Some of my favorite things.

Carrot cake topped with a fabulous cream cheese icing, buttery scones served with Cornish clotted cream and strawberry jam, honey lemon drink and an incredibly moist dark chocolate brownie from my favorite café.

Chai latté, my favorite drink at Starbucks.

From the recent Summer Hokkaio Fair at Isetan: Shinori roll, a delightfully soft sponge roll filled with fresh cream.

Arles' wild berries rare cheesecake earns a 10/10 from me. I ♥ eating it semi-frozen.

Otaru Yakata milk pudding, also best consumed semi-frozen!

Old-fashioned sponge cakes from L.E. Café, featuring an addictive salty-sweet buttercream. Nice cakes don't need to cost a bomb.

 

Another old-school favorite: Sara Lee pound cakes. My favorite is the chocolate swirl variant, how about you?

Crab Shack (CLOSED)

Just opened late last month, Crab Shack is the much anticipated comeback of the popular outlet in Upper Thomsom area which was closed a couple of years back. When I learned that it was actually the joint venture of a group of ex-hall friends, I told myself I was so gonna 'show my support'.



We arrived at about 6 on a weekday evening and most of the tables were already taken, many marked by flower crab dishes. What a promising sign.


Due to their busy kitchen during dinner time, it took quite a while for our food to arrive.



Their Seafood Croquettes ($4.50) made a great appetizer. Fried to a salivating golden brown, the lemon flavoured creamy centre was substantiated with crab meat, squid and sun-dried tomato. Best eaten while still hot.



Like the previous dish, our Crab Au Gratin ($4.50) was laden with well-seasoned crabmeat, buried under the cheese layer grilled to a slight crisp.



If not for the fragrant garlic flavour in the Crab Baked Rice ($6.50), it could have been a case of cheese overdose.



2 pc Value Meal ($9.90). Go for the 3 pc meal ($12.9) if you have more headcounts.

When it comes to eating steamed crab, my Cantonese tastebuds still prefer to go along with the Chinese pink vinegar (which complements the sweetness of crabmeat very well), over the provided sweet-tasting sauce. On the other hand, instead of serving just baked beans and fries as sides, I think it will be great if patrons are given more choices. Imagine you have some bee hoon to dip in to the flavourful juice of the crabs.



Total damage was at $27 for two, a real steal if you ask me. With their opening promotion, you can get a complimentary brownie ice cream with any order of main course. Check out their facebook page for promotion updates and other useful information.

To get to Crab Shack, take bus service 269 from AMK bus interchange and alight 4 stops later, opposite Block 110. As the kopitiam gets pretty packed during dinner time, try to arrive early to beat the crowd.


Crab Shack (Facebook)
Blk 107 Ang Mo Kio Ave 4
Daily, 12noon - 12mn

JAMS (CLOSED)

Last Friday afternoon before the annual Ballet under the Stars at Fort Canning Park, I had a bit of time to kill and thus went down to check out new book titles at Prologue, Popular's new-concept bookstore at Ion Orchard.





Residing in the bookstore is a café called Jams which serves some light bites, organic coffee and other treats. Perfect mate for your newly acquired books/magazines. Being quiet and secluded, it's one of those few places you won't feel uneasy dining alone.



My lonely afternoon reminded me of a photography project Table for one by local photographer Samantha Tio a year ago. Although it is no longer updating, if you have not visited the blog, I urge you to do so. It might just change your take on lone-dining thereafter.


JAMS
#04-16 ION Orchard,
2 Orchard Turn
6509 6090





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Needless to say, the following evening was a memorable one picnicing under stars, marked by the spectacular performaces put up by dancers from Singapore Dance Theatre. If you have missed it this time round, try to book your tickets early next year.


Created with flickr slideshow from softsea.

Ramen Champion @ Iluma

Six acclaimed ramen-yas hailing from various Japanese prefectures have recently opened outposts at Iluma Bugis. They will be open until June 30 next year, and a popularity contest based on sales and votes will determine the Ultimate Ramen Champion who will be invited to set up a restaurant here.

Following the Straits Times' recommendations, I settled on a regular portion of Ikkousha's signature Hakkata Ajitama ramen ($13+). Other dishes on offer here include Bario ramen, mori soba from Taishoke, Tetsu's Very rich! Paitan tsukemen ramen, Negitama ramen from Iroha as well as Ganetsu's special miso ramen.

Ramen Champion uses a magnetic strip card system a la Marché. Like in Japan, a disc-shaped electronic device is issued to you upon ordering and beeps when your food is ready for collection!

Ikkousha's noodles are skinny and slightly crisp to the bite, though not as resilient as I would have liked. Texture aside, the kansui (alkaline) taste of the noodles could have been more subdued as well. Simmered with pork bones and soy sauce, the broth was smoky and piquant, and was topped with some crunchy black fungus and negi. My favorite item in the bowl would be the flavorful chashu, which was tender with a great fat to meat ratio. The onsen tamago, however, could have been more tasty, and it was unfortunate that the yolk wasn't molten either.

For the ravenous, a larger serving of the Hakkata Ajitama ramen is available at $15+, and you can ask for kaedama (替玉) ($2+) if you want a refill of noodles.

All in all, this was a decent bowl of ramen but I'm too sure if Ikkousha deserves the title of Ultimate Ramen Champion. Santouka's pork cheek ramen still reigns in my book and I hope to be back to try the other stalls here in the year ahead.

Ramen Champion
201 Victoria Street
Iluma @ Bugis
#04–08/09/10

Buyan @ Duxton Hill

Russian food has never crossed our radar before until this particular restaurant Buyan kept appearing in the news for winning the bid for the world's oldest shipwrecked champagne found in the Baltic Sea - a Veuve Clicquot (1841). The price? S$53,000



So we just have to come here to see what kind of restarant is Buyan. And we were quite surprised to see that Buyan is a dual concept restaurant: On the 1st floor is the bar and small bistro, while on the 2nd floor...



... is the fine dining area with one of Singapore's most beautiful ceiling mural painted by a local artist.



Veen Velvet (S$8 per bottle) water. Well, this is not a Russian mineral water, but from Finland.



The most unique thing here is that there is no menu, but just and iPad. The menu is actually downloaded on the iPad, and when you click on the item, you get a photograph of how the dishes look like.



We were served some bread and butter balls.



Our amuse bouche.



The first appetizer was the Traditionally served Karat Caviar (S$60) - Caviar with Blinis, Onions, Quail Egg, Sour Cream and Lime. The caviar is of top quality, and we loved the presentation of the caviar.



I think I added too much of the eggs and chives!



The Borscht soup (S$16) wasn't up to our standards. It was not served as pipping hot as we had hoped for. And the soup doesn't has



I also didn't like the Ukha soup (S$16), which is a fish soup. Tasted too bland, and was not as warm as we had hoped for.



Fortunately, the other dishes were better. The Half Moon Trio (S$50) - Smoked Halibut, Sturgeon, Salmon filled with Dill Spinach, was a refreshing appetizer where we were able to taste the freshness of the fish.



We had 2 mains. The first was the Slow cooked beef stroganoff (S$50) - Cooked in its Isigny Cream Sauce with Sauteed Chanterelle Mushroom. It was a bit too rich for us, but the texture and taste was good.



The other mains we had was the Sturgeon Romanov (S$40) - Pan Seared with Creme Fraiche and Karat Caviar. I like this better as the fish and cream went well and complimented one another. Plus a touch of luxury in the form of some caviar.



After our mains, we requested to be seated downstairs at the bar where the environment is more relaxed. They had many beers, and we ordered the Newton Apple Beer (S$10 per bottle) and Buyan Beer (S$15 for half pint). The Apple Beer was crisp and light with a tinge of apple taste, while the Buyan Beer is a house specialty.



We love the desserts at Buyan! First up was the Honey Cake (S$10 per slice). I like anything with honey, and this rich and soft cake had a deep honey taste to it.



The Baked Apple (S$8) was even better. It's an entire breaded apple baked in an oven.



Open up the baked apple and the inside is filled with Lingonberry Compote. One of my favourite apple dessert in Singapore.



We had a wonderful time here and the service was top notch. For those on a tight budget, I would recommend having your dinner at the bar area, where the prices are more comfortable for your wallet. Plus the food is great too.


Buyan
9/10 Duxton Hill

Gordon Grill @ Goodwood Park Hotel

The thought of eating roasted reindeer may not go down well with some, especially those who believed that Rudolf is somewhere up there in the north pole.

Recently, Gordon Grill at Goodwood Park Hotel held a New Finnish Cuisine Promotion by Guest Chef Kim Palhus.



Started off with a special amuse bouche from the chef.



Plus freshly baked Finnish breads.



1 glass of Chateau De Malleret 2004 (S$17.50 per glass)



As recommended, I got the special 4 courses Set Lunch (S$58) which features some of the their signature dishes at a special price.



The appetizert was this healthy Beetroot and vegetable salad "rosolli" with mustard seeds, red onion jam and foam of pickled cucumber broth.



Another appetizer in the set was this Cold smoked pike tartar with salmon trout roe, Grandma's cucumber salad and "shore sand" .



The main course was Reindeer roast with barley-wild mushroom "porridge" parsnip puree and beer sauce. The Lapland reindeer is from the northern Scandinavian Peninsula. This is what everyone came here for. Reindeer tastes a bit like venison, but with a more gamey taste.



I also ordered the Karelian Stew separately - Medallions of beef, lamb and pork served with parsnip puree and deep-fried shredded carrot. I thought this would be an interesting dish as it was featured in some media reports, but turned out that that I didn't enjoy this as much as the dishes in the set lunch.



What a name for a dessert. This dessert is called Poor Knights, which is a traditional Finnish dessert made of fried cardamom coffee bread. Cardamom is used quite extensively during baking in Nordic countries.



Ended my lunch with a decaf coffee with brown sugar.



And some Petit Fours from Finland.


Gordon Grill
22 Scotts Road
Ground Floor
Goodwood Park Hotel

Loysel's Toy

If you have been a loyal fan of Papa Palheta but hoping it has more to offer than just coffees, your prayer has been answered.



Sits at the foot of the landmark building once known as the Sam Tat Warehouse (三達大廈) along Kallang River, Loysel's Toy is a 6 month old café put together by owner Leon and his team of baristas.

It is a full café which serves an all-day breakfast menu along with their signiture gourment coffee. And some desserts too.



One of us had this unusual Salad #2, an interesting combination roasted duck and asian greens, topped with an appetizing citrus dressing. The generous portion of coriander and peppermint however was a major turn off for me.



Pork Sandwiches, served with chips. It's munchy time!



Scrambled Eggs on Toast. It was a pity there wasn't any avocado to go along.



While I was looking for something sweet, the curd of my Lemon Tart was too sour for the tastebuds.



Coffees here are as good as the ones at Papa Palheta - strong, smooth and exquisite. For the true blue coffee connoisseurs, you can even choose the brewing method.

Even if you are not in the mood for coffee, there is also a small selection of fruit juices and teas on the menu.









Apart from the food, I pretty much enjoyed the ambiance of this place. Despite the scorching sun, the al-fresco area where we sat was well sheltered and breezy. It's the kinda place I would love to hang around one whole day to do my things.

I'm so going to be back again.


Loysel's Toy
66 Kampong Bugis
Ture, #01-01
Tues - Fri, 9am - 6pm
Sat - Sun, 9am - 7.30pm
6292 2306