce drizzled over the pudding, the resulting effect is similar to a good chocolate fondant.

Sticky Date Pudding

Yuan, on the other hand has a fresh perspective of what a sticky date pudding should taste like, particularly after the episode at B Bakery. Yuan described it as sticky date sauce over soft and light sponge with light nutmeg taste. Although he is no fan of nutmeg but he kind of enjoy the combination of sticky date and vanilla ice-cream.

Privé bakery café
No. 2 Keppel Bay Vista
Marina at Keppel Bay
Singapore 098382
Tel: 6776 0777

http://www.prive.com.sg/
[ ... ]
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