Family, where would i be without them? Nowhere i believe, i wouldn't exist without my parents thats for sure. And so, its important to remember their birthdays, such as my dear mother's birthday which was yesterday, 19th August. To commemorate this important day, we brought her to her favorite vegetarian eating place and bought her a simple cake.
Cocoa Exotica ($35) - At $35, this is a regular sized cake which will probably be able to fill around 8 people's stomach with a pretty generous serving. Most importantly for me, my family liked it and that in itself is good enough.
There are four layers to this cake, the sponge layer, top bitter chocolate layer, cream and chocolate fudge layer and a biscuit layer near the bottom. The sponge cake layer is quite good as it holds enough body and is not too airy as compared to some offerings i've had. The bitter chocolate layer was very thin so it doesn't quite do enough for me. The middle cream, chocolate fudge and biscuit layer is what won this cake for me though. Although the cream layer was thick, it wasn't too sweet nor too 'creamy' which is a good thing for me. The biscuit layer was great but i'm unable to tell you what kind of biscuit they used. Try it yourself to find out.
Overall, everyone liked the cake and it was one of the better cakes i've had from Four Leaves so far. Its pretty much on par with other cake specializing stores which did come as a surprise to me. I have my girlfriend to thank for this great choice of a cake and for opening my eyes to the fact that even Four Leaves can offer decent cakes.
Having heard much about this small business belonging to a friend's friend. I decided to patronize it to try out the food offered here for myself. That's one of the reasons, plus the fact that i was beginning to look at normal hawker fare for reasonably priced and yet good food. This being my first such attempt.
There's not much to write about in terms of atmosphere. This is a specifically Singaporean place with a jumble of food offerings at affordable prices. I personally found the air con a little too strong for this humble joint, which although provides respite from the warm weather, doesn't do much to preserve the optimum temperature of the food served.
Sirloin Steak ($7.50) - The first thing my gf told me of this place is that its famous for its chicken cutlet. She also warned that steak wise, it depends on the chef's (Bernard's) mood on the day which is rather disconcerting but being a beef lover, i ordered it anyway. I actually wanted a mixed grill but for some reason, i just couldn't find it on the menu. Back to the steak, the serving was rather generous for its price. I was quite impressed by how thick the steak was and the fact that they got the 'doneness' pretty well. The meat was cooked on the outside and suitably rare near the middle portions, thus amicably staying true to the 'medium rare' steak i ordered. However, as mentioned before, the air con was too cold and they could have fared better with a hot plate for their steak. It was barely warm by the time i sank my teeth into it but still remained chewy and juicy. The meat was quite fresh and its pepper and salt seasoning managed to salvage it somewhat. I couldn't say i enjoyed it too much since it was already cold when i ate it. The fries were too normal to say anything about. Maybe the chef was not in a good mood today?
Chicken Cutlet ($5) - The star of the shop was what my gf ordered. Smart choice too. It was indeed more worthy of attention then the steak. The cutlet came fried to a nice golden brown and when cut open, was still piping hot. The batter used was surprising because it tasted quite a bit like Kentucky Fried Chicken, only less oily and with a less fatty layer beneath the skin, which is good in my opinion. The meat was tender and easily torn or cut apart. Despite being fried, it managed to retain a its meaty juices and tasted simply good.
'll probably never come back for the beef since i've heard of better places like Uno Beef House in Toa Payoh which i'll definately visit soon. However, the cutlet here is different from those found elsewhere and tastes quite abit better too. Can always come here for a simple meal if there's no where else to go and you are short on cash but do order the cutlet and not wager on the chef's mood for beef. =P
After being told by my friend that there's this little shop hiding at the Tasty Treatz corner, near Tower 3/Carrefour of Suntec City Mall which sells sweet potato snacks, we've decided to give it a try.
For the 2 times that I've been there, I've tried the roasted sweet potato which was really good! Like the way they roasted it in a big pot. Infact, that's a Taiwanese-patented infrared oven! The sweet potato was nice & soft and the skin could be easily peeled off too. I simply fell in love with the roasted sweet potato. Haha!
Their service was great too. Very friendly people, and they even provide you with serviettes.
Other items on the menu include sweet potato fries, mashed sweet potato and sweet potato rolls. On top of these, they even sell flavoured sweet potato drinks. I shall try them next time. Heez...
It's definitely a healthy snack (except for maybe the fries) and it gives me another reason to eat now. Haha...
Vivocity is one the biggest shapping mall in Spore. I will be there almost every weekend as well. Haa....
I feel that it is one of the best design shopping centre as well. When I was there for the first time, I have a feeling a being lost as the place is really big, even with the help of a map. However after a while, I get used to it and find it quite easy to move around as well.
They boast the biggest cinema in Spore, got a sky train to Sentosa, and they are next to St James, the biggest entertainment outlet.
They also managed to get a lot of big fashion brands like Gap, River Island, Tangs, etc.
Electronic shops like Samsung, Challenger, Best Denki and many more handphone shop.
Restaurants, from small cafes like Ben and Jerry, to the usual coffee joints like Starbucks and Coffee Bean etc, to the fast food, special ones like Super Dog, to all lot of food courts, Food Republic. Too many to list down here.
There is also a big wading pool on the roof top where good to see kids running in and out. There are also lots of grass patches to have a picnic maybe.
So there are tons of things to do there. Good way to spend a weekend, if you are sick of town shopping centres.
While waiting for my movie to start, decided to hang out out Ben and Jerry for some ice cream. I think this is one of the biggest outlet in Spore with a space for some bands to jam.
I am always a big fan of Ben and Jerry ice cream, especially Chucky Monkey! Hee....
The service of the place is pretty smooth. Nothing to wow on.
The main thing that I dun like was the band yesterday. I thought that I can have a good chat but it turns out that the band was too loud for any chit chat and the singing was not good. The singer was screaming at every word. Sigh..
So in the end we jz finished out ice cream fast and move out of that place fast! I think if their plan is to use the band to make the customer move out of the place fast, I think they had done it.
The ice cream 5 stars but overall experience at the outlet 2 stars.
Café Oliv is a small café just beside the Famous 328 Laksa shop. The interior is very simple with normal white tables and orange plastic chairs. A casual setting suitable for the regular office lunchers or for families.
Chef Kevin Heng, together with buddy Patrick Ang, followed their dreams of having a place to call their own by starting Café Oliv together. Knowing that he has 12 years of culinary experience in places like the Rasa Sentosa and the Emerald Group, we were all ready to savour good food.
We ordered the following : - Duck breast salad A good salad I must say. There were small slices of grilled duck meat on top of the vinegeratte salad. The duck meat was lean and very well marinated which brings out the taste of the fresh vegetables.
Beef stew with Rice It was a LARGE serving of stew,in comparison to rice. The stew was good and very rich. We had to order an extra serving of bread to dip into the stew. It had a slightly sweet but savoury taste.
Chargrilled tenderloin with roasted potates The presentation surprised me, especially in a small café like this. Very beautifully presented, but a little disappointing in taste. The medium tenderloin was a little undercooked.When I was eating it,my white plate looked quite bloody. I think there should be more sauce on the sides as the carrots and string beans were very bland. The roasted potates were perfect though,a very good combo with the tenderloin.
Over all,I think it was worth it. We paid $47 for both of us (with drinks and extra bread,of course).I was really impressed with the presentation of the food and the service.I had a glass of hot water.The server had changed a new glass of hot water for me every time (not topping it up).
Ger, my friend is a super fan for japanese ramen. Whenever there is a new store selling ramen, he will definitely be there to try them out.
This particular store of ramen @ railway mall is not exactly new, guess it should have been operating for a few years now. As it is located near the west side of singapore, Ger still did not have a chance to try them out.
One day out of a sudden, Ger actually asked me to accompany him for a lunch at ramen ramen. Of course, i agreed as i have not eaten ramen for quite some time now.
The place was rather inaccessible. Take for example, if one alights at the opposite bus stop, he / she will have to walk quite a distance before reaching a traffic light junction. After crossing the road at the traffic light junction, he / she will have to walk back a distance before reaching the railway mall.
Luckily we drove there, so it saved us the trouble to walk up and down. But,we have another trouble, that is to find a parking space. Due to the limited amount of parking lots, we waited a quite some time before finding a space to park our car.
Looking at the venue, i realised they have quite a varieties of ramen. One of the most special ramen is definitely their shark fin ramen. Of course, the price is also very special too. hee hee.
After browsing through the menu, we ordered cheese ramen and japanese fried toufu. After reasonable waiting time, our cheese ramen has arrived. Orignally i thought they would put in lots of cheese so the broth will be very cheesy and thick. To my disappointment, the only piece of cheese i saw was the small cube of cheese right in the middle of the bowl of ramen.
Frankly speaking, the appearance of the ramen is not that exciting. Side ingredient includes few pieces of meat(pork i guess), half a piece of half boiled egg and some seaweed which is not really my idea of ramen. But i guess, this is how japanese ramen will look like.
One thing i will like to highlight is that their broth is really rich. I believe they have used up a fairly bit of fresh ingredients in order to achieve such rich taste. Guess, this is the only thing that i like about this ramen.
Cafe Cartel is a decent place to go I must say, with the price they charge (excluding GST) and the ambience of the place. It's not some romantic place, but it's good for gatherings with a small group of friends.
I was just there with some friends. Somehow we always end up at Cafe Cartel when we're looking for somewhere we can afford and yet looks good. So here we are, eyeing the free flow of bread and comfy couch. Ok and of course the food plus half-price cakes after 9pm!
As with most the other Cafe Cartels that I've been to, I was expecting the bread to be served to us. Or at least, they would offer to cut the bread for people at the bread station. However I was somehow a little disappointed when I realized they didn't work this way there. It wasn't that they were too busy, there were 2 waiters chatting away beside me. And when I asked for more bread, they said they'll get it for me but eventually we still had to go back to the bread station to get more ourselves.
Apart from that, I feel that the people there are a rather bubbly group. It actually seems to have an effect on the surroundings, makes the place much more lively.
I ordered a seafood combo I think, because I was looking for something which has calamari! But I was quite disappointed by the grilled fish. It was rather bland. But the pork chop and fish and chips my friends ordered were not bad. They were of reasonable standard. The pork chop came with a sauce that tasted abit like Char Siew (haha!) but it went well with the meat. It was a large serving though. Would have been good for big eaters!
Finally, we were so full but we had to get ourselves the half-price cakes! So we ordered a blueberry cheesecake to share. I think the cake was not bad! The blueberry on top was very smooth and sweet, with little bits of blueberry in it. The cheesecake itself was soft and not too rich either. Sometimes you tend to get sick of cheesecake very fast, but I find this just nice. It was 2.30 after discount! Really worth it right :D
However, with the GST, our bill totaled up to 53.80 for 3. Not very cheap I must say(even with the half-priced cake! haha). Good thing students have a 10% discount (which is better than nothing)! Or else I really won't go there so often..
National Day meant many things for me but most of all it meant my girlfriend could get the National Day celebrations discount offered by Secret Recipe which allowed all their cakes to be available for purchase at a whooping 42% discount. Her choice of indulgence? After an agonizing 1 hour of listening to the shop assistant who eventually lied to get her number, the heavy weighted Moist Chocolate Cake which weights in at an astonishing 2.1kg.@
Moist Chocolate Cake ($26 due to discount) - Being my first Secret Recipe cake, i'd say this was big. The shop assistant kindly pointed out the best way to enjoy this was by first heating it and he wasn't wrong at all. When heated, the cake is warm, with a nice layer of melting dark chocolate that would have been better if given in bigger doses but in its current form still managed to indulge the senses with its cocoa content. The thin light brownish layer you see in the middle is mocha fudge which provides a sweet and light relief from the majority of the cake's thick bitter chocolate layer. The sponge cake was also denser then usual and thus results in a more fulfilling spoonful then regular sponge cakes available elsewhere.
So is the Secret Recipe used in this cake good enough? I would say it was really quite good. I loved the melting bitter chocolate layer and the small mocha layer in the middle when i munched on its sponge cake. However, i really would have preferred it if they could have given a few more layers of chocolate of something else to mix up the taste abit as it can get overwhelmingly strong after a few bites.
Definitely worth its price when discounted but i would never pay the full price for a cake of this caliber. To me, $45 should net me something much more exotic or at least thoughtful then this offering. However, this is still a good steal at $26, too bad it comes around only once yearly. =P
I believe the cafe needs no introduction. Its penetration rate is pretty decent with a grand total of 10 outlets in Singapore located mostly in the friendly neighbourhood malls or chic city locales. Supposedly conceived by an Italian lady and a Jewish baker along the back streets of New York craving some home cooked meals, its said to offer fine pastries and equally fine main courses (at least thats what they planned in the first place!)
Anyway, i was there for many occasions so i thought i'd do this in one fell swoop. The mains of this blog was done with my colleagues at a farewell dinner held for a great friend, while the desserts were from my standalone visits.
Banana And Peach Waffle ($7.30) - I personally did not get to try this but it does look quite appetizing doesn't it? The reason its the first food picture? Well, we actually ordered this as a starter. =P
Blue Haven ($4.50) - Termed as a Spider in their menu (whatever that is), all i can say is that this drink tastes good at the upper portion but gets REALLY sweet near the bottom. I enjoyed it for its vanilla ice cream and really cold taste but couldn't quite take to the flavoring near the bottom. Tread with caution here.
Our orders were the Chicken Chef's Salad ($9.70), Texas Rodeo Ribs ($16.50), Hawaiian Pork Chops ($14.20), Spicy Thai Seafood Pasta ($14.60) and St Louis Pork Ribs ($15.20). The above are what my friends ordered. And some orders were repeated as so only single pictures were shown. I personally had a go at most of the items, albeit only in bite sized portions. The ribs were tender and fragrant but too drenched in sauce to be consumed by one person alone as it get overwhelming. I found the pork chops nothing special and a little too oily for my tastes. Finally, the salad was pretty good but i couldn't condone the price it comes at.
Crispy Jumbo Combo ($47.90) - Now this order i shared with everyone else. Its huge to say the least. It comes with a healthy dose of potato wedges and i must say it goes really well with the wasabi mayonnaise combination sauce and its more normal BBQ sauce. Also on the plate are chicken wings, 2 huge fish fillets, 2 fried chicken cutlets, fried prawns and mixed vegetables. Well, weight control and health concerns obviously go out the window with this order. Everything is fried to a friendly golden brown with batter which thankfully isn't too thick. Fish and chicken fillets were both nicely done, maintaining a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The rodeo wings i found weren't seasoned enough and tasted more like normal chicken wings to me. The prawns weren't too special either. Freshness of it mixed vegetables were also questionable but the wedges and fillets won this dish for me. Not to mention the "chef's special sauce", which is essentially wasabi with mayonnaise, simply went well with anything fried. Best part was that the portion was huge so everyone had a chance to dig in.
Desserts!! (All cakes go for half price after 9pm)
Bitter Chocolate Fudge Cake - I had a go at this cake with a friend @ cafe cartel in Hougang Mall. It was actually pretty good with its 3 layers of thick bitter chocolate. I like my chocolate strong and so this managed to do it for me. Of course, for the price and location, i wouldn't comment on the quality of the chocolate in this offering except say that it was decent enough to give it a second try.
EastSide Brownie Stack - My order almost always at cafe cartel. Who doesn't like hot and cold desserts anyway? Warm, thick oozing chocolate fudge atop oven warmed brownies with hazelnuts. Add in the winning combination of a decent vanilla ice cream and you have a winner. I would recommend telling the waiting staff your prefered amount of chocolate fudge beforehand though, as i got my brownie swimming in fudge once which kinda dampened the dessert a little.
Blueberry Cheese Cake - Blueberry cheese cakes are all the rage these days but honestly, this rendition didn't quite work out for me. The blueberry was a little too sour and the cheese cake wasn't very smooth either. Its quite easy to taste the sour cream in the cake which just doesn't do it for me. For a good blueberry cheese cake, i'd recommend paying a visit to Eden Cafe.
Bill came up to be $216 before discount for our group of 14 people.
In retrospect, i actually been to this place many times for meals. Its quite amazing really. The food is average honestly but is painless due to the fact that the price charged here is very affordable and its portion size is sufficient. In terms of taste, it may not be up there with the other places i've had, but in terms of ease of access and casual dining, this place certainly won't disappoint, just don't expect high level cuisine when you step in though.
1=SGD 0.0587
Family, where would i be without them? Nowhere i believe, i wouldn't exist without my parents thats for sure. And so, its important to remember their birthdays, such as my dear mother's birthday which was yesterday, 19th August. To commemorate this important day, we brought her to her favorite vegetarian eating place and bought her a simple cake.
Cocoa Exotica ($35) - At $35, this is a regular sized cake which will probably be able to fill around 8 people's stomach with a pretty generous serving. Most importantly for me, my family liked it and that in itself is good enough.
There are four layers to this cake, the sponge layer, top bitter chocolate layer, cream and chocolate fudge layer and a biscuit layer near the bottom. The sponge cake layer is quite good as it holds enough body and is not too airy as compared to some offerings i've had. The bitter chocolate layer was very thin so it doesn't quite do enough for me. The middle cream, chocolate fudge and biscuit layer is what won this cake for me though. Although the cream layer was thick, it wasn't too sweet nor too 'creamy' which is a good thing for me. The biscuit layer was great but i'm unable to tell you what kind of biscuit they used. Try it yourself to find out.
Overall, everyone liked the cake and it was one of the better cakes i've had from Four Leaves so far. Its pretty much on par with other cake specializing stores which did come as a surprise to me. I have my girlfriend to thank for this great choice of a cake and for opening my eyes to the fact that even Four Leaves can offer decent cakes.
Rating given:
Having heard much about this small business belonging to a friend's friend. I decided to patronize it to try out the food offered here for myself. That's one of the reasons, plus the fact that i was beginning to look at normal hawker fare for reasonably priced and yet good food. This being my first such attempt.
There's not much to write about in terms of atmosphere. This is a specifically Singaporean place with a jumble of food offerings at affordable prices. I personally found the air con a little too strong for this humble joint, which although provides respite from the warm weather, doesn't do much to preserve the optimum temperature of the food served.
Sirloin Steak ($7.50) - The first thing my gf told me of this place is that its famous for its chicken cutlet. She also warned that steak wise, it depends on the chef's (Bernard's) mood on the day which is rather disconcerting but being a beef lover, i ordered it anyway. I actually wanted a mixed grill but for some reason, i just couldn't find it on the menu. Back to the steak, the serving was rather generous for its price. I was quite impressed by how thick the steak was and the fact that they got the 'doneness' pretty well. The meat was cooked on the outside and suitably rare near the middle portions, thus amicably staying true to the 'medium rare' steak i ordered. However, as mentioned before, the air con was too cold and they could have fared better with a hot plate for their steak. It was barely warm by the time i sank my teeth into it but still remained chewy and juicy. The meat was quite fresh and its pepper and salt seasoning managed to salvage it somewhat. I couldn't say i enjoyed it too much since it was already cold when i ate it. The fries were too normal to say anything about. Maybe the chef was not in a good mood today?
Chicken Cutlet ($5) - The star of the shop was what my gf ordered. Smart choice too. It was indeed more worthy of attention then the steak. The cutlet came fried to a nice golden brown and when cut open, was still piping hot. The batter used was surprising because it tasted quite a bit like Kentucky Fried Chicken, only less oily and with a less fatty layer beneath the skin, which is good in my opinion. The meat was tender and easily torn or cut apart. Despite being fried, it managed to retain a its meaty juices and tasted simply good.
'll probably never come back for the beef since i've heard of better places like Uno Beef House in Toa Payoh which i'll definately visit soon. However, the cutlet here is different from those found elsewhere and tastes quite abit better too. Can always come here for a simple meal if there's no where else to go and you are short on cash but do order the cutlet and not wager on the chef's mood for beef. =P
Rating given:
After being told by my friend that there's this little shop hiding at the Tasty Treatz corner, near Tower 3/Carrefour of Suntec City Mall which sells sweet potato snacks, we've decided to give it a try.
For the 2 times that I've been there, I've tried the roasted sweet potato which was really good! Like the way they roasted it in a big pot. Infact, that's a Taiwanese-patented infrared oven! The sweet potato was nice & soft and the skin could be easily peeled off too. I simply fell in love with the roasted sweet potato. Haha!
Their service was great too. Very friendly people, and they even provide you with serviettes.
Other items on the menu include sweet potato fries, mashed sweet potato and sweet potato rolls. On top of these, they even sell flavoured sweet potato drinks. I shall try them next time. Heez...
It's definitely a healthy snack (except for maybe the fries) and it gives me another reason to eat now. Haha...
Rating given:
Vivocity is one the biggest shapping mall in Spore. I will be there almost every weekend as well. Haa....
I feel that it is one of the best design shopping centre as well. When I was there for the first time, I have a feeling a being lost as the place is really big, even with the help of a map. However after a while, I get used to it and find it quite easy to move around as well.
They boast the biggest cinema in Spore, got a sky train to Sentosa, and they are next to St James, the biggest entertainment outlet.
They also managed to get a lot of big fashion brands like Gap, River Island, Tangs, etc.
Electronic shops like Samsung, Challenger, Best Denki and many more handphone shop.
Restaurants, from small cafes like Ben and Jerry, to the usual coffee joints like Starbucks and Coffee Bean etc, to the fast food, special ones like Super Dog, to all lot of food courts, Food Republic. Too many to list down here.
There is also a big wading pool on the roof top where good to see kids running in and out. There are also lots of grass patches to have a picnic maybe.
So there are tons of things to do there. Good way to spend a weekend, if you are sick of town shopping centres.
Rating given:
While waiting for my movie to start, decided to hang out out Ben and Jerry for some ice cream. I think this is one of the biggest outlet in Spore with a space for some bands to jam.
I am always a big fan of Ben and Jerry ice cream, especially Chucky Monkey! Hee....
The service of the place is pretty smooth. Nothing to wow on.
The main thing that I dun like was the band yesterday. I thought that I can have a good chat but it turns out that the band was too loud for any chit chat and the singing was not good. The singer was screaming at every word. Sigh..
So in the end we jz finished out ice cream fast and move out of that place fast! I think if their plan is to use the band to make the customer move out of the place fast, I think they had done it.
The ice cream 5 stars but overall experience at the outlet 2 stars.
Rating given:
Café Oliv is a small café just beside the Famous 328 Laksa shop. The interior is very simple with normal white tables and orange plastic chairs. A casual setting suitable for the regular office lunchers or for families.
Chef Kevin Heng, together with buddy Patrick Ang, followed their dreams of having a place to call their own by starting Café Oliv together. Knowing that he has 12 years of culinary experience in places like the Rasa Sentosa and the Emerald Group, we were all ready to savour good food.
We ordered the following : -
Duck breast salad
A good salad I must say. There were small slices of grilled duck meat on top of the vinegeratte salad. The duck meat was lean and very well marinated which brings out the taste of the fresh vegetables.
Beef stew with Rice
It was a LARGE serving of stew,in comparison to rice. The stew was good and very rich. We had to order an extra serving of bread to dip into the stew. It had a slightly sweet but savoury taste.
Chargrilled tenderloin with roasted potates
The presentation surprised me, especially in a small café like this. Very beautifully presented, but a little disappointing in taste. The medium tenderloin was a little undercooked.When I was eating it,my white plate looked quite bloody. I think there should be more sauce on the sides as the carrots and string beans were very bland. The roasted potates were perfect though,a very good combo with the tenderloin.
Over all,I think it was worth it. We paid $47 for both of us (with drinks and extra bread,of course).I was really impressed with the presentation of the food and the service.I had a glass of hot water.The server had changed a new glass of hot water for me every time (not topping it up).
I will be back for more.
Rating given:
Ger, my friend is a super fan for japanese ramen. Whenever there is a new store selling ramen, he will definitely be there to try them out.
This particular store of ramen @ railway mall is not exactly new, guess it should have been operating for a few years now. As it is located near the west side of singapore, Ger still did not have a chance to try them out.
One day out of a sudden, Ger actually asked me to accompany him for a lunch at ramen ramen. Of course, i agreed as i have not eaten ramen for quite some time now.
The place was rather inaccessible. Take for example, if one alights at the opposite bus stop, he / she will have to walk quite a distance before reaching a traffic light junction. After crossing the road at the traffic light junction, he / she will have to walk back a distance before reaching the railway mall.
Luckily we drove there, so it saved us the trouble to walk up and down. But,we have another trouble, that is to find a parking space. Due to the limited amount of parking lots, we waited a quite some time before finding a space to park our car.
Looking at the venue, i realised they have quite a varieties of ramen. One of the most special ramen is definitely their shark fin ramen. Of course, the price is also very special too. hee hee.
After browsing through the menu, we ordered cheese ramen and japanese fried toufu. After reasonable waiting time, our cheese ramen has arrived. Orignally i thought they would put in lots of cheese so the broth will be very cheesy and thick. To my disappointment, the only piece of cheese i saw was the small cube of cheese right in the middle of the bowl of ramen.
Frankly speaking, the appearance of the ramen is not that exciting. Side ingredient includes few pieces of meat(pork i guess), half a piece of half boiled egg and some seaweed which is not really my idea of ramen. But i guess, this is how japanese ramen will look like.
One thing i will like to highlight is that their broth is really rich. I believe they have used up a fairly bit of fresh ingredients in order to achieve such rich taste. Guess, this is the only thing that i like about this ramen.
Rating given:
Cafe Cartel is a decent place to go I must say, with the price they charge (excluding GST) and the ambience of the place. It's not some romantic place, but it's good for gatherings with a small group of friends.
I was just there with some friends. Somehow we always end up at Cafe Cartel when we're looking for somewhere we can afford and yet looks good. So here we are, eyeing the free flow of bread and comfy couch. Ok and of course the food plus half-price cakes after 9pm!
As with most the other Cafe Cartels that I've been to, I was expecting the bread to be served to us. Or at least, they would offer to cut the bread for people at the bread station. However I was somehow a little disappointed when I realized they didn't work this way there. It wasn't that they were too busy, there were 2 waiters chatting away beside me. And when I asked for more bread, they said they'll get it for me but eventually we still had to go back to the bread station to get more ourselves.
Apart from that, I feel that the people there are a rather bubbly group. It actually seems to have an effect on the surroundings, makes the place much more lively.
I ordered a seafood combo I think, because I was looking for something which has calamari! But I was quite disappointed by the grilled fish. It was rather bland. But the pork chop and fish and chips my friends ordered were not bad. They were of reasonable standard. The pork chop came with a sauce that tasted abit like Char Siew (haha!) but it went well with the meat. It was a large serving though. Would have been good for big eaters!
Finally, we were so full but we had to get ourselves the half-price cakes! So we ordered a blueberry cheesecake to share. I think the cake was not bad! The blueberry on top was very smooth and sweet, with little bits of blueberry in it. The cheesecake itself was soft and not too rich either. Sometimes you tend to get sick of cheesecake very fast, but I find this just nice. It was 2.30 after discount! Really worth it right :D
However, with the GST, our bill totaled up to 53.80 for 3. Not very cheap I must say(even with the half-priced cake! haha). Good thing students have a 10% discount (which is better than nothing)! Or else I really won't go there so often..
Rating given:
National Day meant many things for me but most of all it meant my girlfriend could get the National Day celebrations discount offered by Secret Recipe which allowed all their cakes to be available for purchase at a whooping 42% discount. Her choice of indulgence? After an agonizing 1 hour of listening to the shop assistant who eventually lied to get her number, the heavy weighted Moist Chocolate Cake which weights in at an astonishing 2.1kg.@
Moist Chocolate Cake ($26 due to discount) - Being my first Secret Recipe cake, i'd say this was big. The shop assistant kindly pointed out the best way to enjoy this was by first heating it and he wasn't wrong at all. When heated, the cake is warm, with a nice layer of melting dark chocolate that would have been better if given in bigger doses but in its current form still managed to indulge the senses with its cocoa content. The thin light brownish layer you see in the middle is mocha fudge which provides a sweet and light relief from the majority of the cake's thick bitter chocolate layer. The sponge cake was also denser then usual and thus results in a more fulfilling spoonful then regular sponge cakes available elsewhere.
So is the Secret Recipe used in this cake good enough? I would say it was really quite good. I loved the melting bitter chocolate layer and the small mocha layer in the middle when i munched on its sponge cake. However, i really would have preferred it if they could have given a few more layers of chocolate of something else to mix up the taste abit as it can get overwhelmingly strong after a few bites.
Definitely worth its price when discounted but i would never pay the full price for a cake of this caliber. To me, $45 should net me something much more exotic or at least thoughtful then this offering. However, this is still a good steal at $26, too bad it comes around only once yearly. =P
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I believe the cafe needs no introduction. Its penetration rate is pretty decent with a grand total of 10 outlets in Singapore located mostly in the friendly neighbourhood malls or chic city locales. Supposedly conceived by an Italian lady and a Jewish baker along the back streets of New York craving some home cooked meals, its said to offer fine pastries and equally fine main courses (at least thats what they planned in the first place!)
Anyway, i was there for many occasions so i thought i'd do this in one fell swoop. The mains of this blog was done with my colleagues at a farewell dinner held for a great friend, while the desserts were from my standalone visits.
Banana And Peach Waffle ($7.30) - I personally did not get to try this but it does look quite appetizing doesn't it? The reason its the first food picture? Well, we actually ordered this as a starter. =P
Blue Haven ($4.50) - Termed as a Spider in their menu (whatever that is), all i can say is that this drink tastes good at the upper portion but gets REALLY sweet near the bottom. I enjoyed it for its vanilla ice cream and really cold taste but couldn't quite take to the flavoring near the bottom. Tread with caution here.
Our orders were the Chicken Chef's Salad ($9.70), Texas Rodeo Ribs ($16.50), Hawaiian Pork Chops ($14.20), Spicy Thai Seafood Pasta ($14.60) and St Louis Pork Ribs ($15.20). The above are what my friends ordered. And some orders were repeated as so only single pictures were shown. I personally had a go at most of the items, albeit only in bite sized portions. The ribs were tender and fragrant but too drenched in sauce to be consumed by one person alone as it get overwhelming. I found the pork chops nothing special and a little too oily for my tastes. Finally, the salad was pretty good but i couldn't condone the price it comes at.
Crispy Jumbo Combo ($47.90) - Now this order i shared with everyone else. Its huge to say the least. It comes with a healthy dose of potato wedges and i must say it goes really well with the wasabi mayonnaise combination sauce and its more normal BBQ sauce. Also on the plate are chicken wings, 2 huge fish fillets, 2 fried chicken cutlets, fried prawns and mixed vegetables. Well, weight control and health concerns obviously go out the window with this order. Everything is fried to a friendly golden brown with batter which thankfully isn't too thick. Fish and chicken fillets were both nicely done, maintaining a crispy exterior with a tender and juicy interior. The rodeo wings i found weren't seasoned enough and tasted more like normal chicken wings to me. The prawns weren't too special either. Freshness of it mixed vegetables were also questionable but the wedges and fillets won this dish for me. Not to mention the "chef's special sauce", which is essentially wasabi with mayonnaise, simply went well with anything fried. Best part was that the portion was huge so everyone had a chance to dig in.
Desserts!!
(All cakes go for half price after 9pm)
Bitter Chocolate Fudge Cake - I had a go at this cake with a friend @ cafe cartel in Hougang Mall. It was actually pretty good with its 3 layers of thick bitter chocolate. I like my chocolate strong and so this managed to do it for me. Of course, for the price and location, i wouldn't comment on the quality of the chocolate in this offering except say that it was decent enough to give it a second try.
EastSide Brownie Stack - My order almost always at cafe cartel. Who doesn't like hot and cold desserts anyway? Warm, thick oozing chocolate fudge atop oven warmed brownies with hazelnuts. Add in the winning combination of a decent vanilla ice cream and you have a winner. I would recommend telling the waiting staff your prefered amount of chocolate fudge beforehand though, as i got my brownie swimming in fudge once which kinda dampened the dessert a little.
Blueberry Cheese Cake - Blueberry cheese cakes are all the rage these days but honestly, this rendition didn't quite work out for me. The blueberry was a little too sour and the cheese cake wasn't very smooth either. Its quite easy to taste the sour cream in the cake which just doesn't do it for me. For a good blueberry cheese cake, i'd recommend paying a visit to Eden Cafe.
Bill came up to be $216 before discount for our group of 14 people.
In retrospect, i actually been to this place many times for meals. Its quite amazing really. The food is average honestly but is painless due to the fact that the price charged here is very affordable and its portion size is sufficient. In terms of taste, it may not be up there with the other places i've had, but in terms of ease of access and casual dining, this place certainly won't disappoint, just don't expect high level cuisine when you step in though.
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