7 of us stepped into this patisserie on a scorching tues afternoon. i was actually more attracted towards the ambience after seeing the pics on my friend's blog coz the place looks really nice. and the good thing about going in a relatively large group is the ability to get to try different types of desserts at a go. we had :
parfait of dark & white choc, $7 - dark and white chocolate mousse covered with ganache. once again i thought it was badly done and it reeks strongly of whipping cream. reminds me of the emilie i had at twelve one.
caramelized bananas & white choc, $7. this is actually quite good, with visible specks of vanilla bean in the mousse, caramelized bananas with crunchy feuillitine-like base.
pistachio white choc which is pistachio creme brulee between vanilla sponge and raspberry jam, $7.50. this was a disappointment tho'. the pistachio tasted nothing like it but the texture is more of a pandan-kaya texture not unlike the pandan cake from bengawan solo. makes me miss the nikita from obolo and mistral from twelve one more.
tiramisu, $7. tasted ordinary, but once again, there was no liqueur taste inside! alot of places don't do tiramisu well and i can safely say i can do a better job (and i did).
dark choc opera, $7 - dark chocolate layered with coffee cream, espresso and almond sponge. definitely the worst of the lot, tho' it doesn't look like. it was dry, and the coffee buttercream tasted weird. one of my friend even commented that it tasted like kikkoman soy sauce LOL!
granny smith apple crumble, $6. taste was ok but the texture was pretty dry. would be better if there's a scoop of ice-cream to go along with.
chocolate terrine with coconut mousse, $6 - light coconut mousse infused between dark chocolate and rolled into chocolate sponge. taste was ok but definitely wasn't memorable. probably becoz i only had a tiny bit, i didn't think it resembles coconut or anything.
overall, i think i'll just give about 4.5/10 for the desserts. some of them were dry and really reminds me of my 2nd trip to twelve one on a weekday afternoon, where the cakes were probably leftover from the previous weekend. there was also a promotion - 1/2 price for sliced cakes with every drink ordered from 12-3pm on weekdays but they werent really transparent about it. had to ask (read : beg) for it.
for a more detailed review, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com/2008/12/nectarie-le-dessert-patisserie.html
i've been to canele 5 times and prior to that, the first 3 times i felt didn't quite make it. was only after about 1 year later i went for my 4th & 5th. i feel that they've improved, or maybe it was just a matter of ordering the right/wrong desserts. i had :
le royale - chocolate mousse 66% layered with hazelnut feuillitine, almond success (not sure what almond success is. in my opinion its some kind of almond paste/marzipan) and chocolate genoise with rum. i like this alot, tho' its really sweet and i can hardly taste any rum. the feuillitine is really crunchy and overall, its very fresh.
cafe caramel - milk chocolate coffee mousse, chocolate genoise with expresso, salty caramel and hazelnut feuillitine. this is nice but quite dry and the layers fell apart easily but overall its not too bad.
tarte au citron - lemon tart with meringue topping & candied lemon peel. the lemon was really subtle but quite good, however i'm not really comfortable with eating raw meringue.
macarons (violette, bergamote, salted caramel, pistachio, feuillitine choc), $2.30 ea - feuillitine choc, violet & bergamote macarons. so far i've tried macarons from there, bakerzin, twelve one & amande, a little heartland bakery in toa payoh and i must say the ones from canele are by far the best among the lot. crisp on the outside, and chewy on the insides. my favorite must be the salted caramel macaron, its really good!
am definitely going back again to try their other desserts, and i think by far the branch at raffles city has the best ambience!
the moment we stepped inside this quaint little cafe, i was immediately greeted by what seemed like a dollhouse/little girl's bedroom - shades of white, sweet pink & baby blue...it was the prettiest cafe i've ever seen! and so happened that pink is my favorite color, i fell in love with the place almost instantly and afterwards couldn't stop thinking about it. we ordered :
the petits fours sampler at 6 pcs for $7. on our plate - mini blackberry & figue tartlet, pistache & passionfruit macarons, mini opera, mini religeuse (choux puff).
tiramisu, $5.60. i think its definitely worth it, since the portion is really big! tastewise not bad too, thought the sponge was really well soaked, just pity there wasn't any alcohol taste. mistral, $7 - a pistachio & apricot entremet of some sort, and i feel this is the best among all the desserts we had. couldn't exactly make out the layers, but i'm pretty sure there's almond biscuit joconde layer, pistachio cremeux/mousse & apricot preserves. very good indeed.
chocolate tarte, $6.50 and chocolate eclair $6.05. both are quite good too, except i like my choux pastry 2b really fresh, like freshly baked. due to the texture of the choux, i find that it absorbs odor really quickly so they're best filled and eaten immediately :p
morgane, $7 - an entremet made up of blackberry, cassis & champagne and i chose this coz it looks pretty. too bad looks can be deceiving, i thought it tasted mediocre and pretty bland! but i kinda like the decor which made up of pistolet chocolate (sprayed on choc to create the velvety effect).
l'opera, $7. this was good tho'. the biscuit joconde were well soaked and the coffee buttercream was a good too, overall fragrant & creamy. but i've always loved opera so i guess i could be biased?
emilie, $7 - a chocolate raspberry gateau. i had high hopes on this coz i feel you could never go wrong with chocolate & raspberry. but apart from the whole raspberry & raspberry coulis decor, there was hardly any raspberry inside, no gelee, no preserves, nothing! the whole thing was just chocolate. the chocolate mousse also reeked strongly of dairy whipping cream which is expected, but maybe if they used more dark chocolate the smell of whipping cream wouldn't be so apparent. this is based on my own experience.
i was there on two separate occasions and the total bill was $70 for the first (5 entremets, 1 sampler platter & 3 drinks) and $44 for 2nd (3 entremets, 1 sampler platter & 2 cappuccinos). overall i think the ambience is really good, as for the desserts, it would be better to go during the weekends. the ones during weekdays are presumably leftovers from the previous weekends as some items were stale & dry. not at all suprising since the location's pretty unaccessible hence there's less crowd/demand.
parfait of dark & white choc, $7 - dark and white chocolate mousse covered with ganache. once again i thought it was badly done and it reeks strongly of whipping cream. reminds me of the emilie i had at twelve one.
caramelized bananas & white choc, $7. this is actually quite good, with visible specks of vanilla bean in the mousse, caramelized bananas with crunchy feuillitine-like base.
pistachio white choc which is pistachio creme brulee between vanilla sponge and raspberry jam, $7.50. this was a disappointment tho'. the pistachio tasted nothing like it but the texture is more of a pandan-kaya texture not unlike the pandan cake from bengawan solo. makes me miss the nikita from obolo and mistral from twelve one more.
tiramisu, $7. tasted ordinary, but once again, there was no liqueur taste inside! alot of places don't do tiramisu well and i can safely say i can do a better job (and i did).
dark choc opera, $7 - dark chocolate layered with coffee cream, espresso and almond sponge. definitely the worst of the lot, tho' it doesn't look like. it was dry, and the coffee buttercream tasted weird. one of my friend even commented that it tasted like kikkoman soy sauce LOL!
granny smith apple crumble, $6. taste was ok but the texture was pretty dry. would be better if there's a scoop of ice-cream to go along with.
chocolate terrine with coconut mousse, $6 - light coconut mousse infused between dark chocolate and rolled into chocolate sponge. taste was ok but definitely wasn't memorable. probably becoz i only had a tiny bit, i didn't think it resembles coconut or anything.
overall, i think i'll just give about 4.5/10 for the desserts. some of them were dry and really reminds me of my 2nd trip to twelve one on a weekday afternoon, where the cakes were probably leftover from the previous weekend. there was also a promotion - 1/2 price for sliced cakes with every drink ordered from 12-3pm on weekdays but they werent really transparent about it. had to ask (read : beg) for it.
for a more detailed review, pls visit my blog @ http://bossacafez.blogspot.com/2008/12/nectarie-le-dessert-patisserie.html
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le royale - chocolate mousse 66% layered with hazelnut feuillitine, almond success (not sure what almond success is. in my opinion its some kind of almond paste/marzipan) and chocolate genoise with rum. i like this alot, tho' its really sweet and i can hardly taste any rum. the feuillitine is really crunchy and overall, its very fresh.
cafe caramel - milk chocolate coffee mousse, chocolate genoise with expresso, salty caramel and hazelnut feuillitine. this is nice but quite dry and the layers fell apart easily but overall its not too bad.
tarte au citron - lemon tart with meringue topping & candied lemon peel. the lemon was really subtle but quite good, however i'm not really comfortable with eating raw meringue.
macarons (violette, bergamote, salted caramel, pistachio, feuillitine choc), $2.30 ea - feuillitine choc, violet & bergamote macarons. so far i've tried macarons from there, bakerzin, twelve one & amande, a little heartland bakery in toa payoh and i must say the ones from canele are by far the best among the lot. crisp on the outside, and chewy on the insides. my favorite must be the salted caramel macaron, its really good!
am definitely going back again to try their other desserts, and i think by far the branch at raffles city has the best ambience!
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the petits fours sampler at 6 pcs for $7. on our plate - mini blackberry & figue tartlet, pistache & passionfruit macarons, mini opera, mini religeuse (choux puff).
tiramisu, $5.60. i think its definitely worth it, since the portion is really big! tastewise not bad too, thought the sponge was really well soaked, just pity there wasn't any alcohol taste.
mistral, $7 - a pistachio & apricot entremet of some sort, and i feel this is the best among all the desserts we had. couldn't exactly make out the layers, but i'm pretty sure there's almond biscuit joconde layer, pistachio cremeux/mousse & apricot preserves. very good indeed.
chocolate tarte, $6.50 and chocolate eclair $6.05. both are quite good too, except i like my choux pastry 2b really fresh, like freshly baked. due to the texture of the choux, i find that it absorbs odor really quickly so they're best filled and eaten immediately :p
morgane, $7 - an entremet made up of blackberry, cassis & champagne and i chose this coz it looks pretty. too bad looks can be deceiving, i thought it tasted mediocre and pretty bland! but i kinda like the decor which made up of pistolet chocolate (sprayed on choc to create the velvety effect).
l'opera, $7. this was good tho'. the biscuit joconde were well soaked and the coffee buttercream was a good too, overall fragrant & creamy. but i've always loved opera so i guess i could be biased?
emilie, $7 - a chocolate raspberry gateau. i had high hopes on this coz i feel you could never go wrong with chocolate & raspberry. but apart from the whole raspberry & raspberry coulis decor, there was hardly any raspberry inside, no gelee, no preserves, nothing! the whole thing was just chocolate. the chocolate mousse also reeked strongly of dairy whipping cream which is expected, but maybe if they used more dark chocolate the smell of whipping cream wouldn't be so apparent. this is based on my own experience.
i was there on two separate occasions and the total bill was $70 for the first (5 entremets, 1 sampler platter & 3 drinks) and $44 for 2nd (3 entremets, 1 sampler platter & 2 cappuccinos). overall i think the ambience is really good, as for the desserts, it would be better to go during the weekends. the ones during weekdays are presumably leftovers from the previous weekends as some items were stale & dry. not at all suprising since the location's pretty unaccessible hence there's less crowd/demand.
ladyironchef said: genesis said:
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!congrats on the first review! keep them coming : )
07 Dec 2008 at 11:04 pm
Thanks for review!
08 Dec 2008 at 12:02 am