Foodie's Gastronomic Adventures

Moved.

2010-05-12T11:46:00.001+08:00

As I've gotten myself a great hosting site. I've decided to move my food blog there too. Here's the website:

http://poundcakezarah.com/food/

Do enjoy the new template. Comment when you can. :)

Privé Bakery Cafe @ Keppel Bay

2010-05-10T09:54:00.002+08:00

On an island, not far away from mainland Singapore, there stood an awesome place. It's a dreamland indeed. All it takes is just a bridge across.

Never been to a place like this before where you can view parked yachts and a breathtaking scenery? Just head down to Keppel Bay, near Vivocity but it will probably take a long time for you to reach there, top it all up with the stinging heat. Think you will definitely not want to walk. Hazel and I took a cab. Entering that place, we saw the bridge. Pretty yet un-Singapore-ish. How I wish this place could be somewhere in Europe man!

Just walk a little further down and you will see Keppel Bay Vista, a place where there are many restaurants such as TCC and this one that I'm gonna introduce to you. Welcome Privé Bakery Cafe with their all-day breakfast and nice cakes and pastries. It totally makes you drool when you are inside with them. As the weather was pretty warm, Hazel and I decided to take a seat inside rather than having the breathtaking view outside while sweating like nuts.

First up, we were surprised that this place sells a usual/ normal range of TWG teas for just a mere $4.80+, as compared to the shop itself at Ion Orchard that sells for $10.45++ per pot. As usual, I got myself English Breakfast blend while Hazel got her favourite Vanilla Bourbon tea. Being the tea lover us, we just ordered one each to satiate ourselves while brunching.

Served in small classy white pots, we slowly sipped our tea while waiting for our awesome food to be ready.

This Fluffy pancakes (13.50++) may just make you salivate like nobody's business because the toppings are really , albeit a little dry s0mehow. Pancakes coupled with strawberries and bananas in three layers and some sweet maple syrup and sweet whipped cream just sweeten up your day! What a great way to start your day!

The Ultimate Breakfast (17++) is totally a plateful of energy that you need to start up your day. It's the grandest that they could ever offer for some great nutrition. Toast, tomatoes, bacon, mushrooms, sausages, greens and some eggs of your choice. What is there not to like about this?

However, Hazel mentioned that she liked the English breakfast set at Jones the Grocer more because it simply just have the wildest and juiciest of all mushrooms and tomatoes. Freshest spread ever. This is just a personal opinion but just trying to make a little balance of our critics so that no one will be disappointed when you go there to try the food.

I wanted to try the Eggs Benedict (Bacon) and Eggs Royale (Salmon) there as I read from some food blogs that there are also something that you must try. :) But I'm just afraid that the portion may not be enough.

Total bill was SGD 44.20 after taxes. In my opinion, the food was not that awesome but the place is definitely wonderful if you feel like enjoying some pretty scenery on a weekend. What's more it's relatively more afforable compared to other places which offers breakfast. Maybe, I would come back again to try their main course. After which, Hazel and I slowly walked out of the place whilst taking photos in the scenic place. :)

Privé bakery café
2 Keppel Bay Vista
GF Marina @ Keppel Bay
Tel: 6776 0777

Hatched @ Evans Lodge

2010-05-07T10:40:00.003+08:00

I usually have a soft spot for a lazy day out when I'm really lazy. That means I love to go to a place which is quiet and doesnt usually have that much people. This is good for people who dislikes crowds and that's me at times, depending on my mood! :) One place that I would recommend is this cozy little eatery at Evans Lodge in Bukit Timah (near Botanic Gardens area) called Hatched. It's really a very lazy people. The moment you go in, the yellow lighting makes you feel like just lazing yourself out.

With eggy-stuff as their main designing concept, this little place is really filled with warmth and suitable for kids. Oh and it's also great if you bring your partner here on a weekday evening like the Wednesday where we went as they serve many types of beers and wines too. I like their "chalkboard-inspired wall" with all the cute drawings as the cuteness simply would attract kids, like me.

Another thing that captured my attention to a great extent is this cute little cartoonish menu. So who is gonna say this place aint for kids? For adults who also have a little tinge of kiddy spirit, this is really your type of place.

We waited for a short while before our food got served and we have got great service for this waitress who is pretty humourous. Do catch her if you are there.

I ordered this Papillote (SGD12) as I would love to have some lovely smoked salmon to go along with my eggs. As my friend and I went at the time of dinner, some little non-breakfast course would be great to go along with our eggy meal. The salmon were fresh as I could taste the freshness with a little bite and the potatoes were the better quality ones that could stand on its on. The idea of the two toast below those salmon-wrapped eggs were interesting as I can eat them together as one, like how you eat a burger. Yet again, the tomatoes were fresh. Totally juicy and I liked the way they grilled it. :)

My friend, a scrambled egg person, ordered this El Chorizo (SGD 14) as she's not a fishy person. She prefers a much more meatier option as compared to me. I think the portion for this is quite huge because she couldnt finish the sausages and so I had to help her with it. The dish is named this way mainly cos of the Chorizo sausage which is the Spanish term that is made from pork and paprika. My friend mentioned that she liked the scrambled eggs. The mashed potatoes were good too as the potatoes were fresh.

We sinned our stomach even more for this thick and fluffy pancakes (Happy trio for SGD10) (which we couldnt finish but I ate one of them). It's really really thick and nicely done and this is the type of pancakes which I would go back for more next time.

This meal has been a great All-day breakfast dinner. With a sweet service, sweet food and sweet (romantic) ambience, I believe it's a place which I would come back for more great food. Total bill was SGD 40 with no GST and service charge as they do not charge it. I asked the waitress why and she told me they wanted to give their lovely service for free.

However, the only problem is the difficulty in accessing this little place. It's always not easy to travel in Bukit Timah because the roads are one-way and there's always heavy traffic especially in the evening. So it's great if you have your own vehicle. Some of my friends asked me why I took all the difficulty to travel to such difficult places to have food. I told them, it's all because of the passion for having good food. I would often refer to the many famous food bloggers that I follow such as ladyironchef and camemberu to seek inspiration about nice food places. AS they have more experience than I do, I trust and believe in what they say. They are not only great critics, at least I get a range of ideas about the place before I go and try. In life, we learn from people everyday. So, isn't this the wonder of technology? :)

Hatched
26 Evans Road
#01-06 Evans Lodge
Tel: +65 6735 0012
* All Day Brunch: 8am – 10pm (Closed on Mon)

Werner's Oven @ Upper East Coast Road

2010-05-05T10:11:00.002+08:00

One Sunday evening after a day out with friends at ECP chilling out and suntanning, we decided to dine at someone in Upper East Coast Road where it's know to have many food places for people to dine in. Located at a little bungalow by itself, it was a difficult place for us to find as we were taking public transport. In SG, most of the nice dining places are often difficult to find and it usually helps if you have a vehicle of your own. But because the foodie spirit in me is often burning and the passion is alive, I wouldnt mind walking a few steps to shed those fats away before and after the meal.

Werner's Oven - a locally-owned German restaurant - has the simple German feel that I often like. The decoration are mostly simple Germanic style of Bavarian feel. Bavaria is situated at the is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of the country and has Munich as the capital. Bavaria's emphasis on culture can be seen by their extensive traditions, food and drinks and ethnology. For more information about Bavaria, Germany, please do visit this website. Before I digress further, let's look at the various food that we ordered. Three of us shared a hearty and wholesome German fare with a little beer to satisfy the porky, salty and sourish taste of the food. Having been to Germany before and being exposed to their culture, I know this is what they love to do!

Frikadellen 19.50
German beef & pork patties served with cauliflower & mashed potatoes

The first dish, ordered by my friend could be quite disappointing at first but it's already enough to fill our little stomachs. And the one thing that really saved the whole dish was the Mashed Potatoes. I really love German mashed potatoes. It kinda reminds Candice and I about the times when we were in Germany together on a school trip. You can never imagine the amount of potatoes/mashed potatoes and the like we had there. It was so much up to a point where we really missed those food back in Singapore. But now that we are always here, we would often miss the fluffy taste that it brings. At least, I'm glad I can reminisce the feeling here in SG!

Grünkohl mit Rauchwurst und Kassler 23.50+

smoked sausage & smoked pork loin served with green kale & sauteed potatoes

This dish is great. The sausage and pork loin was well smoked. This dish is a mixture if you are not just a sausage person. You need something else to complete your meal. Probably this is the dish you would like to try. Germans love sausages and this Bratwurst is the most common one that you might try for a starter!

Knusperiege Schweinhaxe 21.50+

crispy pork knuckle served with mashed potatoes & sauerkraut

For German food, the one thing we cannot miss out is not only the sausages but also the Pork Knuckles.This is the height of all German cuisines all over the world. If the restaurant doesnt serve this dish, it wouldnt be equivalent to a German restaurant! Because the identity of this crispy pork knuckles came from the Germans, no one else in the world could make such a great dish out of this part of the boar. As mentioned in the menu, this is really crispy. This dish was eaten mainly by me and I kinda of struggled while eating it. This portion is better for big eaters but I still managed to finish with the help of my friends. Ask me about the best Pork knuckles and I would still say Magma's was good. My answer is this because I'm more in awe of the taste in Magma cos it really taste great there. Another reason could be because the chef there is German. Hmmm and for a local chef to cook something of similar standard is already rare.

Hefe-Weissbier (2 300ML for 16+ Happy Hour pricing)

a golden, naturally cloudy wheat beer with a delicate aroma

The best part is to wash all the pork that you have eaten with some Paulaner fresh imported beer from Germany and that should really do the wonders! After which, expect a little burp from all your friends and also, yourself!

Rote Grütze 6.80+

Raspberries & sour-sweet cherry infused with sago topped with vanilla sauce

Dessert time! When we saw this on the menu, we were like sooo exhilarated cos we could reminisce the times when we were in Germany having this berries-filled dessert again. I love the smooth vanilla sauce - rich, thick and creamy. Definitely a must-try if you can spare the stomach-space.

Overall, we had a great dining experience there. They didnt charge us for their service despite them giving good service. Maybe the time we went was their changing of shifts timing so we got all the attention we wanted. I may sound a little biased because I'm a Saxonic person (someone who really loves Germany a great deal). But speaking of vast culture and history, German is one of those countries with many states of histories. I really enjoyed my stay when I was there with my awesome tripmates and teachers. That was one of the best moments I had. Having known the few German restaurants in SG, I'm blessed that this place has almost everything from Asian food to non-Asian food. Don't you think we are really blessed to be able to live to eat in this little island?

Total bill for three is 99.60 without any service charge but GST only. So no worries about your pocket bursting a huge hole because German food is not easily accessible in Singapore and when you get to enjoy it. Do try whatever you can mange.

WERNER'S OVEN
6 Upper East Coast Road
#01-01/02/03
Tel: 6442-3897
Open Tuesday to Sunday (closed Mondays)
8.30am - 10.00pm

Jones the Grocer @ Dempsey Hill

2010-04-30T11:46:00.000+08:00

On a bright yet lazy Sunday late morning, my foodie friends and I met for a great English-style breakfast at Jones the Grocer. Despite them being an Australian food place, they serve English-style breakfast due to their links with Britain as the latter was their colonial masters before. Most of Australian influences for the normal Whites were drawn from the British. We shall take a look at this place.

Located at Dempsey Road's hill, it's not easy a place to go but for those Westerners residing in Singapore, this is definitely a must-go haunt. :) We started off with a 15-mins wait as there was a long queue. Do make a reservation before hand to avoid long queue disappointments. While waiting, we looked around the place as they have a little grocery shop. Realised I didnt really have a nice photo of the shop so I decided to not upload but will do so the next time I visit that place.

The breakfast/brunch menu is awesome. I ordered English Breakfast tea, and milkshake was the rule of thumb for the other two.

Chocolate Milkshake. 4.50SGD ++.

And not to forget, my tea.

Now now, here's the best part. The food part of course! Introducing the Jones English breakfast Set. What a sumptuous spread we have in there.

There were eggs (of your choice), sausage, bacon, wild mushrooms, tomato and sour dough bread with butter.

Imagine yourself indulging in this plate of food in lovely summer weather in the UK or Aussie. How nice! I liked how fresh the tomatoes were, they were sooo juicy that when you cut, it comes out nicely. It wouldnt split and splatter like those normal ones you eat at home and it's OMGosh soooo HUGE. Sally commented that the bacon was nicely salted. Hazel loved the wild mushroom for being just soooo wild. We all loved the bread and tomatoes. and not to forget our nicely scrambled eggs.

Nothing ever tastes soo milky that this but I like it.

Overall, this place has a good English breakfast feel on a hilly area. Breakfast for three costs a little pricey at 77plus but the portion that we had was definitely worth the price, they had 10% service charge but the 7% GST was already included in the bill. Was it expensive? I dun think so. If you do have time, do check them out.

Jones the grocer
9 Dempsey road
#01-12 Tanglin Village
Tel: 6476 1512

Magma German Bistro @ Chinatown

2010-04-13T09:39:00.000+08:00

Hi everyone. Have been on a hiatus from Food posting for long. Now I shall start to write my latest food outing post with a new twist. Gonna be super critical like the normal food blogs you see. :) Enjoy.

In the midst of many projects, assignments and the nearing examinations, the foodies managed to meet up at Chinatown area's German restaurant called Magma German Wine Bistro for a April Fools + Easter High Tea on a rainy afternoon, taking studies and work temporary off the mind and enjoyed an afternoon of meat devouring, beer guzzling and chatting session. :)

What I liked about German stuff are the simplicity in their designs. I love the red and white furnishing of the tables. Oh and the chairs and the wooden floor gave me the feeling that I was really in Germany.

And do check out the many different varieties of wines. They are from the 13 wine-producing areas in Germany where they range from five star quality to one. They do have a menu on that and you can see which one you want best. Anyway, they do have interesting good beers too like the Cherry beer we had. Sweet and awesome, but not for the non-alcohol drinks cos the alcohol content is quite high. :p

And the stuff that was on the table, nicely lain out hankerchiefs and wine glasses for White and Red wines. :)

Whilst waiting for the rest to come because I was early, I started with a Ronnefeldt English breakfast tea. I like how the tea started out normal and ended up strong probably because the tea has yet to settle but I love how it tasted. It was totally a premium tea, not for those who doesnt like bitter stuff.

This dish is called the Schnitzel vom Schwein mit Kartoffelsalat & gebuttertem Gemüs aka Pork Escalope “Schnitzel” in bread crumbs with potato salad & vegetables (Pork Chop). The brocolli that came with it wasnt as nice as expected because it was overcooked. However, not trying to only focus on the flaw of it, Germans love the sour cream potato salad dressing. I missed the taste but this one really tasted like almost the ones I ate there. Maybe yall should try this out. But overall, the pork is decent. A dish I would recommend for people who likes to take "easy food". P.S. There are food that will create a mess if you dun eat it properly and I shall introduce that in a bit.

The next dish was this - 3er Würste Platte aka 3 sausages of Chefs choice. The three sausages were Rostbratwurst, Currywurst and Bavarian Weissewurst. It came with the sauerkraut (sour vegetable) and the potato salad. This dish was nice and we all agreed that the Rostbratwurst had the most "meaty" feel. Frankly speaking, I couldn't remember what were the different types of sausages but they were really good! One had herbs in it while another was slighly spicy, and all were soft, meaty and bursting with juice! Totally a great buy too. But for people who dun really like sour food, you are advised to only take the sausage.

The last dish was DA bomb seriously because it's Schweinshaxe mit Kartoffelpüree und Sauerkraut aka Pork knuckle “Bavarian style” (roasted) with mashed potatoes and sauerkraut. I strongly believe it was by far the best you can find in Singapore. Yes its even better than the one I had at Paulaner and Brotziet not long ago. Extremly crispy, sticky gooey collagen underneath and tender flavourful meat all round. I could go on to gnaw on the bone! :) But of course, I didnt but Sally, the deboner, slowly chopped it off clean.

Ta-dah! It was deboned finally. :) Most of the meat was gone at least. haha.

What's a good meal without a dessert to end it off? We ordered the Apfelmus mit Vanillesauce aka Apple puree with vanilla sauce. It was great. Love the vanilla and the apple was pretty sour. Totally a good sour dessert for a German's tastebud. Oh wells, they really love sour stuff and Ketchup is a must for them.

Magma German Bistro is probably the closest you could get to an authentic German eatery and wine house. Warm atmosphere, generous portion, fresh beer and awesome wines from the tap all year round, it would definitely be a great hangout for a casual meal with friends. Bon appetit! :)

Magma German Wine Bistro
2-4 Bukit Pasoh Road
Singapore 089816
(near New Majestic, OSO and Absinth)
Mon-Thu 12noon - 11pm
Fri 12am - midnight
Sat 11am (Brunch) - midnight
Sun/PH 11 am (Brunch)-11pm
Tel: 6221 0634

Melben Seafood @AMK!

2010-03-21T09:36:00.000+08:00

On a Friday evening, my awesome foodie friends and I decided to check out this AMK's Melben Seafood for the signboard awesome butter crab, chilli crab and beehoon crab.

This place is crazehly crowded all the time. Thank God they made reservations today and it's not that bad.

Sally and her hubby. Sweet couple! 小夫妻！

Fried Tofu. Nice, soft and succulent.

Butter crab. The best there.

beehoon crab. It could have been more tasty.

Chilli crab. My most favourite crab of all! Delicious and huge. Totally awesome

Mountain of crab shells. It was that nice that I ate quite alot. ANd I paid a pretty decent sum to share 3 medium sized crabs with them! Awesome.

The chefs work very hard everyday due to the mad crowd that they have.

I remb the price was about 240 SGD for 8 persons. Totally worth the money plus we ordered two side dishes and the man tous were awesome indeed. A place worth visiting especially if you have easy access to AMK.

Melben Seafood @AMK
Blk 232 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3
#01-1222

Sugisawa and Laurent Bernard Chocolatier.

2010-03-07T09:28:00.000+08:00

An evening out with dear friends at Riverside Walk, Robertson Quay, on a peaceful and serene Saturday is a great one only with food to complete the whole journey.

The view taken at Robertson Quay.

Sugisawa Japanese Restaurant. Hot favourite amongst the Japanese community in Singapore. They love to drink sake there.

My Saba bento set. Awesome. Check out the amount of things they have in it. Definitely worth the 16++

Over to the place of chocolate over-indulgence. It's definitely not value for money here but it was for the niceness of the souffles and ice creams. Even the tea is highly recommended too. Friends. Do go there, it's definitely a worthy place to chill out!

Rich, dark, intense, soft, moist… Trust me, this is exactly the stuff worth risking a sore throat for. And forget about the calories, please. I can describe the soufflé until the cows come home and words still can’t do this soufflé justice. It’s just awesome. Awesome! Loving the super tangy raspberry sherbet too!

What's sinful indulgence without tea to cleanse away partial fats in your little stomach? Try the French Vanilla Bourbon Tea. It's definitely something that is nice smelling and you dun feel like drinking it until the smell is gone.

New World: this wasnt served like this. It actually had this chocolate thingy that you can pour onto the crust and it will melt open. Inside, you will find a thick rich dark chocolate ice cream with small crunchy biscuits. Totally awesome!

Strawberry Sundae. A rich mixture of various strawberry-based types - Sherbet, ice cream, strawberries (super fresh, no kidding) and strawberry cream! Oh did I tell you, the cream itself has some starwberry taste! totally delicious!

A calm and soothing Camomile tea to soothe your nerves at night so as to enhance your sleep. Good for the busy you.

this is a place definitely worth going definitely, not for the service (which sucks) but for the nice dessert! You will have an evening well-spent with your other half or just friends.

Sugisawa Japanese Restaurant
30 Robertson Quay
#01-16 Riverside View

Opening hours

Mon–Sun 1130am–3pm; 6pm–10pm

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier
The Pier at Robertson Quay 80
Mohammad Sultan Road #01-11
Singapore 239013
Telephone: +65 6235 9007
Operating Hours :
Monday 6pm-11pmTuesday to Thursday 1pm-12 midnightFriday to Saturday 1pm-1amSunday 1pm-11pm