Kele - Swiss Roll Bliss!

A must-try for swiss roll lovers! I only got to know about kele when I tried their mooncakes that my sister had brought for us. The special fillings of those mooncakes left a deep impression on me since it is like no others. I mean, where else can you can rose or avocado filling? So when I googled on this company and found that they sell swiss rolls with the same type of fillings, I know I got to get my greedy hands on them. But I do not have the time to go there despite my cravings. So imagine my surprise when I see kele’s booth at Yishun Northpoint, near the famed Tiger Sugar. And I hardly hesitate to buy three rolls at one go.

I love the cream to cake sponge ratio of this swiss roll, which is lots of cream in proportion to the cake sponge. The cake sponge of this swiss roll is pretty okay, but what seals the deal is the thick, rich dollop of cream with a ring of cake sponge wrapped around it.

Avocado Gula Melaka absolutely blows me away with the combination of the buttery goodness of avocado and the aroma of caramel in gula melaka sugar. It is so rich and favourful. Definitely a must-try of kele’s repertoire.

I like Rose Cream Cheese a lot too as I am a fan of rose desserts and this swiss roll is packed with the sweet fragrance of rose.

Strawberry Cream Cheese, made with real strawberries, looks so pretty. It has the tangy taste due to the strawberries added. I like it that it tastes natural. But it does pale in comparison to Avocado and Rose Cream Cheese due to the lack of novelty in taste. It works very well in mooncakes, but with cake, it is nice, just that I had tried lots of strawberry cakes, so it does not woo me over like the other two favours.

The swiss rolls here are probably one of the best, only rivaled by Chateraise’s Berry Rare Cheese Fluffy Roll.

Nearest car park: Vivovity’s car park
Nearest MRT: Habourfront

1 Habourfront Walk
Vivocity #B2-K10
Singapore

Bakerzin - Stick to the Desserts

Closed

This is kind of like the long overdue post because I had visited this cafe way before Izy Dining & Bar, Nakhon Kitchen and even Chateraise. But the motivation to translate the experience into words is not that strong. How things have changed. Bakerzin is the cafe that introduced me to the world of premium desserts. The first time I tried the Jivara cake, the pure chocolatey richness of the cake blew me away. And from there, I went on the quest to try out as many delectable desserts as possible. But as tough competitors join the local culinary scene, raising up the bar, I no longer patronize Bakerzin anymore, especially after the awful service I had encountered at Paragon. A sure fire way to get me to boycott eateries is very bad service, including those of hawker stalls.

Bakerzin still holds a special place in my heart though. My guy and I did go there often for dates. And he still believes that Jivara is the best chocolate cake he ever has. So when I passed by the cafe in Vivocity, I decided to take the plunge and try out their offerings.

The Pineapple Rice with Chicken is quite a disaster in my opinion. Being very particular about quality of rice, I find the rice here to be lacking in aroma of rice, and the surface is dull, having no shine. Saved for the yellow colour and few cubes of pineapple, there is nothing about the taste and smell that deem it as pineapple rice. The chicken is not fresh. I can taste it, even with that lacklustre sauce, since I am sensitive to this. It is quite a torture to finish it actually.

The new creation, Lychee Rose Cake, redeems things a lot though. Rose and Lychee is a match made in heaven. Both have very distinctive fragrance, but in this cake, they complement each other to take sweetness to greater heights. The sweetness I am referring to here is in terms of the smell. Taste wise, it is just right in sweetness, not cloyingly. The shortbread base does well to add variation in taste and texture through a bit of butter flavour and crunchiness to the two types of mousses.

Service is not bad, but not great either. They get all the basics done: responding promptly to requests, etc. But there is this lingering air of coldness about them. Does not help that when I first entered the cafe, the two staff just looked at me, doing nothing, like they thought I was taking a tour of the cafe?

So conclusion is this place can still be considered for a get-together to enjoy desserts and cakes. Just don't have high expectations if one is ordering the pineapple rice. And based on the standard of this dish, I am not expecting the other savoury dishes to be good.

My Thoughts: Well ...

This place is no longer in operation

Bornga - Enjoyable Korean Fare

Closed

It is by pure chance that I stepped into Bornga for my lunch since I happened to hang around Vivocity and was in no mood for either Chinese cuisine or Italian cuisine. I did not expect much, but I was quite pleasantly surprised to find that this place serves pretty good grilled pork.

While the side dishes are very ordinary and do little to refresh the palates and whet the appetite, the spicy grilled pork, Dwaeji Gohchujang Barbecue, get the thumbs-up from me. Each moist, thin, fresh pork slice is saturated with flavours of the spicy specialty sauce. It is hearty dish to tuck into.

But when I saw the plate of sliced, raw pork served to the table beside me, I was glad that I did not order that. Because the slices are so thick, and so far, my experiences with eating such thick slices of meat, especially at Korean restaurants, were all nightmares. Of course that is just me only.

With the scenic view of the harbour beside Vivocity, the ambience is pretty good for a casual meal. And I'm glad that the oil and smoke from another table did not suffuse to my side. Service is not bad, the staff did gain extra points by bidding farewell to patrons.

If I happen to be at Vivocity, I sure do not mind dropping by to have a meal.

My Thoughts: Not Bad

Nearest car park: Vivocity's car park

Nearest MRT: Habourfront

#02-123 Vivocity

1 Habourfront Avenue

Singapore

Contact No: 63768268

Paradise Dynasty - Interesting Xiao Long Bao

I had tried xiao long bao, those little dumplings packed with pork and broth, in lots of places. So far, Ding Tai Feng's ones are one of the better ones because this place specializes in making xiao long bao. Paradise Group tries to challenge Ding Tai Feng with Paradise Dynasty, whose focus is on xiao long bao, to top it off, features a variety of this well-lived dim sum. Well, I was sceptical but ended up leaving the place feeling somewhat impressed.

Unlike the disappointing xiao long bao—the meat is not fresh—I had in Canton Paradise, the ones in Paradise Dynasty have thin silky dough skin wrapped around the fresh meat. Yes, they are comparable to the ones in Ding Tai Feng. What gives the dumplings here an extra edge is the array of flavours available. My favourite got to be the ginseng one. The slightly bitterness and herbal flavour goes very well with the meat. Kind of reminds me of those nourishing herbal soups. By the way, do not mix in the shredded ginger and vinegar as these will eclipsed the delicate flavour of ginseng. Another one of my favourite is the foie gras one, which surprises me on how this Western and Chinese combination works. The taste is unique yet not over the top, thus able to please my palates. The truffle xiao long bao is not bad, but this is not exactly match made in heaven. I feel the full potential of the oh-so-delightful woody aroma of truffle is not realized in the makeup of xiao long bao.

Cheese xiao bao long hits the wrong notes for me. The minced meat is too strong in flavour and too mashed in texture to complement the cheese well. The crab roe one tastes too fishy to my liking. Garlic xiao long bao is not bad, but does not offer anything unique like the ginseng and foie gras ones. The szechuan dumpling has very strong flavours. This resembles the wanton in chili oil. I like it but I can only stomach one piece because it is fiery hot.

The radish pastry has excellent crispy skin, and the filling is not too salty, which is good. Though it is not exactly noteworthy in terms of overall taste.

The service is a notch better than the other Paradise outlets, not counting in Paradise Pavilion, the crown jewel of Paradise group.

I sure do not mind going back for the ginseng xiao long bao if in the mood for a casual dining experience.

My Thoughts: Pretty Good

Nearest car park: Vivocity's car park

Nearest MRT: Habourfront

1 Harbourfront Walk, #03-08A

Vivocity

Singapore
Contact No: 6376 8103

J Pot - Not bad alternative for steamboat meal

Closed

Nearest J Pot is kind of a welcome addition to the list of restaurants featuring non buffet style steamboat (buffet types always have really meh items for the spread, plus the lack of general hygiene is off-putting). And the nice thing about this place is that each patron has his very own hot pot, so no compromising with others on the ingredients to be added as compared to sharing.

One of the strong points of this restaurant is the table of condiments for us to mix up one's concoction of special sauce and the addition of the Jumbo's sauce helps a lot to yield a yummy, tasty dipping sauce. Another plus point is the inclusion of scallops in the set menu; a seldom seen item in most set meals. The J Pot Superior is filled with a multitude of savoury, appetite whetting flavours; this is the recommended broth to order. Laksa soup base is very flavourful also, though it is extremely hot. Most importantly, the ingredients are fresh.

The lowlight is the service, ambience and the utensils. The service is very typical of Chinese restaurants; busy with only small hints of forced friendliness and it is hard to get their attention. Ambience is more of functional type which provides a relative vast space for one to enjoy the hot pot, but there seems to be a not-so-pleasant smell hanging in the air, looks to be the effect of pots of soup boiling. The utensils are all of melamine material which kind of cheapens the whole image of the restaurant, though I guess it is to prevent patrons from breaking the expensive porcelain ones.

Despite all the shortfalls, I don't mind going back if there is a craving for steamboat and my wallet wants to take break from the expensive one at Imperial Treasure.

My Thoughts: Pretty Good

Note: This restaurant is no longer in operation.

Jamie's Italian - Decent

Closed

Got to dine in this restaurant due to sheer coincidence, since I'm not exactly the kind who will rush to check out this restaurant due to hype. My impression is that Jamie's Italian is more like casual joint.

While the menu and spread look quite Italian on first glance, the dishes are hardly Italian in taste, though the taste is agreeable to one's palates. The crispy squid is spiced up with chilli and garlic, nice combination that goes very well with the mayonnaise. The texture of the squid is soft enough not to require excessive biting on the patrons' part. As for the crab spaghetti, the taste is zesty and slightly tangy, definitely is more Asian than European. I found that last bit of the spaghetti to be extremely flavourful due to the soaking of the smooth, slightly springy spaghetti in the sauce.

Ambience is kind of like those typical mid-range restaurants, nothing special though still not bad. Service fulfills the minimum standard and it helps that the staff at the reception took the extra effort to bid goodbye.

Frankly speaking, I feel that the food, ambience and service here tend more towards the likes of Swensen's (of course, the quality and attention to details are far better in Jamie's), rather than authentic Italian restaurants, such as Basilico. All in all, I don't mind dining at here since the food is nice.

My Thoughts: Nice!

This restaurant is no longer in operation.

Marche Restaurant (Vivocity) - Great for family outings

What I like about Marche is that this place is extremely pro-family, providing coloured pencils and drawings paper for kids, and the market will do a lot of catch kids' attention (and let them learn a thing or two about food produces). Free balloons are given and the staff are generally quite ok with kids fooling around a bit. It helped that the decor of the place exudes a homely feel.

Food wise, there is quite a variety of food available for choosing from stir fried vegetables (not bad) to pickled vegetable salad (very crunchy and refreshing), grilled meat with mashed potato to chicken wings (all are not bad, though the meat on chicken wings is more flavorful than the grilled ones), paella rice (this has broken bones in it, tasted stale and dry, avoid), rosti (great texture and taste) to mushroom soup (very rich in flavor), and cakes (do not look tempting enough for me to try out them) to crepes (a must order if in Marche, since the combination of crepe and quality Movenpick ice cream with delicious spread like, chocolate hazelnut, mascarpone, tasted so good. The fruits added do nothing to enhance the taste though).

The food may not be stellar but decent enough for a casual family outing. All in all, highly recommended for families!

My Thoughts: Not Bad

Nearest car park: Vivocity's car park

Nearest MRT: Habourfront

VivoCity 1 HarbourFront Walk
Sky Park #03-14
Singapore
Contact No: 63768226