记得吃

Popped by Ji De Chi at Liang Seah Street. I think they have an outlet along Upper Cross Street too.

The first time I came here I had their shaved ice which I think was great. This time I took the hot milk pudding. The pudding a fairly strong taste of milk and was not too sweet. I think it was pretty good here, although still not enough to beat what I had in Hong Kong.

When I was in Hong Kong, I had a dessert which consisted of black glutinous rice and a piece of fresh mango fruit dunked in it. While the combination seemed weird, the sweetness of the black glutinous rice and the slight tang of the mango went well together.

Upon seeing this being served here albeit wrapped in green tea mochi, I decided to try it. The mochi was not overly chewy and the whole combination complemented itself well. I do wish they served what I had in Hong Kong though.

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Apple Raisin Bread Pudding

Had a craving for both tiramisu and bread pudding, and so wanted to make tiramisu bread pudding, but Marsala wine was all out of stock. So I made apple and raisins bread pudding instead.

This was what I made my Brioche for and turns out to be pretty good. The top was a little crusty, but the inside was still moist and soft.

Sweetness was just nice, and you can taste the hint of cinnamon coupled with the apple, raisins and custard flavours.

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Recipe

Brioche Bread (stale)
Apples 2 (Royal Gala)
Raisins as desired
Eggs 4
Sugar 3/4cup
Vanilla essence 1tsp
Cinnamon powder 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Milk 3cups

1. Remove the crust from the Brioche and cut into cubes. If your bread is not stale, bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees C.
2. Skin and core the apples and slice cross-sectionally.
3. Put the raisins in a bowl and soak in hot water.
4. In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients together.
5. Lay your cubed brioche in a pan and pour the egg mixture in. Soak for about 30 minutes.
6. I use 5cm wide aluminum molds for easy eating. Lightly butter the molds. The brioche will be mushy, so just grab an amount enough to line the bottom.
7. Lay some raisins and apple slices, before topping with another later of brioche.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes.

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Opera Cake

Wanted to make an opera cake for a long time, but always ended up making other stuff.

3 layers of almond sponge cake sandwiched with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.

The sponge turned out to be pretty good. However, I think if I ever make this again, I can drip more coffee onto it for a stronger flavour.

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Recipe

Cake
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
30g granulated sugar
225g ground blanched almonds
225g confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
70g all-purpose flour
45g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy.
2. In another bowl, beat the almonds, confectioners' sugar and whole eggs until light and voluminous.
3. Add the flour and beat on low speed only until it disappears.
4. Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture, then fold in the melted butter.
5. Pour into 3 10-inch pans and bake at 220 degrees C for 7 minutes.

Coffee Buttercream
10g instant coffee
15g hot water
100g sugar
30g water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1 egg yolk
200g unsalted butter

1. Make the coffee extract by dissolving the instant espresso in the boiling water; set aside.
2. Boil the sugar, water and vanilla essence in a small pot.
3. Beat the egg and the yolk in a bowl until the eggs are pale and foamy.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly pour in the boiling syrup. Beat until the eggs are thick, satiny and room temperature.
5. In another bowl, beat the butter until it is soft and creamy.
6. With the mixer on medium speed, steadily add the butter in 2-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been added, raise the speed and beat until thickened and satiny.
7. Beat in the coffee extract.
8. Chill the buttercream until it is firm enough to be spread.

Chocolate Ganache
240 grams bittersweet chocolate
125g whole milk
30g heavy cream
60g unsalted butter at room temperature

1. Bring the milk and cream to a full boil, pour it over the chocolate, wait 1 minute, then stir gently until the ganache is smooth and glossy.
2. Beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy, then stir it into the ganache in 2 to 3 additions.
3. Refrigerate the ganache until thickened and spreadable.

Chocolate Glaze
150g bittersweet chocolate
115g unsalted butter

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3. Melt the butter and mix well into the chocolate.


Assembly
1. On one layer of sponger, spread 3/4 of buttercream.
2. Place second layer of sponge on top and spread all the chocolate ganache.
3. Place the last layer of cake on top and spread the remaining buttercream.
4. Freeze the cake for 20 minutes.
5. Pour the glaze over the cake and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Slice the edges to clean up any uneven edges.

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Cinnamon Rolls

Another attempt at cinnamon rolls, and this time it is better...

This time, I did not over bake it and it came out soft enough. However, I think I did not put enough butter and cinnamon sugar, so although I can taste the cinnamon, it was not gooey enough.

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Recipe

Dough
Bread Flour 540g
Sugar 86g
Salt 8g
Yeast 11g
Fresh Cream 100g
Unsalted Butter 50g
Eggs 2

Proof for 1hr.

Cinnamon Sugar
Brown Sugar 1cup
Cinnamon powder 5tbsp
Raisins as desired

1. After proofing dough, roll out into a rectangular shape to desired thickness.
2. Spread 3tbsp of butter on the dough, before spreading the cinnamon sugar.
3. Bake at 180 degrees C for 16-20 minutes.

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Fruit Paradise

Fruit Paradise has been around for some time and the exquisite presentation of the tarts always catches my eye, but this is my first time trying it out.

Tried the the Grapefruit & Orange Tart, which had a cream cheese base. I like the pie crust which was crisp and aromatic. The cream cheese base was delicate and overall, it was not too sweet.

Chestnut Mont Blanc Strawberry Tart. This has a custard base, although the pie crust was pretty much the same. I never quite fancied chestnut cream as they usually feel pretty bland to me. I still preferred the cream cheese base over this.

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Ootoya 大戸屋

Back to Ootoya at Orchard Central, but now there's no longer as much crowd as before.

Shared this salad dish, which was a mix of seaweed, egg, taro and okra. Actually, it came with natto too, but we requested for it to be omitted as we were not quite into that. This was very light in taste and probably extremely healthy too.

Took the Sweet & Sour Chicken. I was a little disappointed that it did not come with the braised pumpkin side dish that I had the last time I was here. But the chicken pieces were fairly large and well coated with the tangy sauce.

Once again, we bought the waffles from Marvelous Cream. This time we tried the Tiramisu and Mandarin Orange Mango & Pineapple Yogurt. The Tiramisu was great, and the chocolate within was soft yet intense.

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Manjyuu..or at least intended to be

Wanted to make Japanese manjyuu; guess I failed and came out tasting like a biscuit, but it was not that bad after all.

Added a mochi in between out of my own imagination. I think it would have been better if my skin had succeeded. Well, another one to add to my "to master" list.

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Red Bean Mochi

Actually this was a test for something I am intending to make as I had extra red bean left from my Green Tea Mousse & Red Bean cake, but it turned out to be pretty good.

Mochi turned out to pretty soft and not too chewy. This was achieved by adding some rice flour to the mix, as I initially tried one batch without rice flour and it turned out to be too chewy when cooled.

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Recipe

Glutinous Rice Flour 80g
Rice Flour 20g
Sugar 20g
Water 120ml
Corn/Potato starch for dusting

1. Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add in water and mix well until no more lumps.
2. Pop into the microwave at High for 30 seconds.
3. Stir and microwave at High for 20 seconds.
4. Repeat step 3 for another 2-3 times until you get an off-white coloured sticky paste. Go slow so that you do not overcook it and end up with it being too dry.
5. Allow it to cool. It will be very sticky, so dust the mochi and your hands with corn starch.

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Funan Weng Hor Fun & Once Upon a Milk Shake

Was just trying to settle lunch as this was not the main reason we were in the area, so we went to Funan Weng at Maxwell Chambers.

I took their signature hor fun, which came with prawns and chicken. The hor fun was very thin and soft, which I rather like. The chicken was all meat, yet very tender. Prawns were succulent and fresh, although it looks a little deceiving here as they were in fact sliced in half.

Next we went round the building to our main reason coming to this area - Once Upon a Milk Shake. The decor was interesting with some lower than usual stools and tables.

Was contemplating taking the Litchi or Rum & Raisin initially. At the last minute, I changed my mind and decided to try the chocolate which was supposedly the most popular. It was indeed very creamy and chocolate-y, although somehow it tasted a little like Milo to me. My friend took the Rum & Raisin, which was pretty intense.

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Green Tea Mousse & Red Bean Cake

As much as I like chocolate, it was time to attempt something else apart from the usual chocolate and cheese related stuff.

Covered with green tea chocolate ganache. Ganache's was a little too sweet in my opinion. I had a problem, though. Whenever making a souffle kind of sponge cake, it will always shrink at the top end as it cooled, leaving somewhat of a trapezium cross section. In the end, I had to trim off the sides, resulting in a smaller cake.

Three layers of souffle sponge with green tea mousse in between, as well as adzuki or japanese red bean.

I like the end result. The cake was soft, and the combination of green tea and red bean went well together. I did think the green tea taste could have been stronger. And I still need to improve my skills at stacking a layered cake and applying the ganache.

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Recipe
Printable Recipe


Sponge Cake
Eggs 4
Castor Sugar 90g
Water 30g
Vegetable Oil 50g
Flour 90g
Green Tea powder 1 1/2tsp

1. Separate the yolks from the whites.
2. In a bowl, mix the yolks, water, oil and half of the sugar together.
3. Add in the green tea powder and flour, and mix well till no longer lumpy. You will have a thick batter.
4. In a clean bowl, whisk the eggs into a meringue, adding the remaining sugar as you go along.
5. Fold the meringue into the batter.
6. Bake at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Green Tea Mousse
Castor Sugar 70g
Fresh Milk 150g
Green Tea Powder 2tsp
Whipping Cream 300g
Gelatine Powder 10g
Water 50ml

1. Dissolve the gelatine powder in the water.
2. Heat the milk and dissolve the sugar and green tea powder in.
3. Remove from heat, add in the gelatine and leave to cool.
4. Whip the cream until fold into the cooled milk mixture.

Green Tea Ganache
White Chocolate 200g
Cream 200g
Green Tea Powder 2tsp

1. Melt the white chocolate in a microwave at High for a minute.
2. Heat the cream over your stove and mix in the green tea powder.
3. Pour the hot cream into the chocolate and mix well, ensuring all the chocolate had melted and mixed well with the cream. Leave to cool, or put into your freezer for a while until it become thick and more easily spreadable.

Assembly
You will need a can of adzuki beans which is already cooked and sugared.

1. Slice the cake into your preferred number of layers. Or you can even bake and extra round of the sponge cake to create thicker layers.
2. Alternate the mousse and sponge cake layers, adding in your desired amount of red beans within each mousse layer. It's easier if you have a cake ring you can use. I didn't, so I refrigerated the mousse until it is thick and spreadable.
3. Once all the layers are completed, spread a little of your cooled ganache all around cake pop into the fridge until it is a little solidified. This helps in sealing the crumbs of the cake and avoid a grainy texture on the ganache.
4. Spread the ganache over the cake until the whole cake is well covered.

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Din Tai Fung

I have not been to Din Tai Fung for a long time. Frankly, while the food isn't all that bad, I prefer places where I can be spoilt for choice.

Ordered the sour and spicy soup which turned out to be not spicy and only a little sour. I think the stall below my workplace serves better soup.

I had the Fried Rice with prawns. A tad too oily and while still fairly aromatic, did not seem to be as much as what I remembered it to be, although I have to admit my last visit was years back, so maybe it's my memory that's fuzzy.

We ordered the prawn and meat dumplings. I have never been crazy over the dumplings, so they tasted as what I expected them to be. I did feel that the insides could do with a little more fillings than what they provided as seen in the pic below.

This red date dish was pretty nice in my opinion. Basically, it's red dates stuffed with mochi in the centre. The dates were a little sweet, although I'm not too sure if it was the natural sweetness or just having been sugared. The mochi in between did however balance well with the sweetness, and was not overly chewy. Overall, its texture was pretty unique, but this is definitely not for people who do not like herbal-like stuff.

Pay your bill with a Citibank credit card and you can get a free basket of 6 of yuanyang dumplings. This is a dessert dish with yam and red bean paste inside the dumpling. I thought this was quite nice and not too sweet.

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Dessertstory

Dessertstory at Tiong Bahru Plaza sells a variety of Chinese desserts and some savoury snacks as well.

I was in a yam paste mood, so I decided to buy some. The sweetness was just right as I do not like overly sweet stuff. However, I think it was a little tad too oily, but yam paste would not be 'smooth' enough without the oil. The blandness of the gingko balances with the sweetness as always.

Another Chinese dessert I will surely buy is the steamed milk pudding. I still miss the one I ate in Hong Kong. This one was a little sweet, but otherwise milk taste was pretty strong.

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Caffe Beviamo

Had lunch at Caffe Beviamo at Tanglin Mall, where my friend said there was good Sticky Date & Toffee Pudding.

The cafe serves a variety of sandwiches, pasta, salads and pizzas. I was adventurous and tried the Kumera sandwich. This basically consisted of sweet potato, lettuce, cheese and tomato pesto. It was quite a unique blend of tastes as you seldom find sweet potato in sandwiches, coupled with warm melting cheese oozing with every bite.

Finally, the reason why we were here in the first place - Sticky Date & Toffee Pudding. This was presented slightly differently, as it came in squarish slices with the vanilla ice cream sandwiched in between. The pudding was moist and soft, and in my opinion, does not lose out to Marmalade Pantry's. The vanilla ice cream however seemed pretty ordinary, and if I recall correctly, Marmalade Pantry's vanilla ice cream had a richer taste.

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Marutama Ramen @ Liang Court

Been patronizing Marutama Ramen since they first opened at Central, and I am glad to say their standard is still there after so long.

I took the Aka-Ramen, which is soup base made from seven nuts, and which has always felt unique to me compared to the usual tonkotsu stock. It is not overly salty and the tang from the pickles and lemon made it appetizing. The egg was runny on the inside as always. Marutama's egg has never disappointed.

We also ordered the yaki char siu, which was as flavourful as before. Slightly crisp at the edges and soft at the centre. The only time when I eat meat with fats and all.

The gyoza while looking fiery is not spicy at all. After all, Japanese food is never really that spicy.

Ended off lunch with a brief stop at Cedele Depot, where we had cakes. I took the Orange Chocolate Cheesecake. Unfortunately, the flavours of this did not blend as well as what I had at other places. The bitterness of the orange came through and spoilt the overall taste. Chocolate taste was lacking as it was only that thin layer at the top. The cake was also a little too soft for my liking. I should have tried the Chocolate Truffle cake instead.

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Oriole's Cafe & Bar

My second visit to this place, and I decided to try some other dishes.

I went with the set lunch at $20. For appetisers, I had the smoke ocean trout salad. It was the first time I had smoked ocean trout. Essentially, it tasted like smoked salmon, however, the texture was more like that of a cooked fish.

Next was the ribeye steak. Steak was very tender and the slightly tangy sauce went well with the meat.

On the way out, we passed by Marvelous Cream and they seemed to have a new range of desserts which were soft waffles sandwiched with many different kinds of flavoured creams.

We tried the Hokkaido Caramel and Rich Milk flavour. Sorry, no pics as we devoured it quickly. However, the cream did not give me the queasy, oily feel. It was not overly sweet and the slight bitter of the caramel balanced with it overall.

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