Singapore Food Blog - Tart Blanc

Location: Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Updated: This business is permanently closed.

Recommended: Various tarts, Mint Cucumber tea

I have to confess that Millenia Walk is not my usual haunt - in fact I have never been there before if it wasn't for a Groupon voucher which we purchased to try out this store named Tart Blanc. For SGD11.80, we get to enjoy a tea set worth SGD24 for 2 that include 2 tarts and 2 hot beverages. With such an irresistible offer, how could we not give it a try?

Tart Blanc fits the description of "hole in the wall" literally by fitting into a small space, accommodating at most 5 - 6 couples, its counter occupying the other half of the store. With an unassuming exterior, we almost missed it if we were not looking for it. However my limited French allowed me to appreciate this artisan cafe's choice of various shades of white as its main theme, from the Chinese lantern styled lamps to the paint on the wall, for "blanc" is "white" in French.

Tart Blanc - it is French for "tart white", an apt description of their main selling pastry and the color of choice for interior decor.

Singapore Food Blog - Oriole Coffee & Bar

Location: Orchard, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Note: There are a number of food spots under the same name but with different focus. This post is written base on the dining experience in Oriole Coffee and Bar in 313 Somerset branch. Experience may vary from that of other outlets.

Recommended: Fully Loaded (SGD20), Capelinni Crabmeat (SGD26), St Louis Pork Ribs (SGD26), Oriole spiced ships (available with Fish and Chips, or St Louis Pork Ribs)

There are few food spots or cafe in Orchard Road where we would enjoy a lovely brunch and Oriole is one of those. Although the cafe cum bar opens until late night, we almost always patronize for brunch or lunch, not dinner. It has a hip kind of feel to its decor and I like the way they attend to the details, from the simple but stylish menu to the fonts on the table numbers.

There is an outback look to things in Oriole on the exterior with its wooden tables. The similarity to an outback is distinctly less so in the mostly ocher interior. Seated at the planked tables outside enhanced that feel but fortunately the interior is air conditioned, so we can still choose to enjoy a less outback setting in a comfortable atmosphere. Sometimes the interior is fully seated and we have to take a seat outside, which could be quite comfortable if it is not too hot.

Oriole's stylish menu

Malaysia Food Blog - House of Häagen-Dazs @ De Garden, Ipoh - A Chinese New Year Chocolate fondue experience

Location: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

Note: This post is written base on the dining experience in De Garden, Ipoh branch. Experience may vary from that of other outlets.

Recommended: Chocolate Fondue (RM68)

Somebody in the house (my sister actually) wanted to try Häagen-Dazs’ chocolate fondue but not willing to spend her hard earned money. Out of pity and curiosity I relented after she ranted for months for a treat from me, and I also thought it would be a nice experience for the old folks at home to try something young. 

Welcome to the House of Häagen-Dazs! Somehow those scratches seem to reduce the feel of a premium brand...

Singapore Food Blog - Department of Caffeine

Location: Duxton Road, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Updated 1-Jan-2017: This outlet is permanently closed.

I have read enough of "Top 10 cafes to visit in Singapore" that has been shared in the internet and I saw that Department of Caffeine has been on most of those list. Most probably they all copied from the same source and duplicate it as their own list of top 10, but the name itself is quite catchy. You definitely will look for a "department" of caffeine when you are looking for a cuppa joe.

Caffe Mocha (SGD5.50) - thick, good mix of espresso and chocolate, and topped with a nice latte art. What more could you ask for? The cuppa joe would get more acidic at the bottom, most probably due to the choice of coffee bean and method of roasting, so be prepared for that.

2014 Germany Trip - Eiscafé Mauro @ Rothenburg

Location: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

German: Eis is German for ice-cream (yes, fooled you didn't it)
               Eiscafé is German for ice-cream parlor, a place which sells ice-cream (not really a café)

Itinerary and full experience of my visit to Germany can be accessed through the link below:

2014 - Germany trip

Have you ever considered eating ice-cream when the weather around you is lower than 10°C? I had. It was quite fun and contrary to my initial belief, it didn't make me colder. With the environment being so cold, consuming scoops of ice-cream had little effect on my body temperature.

Good weather for an ice-cream

Singapore Food Blog - Café Gavroche

Location: Tanjong Pagar, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

I have no knowledge of this cafe tucked in Tras Street if not for my friend's recommendation, who in turn heard of it from his friend. He did warn me that the food was exorbitant relative to its meal but patrons usually visited for its ambiance that was famed for trying to duplicate the Parisian atmosphere.

Cafe Gavroche was its name, but it wasn't easy for us to locate it in our fist visit. Instead of a large signage declaring its name to everyone, the cafe was satisfied with a small one that was easily missed. For those returning patrons however, its front would be hard to miss - potted plants flanked its entrance which could easily convinced that you were about to enter another world 14 hours away.

The sign of the cafe is not easily located, but once you recognized the front of the cafe with its potted plants then locating it along Tras Street would be a breeze. The bar is right across the street from this cafe and opens in the evening.

Singapore Food Blog - Bakerzin @ Orchard Paragon

Location: Orchard, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Updated 29-Nov-2015: This outlet in Orchard Paragon is permanently closed. Outlets of Bakerzin can still be located in other locations through here: outlet locations.

Note: This post is written base on the dining experience in Orchard Paragon branch. Experience may vary from that of other outlets.

Every once in a while I would walk past a Bakerzin cafe, its colorful confectioneries attracting my interest now and then but rarely did I stop for a break there. That was until once when I spied this one in Orchard Paragon and thought that I could get a break there, what with the cafes overflowing nearly everywhere on a busy weekend packed full of shoppers.

My impression of Bakerzin as a confectionery store and coffee serving cafe was challenged when I flipped through their menu and saw that they offered several main dishes as well. They served drinks, both caffeine laced and caffeine free, delivering enough to suit diners with different taste.

Bakerzin's menu is like a recipe book. Each section of the menu start off with an introduction of some ingredient highlights , some of which pointed to their nutritious values in the dishes in subsequent pages.

Singapore Food Blog - Brunch @ DOME, Plaza Singapura

Location: Dhoby Ghaut, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Updated: This branch has ceased operation.

I am not unfamiliar with DOME cafe, having tried it in Malaysia a few times. Lingering memory of good food and fragrant coffee offered by the cafe originating from Western Australia left me with longing. And on a few fine mornings, I just had to quench my insatiable thirst for its coffee by visiting the branch tucked in the middle of Plaza Singapura. After all, it did promote its coffee as "World's Finest Coffee".

Once in DOME Cafe, it is essential not to miss out on your coffee. 

Singapore Food Blog - O' Coffee Club @ Raffles City

Location: City Hall, Central Business District (CBD), Singapore

Note: This piece was written base on the dining experience in Raffles City Shopping Center's outlet. Experience may differ from those in another branch.

This opinion will be an affront to most people - Starbucks and Coffee Bean are highly overrated. For fans whose taste buds are attuned to their offers, they may depend their preferences, a point which I would not contest upon. I praise their loyalty to the brand and applause their choice. However for one who hold no loyalty to any particular brand and who is on the lookout for novel beverage offerings, O' Coffee Club seemed to be a particularly good choice to me. Which is why I am dedicating this post to one of their outlet, the one located on Level 3 of Raffles City Shopping Center.

O' Coffee Club of Raffles City enjoyed a corner of the shopping center next to Swiss Cafe.

2013 Hanoi Trip - Sketch Coffee (Sketch Cà Phê)

Location: Hanoi, Vietnam

Full experience of my visit to Hanoi can be accessed through the list below:

Attractions:   St Joseph's Cathedral | One Pillar Pagoda | Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum | Thang Long Water Puppet Theater | Lý Thái Tổ Garden

Dining:          New Day Restaurant | Bánh Cuốn Gia Truyền | Dương Hoa Kem Caramen | Thu Nga Kem Xôi & Chè Thái Lan

More about Hanoi can be read through the list below:
Vietnamese Dong

Sometimes stumbling blindly around during a backpack trip can be a bad idea, but there lies an equal chance of being pleasantly surprised as well. In the hours before our session of water puppet show began on the first day of our trip, we were tired from a day long walk around the Old Quarter. A cursory glance above our heads revealed a cafe in one of the neighboring buildings of Thang Long Water Puppet, except that we couldn't find the way to go up.

Sketch Coffee, a cafe located on the second floor on a neighboring building around Thang Long Water Puppet

Singapore Food Blog - Hatched @ Holland Village

Location: Holland Village, Singapore

Note: This piece was written base on the dining experience in Holland Village branch. Experience may differ from those in another branch.

Egg - one of the food items which removes the boundary of nations and cultures, catering vegetarians (some consider egg as a vegetarian food) and carnivores alike. Wherever you go, you can be sure that there will be at least a kind of food made from this universal food. You could fry it, bake it, boil it, half-boil it, scramble it or poach it. You can have it as a custard, omelette, tart or salad, even pickled or salted. The possibilities are endless. And it makes sense to have a cafe opened with a main theme based on eggs. You just couldn't go wrong with that. Thus was born one named Hatched.

Even salt and pepper are served through egg-shaped shakers! Something may hatch out of it... Salt and peppers perhaps?

Malaysia Food Blog - Madam Soon - A New Concept of the Spring

Location: E-Gate, Penang Isle

My old friends from my university years planned for a reunion in E-Gate, but we were not really sure where to head to. We saw Madam Soon right beside Old Town Cafe, and just out of curiosity, we went right in into a world of turquoise and amber.

Although the joint is called Madam Soon, the nice sprawling on the blackboard still tells otherwise.

Malaysia Food Blog - Hidden Recipe café

Location: Sungai Dua, Penang Isle

A shop which unabashedly copy the famous brand of Secret Recipe? That was my first thought, but a visit to the shop shows that it is anything but. Although it shares a word in its name with your favorite neighborhood confectionery shop, a taste of its food does give credit to its namesake.

The shop has a tropical outlook, and the interior is lined with wallpapers of bricks with photos of happy visiting diners decorating a portion of a wall. Glow of yellow light beckons lovers to spend a romantic dinner or the occasional passer-by to spend a relaxing night, although the interior is a little packed from the cramped arrangement of tables and chairs. Since it is strategically located just a few blocks from USM and with its offer of 10% discount off of set dishes for students of USM and INTI college who can show his student pass, you can expect this spot to be frequented by students.



Welcome to Hidden Recipe! Greetings from a tropical outlook and well-lit interior...

Malaysia Food Blog - Harvest In café

Location: Georgetown, Penang Isle

A birthday celebration a while back with one of my colleague introduced me to this wondrous café hidden in Jalan Irrawady. This small café has chosen a simple black and white as its motif, which is present from its decorations to its waiters and waitresses; the boss herself chose white as her uniform, which stands in stark contrast against the waiters and waitresses' black.

The celebration was only possible by arriving early, as it was fully packed within minutes, which goes to show how popular the place is. Although I do not remember what I ordered then, I do remember that the food was nice and that price was quite reasonable.

One sunny afternoon with nowhere in mind, my housemate and the two of us wandered into this same spot. She had heard of it from us, and would very much like to try this food haven for herself to verify whether it is as good as we said.