Maccha House @ Orchard Central

Maccha House is yet another green tea themed Japanese café that has sprouted out at the basement level of Orchard Central. Besides whipping up even more matcha based beverages and desserts, this outlet also serves udon and ramen mains.

We dropped by during lunchtime and I decided to try their Kyoto Style Ramen ($10.90+)which was described as having some yuzu seasoning. Unfortunately, the ramen did not live up to expectations- while the noodles were sufficiently springy, the soup was served lukewarm and the bowl just contained some chicken slices and vegetable ingredients. The yuzu seasoning was not really detected at all, which was a disappointment. I was wondering how yuzu flavoured ramen would taste.

Perhaps it’s a good idea to stick to the green tea based food here. I had their Hot Matcha Latte ($4.40+) which I felt had a nice balance of fragrant matcha and milk. The matcha drink was a tad too sweet for me and unfortunately, the sweetness level cannot be altered as I was told their matcha base
is pre-made.

Do note the prices listed on the menu are not inclusive of 7% GST. Charges will be added at the cashier.

Maccha House
Orchard Central B1-40

Marriott Cafe High Tea Buffet

Have you ever wondered how the interiors of the Marriott Cafe is like, especially when you walk pass the junction between Tangs and Scotts Plaza?

Well, we finally had the chance to, when we snapped up Marriott Cafe Tea time buffet vouchers from Deal.com.sg (U.P. $50++ per person).

The buffet specialty spread changes day to day- we went down on a Thursday- which was Sashimi Day, where they serve a variety of thick, fresh slices of raw fish. And like any typical SGrean buffet, the salmon sashimi slices always vanish from the serving plates very quickly.

There is a strong local food focus in the buffet as evident in the wide selection of local dishes served. There is a Chicken Rice station complete with both steamed and roasted chicken and fragrant rice. There is also a rojak station where you DIY create your own rojak with your desired ingredients and sauces. There's otah, satay, dim sum, Taiwanese porridge. I wouldn't load up on carbs in buffet, but I must really commend the nice Taiwanese porridge side dishes like the flavourful braised duck, pork and fluffy oyster omelette, which are definite must haves (with or without the porridge).

For the health conscious- there is a really impressively stocked salad bar and the more ang moh pais will appreciate the bread/baguette station.





Most food items are served in chi chi Le Cruesset cookware, and you will be surprised by how many tai tais lounge around the cafe, whiling the afternoon away over coffee and cakes.



Perhaps the wide selection of cakes, pastries and freshly brewed coffee is a good reason to just sit around the cafe and catch up with the latest gossips with friends. The cakes were okay, but the chocolate puffs weren't very appetizing.

For those who need their sugar rush:



I was pleasant surprised by the ridiculously well stocked ice cream bar. The jars contain every conceivable ice cream topping you can have. Like a sugar deprived child in a candy shop, I grabbed every ice cream flavour with a little of all the toppings available- rainbow bits, gummy bears, jelly beans, M&Ms, nuts, cranberries... sprayed with lots of chocolate fudge sauce. I initially thought the ice cream served were gelato (especially since they dressed the flavours with extra garnishing), but it tasted like normal ice cream from the tub., but with the extensive toppings, I'm not complaining. Don't come near this station if you're on a diet.



Did I also mention about the free flow soft drinks and fruit juices you can request when you visit? Service is really good, as expected from a five star hotel and staff are really prompt and friendly.

Sushi Tei, Ngee Ann City

Sushi Tei is one of my favourite Japanese food restaurants; I somehow find their bowl of katsu-don very comforting and hunger busting. While they strive to produce fresh quality Japanese food, I always find myself intrigued by their ongoing special menus.

Sushi Tei has recently returned to Ngee Ann City, having moved up to Level 5 and taking up a whole lot of space. I would think it will be easier to get seats in their new location. And to celebrate their triumphant return, Sushi Tei has a special "We Are Back!" menu only available for a limited time and only at this particular outlet.

I had a bowl of Chasyu Don ($9) from the special menu. Tender roast pork slices, served atop rice are slathered in a nice sweet dark sauce. The egg served in this dish is really good, the egg yolk is molten- literally in a semi solid-liquid form that brings me such joy to savour.

Sushi Tei also has another set of promotional menu that changes with the seasons. This Lobster Salad Roll ($8.80) can be found in its current "Early Summer Promotion" menu. I really enjoyed chomping on the fresh lobster bits and crunchy roe topping with the sushi rolls.

For dessert, we got Matcha and Yuzu Sorbet ice cream ($3.40 per scoop) from the regular menu. Following the advice of RERG, we ordered individual scoops of ice cream instead of the many bells and whistles parfaits offered in the We Are Back menu. The Yuzu ice cream was very refreshing, packed with tangy citrus yuzu flavour and bits of the fruit. The matcha ice cream was packed with green tea goodness, but I thought the ice cream was a little too "icy", it could have been smoother and creamier. Or maybe I'm just being overly fussy.

Sushi Tei serves out decent and fresh Japanese food fare at mid range prices and I am a big fan of this chain. They have an extensive delicious regular ala carte menu, but do look out for a few surprises in their changing seasonal menus.

the connoisseur concerto (tcc) GSS special

The GREAT SINGAPORE SALE is here and besides SHOPPING for the best deals around town, you must also know where to find great EATING deals. the connoisseur concerto (tcc) holds its annual 1-for-1 pasta and main course promotion to coincide with the GSS period (it runs from 25 May to 22 July this year). Each main course/ pasta at tcc usually cost about $20, and becomes even more affordable during this 1-for-1 promotional period. I recently visited tcc at Wisma Atria, but there are many other tcc outlets around town and various shopping malls. (see website for more details)

I particularly like their Seafood Aglio Olio Pasta ($20.50++). It's perfect al dente spaghetti tossed in olive oil, chili flakes and garlic. The spaghetti is firm, has bite and goes very well with the huge pan seared scallop pieces and fresh prawns served in this dish. Garlic lovers will like the generous sprinkling of garlic over this dish.

tcc has also expanded its food menu and I tried this new item- Baby Crayfish Spaghetti ($20++) which is spaghetti tossed in luscious tomato cream sauce with generous servings of sauteed baby crayfish, topped with green wasabi fish roe. I felt the tomato cream sauce was actually a good combination of tomato and cream flavours; it is slightly watery and not too overly creamy thick. I quite enjoyed slurping the firm spaghetti strands drenched in the sauce. The baby crayfish served here were fresh and they were really generous with the portions. The wasabi fish roe added a nice crunchy, sharp peppery wasabi flavour to the entire mix which complemented the dish.



As for drinks, tcc has an extensive selection of coffee, tea and milkshakes. I had their Toffee Choc Frappe ($8++) which is an icy cold espresso served with toffee nut syrup, chocolate ice cream topped with chocolate sauce and hazelnut shavings. This is a delightful and refreshing drink for people taking a respite from the hot weather outside (or from the countless hours of deal hunting).

Their pasta menu is worth a try, especially if you need to find a place to have a meal and coffee after shopping. You may need to put up with less than desirable service though. Every customer was having a main course and the service staff were really busy. They took quite a while to serve water and bring the bill, but surprisingly the main courses did not take too long to appear. Also, if the cafe gets crowded, do be prepared to queue! Seems like more people are becoming aware of the 1 for 1 promo.

Maison Kayser, Scotts Square

Maison Kayser is yet another Japanese inspired French bakery located at the basement of Scotts Square. Scotts Square is this atas mall located next to Tangs. It houses a Fairprice Xtra which is probably the only shop without a poverty detector.

There are seats in the basement for dine in customers, but be warned, you will be charged additional service and GST charges for lounging around with bread and coffee. So if you are on a budget and don't crave for coffee, go for takeaway. (Or head to the nearest Ya Kun for your coffee fix).

Perhaps there weren't many people when I visited, but the guy behind the counter was super nice to me. He offered to let me sample almost all the bread available and even explained the flavours and ingredients of each bread with great detail . At one point of time he even sliced up a new piece of bread, just so I could sample it. I felt somewhat obligated to buy something from him from that point.

BTW all the breads have french names and being the country bumpkin that I am, I couldn't really make out the names. I managed to try a couple of breads like Thé Orangé (with the french accents please. It's earl grey flavoured bread with orange rinds), Pain Aux Yuzu (moist bread with yuzu flavour). I'm actually very impressed by the nice citrus flavours of these breads and how incredibly moist and soft their insides are. I could imagine how well they would go with butter or truffle oil. (drools). I was also wowed by their Delice Blanc, a delightful soft bread infused with white chocolate flavour.

In the end, I decided to get Campagne Gorogonzola ($5.40) which combines walnut bits in an incredibly soft, fluffy bread with subtle blue cheese flavour. The blue cheese flavour isn't too overwhelming, I like that the taste of cheese comes through as you chew on the bread. When I ate the bread the next day, it didn't turn too hard and still retained a certain moist and softness.

I also bought a couple of eclairs, which are perhaps this bakery's most popular, hot selling items. I got the Eclair Chocolat ($3.45) and Eclair Vanille ($3.45). I was expected perhaps delifrance sized eclairs, but these eclairs are longer at about 15cm a piece. The chocolate eclair is also a little skinner than the vanilla one. The chocolate eclairs come in two different versions- one dark chocolate and the other milk chocolate with praline(?). I had the dark chocolate one and I was impressed by the intense dark chocolate topping on top and the very fresh, sweeter chocolate cream inside. But the pastry was a little dense and it would be great if it had been fluffier. The vanilla eclair was also quite nice; the topping and generous fresh cream filling had a strong vanilla taste to it, especially with the little black vanilla pods floating on the vanilla topping.

I would love to come here for fresh bread and pastries but it would really burn a huge hole in my pocket.

Donq @ Takashimaya B2

Donq (it's 'donk' not 'Don Q') is a Japanese inspired french takeaway bakery, yet another newcomer to muscle into the burgeoning artisan bread industry here. It's located inside B2 Takashimaya Food Hall, near the Cold Storage cashier counters. Lovers of Japanese style bread will be happy to know there is a yet another bakery to turn to for soft, fluffy breads. And I, like the many middle-aged tai tais thronging this outlet one weekday afternoon was very keen to find out try out this latest bread craze.

The Cherry Danish ($2.80, left) has a very nice soft crusty danish pastry with fresh cherry jam on top of it. Unlike most bakeries which up the sugar of their danish fillings to  diabetes-causing levels, the cherry danish sold here is not very sweet at all, all in all, it's a very nice delicate balance of sugar. The Cinnamon Apple ($2.80, right) is likewise, not over cloyingly sweet or glazed with excessive sugar and cinnamon. The highlight is probably the fresh apple filling which is not cooked too soft and each diced apple piece still retains a little bite. This is complemented by fluffy soft bread around it.

Colonnade (Choco) ($2, left) was flying off the shelves the moment a fresh batch came in, so I snatched one too. The conical bread had dark chocolate filling inside which was good, but otherwise it's quite normal. Twin Stick ($2.80, right) is like the bread version of yuan yang- a combination of chocolate and plain bread.

This is Dutch Bread ($2.40) a chewy bread with polo bun like crispy crust filled with cream cheese. I ate this the next day, but by then the bread became rather tough and the cheese didn't taste really fresh anymore =(

I have been eating most of the breads freshly bought from the bakery and I enjoyed them. But I suspect the breads do not cope very well in Singapore's hot and humid weather. They are best enjoyed on the day they are bought, with minimal exposure to the heat (just like pampered Sgreans who can't do with air-con). Take them out of the air conditioned comforts of Takashimaya at your own peril.

Magnum Dessert Bar @ ION Orchard

The "pop up" Magnum Dessert Bar is located next to the capsule entrance to Orchard MRT, in front of ION orchard building. In commemoration of Magnum's latest collaboration with celebrity chef Janice Wong of 2am:dessertbar, Magnum now gives ION shoppers a chance to create their own "temptations", codename for DIY Magnum ice cream bars.

So here is the deal, for every $30 spent at ION Orchard, you will receive a nice Magnum coupon with a "5" lettering on it. I think you can redeem better desserts for more points, but being the poor student that I am, I was only able to redeem one Magnum 5 voucher. Do note the redemption counters are near the B3 and L4 concierge, so you need to make a trip up or downstairs before proceeding to the dessert bar. With that voucher, you are entitled to one stick of naked Magnum ice cream at the Magnum Dessert bar, where you can choose your favourite dips and toppings to go with it.

So first you choose your ice cream base (vanilla or chocolate ice cream), then you choose what you want to dip your magnum in (molten Milk chocolate or molten Dark chocolate), and finally choose the toppings you want (a large variety including nuts, cranberries). I guess there is a certain novelty factor in being able to decide how your dream Magnum bar should turn out!

In anticipation of indecisive people who cannot choose from the myriad of toppings provided (like me!), they have a special mix topping where they crush and mix all the available toppings into one. So I got myself a vanilla based magnum, coated with dark molten chocolate, covered in mixed toppings.

Since this made-on-the-spot magnum bar wasn't frozen beforehand, the chocolate coating around the ice cream wasn't as crunchy hard as those sold in supermarkets. I really liked how the crunchy nut toppings, combined with a tinge of sour from the chopped cranberry bits went very well with the dark chocolate and vanilla ice cream!

The dessert bar will be up from 12 May-23 May 2012, just nice for all those GSS shoppers. So if you happen to be shopping at LV/Rolex/Mui Mui, do remember to redeem your magnum vouchers, if not you can donate generously to Eugene's Ice Cream Charity. Every $30 counts. All proceeds will go to my stomach. TANKS everybirdy.