Nyah! The Tiramisu Hero to the rrrrrrrescue!

Chanced upon this place while my relatives and I were having some hawker food around the area. The pretty shop front caught my eye. I've heard a lot about this place so we decided to go in and try their signature dish... the tiramisu!

And if you are lucky like me, you might catch their resident community kitty loitering about the front of the store. 

Store front

Interior of the cafe

The hero inviting us fellow hoomin beans.

Menu

Jars and jars of tiramisu

They sell kaya too

Amusing tip box, from the looks of things, men may be winning.

Fortune cats

The vibe of this place is really very chill. Staff were also polite and friendly. We ordered three jars of tiramisu. The chocolate, original and cinnamon. Each jar came with a different expression from the Tiramisu Hero. Out of the three jars we shared and tasted. We agreed the cinnamon was the best. 

After we were done, we felt it was a waste to let the jars get thrown away, we asked the staff if we could keep it. To our delight, they said yes and the staff even went and got us new jars to bring back. 

Sweet of them. 

Noticed that they have brunch and other main courses as well. Made a mental note to go back and try their other dishes. Really a lovely place to hang out at. A lot of photo opportunity as well.. like the 3D head of the Tiramisu Hero. Just need to be careful not to boop your head when you get out of it. 

I'm pretending to be a tiramisu hero for a day. 

Cereal-iously weird yet delicious.

After my yoga class, I was desperately craving for ice cream. My fiance and I decided to pop by Tom's Palette at Shaw Tower, 100 Beach Road. Big mistake. Super long queue on a Friday night. Should have seen this coming. But since we were there, we decided to persevere and wait for our turn. I ordered the Miso Walnut and the Salted Egg Yolk ice cream just because it is something different.

Miso Walnut and Salted Egg Yolk

What can I say? My fiance who is not exactly very adventurous with his food, disliked both flavours, but for me? I LOVED IT. The miso walnut is laced with pralines within so there is this unique marriage of miso, walnut and chocolate taste. I admit, it does take some getting used to, but hey, YOLO. The salted egg yolk.. how do I describe it? Imagine you are eating the lui sha bao? Except the custard is not pipping hot, but freezing cold. Again, the taste takes some getting used to. 

After that the fiance said he hasn't had dinner yet and he wants to eat something more filling. We decided to head to Bugis Village nearby to hunt for some snacks for me and some main course for him. Unfortunately the place I had in mind had closed, so we wandered to the third floor for some thai food? Unfortunately, it was closing and they couldn't take our orders. 

Were we destined to starve? NO, this is Singapore, we will never run out of places to eat! 

NEXT to the Thai food store was a zi char place called Yi Lu Fa (literal translation: fortune on the entire journey). What caught our eye on the menu was... CEREAL CHICKEN FRIED RICE? We ordered that and the har cheong gai (prawn paste chicken) to share. 

Yi Lu Fa store on the third floor of Bugis Village

The fried rice and har cheong gai came rather quickly and it looks like the following photos. 

Cereal Chicken Fried Rice, cereal-iously good! $5

Har Cheong Gai, 2 pieces $3

Look at how thick the batter is!

Take your time to eat because the food came piping hot and fresh off the stove. The cereal chicken was delicious, the cereal was fried to a nice crisp and it went well with the fried rice. The fried chicken hidden beneath the mountain of cereal was nicely coated with the cereal as well. Thumbs up for this dish.

Their har cheong gai however, I felt the batter was too thick, making the chicken meat look well.. insufficient. I felt like I had more batter than the chicken. And I felt that the batter was a bit too oily and somewhat salty. Made a mental note to come back for their fried rice but not for the har cheong gai. If you are into food with thick batters, then their har cheong gai is for you. Otherwise, this store is definitely a hidden treasure within Bugis Village. 

Salted Egg Yolk Fries?! Give LeBan HK Cafe a medal!

The fiance and I chanced upon LeBan HK Cafe (2 Jalan Leban, Upper Thomson Road) when we headed around the area to buy my cat's wet food. I have read of its legendary salted egg yolk fries from some food blogs, so since the fiance was hungry, why not we pop in for a snack? 

LeBan HK Cafe, and coincidentally it's located at Jalan Leban.

 Since I was feeling a bit cold and I AM in a HK Cafe, I ordered their hot honey lemon drink. Can't go wrong with it since it's honey and lemon combined. Love the sweet and sour taste of this drink. Comforting drink indeed.

$2.20, look at the honey pooled in the bottom.

 The fiance ordered HK Milk Tea. which cameomes in a tin cup. Interestingly, when I went to HK, they always serve their milk tea in plastic cups, especially in the cha chaan teng I have frequented, so I have no idea why in SG they always serving it in tin cups.. maybe I have been going to the wrong cha chaan teng when I was in HK.

As authentic as it gets.

 Finally, the star of the show came. THE LEGENDARY SALTED EGG YOLK FRIES.

LOOK AT IT. OOOZZZZZINGGG with salted egg yolk goodness.

Whoever invented this gloriously, sinfully, fattening and calories inducing dish deserves a medal.

Salted Egg Yolk Fries, $6.50

I mean SERIOUSLY. HOW CAN ANYTHING SO SINFUL TASTE SO GOOD?!

The salted egg yolk clinging onto the crispy french fries, making it a soggy mess. One bite, oh my goodness, I can't even find the right words to describe it. And I love how they generously drown the fries with the salted egg yolk sauce. The salted egg yolk pork rice at Far East Plaza ain't got nothing on this dish (because I feel they always don't drench enough sauce on the pork). After we finished the fries, I know I shouldn't do this, but I was lapping up the remaining salted egg yolk sauce on the plate with my fork.

I'm telling you this, it's a massive waste if you do not give this dish a try at least once in your life.

I will definitely be back again.

Hear ye, hear ye, here is The Daily Scoop!

Chanced upon The Daily Scoop at the School Of The Arts, 1 Zubir Said Drive. I was ecstatic, this meant that I won't have to travel all the way to Clementi just to have it. 

Counter of the Daily Scoop

 The place specialises in... *drumroll* ICE CREAM. Now, I have this weird habit of mine where I like to try out different ice cream parlours in Singapore.. but I do not like to go for the usual banal flavours of vanilla, chocolate, mint.. I am not paying over $2.50 for these where I can get from the ice cream uncle for $1-$1.50!

I go for the weird flavours. Things that I usually cannot get from Ben & Jerry's. #justsaying

Unique flavours like Almond Longan

They have the usual flavours as well like their vanilla...
I mean seriously? Pay $3+ for plain vanilla ice cream?

My fiance and I decided to share their set, which consists of a scoop of their ice cream and a warm brownie. I saw that they had lychee martini ice cream and I was quite tempted to take that one. However, I had tried lychee martini ice cream before so I decided to be adventurous and try their Lime Cherry Tart ice cream.

Lime Cherry Tart with Brownie $7

As I have mentioned before, I have tried different ice cream parlours in Singapore and I can't help but have some form of expectations when I try the ice cream. I expected the Lime Cherry Tart to be like Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.. except with maybe lime shavings thrown in with the cherry? So I expected the Lime Cherry Tart ice cream to be heavily laden with vanilla judging by the colour of the scoop.

To my surprise, it tasted like lime sorbet with the cherry and the tart. I took a double look at the ice cream. It looks milky, so why does it taste so goddamn refreshing? Screw it, it tastes bloody good and light, so I'm not going to figure out why it doesn't taste like the milky and filling vanilla ice cream I had expected. And I loved how it seeped into the brownie.. so when you take a bite, the warm chocolate sauce melts with the brownie and the refreshing lime gives it a sour tinge. It's an odd combination, but I love it.

As the old saying goes, never judge a book (or in this case, scoop) by its cover.