La Fondue

This is my current fave restaurant at Dempsy! Not that i've been there enough times to say, but it's really nice! They specialise fondue, from the starter all the way to desserts. Yums! They have ala carte or set meals, and we tried 2 set meals so we had super alot of variety:D
Starter was either caesar salad or garden salad. The Caesar salad had just the right amount of dressing - unlike those where you'll be eating halfway and realise that the whole bottom part of your leaf is completely drenched and coated with too much dressing.
Our first fondue - Cheese Fondue which came with a platter of vegetables like broccoli, baby corn, carrots, asparagus and bread for dipping. Of course, the vegetable part is just to make you feel healthier while coating it in cheese. I particularly liked the mushroom cheese (maybe cos it reminds me of burger king's Mushroom Swiss burger?). It was creamy and warm, and very cheesy, with morsels of mushroom. It's exactly what you imagine your nachos topped with melted cheese to be. Obviously, the cinema synthetic nacho cheese is a far cry from this...
The chedder beer was slightly bitter, which probably explains why the mushroom cheese fondue was mopped up before it.

I thought that the bread pieces were a bit dry, and they kept breaking off annoyingly into the fondue. But once coated with the delicious cheese, it was more palatable than expected.
The next was the mains - choice of 2 meats per colum (there are 3 columns i think) in the menu. You can choose to have it on a grill (hot plate), 100% olive oil, or steamboat style. We tried lots cos we had 2 sets :D What we tried:

Lobster: We were very excited about the lobster because it was *lobster* but it was quite dissappointing and we didn't even finish it cos it was very hard and tasted nothing like lobster, please don't order this it sucks!
Crystal Prawn: Mmm like crystal jade one... according to the internet, soaking the prawn in bicarbonate solution will make it loose it's sweet prawny taste, but then it will be juicy and crystaly. It's very yummy when fried in the 100% olive oil.
Pork: I liked this cos it was sweet and sliced thinly
Chicken: Nothing special. Not really worth trying
Fish: All the fishes we tried was supberb. The lemon fish, spicy fish, cajun fish(?), salmon were all tender, fresh and juicy. Didn't want to waste them deep frying, so we used the grill. The fish here was supberb.

There were 6 dipping sauces with the mains, and the tartare sauce is really very delicious. It's very creamy.

Dessert was chocolate fondue!
It looks so glossy and decadant right? The chocolate was so rich and luxurious. We chose this one cos the milk chocolate is very sweet. This is the dark chocolate i think. It's quite sweet already! Dipping stuff - Ice cream balls, strawberries, grapes, pineapples, marshmellows, brownies and orange segments.
We also had the baileys mint chocolate fondue. But I prefered the Chocolate Oreo one. Cos it was sweeter i think. Anyway, the chocolate oreo was infront of me so i kept eating that one :)
Even though there was hardly any carbo, we were all so stuffed by the time dinner ended.
No more chocolate left!

This is how the restaurant looks like - it's quite small actually... The service is attentive and knowledgable, and our ice water was always topped up. After every course, the waiter would ask us if it suited our taste.
It's pricing is quite steep though - it's no Seoul Garden - they use good quality cheeses and chocolate so I guess you're paying for that... and the rent too.

La Fondue
01-0425 Dempsy Rd S 249670
Tel: 64740204

Sweet | Salty | Spicy - Food Market & Thai Cusine

There's this new thai restaurant (it's only 2 months old) at Rail Mall, which till now, I have avoided cos it was such a crappy and run down place last time. But then it has alot of new and interesting restaurants now!
I've wanted to try this place since about a week ago, but it was closed cos it was a weekday and it was at 3pm. It looks very clean and nicely done up, and I really like thai food! Yay to finding more thai food near my house.

For the soup, we had clear chicken and prawn broth with young coconut and shitake mushrooms (eeps I can't remember the price it's about 10??). There was egg tofu inside too. However, I found the soup way too salty. Haiz should have tried the tom yum soup...
The next dish that came was the Tasting platter ($24, for 2 -3 persons), which is a selection of the starters. There was crispy soft shell crab with light curry sauce, which was very delicious cos they were juicy and meaty, unlike those cheapo kind that are dry hard and mostly batter. The light curry sauce went very well with the crispy crabs and it wasn't overly spicy. In the middle, there's the traditional prawn and vegetable rice rolls. The rice rolls were thick and chewy, and it was drenched in a sweet tamarind dressing. I liked the prawn and pomelo on betel leaves with palm sugar dressing and shredded coconut. There was just the right amount of dressing to coat, but not overpowering the sour pomelo segments and prawns. The shredded coconut also gave the dish an intersting texture. It's eaten wrapped up in the thick, waxy betel nut leaf. There was also rice cakes with warm chicken and prawn chilli dip. The rice cakes were a bit too crispy, and a bit dry, but the chilli dip was perfect - coconutty and with juicy morsels of prawn and chicken. This goes quite well with plain rice too.
I also enjoyed the tumeric chicken ($15), which was char grilled chicken marinaded with lemongrass, coriander root and coconut cream. We liked the sauce so much that we requested for another serving and they gladly gave it to us. The chicken was juicy and not dry, and well exceeded our expectations. The sauce was slightly tangy, a little salty and sweet.
I also ordered pad thai ($12), which I always get whenever I go to a new thai restaurant. It's my favourite thai dish ever! I didn't quite like the way the pad thai was done, because there wasn't enough fish sauce - so the noodles ended up tasting way too sugary sweet. Maybe the taste was attenuated for the mostly non-local clintele. The noodles were done just right - slightly gooey and translucent, with bits of scrambled egg, dried prawns and tofu, and it was a pity that there wasn't enough fish sauce.
We also tried the Baby Snapper green curry($14), which was a refreshing change from the usual chicken green curry. The curry sauce was thick and had lots of fragrant coconut cream. It is cooked with holy basil and apple eggplants (small, round little eggplants). The snapper was fresh and flaky, and went well with the thick spicy curry.

The dessert ended my dinner on a sweet note - We had Pavalova with brown sugar cream and mango ($9), as recommended by the manager. The pavalova was crispy and brittle on the outside, and it melts once in your mouth. The mango was sweet and juicy, and coupled with the brown sugar cream and toasted, shredded coconut and a piece of pavalova, was a winning combination.

Although the restaurant is a mere 2 months old, business was brisk on the Sunday night that I visited. The ambience is relaxed and there's very nice decor. The service is very good, with staff who are knowledgable about the menu, as well as attentive and filling up the water glasses once you're done. Despite the 2 misses (pad thai and soup), I would return to try other dishes that the restaurant has to offer.

Sweet Salty Spicy

392/392 Upper Bukit Timah Road

The Rail Mall Singapore 678046

Tel 68772544

Sweet Salty Spicy serves lunch till 4pm on weekends (I think, but do call to confirm)

the cathay restaurant

I've kept this post for about a week cos I wanted to show you all this cute rat custard pastry :D

Tried the Cathay Restaurant (after a year after reading a review about it... I'm super snaily and slow! But I hardly even go to The Cathay to begin with... So of course I went with my mum (cos can shua ka! yayness!) It's so ex I'm so glad I didn't venture there myself! Not that I will be going there anytime soon cos I hardly ever go there.It's quite prettily done up inside, with lots of mordern decor and the service is a notch above average. The restaurant was quite empty when we got there cos we were quite early, starting just when the restaurant opened at 6pm. My first dish was Sharks Cartilage Soup (I think it was pretty ex - about $15 per person). I think I'm a cheapo and I prefer the Hei Se Hui one better (cos it's $12.80 and milkier). This one wasn't that thick and there wasn't that funny collagen-ey texture (I don't know how to describe it properly but then your tongue feels a bit sticky after drinking the soup).This is one of my favouritest Chinese dishes ever - but it's very mordern - it's scrambled egg white and scallop with white truffle oil! <3>

I quite like the presentation (I'm a sucker for presentation as you all already figured out - that's why I can stand to go back to Macaroon even though the service is really shitty!). They used the wolfberries to make cute plant decoration. The portion is quite small and I really can't remember how much it costs >.<This is the vermicelli and scallop noodles, this little portion was $7. It was quite light and tasty, and there was egg white and some chicken broth sauce in this dish too. My description sucks!!! omggg :\This is the handmade noodles with seafood. It's the stewed kind, so it comes with sauce. I quite like the texture of the noodles, it's like ban mian, and hence it's firmer and chewier than the normal kway teow that you get. The prawns were the crystal prawns so they were nice and juicy! I just found out how to make crystal prawns!!! All along I always thought the prawns my dad buys from the market weren't fresh! But its cos we weren't cooking them properly! Haiz!
This is my dessert! It's a CNY special - Custard Rat and Peanut coated nian gao! I also tried the mango pomelo sago - nothing fantastic cos it was too watery. The only saving grace was that the mango was quite fragrant and it wasn't too sweet.

The Cathay

2 Handy Road

#02-01 The Cathay

Singapore 229233

Reservations Hotline Number : 6732 788

Tel : 6732 6623

Fax : 6732 1203

Anyway, I was reading Urban today (yes i'm very behind...), and omg! DId you know that one Bak Kwa is 370 calories!!! 1.2km burns 100 calories only! So you'll have to run like 3.6km to get rid of that misearble not even filling piece of meat!!!

And pineapple tarts are 82 calories per PIECE! Maybe the open top kind has less calories??? HAHA cos I don't even like the tart I only like the pineapple :D

And my favourite Kueh Bangkit is only 23 calories!

Omg to the ppl who ate all the kueh bangkit and the yucky mango tarts at Pok's aud****! HAHA I mean if a mango tart has the same calories as pineapple tart, then kenrick must have like over 15 tarts? and not counting Kueh Bangkits(sssssss) HAHA nvm those skinny poks need it!!!

Chocolate Ganache Tart

After paying so much for the Chocolate Factory's Chocolate Tart, and having such horrible service on 2 different occasions (the latest which I have not blogged about but basically they weren't intersted in letting me pay my bill and let other people cut my que), I've decided NOT to patronise them anymore! Instead, I have learnt how to make my own chocolate tart - to save my $6 plus per piece and to not receive anymore lousy service.

My inspiration is from Cafe Fernando, which has many dessert recipes and very beautiful photos. Furthermore, the recipes are pretty simple. Ganache is actually very simple to do - just melt 200g dark chocolate/semi sweet chocolate with 1 cup of thickened cream.

The decorations are dried cranberries and pistachios which are sold in a pre-mixed pack from cold storage, which costs $3.85 for 100g.

I hope it tastes nice! *cross fingers*

Ahhh it tastes quite nice! I took a pinch from the side already!!! But it's quite heavy I think... Nvm hope there's more left so i can bring it home to eat :D

Taos - Paradiz Centre

Where can you find a 5 course set lunch + Drink + Free Flow Bread for $23 nett in CBD?

I went to Paradiz Centre for the first time in my life! Cos I always get lost at all the one way street places and then got sooo many ERP gantrys it's such a put off! and the carpark is so expensive!

But the lunch at Taos was so yummy I wanna go back again again again! And it's cheap too - about $23 nett for a six course set lunch including a drink. Obviously they aren't going to serve you prime cut meat at this price, but the overall dining experience was very enjoyable and that's why I wanna go back again.

The starter was Ham and Cheese Gratin, served with free flow of thick toast (the kind that you eat at Hong Kong Cafe with peanut butter) which is well toasted and crispy on one side and served warm.

The starter came really fast, and it goes really well with the thick toast. It's not as thick and cheesy as the kind you find in other restaurants but then for the price, I'm not going to complain. Furthermore, it wasn't laden with salt and there were little bits of ham inside.
There were a few choices for the salad - I tried the Crabmeat Salad recommdned by the waiter which consisted of peaches, crunchy cucumbers and crabmeat (the fake kind). It was very refreshing and unique - next time I ever have a lunch at my house, I shall make this :D This is the Farmer Boy Salad (or something liddat can't remember the name) which was roast chicken on a green salad.
This is the soup - we tried the western kind - Cream of Mushroom and Cream of Pumpkin. I thought the mushroom soup looked really good cos there was really alot of mushrooms inside. The pumpkin soup was quite tasty though I thought it was a bit thin.

For my main course, I chose the lamb cutlets - they were suprisingly tender and juicy, and with the simple marinade of black pepper and salt. There was a mint dipping sauce (not the mint jelly kind) to accompany the lamb.This is the pork ribs with some funny bbq sauce. It's very tender and the meat falls off the bone and it sort of reminds me like Cafe Cartel's St Louise Pork Ribs. Even though it looks like only 3 ribs, it's actually quite alot of meat.Dessert time! I ate the Yan Sheng Poached Pear (or some chinese name thing I think it's yanshang? yan shen? hmm i'm not too sure anyway, I don't even know what it is) but it's very nice and light after such a heavy meal. Hehe i'm so glad I didn't order the creme brulee, which was actually quite nice, but then it's so creamy and filling after such a heavy meal.

The drink isn't the crummy cheapo 'soft drink' kind - they actually have different teas and the teas aren't those dilma teabag - they really put in fruits and rose petals for mine! And real grapefruit etc for the rest too

On top of that, they also serve hot green tea (which is also flavoured with something but I'm not too sure what, it's some floral thing) for free.

One of the more impressive things is that even though the prices are low, the service is way above average, with friendly staff who know their menu.

Peach Garden

Had my Grandmother's 80th bday dinner @ Peach Garden Novena (the family default for special occasion Chinese dinners)
Here's a v costly set (cos ren shen qi shi gu lai xi! aiya this is probably wrong but it's something like live to 70 v rare already!)
My grandmother is very smart - she will celebrate her Chinese and English birthdays every year, so fun right! got TWO birthdays and you don't age twice as fast either! HAHA I should go and find out when my Chinese Birthday is!

Longevity Buns - hehe we know this person who looks like a longevity bun!
Starter - Fried Egg Plant with Pork Floss

It's very crispy and it's so disguised under the pork floss that nearly everyone said it didn't taste or look like egg plant, which is quite saddening cos i really like eggplant
My fave dish of the day! So exciting! I've hardly eaten suckling pig! And this was a WHOLE suckling pig to the table! So exciting! Actually, I dun like the suckling pig skin. Think of it - it's exactly like LARD. But I do like the sauce and the cucumber and the spring onion and the bread thing. And of course, the deliciously tender meat! It's so juicy and it has this very interesitng taste and smell which is very different from the porky smell that a full grown pig has! Apparently in Phillippines, they don't eat suckling pigs cos it's quite cruel - it's better to fatten up all the Babe lookalikes into those ugly humongous monsters and have a village feast :D I mean if it's so ugly anyway, it doesn't really break your heart killing and eating it...

This is the sharks fin soup - quite normal but cos it's a celebration, must have sharks fin soup.This is the wasibi prawn and salted egg prawn. I love the salted egg prawns! (Salted egg crab is also very yummy too!) The prawns are the crystal kind that spurt their juices out when you crunch into them.Some fish with black fungus and bamboo shoots I think. Braised Spinach Tofu and abalone and spinach. I dunno why this kind of tofu is always so expensive - issit very hard to put spinach at the bottom of the tofu while setting it?? Anyway, the spinach is probably the baby spinach cos it's so soft and not fibrous at all. Eefu noodles with seafood. By this time everyone was so super stuffed already...But of course, there's always space for dessert! My fave Mango Pomelo sago! :D But I think the Liang Seah Street Ah Chew Dessert place beats thsi hands down cos theirs is thicker and creamier
Complimentary dessert - Water Chestnut Cake and Custard Pau. I just realised that this is probably my first time eating waterchestnutcake (ma ti gao)! Oh no I haven't eaten so many things!!!

The dinner cost us about $60 somethign per person which is quite ok I suppose since I got to eat suckling pig yum yum!

Cherry QQ and Picanto

Incase you are thinking I'm going to blog about scrambled eggs, this is not a food post! These are eggs my lovebirds laid they're smaller than quails eggs and the nest has lots of Cherry QQ's feathers and fluff.
This is Cherry QQ (it's CheRRy QQ and not Chery QQ) who is pretending to be a featherduster. He/She will waddle back to the nest whenever I want to peer/take photos of it and fluff up and be super protective. Hope that Cherry QQ's a male cos if not the eggs won't hatch! Cos Picanto is most probably a female.
This is Picanto who is now lonely an put into a smaller cage cos Cherry QQ keeps biting her. Since her cage is so small, she must come out for exercise every 2 days.

Canele - Dessert Galore

hohoho so exciting on 24th Jan (super long ago but nvm cos I was backlogging for v long) we were happily treated to yummy canele :D of course, since it was a treat, I already set my mind up to getting the crepe cos it's the more expensive thing on the menu (but I was so nice I nv go and buy the most expensive crepe which was $15 bucks, mine was $13.80)Oh but then again I bought a pistachio macaroon and pok bought a violet macaroon. Such expensive macaroons each was like $2.30! The violet macaroon is much better even though the colour looks like purple tinged cement. There is a subtle violet taste and smell and there's a icing/buttery layer in the middle to glue the two pieces of macaroons together.
I didn't quite like the pistachio one cos the taste was too light and the butter layer was very very much more buttery than the lavander, which was sweeter.

The square cake on the right is fish's cake which is quite a good choice if you're paying for your own dessert cos it's really quite alot for the pirce, i think it's about 5 bucks? and it's quite a big fat piece so you can eat till your hearts content but it's quite tiring to eat the whole thing yourself. And very sweet to. I can't really remember what it tastes like though - probably not very fantastic cos if not I would have remembered it.

This isn't my dessert - it's Claire's but then it's my fave dessert which I think is quite unworth-it to buy that day cos it was $8 and really not very big. HAHA I am such a cheapskate - I recommend everyone to go and buy the ice cream tub of L'Amour Ice Cream which is absolutely yummy! The eat in L'Amour ice cream is a mere ONE scoop (quite generous) but then they top it with rose meringue and lychee bits :D Ah maybe I should go and buy a tub soon and buy a nice piece of meringue to go along with it and put in my own canned lychees .
Rose ice cream is NOT Bandung Ice cream!! The rose is much more fragrant, and it's not a syrup like bandung which is so cloyingly sweet, and it's a flavour that synthetic rose can never get cos it's so fragrant and light.This is Pok's dessert which is the Hazelnut Ice cream with Nutella Crepe (of course this isn't the atas canele name but I can't remember it already). I thought the Hazelnut Ice Cream was a bit too icy, it's probably the last bit of ice cream at the bottom of the ice cream tub which has been freezed and thawed countless of times. But nevertheless, it's hazelnut ice cream and it's one of my more favourite ice cream flavours.
This is my Mont Blanc Crepe - argh! I'm so upset with myself cos i already tried this and didn't like the taste but then I forgot and ordered it again!!!! SIGHHH. A more detailed post about the chestnut crepe here.This is the apple crepe it wasn't mine but I pinched an apple which was quite nice - it's the kind that has been cooked in sugar syrup to get that nice brown hue.Ths 15 dollar chocolate crepe looks super delicious! Next time i'm ordering this - no more Mont blanc for me!

This post has been "sponsored" by TXQ who paid for all the desserts :D Happy 22nd Birthday Super old and ahpek now stop being so childish!