I know I have not posted here in a very long time, somewhere along the line, I got kind of tired of blogging of food and this semester has been super duper busy as well, with endless projects, tests, essays that is taking up so much time that when I am free, I am too tired to blog anyway. But I found something to blog about again today, which is my recent visit to My Secret Garden(mysg) restaurant at Middle road.

It is a restaurant that I have read reviews about, many of them good ones. It also has a charming website which made the place sound so lovely, and I just had to try it out. I had initially picked MYSG to celebrate me and S's 1st year anniversary next month and I wanted to give him a surprise by bringing him here. I was drawn to the ambience of the place and the charming, laidback feel. I decided to try out the place beforehand, thus on Dad's birthday, we came here for dinner.

I suppose my review of MYSG is going to be quite biased because of the very bad service I received there, which has kind of put me off the place forever. One thing that struck me was that it was so different from what I had imagined it to be. Instead of a nice, quiet and intimate dining place, it was buzzing with noise, though with dimmed lightings and candlelights and soft jazzy music playing in the background. The waiters were inexperienced and lacked initiative, a couple of times, we had to ask to be served cold water even though they were standing around.

The menu was somewhat limited, but that aside, I have no complains about the food, and the presentation was nicely done. Our first course of escargots in garlic butter was delicious tender and juicy. The baked codfish with mashed potato and spinach($28) was baked to perfection, the fish was fresh with a melt in the mouth texture. At that price, it was however a tad small. I had the baked salmon($25) which was once again faultless except for its servings. It was soft and tender with a delicious black pepper sauce and none of that fishy salmon taste, with a healthy side of broccoli and carrot.

After our mains, we decided to ask if there would be any complimentary cakes from the restaurant for the birthday boy(though I had already baked a marbled cheesecake as the birthday cake, I thought there was no harm asking). I would have been fine with a simple no, but the waiter in question led me to believe that we would be given a triple chocolate cake($6)with vanilla ice-cream, and would even provide a candle for me. When the cake came, there wasn't any candle, and I just let it pass. But when I saw the cake included in the bill, with the vanilla ice-cream costing an extra $4, I felt severely disappointed and somewhat cheated and thus my resolve never to come again.

I guess it was more out of expectation more than anything else. Maybe I am being too harsh, give the poor waiters a break, they are only human after all. But from an excerpt taken from the website: "MYSG is a lifestyle place where out Guests will have an awesome experience in wining, dining, entertaining, celebrating, socializing or just relaxing by themselves in a holistic & self-fulfilling way. This will happen with a team of energized, fun-loving, passionate and inspired service providers who are highly professional and commited to optimize the joy and happiness of our guests'. With this kind of promise that they cannot live up to, they should re-evaluate and stop making the place sound so special and unique when it is not. I actually gave them a feedback of my dining experience there(yup, thats how disappointed i was, I have never bothered to do so in my entire life), and to this date, I still have not heard anything from them.

With prices that are above average, with small servings, bad service and limited menu, I'd rather take my business somewhere else. Awesome dining experience? You decide.

Lunch today was at Kuriya dining-fine japanese cuisine tucked away at a corner at Great World City, level 2. Its wood-swathed decor is aesthetically pleasing, with a zen touch and the dim lightings provided a nice ambience for the restaurant. And the open concept kitchen allows diners to watch the busy chefs at work.

The food is, of course, wonderful and fresh. The have all the old favourites like sashimi, tempura and sushi as well as many other types to suit different palates. You can choose either from the ala carte or the set menus.The presentation of the food is done very nicely as well. I recommend their set menu as its pretty value for money. I ordered the grilled cod in teriyaki sauce which came with piping hot miso soup, chawan mushi, appetiser, salad, rice and even dessert(which is my favourite part). The cod meat was done until it was melt in the mouth and the sauce had the right consistency and taste.

The tempura was really good. It was fried to a lovely golden crisp. The batter was delightfully light and crispy and not greasy at all. I loved the mushroom tempura. Even after being soaked for a while in the soy sauce which came with the tempura, it still maintained its crispiness.

The grilled fish that we ordered(which was more expensive than the set), was the highlight of lunch, I supose. Though I do not appreciate fish all that much, I have to say it was grilled to perfection, the meat being fresh and tender. It did not come with any sauce, so the sweetness and flavour of the fish was really apparent.

Like I mentioned, the highlight for me was the dessert. Normally in japanese restaurant, what you get is probably green tea ice-cream or the likes. But here, the dessert that came with the set was really extraordinary. Very exquisitely presented and delicious, you have to take a moment to appreciate it before eating it because the portion is quite small. They have a different dessert each time we came. Today, it was a lovely mocha mousse cake with a small scoop of chocolate mint ice-cream the size of a tennis ball, and decorated with a small slab of white chocolate and fruits..

It is really a lovely japanese place with a good standard of food. Expect to pay at least $30 per person though, depending on what you order. Like I said, stick to the set menu and you can't go wrong. Though for the more adventurous and money to spare, the restaurant has many other delicious offerings.

Desserts at Coffee Club

Yesterday night, I went to Coffee Club for the second time that day, this time for desserts, with Dad and Aunt aubrey. We went to the one at Hotel Rendezvous, which was a nice chill out place, but we were bitterly disappointed as many of the cakes we wanted were sold out, like chocolate truffles, rum and raisin truffles, brownies etc...in the end, we settle for tiramisu mudpie(my choice), and chocolate peppermine cake(dad's choice),which turned out to be a poor choice. And dad ordered a tiramisu latte, and of course I ordered the house special which is the iced mocha vanilla.

The tiramisu mudpie consisted of a base of sponge followed by chocolate ice-cream and topped with mascarpone. It was nice and rich, though they were also ice in the ice-cream, home made ones are like that, I suppose. The chocolate peppermint cake paled in comparison with the mudpie. It consisted of layers of flourless chocolate sponge with peppermint cream in between. The peppermint layer could have been softer and I thought the chocolate taste was pretty non-existent, though it could have been because I didnt like sponge as well..

Dad's tiramisu latte had tia maria and marsala(I think) in it,it was really nice but abit too sweet for my liking, though I think alcohol and coffee goes really well together. And my own ice mocha vanilla was deliciously thick with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on top. My only complaint is that there was too much ice in it...hahah

Verdict, I still prefer the muddy mudpie, chocolate truffle and chocolate a la mode. And I think the outlet at Ngee Ann city is still the best, with the widest selection.

ps: Picture were taken with my nokia phone, pardon the poor quality and the size of it ;)

Ever since HP came back from Shanghai, we have been eating out alot, and all nice places too, like Cafebiz, Crystal Jade, Empire Cafe...etc...and today, we went to Coffee Club, one of my favourite dining place. Its a pity my parents do not really support my piture taking of the food I eat, so I cannot post much pictures of food in this blog, so you just have to rely on words. Everytime I see nice food with a lovely presentation, I just have this strong urge to go trigger happy..sigh..

Anyway, for me, the most memorable thing about Coffee Club has got to be its desserts, especially its gigantic muddy mudpie which my dad and I are most fond of, with a layer of coffee ice-cream and a layer of chocolate ice-cream atop a chewy oreo crust sprinkled liberally with cookie crumbs and drizzled generously with chocolate sauce, and also its brownies a la mode(which I think I have mentioned before), the New York cheesecake is a sight to behold too and really yummy, I really wonder how they make its so nice and smooth at the top,without any depressions or bumps or dents whatsoever. One of these days, I am going to bake cheesecake again, after my not very successful attempt at chocolate swirl cheesecake quite some time back. Sure, it tasted good, but it also looked very ugly. And aesthetically pleasing food is very important.

I digressed again..hahah.. We went to the outlet at Ngee Ann city, and set at a table with a very nice view of the christmas tree and the constant aroma of coffee. I ordered a swiss melt sandwich today, not wanting to have a heavy lunch, and it was a very good choice. It is creamy stewed mushrooms with melted swiss cheese inside two soft and fluffy focaccia buns. (Ripped the picture from the Coffee Club website..hah.It tasted as good as it look) Mum ordered the set which came with Pumpkin soup that was deliciously thick and creamy and sweet, and its so healthy(think of all the antioxidants in pumpkin), and Penne with salmon sauce with vodka. It was pretty nice, with a cream based salmon sauce, but I still preferred my sandwich.

After lunch, there was another surprise. We went down to the food hall as Mum and HP wanted to buy a box of chocolates as they were going to a friend's house for dinner tonight. They bought a big box of Godiva chocolates which cost $77. And when I was busy looking longingly at the chocolate truffles in the glass display, HP bought another box of Godiva 50% dark cocoa caraque. Its supposed to be for us, but since I am the only one who actually appreciates chocolate at home...heeehee..guess I would be the lucky one finishing it. Man, I am so going to slowly savour every piece. I do so love dark chocolate. I just bought a piece of 72% cocoa Lindt dark chocolate and have been eating it everyday, a piece a day. When it comes to good chocolates, a piece is more than enough to satisfy...mmm

An indulgent day

Methinks I overindulged today. All the sugar in my body. I really ought to stop, shouldnt I? Problem is, I cant!!! Haha,lets see my 'damage' for today.

#1: I went to the orchard library today and studied at Cafe Galilee after school. And while I was there, I ordered a cocoa mocha ice-blended coffee(it wasnt very nice to sit there and not order anything...hahah) It was very nice and icy and refreshing, and of course chocolatey, though it didnt pack much of a caffeine punch

#2:Meiji Hi- Cacao almond bitter chocolate which was on sale at NUS Coop, at the price of $3 for 2 packets, how cheap can good chocolate get? And I only finished one packed by myself.. Only :)

#3: After dinner of Tiong Bahru Char Siew rice(with all the thick brown sauce), I met steph at Great world city, supposedly to watch a movie to do a review for one of our module, but hmm, apparently we had a different agenda. We went to Cinnabun Cafe. The only cafe in singapore(that I know of), that sells cinnamon buns, and very nice ones too. We shard a walnut cinnabun and a bread and butter pudding which I had been eyeing for very long(and was not disappointed) and we also a large frothy steamed vanilla milk...ahh...life the way I like it

And lastly, as if all those were not enough, the last and most serious damage, I started eating peanut butter from the jar, by the spoonful. Yeah, skippy's chunky peanut butter is the best. I think exam stress is getting to me...hahah.

Oh, and guess what, Ben& Jerries outlet is open at Great World City. Gone are the days of buying tubs from supermarket. I do so love the cookie-dough and butter pecan ones, actually I like everything, but thats besides the point.

I have just been tagged by Cheryl of She Bakes and She Cooks on the topic of "Childhood food memories". Its the first time I have been tagged,so I am pretty excited...hahah.. How does this meme work?If you are tagged, here's what you do: Remove the blog at #1 from the following list and bump every one up one place; add your blog's name in the #5 spot; link to each of the other blogs for the desired cross-pollination effect.

1. FoodCrazEE
2. Jan's Kitchen
3. Play-play in the kitchen
4. She Bakes and She Cooks
5.TreSSa loves baking

Here goes:

#1: Chocolate swirl cheesecake from Coffeee Beans: That's probably where my love of cheescake originated from. I remember mum used to bring me to the one at Scott's shopping centre for a treat, and I would always order that. Very rich, very sinful, and with just the right amount of chocolate layer which complemented the plain layer perfectly. Unfortunately, they don't have it anymore, and I have yet to find the replacement. Now, my weakness would be Blueberry hazelnut cheesecake from Cedele, soft baked and very moist, veyr rich cheesecake with whole blueberries and hazelnut topping.

#2: Durian cream puff: My auntie, who used to babysit me when I was a child, had a bakery right at home, pretty small scale, but the things she could come up with were amazing. Her kitchen was messy and full of baking stuff, and the house perpetually smelled, well, like a bakery..hahah. Many a times, I would wander in and pop something into my mouth when she wasnt looking(shhhh). Her specialty was and is mini durian cream puff. Made from the real stuff, it packed all the punch that it should, with a light choux pastry filled with rich and yummy and creamy durian cream, definitely her best-seller. She also bakes the most amazing chinese new year goodies, pineapple tarts, almond cookies and cashew nut cookies are 3 of my favourites. And even now, every chinese new year, we would order these from her and no one else. She has since 'retired' and only bakes for leisure and family and church. I hope one day she would pass all her secret recipes to me, after all, who better than her niece to pass on the legacy :p

#3: Fish head curry: I used to tag along with my mum when she went for lunch with her ex-colleagues at Marina South. They had a stall there which sold the most amazing claypot fish head curry. It is still etched fondly in my memory. The thickness and aroma of it and the sheer spiciness, which was enough to make the most seasoned curry eater to go "shiok ah". There even had freshly toasted baguette to go with it, and I would drench mine in curry sauce. Thats probably where I got my love of spicy food from, and also my love of curry

#4: Steamed egg custard:Ahhh, I remember with fondness these treats I had when I was young. I always looked forward to this almost weekly affair. It is such a simple dessert, just egg, water and sugar, but I loved it, and still do. Simple though it may be, it is hard to achieve the perfect texture and smoothness. I always marvel at how they do it in restaurants, consistently soft and so smooth it just slides down your throat. cos the few times I tried making it, it turned out either too hard or still in its liquid state. So I have given up, and just content myself with eating it outside. Chinatown has got quite a few nice ones, though I didnt take note of the names, and also Dessert Hut at Peace Centre at Selegie.

#5: Tang yuan, also known as glutinous riceballs with stuffed peanut or sesame fillings. I remember making it with my grandma. I had great fun making it, but of course it was nothing fanciful and certainly out of shape, and we used orange sugar as filling instead of sesame. I was very young back then, and I just loved biting into the tang yuan to find the filling oozing out. Now, tang yuan is still one of my favourite food, it just brings back the nostalgic memories. There is a great stall at Clementi, which is convenient for me as it is so near to school. I can eat it even when I have no appetite for anything else, and also when I want something warm and comforting.

There you have it, my top five childhood food memories. Note that 4 out of 5 are sweet stuff...hahah.. I have an incurable sweet tooth, so there. Now, I have to pass on the baton, but I am not aquainted with any other food blogger, so I shall tag 2 friends whom I know love food. Adrian and Jan, you are next...hahah...

I discovered a new gem of a place today called Island Creamery. It was as recommended by a friend who raved about its teh tarik ice-cream,and being adventurous, me and steph decided to go try it out. All we knew was it its opposite Adam road market, and after some walking, we found it at Serene Centre, a nondescript place that we would have overlooked had we not been looking for it. Its quite a small and desserted place, perfect for chilling out. And the ice-cream is great!!

The ice-creams are pretty no-frills as well, served in a plastic bowl, with your choice of Horlicks or Milo topping, or add an extra 50cents for toppings like nuts or chocolate rice etc. They had many interesting and unique flavours for the local tastebuds like Teh tarik, kopi-o, bandung, kahlua latte, horlicks, burnt caramel, pulau hitam, durian. We tried the teh tarik(of course), burnt caramel and kahlua latte. The teh tarik ice-cream tasted exactly like the real thing,but in ice-cream form, and packed quite a punch. It was creamy, but not overly sweet. Just perfect for a hot day. The burnt caramel one was quite a treat as I like caramel...I found it really yummy. I liked that their ice-cream portion was pretty generous, and at the price of $2.50 per scoop, or $4 for double scoop, it was really worth it. Ahh, what a treat, escaping from the stress of life and indulging in such great stuff, I savoured every mouthful of my ice-cream...delicious!!

We also did a little exploration of Serene centre and found this supermarket called Tierney's Gourmet,which you can guess from its name that it sells gourmet food. I was so excited when I saw it, and we just had to go in. They sold lots and lots of different sausages and the likes, and also meringues, chocolates, biscuits etc. They also had quite abit of baking stuff. I walked out of the place with only a packet of Nestle Hot cocoa mix- double chocolate meltdown. Even buying that was quite hard cos there were so many flavours to choose from, like milk choc, rich choc, s'mores, marshmellows, french vanilla and even Butterfinger hot cocoa. The double chocolate meltdown was pretty thick and chocolatey, but a bit too sweet, and I still think the hot cocoa mix from Swissmiss is still the best, especially the chocolate sensation flavour. But of course, nothing beats the old fashioned way of melting chocolate in hot millk to make hot chocolate. That brings to mind Suckao from Max brenner...mmm..now, thats an indulgence. My own version is to microwave milk and hershey's chocolate morsels together until the mixture is smooth. Thats a quick and simple chocolate fix...

What would I do without chocolate? Haha

Brownies

I havent blogged in ages, been so bogged down by work lately, and I am so tempted to shut down this blog and just blog at my main blog since the readership is so low anyway..but I shall perservere...hahah...so here's a long overdue post on my brownies..

I am crazy over brownies, like I am crazy over anything chocolate. But I have to admit that I am quite a snob when it comes to brownies. I love my brownies to be gooey and fudgy and chocolatey, instead of the dry cakey brownies sold in my places. Thus I am quite fussy about them, and seldom buy it outside unless I know for sure its a sure winner with me. Rich and good brownies are hard to come by, and nothing but the best would do.. Now, the brownie factory has some good stuff and a mind boggling variety, though I think there isnt a need for such variety, the best brownies are often plain old fashioned walnut fudge brownie. I think Famous Amos' super fudge brownies are also really good. And also coffee club's brownies a la mode, which comes in brownies smothered in choc sauce and vanilla ice-cream. NYDC's are also quite nice, though I suspect that minus the ice-cream and the chocolate fudge, it would actually be just normal. Oh, and did I mention mine too? hahah.

Brownies are really very easy to make. But there's the art of mastering how long to leave it in the oven, which I havent quite gotten. Its either overbaked or underbaked. But I have decided that its better to underbake than overbake. You know why? Cos when it comes out of the oven piping hot, there is nothing nicer than to savour the first piece of your hard work and when the soft oozy brownie just melts in your mouth, its nothing short of orgasmic, especially if you happen to have vanilla ice-cream at hand..In my case, it was rather on the soft and gooey and ugly side, but hey, no one was complaining, and it was gone within a day. So far, I have used different recipes for my brownies, and all were great. This time, I used a recipe from a food blogger called Orangette. Her description of the brownies made me want to try it ..here goes:

Ingredients:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks unsalted butter
4 ounces best-quality unsweetened chocolate,chopped
2ounces best-quality bittersweet chocolate,chopped
cups granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup toasted walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit
2. Whisk together flour and salt, set aside
3.Melt butter and chocolate together(microwave or use a saucepan like I did and use low heat). When the mixture is melted and smooth, add 1 cup of sugar, stir until melted and remove from heat. Add vanilla extract and pour mixture into large bowl.
4.Put remaining sugar and egg into a bowl and whisk by hand. Pour half of it into chocolate mixture, little by little, stirring gently with rubber spatula. Beat remaining sugar and egg mixture on medium speed(with electric mixer if you are lazy like me) until they are thick, pale and doubled in volume and fold it into the chocolate mixture gently. When it is incoporated, fold in the remaining dry ingredients.
5.Pour batter into 8 inch square pan. Bake for 30-35 mins(the original recipe called for a shorter time) or until toothpick stuck in the middle comes out without gooey batter sticking to it. It would also be cracked at the top and tender in the middle. Again, I emphasize to avoid overbaking.
6. Cool in a rack, and cut into rectangular pieces.

The original recipe called for 25mins baking time. When I cut it, it was still too soft, so I threw it back into the oven for another 5mins. It came out, still soft, thus it was very hard to cut it even after cooling it. I decided to dumped everything into a paper cup, and thus it looks so ugly. I found a good way to salvage it was to refrigerate it, cos it became like fudge more than brownies. They were really delicious, dark, chocolatey and fudgy and not too sweet....the recipe is definitely a keeper, though I have to bake it longer next time...

Melted chocolate with butter..ooh lala 

Pouring the egg mixture into chocolate mixture 

Ugly but yummy brownies 

Close up...warm brownies still glistening...totally melt in the mouth

Today was baking day again. I havent baked in almost a month, and my fingers were itching to do something, and everytime I walk by famous amos and get a whiff of the cookies, I remind myself that I can do just as good.

And today, after about 4hrs later, I was rewarded with the fruits of my labour and was highly pleased with the results. I tried a new recipe today- chocolate viennese fingers. I had bought a piping set a month ago and was dying to use it, and finally got a change to do use it today. It was relatively easy to make. Cream the butter and sugar, add egg yolks, add flour and put the mixture into the piping bag. I initially had difficulty piping,but it got easier with more piping. After 12mins in the oven, out came golden and wonderfully soft viennese fingers. I put it aside to cool and started on chocolate chip pecan cookies.
I soon realized that it was no mean feat juggling so many things. The kitchen was in a mess. My mum came in and tsked at me quite a few times. I was toasting nuts, creaming butter and sugar, melting chocolates and processing oats all at the same time. It is a wonder nothing went wrong and I didnt forget any step. And while I was baking,quite a lot of cookie dough went into my stomach. They are really quite delicious, but of course the real thing is better. I used the following recipe for my famous chocolate chip cookie, and I modified it a little and also added raisins to it. I got this recipe from a recipe book a long time ago and have been using it ever since. It is actually called the Neiman-Marcus chocolate chip cookie and the story goes of how someone actually called up the department store(Neiman marcus) for their "secret" chocolate chip recipe and was told the charge would be ""two-fifty", and the person said to charge the bill to his credit card, only realizing later that the actual charge was $250, and he decided to get even by passing the recipe around. And since then, it has been going round and round till it got into my kitchen =)

Ingredients:
2 ½ cups quick cooking oats
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup salted butter, room temp
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups chopped nuts(optional: pecan, walnut…etc)
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chip

1. Adjust 2 racks to divide oven into thirds. Preheat to 375F(190celsius)
2. In food processor, process oats until they are ground into fine powder.
3. Combine oats, flour, baking powder and soda in large bowl.
4. Beat butter, sugars on medium high speed until light and creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until well-blended(do not overbeat at this stage). Add flour mixture at low speed until blended. Stir in nuts and chocolate chip until well distributed. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets, 1 inch apart.
5.Bake 15-20 mins until golden brown. Reverse sheets during baking to ensure even browning. Immediately transfer to wire racks to cool.

I divided the dough into two, and added raisin and cinammon powder to one, and chocolate chip and pecan to the other. And i didnt measure the exact amount of raisins and chips and nuts I used, everything was by agaration. The recipe can yield quite a lot of cookies, thus I had to bake it in many batches. And when the last batch came out, wonderfully golden and crunchy(the best of the lot), I heaved a sigh of relief. But the work was not over.. Back to the viennese fingers, I melted 100g of dark chocolate containing 72% of cocoa solids with 30g of butter in the mircowave oven and coated the fingers with it. It was really messy and the final result was amaterish, but for a first timer, I thought it was pretty good. And of course the taste is simply amazing. It reminded me so much of the marks and spencer chocolate viennese biscuits that I adore. I loved how tender and soft it was, and the dark chocolate made it really chocolatey and sinful. I think that I would use milk chocolate or semi sweet chocolate the next time as the dark chocolate I used today was too bitter due to the high cocoa content and most people might not like it.

By the time I was done,the kitchen was full of the aroma of cookies, if only smells can be bottled..all the cookies turned out really awesome and crunchy and tasty. I like making mini cookies as that is the only way I can get it crunchy, I really wonder how people can make large cookies crunchy too. I normally avoid the large cookies as they turn out kind of tough and neither chewy nor crunchy. Hmm, guess I would stick with what I do best, and besides,its easier to give it out smaller cookies as well. I had better give out my cookies tomorrow before I finish everything by my self...heheh

Recipe for viennese fingers, taken from the baker who cooks:
Viennese Fingers
100g unsalted butter
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 egg yolks
1 and 1/2 tsps vanilla essence
1 cup plain flour
100g dark cooking chocolate, grated30g butter

Preheat oven to moderate 180 degrees celcius.
Grease baking tray and line with greased baking paper.Beat together butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add yolks and vanilla essence and beat well. Add flour and stir until all ingredients are combine and batter is smooth
Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with fluted 1cm piping nozzle. Pipe mixture into wavy lengths (approx. 6cm) on prepared tray.Bake for about 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Transfer biscuits on a wire rack to cool.Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl and dip half of each biscuit in the chocolate. Allow to set on greaseproof paper

COOOKIES!!! 

viennese fingers coated thickly in chocolate

Close up...

All packed in containers, ready to give out.=)

I went to Bakerzin today for Cindy and mine's birthday celebration. I have been meaning to try their special warm chocolate cake for quite so time. Its amazing that I have been there so many times and not tried, but I have always been more tempted by their array of delectable cakes more. So today, I resolved not to leave without trying.

We went to the one at raffles city, newly opened and very nice, with a zen like decor, perfect for chilling out after a long day. Our main course came pretty quickly..I ordered smoked salmon pasta with white wine cream sauce. It tasted pretty good, and I have always been a huge fan of cream based pasta. And the sauce was really flavourful and creamy and generous. The salmon, however, wasnt impressive and it was way too cooked to be called smoked, but on the whole, the dish was pretty good. I pinched some off cindy's Champignons a la creme, which is actually mushroom stew served in herb flavoured vol-au-vent, and it was delicious and the pasty was crispy and buttery and the mushroom really fragrant. And this is the mushroom linguine
The highlight, was, of course desserts..haha, after much debate, we finally settle for tiramisu and the warm chocolate cake. The tiramisu was really delicious and authentic cos it was really made with mascarpone cheese and marsala wine, just as it should be and finger sponge soaked with espresso and rum...ohhh..I so love it.

And the chocolate cake. The portion size was disappointingly small, given the price, and the icecream portion was miserably small as well, however, the taste was more than up to expectations. As soon as it was set on the table, and the first spoon dugged into it, and out oozed the molten chocolate, and everybody oohed and ahhed as we tried to scoop it up and also the ice cream which was melting rapidly. It was gone in a matter of minutes, as 4 of us attacked it with gusto. It was really really good, the ice-cream is home-made, which is a plus. And the cake was really fanatatic.

The next time I come again, I will try the tapas where you can choose from a variety of mini desserts like creme brulee, panna cotta and some other very interesting stuff.... The good thing is that the portion size is small and you can have a selection of 3,5 or 7 tapas. So the key word here is variety...

Whoa...I am so very very full now...

The talk of the town...Bakerzin signature dessert- chocolate cake served warm with homemade vanilla icecream, orange confit and berries 

Tiramisu...yummmy