Coffee @ Toby's Estate

Toby's estate has got to be the loveliest cafes along the stretch of rodyk street. Its such a popular hangout place, for good reasons too. I really enjoyed dining at toby's because of the ambience. If you are a fan of comfy chairs, jazzy lounge music, orange sleep inducing lights then toby's doesn't fit the bill. I love the juxtaposition of the brick walls and whitewashed cement walls. The high ceiling and the full floor to ceiling glass makes the space seem bigger than it is. The sunlight streams in full force. Its air conditioned so there's no need to worry about the humidity and heat. 

Right smack in the middle is a long wooden communal table, so essentially you don't have a private corner in toby's. They have counter seats too but i reckon the communal table is more comfortable for chats, dinning and work. 

I don't have a picture but each guest gets their water served in a glass bottle. Between my friend and I, we ordered their eggs benedict and croissant. Both are served with smoked salmon and the croissant with scrambled eggs.

I must say I didn't have high expectations of the food at toby's - they are more famous for their coffee. Sadly, the food failed to impress indeed. Our main gripe was the smoked salmon. We have never tasted such salty ones before. My friend had one perfectly poached egg while the other was slightly overcooked. Their hollandaise sauce was bland and couldn't salvage the dish. Oh wells, I would have loved to give a better review. But at least they have good coffee.

Croissant with smoked salmon and scrambled eggs at $12. The croissant could have been more fragrant and buttery. Average tasting dish.

I ordered a cup of Mocha which wasn't on the menu. Their coffee was the winner of the day. Fragrant and smooth, it was a real treat to enjoy a good cuppa on a lazy afternoon. 

Have a great weekend

Have a joyous weekend! My first stop is Vienna. I'll reach on Sunday. Cross fingers that I'll get to listen to the Vienna boys choir live. I promise to bring back many chocolates if they do not melt. Godpa charles requested for toy trains and pictures of real trains. What a cute godpa he is - still so obsessed with trains after decades. He will train watch the whole day if possible. 

My saturday is filled with last minute catch ups over brunch with my lovely girlies. Looking forward to the girlie chats, eggs benedict and a cuppa of good brew. 

xoxo

Rooftop Prince

I have been catching up on drama serials since the holidays started and Rooftop Prince is my favourite show for now. I've never been a fan of sappy korean dramas but rooftop prince is a really cute and funny show. I love watching the antics of the prince and his three minions. The crown prince is so chauvinistic and whiny altogether, really endearing to watching. He actually did a full bodied pout in the latest episode, I couldn't help but burst out laughing. 

Yelps! I am leaving for Europe tomorrow night. A little apprehensive and excited at the same time. I want all of us to stay safe and have so much fun together. 

Molten Chocolate Cakes @ 3 Inch Sin

Who can resist molten chocolate cakes? Intense chocolaty cakes with gooey centers that flow out upon biting. Infuse them with rum, baileys or cognac and you have a winning combination. I first came across molten or lava chocolate cake at Aunt Lucy's house. Baked at around 200 degree Celsius, these cakes are cooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. Its tricky ensuring the success of these. Failure to master the temperature and timing of the baking process results in cakes which are too undercooked or overcooked. So imagine my delight when I discovered that 3 inch sin mass produces these delightful treats. They have two branches - one at millenia walk and another at cluny court. After our french food fiesta at Saveur, eric and I headed down to millenia walk for some sweet desserts.

Check out their molten chocolate cake with baileys. Dusted lightly with icing sugar, it makes such a cute little dessert. 

Here is the original flavour. I love this best. The baileys one was too sweet for me.

I love my chocolate but two persons sharing two intense cakes after lunch was too much for us. We were left incredibly thirsty after the dessert session. We didn't finish our cakes either. Having two 3 inch cakes was a little of an overkill for us. 

Overall, I think three inch sin is a great dessert place but its cakes aren't to die for. Its passable, something interesting for chocolate lovers but I would save my bucks for better places.

Group Therapy

Tucked away on the second level of a shophouse in duxton hill, Group Therapy is such a hidden gem for brunch. Its relatively small with communal tables to accommodate larger groups. I met up with Sam on a weekday afternoon. Though relatively empty when we arrived at 12.30pm, it quickly filled up as lunch hour passed by.

Ordered their poached eggs with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce on brioche toast. It costs about 15sgd. On the whole, I enjoyed this dish quite a bit. The eggs were perfectly poached, the smoked salmon wasn't too salty and the toast well browned and toasted. I love thick toasts. The hollandaise sauce was really creamy. Way too creamy. I got sick of it halfway through the meal. It was simply too much. See the generous amount of pepper sprinkled atop. The dish could have done better was less pepper too.

My roasted almond latte was a winner at around $6.50. It was fragrant and smooth. I enjoyed it without adding extra sugar. Almond is such a nice twist to boring old latte.

I have already recommended this cafe to my friends and will definitely be making a trip back here.

Salted Caramel

So there, I finally took the trouble to travel down to thompson to try the famous Salted Caramel. The three scoops of ice cream are Horlicks with Tim Tam, Earl Grey and Lychee. I throroughly enjoyed horlicks with tim tam. It was sweet but not sickeningly or overly sweet. The crunchiness of tim tams added gave the horlicks a great texture - not just the usual smooth ice cream. I like the yummy chocolately crunch. Yums. 

Earl Grey was weird. I honestly though I'd enjoyed it- I love earl grey tea. The first taste registered an almost peppery taste in my mouth, then the sweetness hits u. Unique and weird. Not my cup of tea.

Lychee sorbet was absolutely refreshing. A great complement to the creaminess of the previous flavours. The sorbet was full bodied and not watery. It was really good.

A side note: I tried their famous salted caramel ice cream too. It was way too salty for my liking. The saltiness lingers in your mouth after a bite.Unappealing, and so we didn't order it.

Quotes

If you are plodding through something difficult, go through, dont give up.

this week

It was surong's birthday celebration on saturday. Met hong her new viet canadian bf who is really interesting to chat with. This lovely whipped up dinner all by herself. I had parsley salad with olives (yucks) made extra lemoney, for the first time. Parsley is usually used as a garnish, so parsley salad is an acquired taste. Cyndy (from toronto too) gave yellow chrysanthemum to the birthday girl, it was sweet but chrysanthemums are given during funerals. Cyndy was horrified to find that out and we all had a good laugh.

Maotai - a very expensive spirit from china. This costs $600 sgd. Crazy. Its 53% alcohol and to quote cyndy, it tastes like turpentine.

Lovely presents from eva marie. I feel so blessed! 

Mom's day meal

It's mother's day soon! I have been racking my brain for a good place to bring the family for lunch. Top of my list is Royal China at Raffles China. We have been to too many dim sum places since last year and I am afraid they might be sick of dim sum already. Other choices are Prive cafe for brunch or new and quirky Coastal Settlement at Changi village for dinner. A good thai restaurant that won't burst any budget is Nakhon Kitchen. Nestled within the heartlands in bedok, it serves good and authentic thai food. Yums!

Pancakes cravings

I am in the mood for making pancakes. Light, fluffy, melt in your mouth kind of pancakes. 

There is barely any breakfast at home and I am such a brekkie kind of girl. 

See this amazing recipe for blueberry pancakes. Its pancakes 101. The perfect resource for any noobish pancakes maker, like me. The recipe calls for buttermilk but i seldom have that in my kitchen. Buttermilk seems like a key ingredient to create that fluffiness of perfection. As a substitute, I will be trying natural yoghurt or i might just sour fresh milk with lemon juice instead. And because blueberries aren't rad in sunny sg, i will make this plain and when plain becomes boring, i'll toss in some sliced bananas. 

See this awesome tip for extra fluffiness - 'Separate the egg whites from the yolk and whip them till stiff peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter'

Gah, my tummy is growling already, I can't wait to bake them

Here is another similar recipes from another favourite blog - Blueberry pancake from Simply Recipes.

Photo credit: Smitten Kitchen

Saveur

French food was our first choice of good food after exams. Affordable french food that is. Saveur has made such waves in the local food scene ever since its opening on purvis street. At prices that are less than $10 a dish, who can resist not trying?

It was full house on a monday afternoon. We reached roughly about 1pm and was prepared to wait up to 40 minutes for a seat. But we got lucky and moved in within 15 minutes. 

The starter dish was 70g of foie gras at slightly over $14. This was indeed fine dining cuisine at affordable prices. It wasnt a fantastic dish I surmise, slightly crispy on the outside but a tad on the mushy side. I didn't fancy foie gras served with lentils and thought the dish would have been better paired with a sauce instead of just plain truffle oil.

We had their angel hair pasta next. Priced at $3.90, it was such a cute little dish to be served. The pasta was cooked well enough. al dente i might say? It was however on the dry side, lacking in depth and flavour though making up for it in presentation.

The duck confit at $8.90 was the best dish of the day. This takes the cake. Served with perfectly creamy and salty mash potato, it was perfection at pocket friendly prices. I loved this dish so much that I actually sang out, 'this is awesome' to the amusement of my dining companion. The duck meat was tender enough and the burst of flavour when eaten with the mash was divine.

The beef was really disappointing. While tender, it was neither juicy or flavorful enough. It comes with an additional bowl of mash potato which made the dish taste better when eaten together. 

Saveur is really an interesting restaurant to try with a mixture of hits and misses. The meal worked out to be $21 a person. With inflation going through the roof, I am glad that there are restaurants serving good food at affordable prices.