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. 

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.

Staycation at MBS for our Anniversary

My boyfriend decided to surprise me with a one night staycation at MBS. So I gave him a challenge when I made my way there after work.. he is to order room service and order what he thinks I will like... 

When the food came.. guess what? He got it! 

I was surprised because I rarely eat codfish in front of him because it's always out of our budget.... yet he got it right! This is despite the fact that there's also chicken breast meat and salmon on the menu which I liked too. 

Anyway if you ever stay at MBS and order their room service, please do! The quality is there. The codfish is fresh, blends well with the soy sauce. I lapped up everything on my plate. 

Soy Codfish $40

 The mashed potatoes that came with it was fantabulous as well. Food was served hot.

Codfish came with mashed potatoes with scallions

Buttered mashed potatoes that came with the steak

Boyfriend's order of Steak $65

 After that, he said I can go down to SweetSpot and have whatever I want since he knows I'm a huge fan of desserts.

Sweetspot is located at the lobby of Tower 3 of MBS, exactly outside the lift lobby.

Though this place is considered quite expensive by normal standards, it is something you will have to try once in your life.... I mean LOOK AT THE STUFF.

Macaroons galore. 

How pretty the cakes looks!

Even their pastry looks drool worthy.

And their mini cakes.

 The Oreosaurus caught my eye. As a kid, I always wanted to be a paleontologist.. but I live in Singapore.. to put it bluntly.. Singapore DIG WHAT? Can you imagine me going "Hello, can I have a permit to dig up Wisma Atria because I think there might be fossils there?" Nope.

So my dreams of becoming a paleontologist and an archeologists (I had very weird aspirations as a child...just attracted to dead fossilised things for some reason)........had to be perished because of geographical location. (Singapore had this historical stone called the Singapore Stone but during our colonised days.. the British went and blew it up... and due to land scarcity.. what is there to excavate here? HONESTLY?)

Anyway, that aside, OF COURSE I HAVE TO TRY THE OREOSAURUS. It sounds badass!

ROAR ROAR DINOSAUR.

 And so it came... and it looked pretty sad... but who cares.. it's delicious!

Oreosaurus

 The boyfriend also got me a pound cake filled with choco balls. For $14, it was pretty filling.. I cut it into 7 slices for us to share.

Overall, the staycation was pretty swell.. enjoyed eating all the good food! Happy!

Nutella Crepe Cake... IT ACTUALLY EXISTS!?

Went to meet my boyfriend, his brother and his god sister for a late lunch. Decided to go to Everything With Fries (EWF) at Orchard Central. I was so hungry that I actually forgot to take a photo of The Slider meal ($11.90) I had at EWF. I had the burger with sour cream and onion fries. To be honest, I am quite disappointed with the Slider. It is basically minced... like really MINCED beef with cheese, mushroom and puny bits of bacon. That is it. It wasn't even a proper beef patty. It's a pity I forgot to take a photo of it so you guys can see just how sad it is.. it really can't be considered a burger if it is not in meat patty form.. it's like a sandwich. The sour cream and onion fries are basically shoe string fries drenched in sour cream and onion powder ala McDonald's Shaker Fries style. Overall, the set meal I had was nothing to shout about.... until we topped up $5 for the legend.............................wait for it......................dary Nutella Crepe Cake!

YES. IT ACTUALLY EXISTS! (EWF also serves Nutella Tart but seriously the crepe cake looks way more epic.)

JUST LOOK AT IT. Lay upon layer of crepe with hazelnut cream and nutella drizzled all over it. I tell you, it's a culinary work of art. If I know I will not be hailed off to IMH for evaluation over my mental health, I will definitely go on my knees to worship this dessert. It tastes as good as it looks. Imagine slicing the cake, layer upon layer of hazelnut cream (I reckon from the taste) oozing along with the fork and when it's in your mouth, the cream, crepe layer and the nutella (inside and outside the cake) melts together in an unholy matrimony of sweetness. If this is a prize for winning the Hunger Games, I will definitely volunteer as tribute.    

Nutella Mille Crepe

 After that, I went window shopping around Orchard Road to purge my body of the sin of eating the Nutella Crepe cake. I like to tell myself that to make myself feel better after having such an orgasmic dessert. About 6pm, my dad called and asked me if I'm around town and whether I wanna join him for lunch. Being the glutton that I am... I agreed.

I met him at Gyoza no Ohsho (5 Koek Road #01-10, Cuppage Plaza S228796).

It's a little ramen place that looks like one of those zhi-char stores.. except.. it serves ramen. Not zhi-char. Ok that came off as pretty OBVIOUS... but moving on.

The prices as you can see on the menu is pretty much the same as any ramen franchise in Singapore. The only difference is the environment. The waitress does not give a shit about something called personal space. This is understandable because it IS a small store. Basically, she will march up to you, ask how many people and cram you guys into whatever space she can find to maximize the use of the space the store has to offer.

It's weird if you are not used to it. But being Singapore where we are targeting to hit 6.9 million human beings, you jolly well get used to it.... and since I can't help but pack myself into the MRT every morning at 8 am to get my ass to work so I can have income to continue my gluttony ways... I am fine with the way she seats people. Just pointing this out to people who cannot stand eating at crowded places.
 

The first dish we had was the pan-fried gyoza. For crying out loud, the place is called Gyoza no Ohsho. So if we don't order Gyoza, which is their trademark dish.. I might as well just go elsewhere to eat. Anyway, the gyoza was served pipping hot, they do not serve the traditional dark vinegar and ginger that we Chinese are used to dipping our dumpling (chinese version of Gyoza) in. What they have is white vinegar. So there was this moment of awkwardness where we poured the bottle with the dark sauce which turned out to be soy sauce not vinegar, then pour another bottle which looked like red vinegar but it turned out to be chili oil only to succeed when we poured the bottle with the transparent liquid which turned out to be white vinegar. We finally got down to tasting the gyoza. First thing I noticed.. it's oily. The positive thing about this was the skin of the gyoza, springy and crispy. The fillings were pretty disappointing.

Pan-fried Gyoza

 The salad came next. I'm very anal about the way ramen stores serve their eggs. If the egg is completely hardboiled, I'll say they fail at making the perfect ramen egg. The egg on this salad passed. Hard on the outside but soft yet not too runny on the inside. Great job. The salad is fresh, but the sauce overpowered the vegetables. The potato salad was ok. They didn't put in mayonnaise or anything funky into it. Salad overall is ok.

Salad

 Next came the Kanitamago, crab meat with eggs. I expected it to be like the oyakodon style of cooking but it ended up in omelette form. I was quite disappointed. The crab meat was actually shredded crab sticks.. lots and lots of it. Which is fine considering the price of this dish. The only complaint I have of this is that the sauce is wayyyy too sweet. Overpowering the omelette completely.

Kanitama

 My dad had the Tamago Ramen. He always comes here for their ramen so I guess it's pretty good? I'll make a mental note to try it the next time.

Tamago Ramen

 The only dish I really liked was the tori karaage. Can't go wrong with this dish. We also ordered a bottle of green tea each.

Tori Karaage

Total damage for my dad and I was SGD$43. I guess this place is pretty ok to come by if you want something quick and fuss-free. The service is brisk and people come and go fairly quickly. Quality of food wise, I guess it's ok? Just keep your expectations to a minimum because what you pay for is what you will get. Personally for me, I will only pop by here if I have a craving for their Tori Karaage.   

Ate and ate and ate on my birthday last Thursday.

Last thursday, I turned twenty ______ and because my boyfriend wanted to go to the Reebonz sale at Clifford Center, I requested that we go to the Black Swan (19 Cecil St, Singapore 049704) for lunch as I have always wanted to try it out. 

He tried to make a reservation a day before but it was fully booked so they advised us to go down when their doors are open to try our luck. We went in at 11.30am and were seated at one of their high tables. 

The first thing I liked about The Black Swan was the ambiance. The moment you step through the double doors, it's like you are transported back into New York or Chicago in the 1920s.

I also love the waitresses' outfits. I was telling my boyfriend it's one of the best looking service uniforms I have ever seen in a restaurant (don't get me started on the 'maid' uniform at Lawry's *shudders*). The uniforms makes the waiting staff look so pretty and classy for the ladies and  suave for the men. The second thing I liked about this place is how this place is situated next to one of the busiest junctions in CBD and I don't hear a SINGLE sound coming from the traffic outside. It's like I have effectively traveled back in time. The tinted windows also helped to effectively cover the traffic outside.

Now onto the third thing I like about this place. THE FOOD. 

The Black Swan serves an executive lunch set where you can choose between a two course ($32+) or three course meal ($38+). The prices are dependent on what you order. Say you order the $38 set but you want to add in the foie gras, that will add another $8 to your set. You can see the full lunch set menu here for a better idea. 

The first course I had was the Char-grilled Beef Tartare. I have always wanted to try steak tartare and I finally got the chance to..albeit it's slightly grilled! (Ok, I know steak tartare have to be like RAW but this is the closest I can get to it!) It is put on a bed of diced pears and served with toasted bread. I LOVE this dish. This is the taste, imagine sashimi with sesame sprinkled over it with the sweetness of the pear blending with the meat. It shouldn't work, but it does. I lapped up every single bit of this. 

The second course was the Chilean Seabass with quinoa, bacon jam (the itty bitty yellow sauce surrounding it) and diced beetroot.

Another dish worth trying if you love fish. I have tried fishy tasting seabass and blah tasting one before. This dish somehow manages to grill the seabass until the texture and taste ended up like my favourite cod-fish meat. It's so fresh. I'm not a fan of beetroot but somehow the quinoa and the beetroot combination works and it left a slightly sweet taste in my mouth. The bacon jam went well with the quinoa and the seabass meat. It had a slightly smoky yet sweet aftertaste. Interesting.

The final dish is the Dark Chocolate Dome with a little bit of edible gold foil on the top.

If you are a chocoholic like me. THIS IS NOT TO BE MISSED.

The berries at the side is FRESH. I am genuinely impressed, because a lot of dessert dishes that comes with berries, the berries always feels 'out of juice' and overly preserved. I don't know how The Black Swan keeps their berries so juicy and fresh, but whatever they are doing, they are doing it right.

Finally, we got to the chocolate dome. I love the flaky base of the dome.. I don't know what it's called (and I have been dying to find out but this kind of chocolate dome base is so hard to come by) but I really love it. The dome itself is filled with chocolate until you hit the center where the vanilla creme melts with the chocolate.. oh heaven. Definitely a dish I will try again.

The total damage done for the both of us was about $140+. My boyfriend ordered the foiegras, the Black Swan burger and also the chocolate dome (didn't snap photos of it). The still water was quite expensive.. it costs $9 a bottle. The service was good... just that I did get a little irritated with one of the staff who kept asking us while we were in the process of eating our dishes, how were things. I get that the staff is trying to be hospitable but to ask how were things during each course... I felt it was a bit of an overkill because personally, I feel it makes more sense if they ask us how is the food and all that DURING or AFTER our final course. Not during EVERY course. But oh well, I guess she was trying to be nice? Overall, if given the opportunity to go back to the Black Swan for a meal, I will definitely go back because I do like the ambiance and the food!  

We headed down to the Reebonz sale and went for some window shopping before we settled for some high tea at Tom's Palette at Shaw Theater building at Beach Road (100 Beach Rd, Singapore 189702). I have heard MANY rave reviews about this ice cream parlour and I have been dying to try it. When I got there..like wow, look at the flavors!

One of the ice cream Tom's Palette is famous for is their Salted Egg Yolk ice cream. I tried a sample of it and it does taste like cold liu-sa-bao. But what I ultimately ordered was their Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream. I just liked the taste better. My boyfriend got the Stout Chocolate (alcoholic). We paid $4.20 for two scoops which is worth it!  

The stout chocolate tastes like chocolate with a Guinness stout aftertaste. My boyfriend is not a fan of alcohol to begin with but he made an exception with this because it tasted so good. My Parmesan-cheese and crackers ice cream tasted like Ben & Jerry's Strawberry Cheesecake without the strawberry and a stronger cheese flavor (the parmesan bits in the ice cream I guess). I am now making plans to go back to Tom's Palette again just for their salted egg yolk ice cream next time.

After that we headed to the Waterloo Times for dinner with the family. Talk about eating all day. Oh my goodness.. but it was a lovely way to spend my birthday.. eating where I want to try and ending it with a meal with my parents.