Black Forest Cake by Laurent Bernard Chocolatier

It's the FIL's birthday and the wife (KopiKosongGirl) was trying very hard to decide what cake shall we get him? Dad's favourite cake is the Black Forest Cake.

After some intensive online research, (ie reaching blogs and reviews), the wife read a lot of good reviews about the Black Forest Cake by Laurent Bernard Chocolatier. She placed an order for it to be picked up at their Takashimaya basement branch.



We wanted to surprise them by going to their house after work, but... we forgot their schedule! They were out! Anyway, we finally got to meet them when they got back later.

That's how the cake looks. Glaced with dark chocolate, it's a 500gm cake for $45.



How it looks inside. Layers of dark chocolate mousse, Kirch cremeux and cherries that had been soaked in Kirch here and there.

It kind of melts really quickly, as in the outside layer of dark chocolate turns very soft. Dad liked it, I think he likes cakes with liquer cherries. (that's what I think! haha)

KKG and I think it's more of a chocolate mousse cake with a little liquor rather than a Black Forest Cake. It's from a chocolate shop after all. I would prefer it to have more cake and maybe lighter instead of being so rich. It's a bit too rich for me. It's a nice cake though.

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier Takashimaya Basement 2 391 Orchard Road Singapore 238872

Arkadas Cafe @ Fusionopolis

My colleagues and I felt bored eating at our regular lunch place and someone suggested something more exotic. Someone suggested trying out Turkish food at Fusionopolis. We thought why not? So we took the Circle Line train to Fusionopolis station.

We were glad we came early just before 12 noon. It was because to our surprise, this Turkish food cafe was so popular. There was about two big groups of people, probably some research group from A*Star having their lunch.  The other tables were also quite occupied. (This place is not very big by the way.)


One colleague who had been to Turkey ordered this Turkish Tea $2 to start her meal.
I did not try it, so I did not know how it taste. I should have ordered one too!


We shared a Houmus with Pita Bread ($6.50)
The houmus made was nice, in fact, as we ate it, we seemed to enjoy it even more. We wiped it clean! (We noticed the spelling was houmus, probably the Turkish spelling of hummus.)


The pita bread that comes with it was not what we usually expect when we see pita bread.
It was a thick roll of bread instead of flat pita we usually see. It was served warm too. Somehow it went so well with the houmus. We literally keep pinching bits of it to scoop up the houmus.


As usual, we have a colleague who will flip and flip the menu deciding what to eat. The menu was only a thick piece of paper folded in two, so there was not much to flip anyway. (I am sure you have colleagues like this or this might be you!)


So he finally decided to have the Set Lunch. There was two sets and he went for Set A ($10).

Set A consists of Doner Chicken Kebab & Butter Rice, Green Salad and Soup of the Day.
It was Mushroom soup that day, which our picky colleague smiled when he tasted it.


The kebab did look quite appetizing and smell very good too. The portion of meat was good too. If you are expecting more greens, well the above was what you will get. It comes with a good portion of rice too.


I ordered something called the Musakka ($10) because it had such an exotic name.
The description of this dish on the menu was Minced beef tossed with green capsicum and tomatoes.

It was a bit like baked rice. Minced beef at the bottom, then aubergines over the minced beef and there was big red chillies (which I think was their capsicum, though it's red instead of green) and tomatoes topped with cheese.

As I have not tasted it before, I could not imagine the taste. It's something that you will grow to like if you are an aubergine person. I know this is not what KopiKosongGirl will eat.


My order comes with either rice or bread. I chose the rice. (like the one in the set meal).
The rice was fluffy and it tasted quite nice. I actually ate the rice on its own. If only the bowl of rice was bigger. I had the Musakka on its own ;-)



The two other colleagues ordered the same thing.
Both of them had the Adana Kebab ($14) which was a mix of lamb and beef.

The two orders came at separate timing. We initially wondered if they missed out one order. Then we realised that one smell better and the kebab looking more juicier than the other. The first one looked dryer and the other one looked both juicier and oilier. We were speculating the two chefs each had their own version of the same dish.

Both of them had their meat with rice too. (instead of bread).



We decided to try their dessert as well. This was the cream caramel ($4).
It was a cold dessert, but we think the one we had the caramel might have been a bit burnt. It had a slight bitter taste of burnt caramel. We still finished it all though because it was a nice cold dessert.


The food's different from our usual meals. The set meal seems like a good deal. There seems to be a crowd too. Not sure if it's like that all the time, it does seem to be popular. We will probably be back to try the other dishes. I liked their version of Pita bread and houmus.

On the menu, it says presented by Chef Mustafa and Chef Ismail. A quick check online shows that Chef Mustafa Gungar worked 22 years in Singapore's Turkish embassy as the personal chef to eight ambassadors.

Arkadas Cafe 1 Fusionopolis Way Connexis Tower #03-02 Singapore 138632 Tel: +65 6466 9918 Web: http://www.arkadascafe.sg

Smittten by The Patissier

May is a month of many many celebrations in our family. We have had so many slices of cakes for many occasions, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Cakes are something very high in calories and nowadays people if they see the same cake, they would not touch it, by giving many kinds of valid sounding excuses. (My doctor says can't take sugar, I am on medication, etc)

Sadly, it's no longer the though that counts. Many in Singapore have been having too good a life. We are sometimes guilty of that too.

We gave our aunt a birthday surprise few days ago. With the help of our cousin, we went to her house and surprised her.


This was an interesting cake we bought. It's a meringue roulade. It's full of sugar, but since we are going to eat only a slice each, it's easy to work off the calories ;-)

The cake's from Smitten by The Patissier.We got it from the Takashimaya basement 2 aka the food floor.



It's called the Enchanted Hug. We initially wanted to get something else but was convinced to buy this instead after sampling some of it by the lady at the counter.

The description does sound very yummy right?
 Yes, it's a bit dear in pricing. 


This is how a cut slice of it looks. It has a combination of sweetness plus a little sourness of the passionfruit and tartness of the berries.

Taste like having light fluffy meringue layered with sinful decadent ingredients.


Lots of mouths / lips!


The kiss again! That's how the box looks like. Very lady bling!
They provide dry ice in the box that stays cold for about 1 hour according to the lady at the counter.

This post is for those who like us are always on lookout for interesting cakes to buy and try.

Smitten by The Patissier Takashimaya Food Hall (Basement 2) 391 Orchard Road Singapore 238873

Beerfest Asia 2012 (7-10 June) @ Marina Promenade

This post is meant for readers 18 years old and above.

Have you been to the Beer Festival? Do you know it has been in Singapore for 3 years and this year, it will be the 4th installment? I have not been to it but the kind folks from Timbre Group has sent me 6 different beers to try before the Beerfest that's being held from 7-10 June.

These 6 beers are just a small sample of what will be available. At the Beerfest, there will be over 350 different types of beer to purchase. If you are interested to know the types of beer and the prices, the Beerfest website: http://www.beerfestasia.com lists them all.

The Beerfest is not only about beer. It's organised by the Timbre Group, you know that they have been associated with great music. At the festival, there will be great sing-along songs and familiar tunes performed by two top international bands as well as Singapore top bands. The two international bands are Hell's Belles from the US and All Star SuperGroup from Australia.

There's also the Comedy Club that will make you laugh your heads off. The audience can look forward to stand-up comedy by Australian and UK comedians. The Sons of Singapore, a local comedy trio will also be making their debut at this year's Beerfest.

You can also expect the usual grub that goes with beer. German gourmet sausages, nachos, meatballs and the rest are also available.



Now to talk about the 6 types of beers that I got delivered to me. I have never seen them before. They are from 6 different countries as well.

We invited our relatives over for dinner one weekend and after dinner we had a beer sampling session. It was a mix of 7 adult men and ladies.

Everyone has their own preference for beer and this are just some responses I got from them.
I wont be giving a super detailed taste profile of the beer and also the ingredients. You can taste it at the Beerfest itself. Beer is another thing that's very personal. For example, my colleague's husband will only drink certain brands of American beer!

Here's our more light hearted review of it.
I have also included the professional's tasting notes to it.



Australian Beer - Hawthorn Pilsner (4.7% ABV)
This beer's from Melbourne, Australia. Brewed in the suburb of Hawthorn by the Hawthorn Brewing Company Pty Ltd.

Our guest liked this. It is crisp and clear and best served super cold. That was what most of them said. They loved it because of clean taste of it.

Supplier's tasting notes:
With Pilsner Malt as the base and just a hint of light Crystal Malt, it pours a crystal clear gold colour. Cool fermentation with an imported yeast strain and a lengthy cold storage ensures a very clean & crisp palate, while the use of noble German hops mid way through the boil introduces a delectable floral flavour. Finally, the dry hop a fresh Czech variety for a delicate spicy aroma. Highly refreshing and light to medium in body.
Winner – Best Lager/ Pilsner Hong Kong International Beer Awards 2011



Singapore Beer - Jungle Beer Tropical Wheat (4.3% ABV) $12
I see on Instagram that many folks like this Singapore brewed beer. Other than the usual famous Tiger, Singapore also has other beers like this one!

We had mix responses from our guests. Some liked it and some did not. Orange pulp and Mango puree are in the list of ingredients. Some guests thought that the mango flavour was too strong though. So if you like mango, this might be your kind of beer. The funny thing is when you burp, it's the orange taste that comes out. ;-)

Supplier's tasting notes:
The finest fruits, flowers and spices from around the tropics are use to add excitement to the ever popular wheat beer. Simply complex! The intense citrus notes from the Brazilian oranges contrast perfectly with the ripe and mellow flavors from mangoes in this most perfect afternoon beer.


Czech Beer: Primator (4.8% ABV) $6
How did we think of this beer? It's a funny response we got. Don't laugh. At the first taste of this beer, someone said it tastes like cold Pu-er tea and everyone all agreed instantly. They also said it tastes better but lighter than Guinness. It gives a sweet after taste.

Supplier's tasting notes:
Mid fermented beer with full richness, soft distinct bitterness pure hop aroma.Clear, deep chestnut color with a dense, light tan head that holds up well. Smells of Rich, toasty, bready malts with a touch of caramel -- even light molasses and finishing with light Saaz hops.Taste  Pretty much the same character as the nose, starting with bready malts that meld into dark bread and molasses flavors  then into a light Saaz character that balances well with the rich malts in the finish. There's even a mild, underlying roast character and a lightly sweet malt character -- even a light dark fruit character in the aftertaste. is soft to dry with a light-medium body.


New Zealand Beer: Croucher Ale (5% ABV) $10
Our guests did not really like this NZ Beer though. Probably we could not appreciate it. Folks said it has a funny taste and it had a bitter aftertaste too.

Supplier's tasting notes:
A rich rose-gold hue, this ale has a wonderful aroma of passionfruit and lychee; very smooth with a gorgeous lingering finish.


Indonesian Beer: Diablo (5% ABV) $7
It's not the computer game Diablo that people queued for at Funan last week.

This Indonesian beer surprisingly had more supporters than the NZ beer. Very smooth was the general reply given by most who drank it.

Supplier's tasting notes:
This clear bodied ale pours a shiny copper and offers up lovely fresh hops with a welcoming bitterness, makes it a rich, yet fruity and dry finish.


Taiwanese Beer - Taiwan Beer (5% ABV) $5 (1 for 1)
One of the lightest beer that we all tried that night. It's an easy to drink beer for non beer drinkers. It tastes like water and because we tasted this after the rest of the beer, we thought it did not have the usual beer fragrance. The can says it has won quite a few gold medals though.

Supplier's tasting notes:
Taiwan Beer is an amber lager beer with a distinct taste produced by the addition of Ponlai Rice during the brewing process.

 
That's our short and simple review of the beer.

Want to know more about Beerfest Asia 2012?
Head to their website at: http://www.beerfestasia.com/

Tickets for the event starts $15 and it includes one complimentary beer to be redeemed at the venue.
Tickets available from www.sistic.com.sg

Keisuke Tonkotsu King @ Orchid Hotel, Tanjong Pagar

Last week, we had a friend, Lyrical Lemongrass visiting from Kuala Lumpur. She was supposedly here for a work trip, but we think she's here for a Ramen Trip! In the 1 week she was here, she had probably 8-10 different types of the 'must visit' Ramen places in Singapore.

KopiKosongGirl and I were going to meet Ms Lemongrass for some ramen at Menya Musashi. She was staying in the hotel in the same building, so she said she had already tried it. There was a queue at Menya Musashi, so while queuing, she told us, the ramen she had at Keisuke Tonkotsu King was so much better and if we got to queue, the other queue will be more worth it!

And so we decided to change shop!


We had to start queuing again! It took us around 40 minutes before it was our turn to get in!
It has been a long time since we queued for anything. We usually bypass queues and go for alternatives. The 3 of us think it's worth waiting here. If you come around 8, the queue might be shorter we reckon. We were there at 7 plus! (during peak hour!)


While waiting in line, you will see this being passed along to you. It's the order chit clipboard. Take 1 piece of paper for each bowl. You can specify if you want more or less of the 'chicken oil', if you would like lighter or stronger taste of the broth, you can choose the texture of noodles too.

When it's about your turn to go get a seat, they will collect your order chit and start preparing it. Probably all except one person is non-Japanese working there, so mark your order clearly, in case you can't communicate with them later! (LOL)


The menu. 3 different kinds plus all the additions you want.
The restaurant is really 'hole in the wall' restaurant. It's a corner lot on the side of Orchid Hotel. The place is very small with only around 22 seating spaces. That explains why the wait was so long. The faster people finish their food, the faster you will get a seat. If you are here, eat faster so others may get a chance too as well.


The service here was super quick though. The moment you sit down, they pass you a bowl of sesame seeds for you to grind.


You will notice a glass bottle of marinated beansprouts. If you are a beansprouts person, you will like it. It's marinated with sesame oil and a little salt and it's a little spicy and very very tasty. One of our dining companion is not a sprouts person, so she did not touch it.


They also have a basket of hard boiled eggs for you. The brown ones are lower in cholesterol! These are free flow, you can eat so many as you want. We were about to take an egg to eat and our ramen arrived. That was less than a minute after we sat down.

These are the hard boiled eggs and not the onsen tamago. ;-)


The Red Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen.

This was quite potent.  It's very spicy, so it's best not to mix the chilli in the soup if you think you can't take it. I eventually finished it all up though!

You should try the original broth side first (without mixing it with the chilli). On your first mouth you would taste the intense 'porky bone' flavour of the soup and you can tell it has been boiling for hours. For folks like me who love pork bone based soup, you will definitely like it.

They have chicken oil on it, so the mix of pork bone and chicken oil was quite fragrant. If you think you don't like the chicken oil, mark it in your order chit. The chilli was not salty if you eat it as it is, but it's heat level is intense. Mix it with the salty broth, and it much better.

I slowly mix the chilli into the soup and as I got more used to it, I mixed more.


The Black Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen

On the first mouth, KopiKosongGirl said it was an 'impactful' peppery taste. It will hit you.
At the end of the meal, you tongue and lips will feel numb. I read it's roasted sichuan peppercorn oil.

So if you like super pepper taste, this should be your choice.


Ms Lemongrass had this and she ordered the 'original' this time. She had the black spicy one the night before and wanted to try how it original one tasted.

She was definitely happy to be back here for more ramen. Slurping the noodles away with the delicious pork broth that she says you can't really get in KL. 

She said the original is the best, and when we tasted hers, we agree with her. It was very nice. The next time we are back, we will order this.


We love the onsen-tamago in the noodles. The ones on the table is hard boiled eggs, but the ones in the noodles if you order it, is the soft runny egg yolk ones. I can easily eat 2 or 3 of these!

The meat slices on the noodles we think they were quite ordinary (doesn't mean it's not nice). Not those melt in your mouth kind. It's you need to bite kind lean meat. You can compare the 3 bowls above. It's the broth and the noodles here that are superb. The flavour of the thick broth was very good and memorable. Even as I write this now, I am so tempted to go back tomorrow for more!

We liked the beansprouts too. Slightly crunchy and it goes well with the noodles and soup.
Be prepared to get very warm inside and have your clothing smell of pork broth after the meal! Not a place to bring your date, unless your date is a foodie and he/she will be totally in awe!

Keisuke Tonkotsu King 1 Tras Link #01-19 Orchid Hotel Singapore 078867  Tel: +65 6636 0855 Hours: Lunch, 11.30am – 3pm / Dinner, 6pm – 10pm

Saboten @ Changi Airport Terminal 1

I was at Changi Airport taking quite a few flights the last few weeks. A few times to receive people, I have been taking a few flights out from Changi Airport too.

KopiKosongGirl works in the Suntec area and she has been telling me Saboten is really nice. We have noticed the branch at Terminal 1 and have been wanting to try it. Just the other day, I had a flight to catch and I arrived early. After checking in, I still had time and I thought I would grab some dinner, it was a short budget flight with no food after all.


I went up the escalator and I saw this. I looked at my watch and it's before 6 pm. Looks like a very good offer!

I ordered it. I usually order pork but I thought I will try the chicken this time. For $12, it's quite a good deal isn't it?


The almost all Filipino service staff were quite efficient. Got me a table pronto and since I already knew what I wanted, I said, the deal on the big poster outside. :-)

A huge bowl of sliced cabbage was served in a jiffy. (Like most airport eating place, most people have a plane to catch!) There were two sauces, sesame and yuzu vinaigrette. I tried both and I prefer the sesame one.


The mix of black and white sesame to be grounded. The sauce for the fried chicken katsu later.


Three scoops of it with the grounded sesame was the instructions when I asked.
I like that bamboo scoop!


The chicken katsu was nice! It was so crisp and fluffy outside and the meat was nice too.
It was so easy to eat and bite because the chicken was so tender. Be careful, it's really really hot!

I had 30 minutes for the whole meal, so I had enough time to eat slowly.
The big bowl of cabbage, I only ate half of it, I was being considerate to my neighbors on the plane later. You know cabbage causes lots of gas right?


When I thought I was done, I asked for the bill. I was told there's still green tea ice cream.
Oh wow, ice cream too! You can see it's taken straight out from the freezer all pre-portioned and left in the freezer. It was nice though.

Quite a nice warm meal that's considered cheap in the airport.
Oh yes, for those who are collecting Changi Rewards points, your meal here gets you some points too. The machine that day was not working so I could not get the points though. (sigh!)

Saboten
Changi Airport Terminal 1 (Public Area)
Viewing Mall Level 3

Tel: + 65 6214 9504
Hours: 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM

Taste of Penang @ Sentosa

[Invited Tasting]

If you are looking for some Penang Food buffet, here's one that you might want to try. It's only from 10 - 20 May 2012 at Sentosa. I got to try it last night with KopiKosongGirl.

For the Taste of Penang, Sentosa has invited 54 year old Chef Qua Hun Siam from Penang to show case some of his signature dishes. Chef Qua and his wife runs restaurant and catering service in Penang and has cooked for the Chief Minister of Penang. His family heirloom recipes such as Fried Porridge is being served here.


The venue for the buffet is on the 2nd floor of Taste of Asia.
It's open air, so wear light clothing. Being next to Songs of the Sea, you get to watch the fireworks too!


The food prepared by Chef Qua is based on home-styled Penang cooking, so it might be different from the usual road-side hawker fare you have in Penang.

It's open air, so they can do the fried kway teow on demand.
Here are some of the dishes that KopiKosongGirl (KKG) and I think are unique and we liked.


Penang Rojak.
The very fruity rojak from up north is something very tasty.
The secret is in the sauce that they are not revealing. The chef's secret sauce is the answer.


The sauce is light brown in colour, a bit like thick gula melaka texture, but it's not.
Hmm. Maybe there's some gula melaka in it. We liked it. Ask for more youtiao if you are a youtiao fan. ;-)


The Penang Laksa.
We did not find it spicy or sour enough at the first mouth. We thought it lacked something. If you have a few more mouths, you might grow to like it. KKG finished up her bowl of laksa soup.

There was also the Penang Hae Mee, but we found it too 'light' in flavour.


Lor Bak (What we call Ngor Hiong in Singapore)
You can see new batches being fried constantly beside the 'stall'. It taste rather nice. It's Chef's recipe and you can see the pieces of ingredients. It was fragrant, hot (freshly cooked) and had a nice bite to it. It was something we ear marked for seconds!

There was also the otak-otak which was from the same 'stall', but we think you can pass that.


Char Hum (Fried Cockles)
KKG loves cockles and so do I! If you are a cockle fan, you would be glad to know it's the all you can eat cockles place. They serve two types here. The Singapore sambal version and the Penang Chilli version. We tried both and thinks the Penang version triumphs!

The photo above is the Penang version. We were told it's the Chef special sauce added into it that makes it taste so good. (We knew this same answer was coming). It's almost similar to the rojak sauce. Sweetish and spicy at the same time.

The joy of eating cockles here is that everyone has been half shucked! Every cockle also has something and not empty! I had a big bowl of empty shells after the meal. It was slightly spicy, so after eating, your lips burns a little, but it's so shiok!


Char Mui (Fried Porridge)
This is something so unique. I have not tried this before and thought it was worth trying. Gooey version of fried rice! There are lots of ingredients in it. Prawns, bits of meat, seafood etc. It's savoury but has a sweetish hint.

It's not something you will instantly love. My first mouth, I thought it was peculiar, but as you eat it, slowly the flavour comes out. You bite something and wonder what it is, something else and before it, you finish the whole bowl. It's something you eat slowly because it is hot!

For KKG, she said it's an instant like for her. She grew up liking porridge of all sorts! She especially liked the chopped dried cuttlefish bits in it.

We saw an elderly all white hair lady keep going back for more. Maybe she's from Penang.
Penang friends don't really know about it though. If you are from Penang, care to tell me more about this dish?



Penang Char Kway Teow
The advantage of an open air place. You can order the CKT and the person whips it up in great smokes! Probably this is not home-cooked version. How can anyone cook this in Singapore homes? They are very generous with the lard!


This is so funny. After all the frying and smoking all over, we thought it would be super nice. Both KKG and I thought it was so so only.

Then our other dining companion, CalvinTimo and Nicole, they also ordered the same dish and when they brought it to the table, we tried it and it was so much better. We noticed ours had less sprouts and lighter in colour.

Moral of the story, if the first plate is not satisfactory, go for the 2nd one! ;-)



Nasi Kandar

Oh, look how beautiful they arranged the Nasi Kandar. For the above, we had the a bit of everything order when we walked to the Nasi Kandar stall.

A true blue fan of Nasi Kandar will tell you to 'banjir' (flood) it with lots of 'kuah' (gravy).
Here they present it so different. So beautifully plated!


How do you eat Nasi Kandar? Mixed up the rice and the sauce!

Each curry had different unique spices in it. Fish curry, Chicken curry, Sotong Sambal, Rendang sauce, Ayam Kicap (Soy sauce chicken) all mixed together gives it an unique taste! You can see that we were quite 'healthy', it was not flooded with gravy.  We could have gone back to ask for more gravy.

I liked the rice so much, that I was slowly eating it and before I knew it, only a bit of the rice was left with most of the side dishes. I was suppose to share with KKG! KKG ate up all the meats, fish and veg with the little bit of rice. KKG especially liked the tender sotong.



We don't eat durian, but here's Durian Pengat for you durian fans.


There's an assortment of kuih kuih, cendol, ice kachang. We were too full to eat them!
Cendol was a bit on the sweet side for us. Ask for 'kurang manis'!



TASTES OF PENANG @ SENTOSA
Date: 10 to 20 May 2012
Time: 6pm to 11pm (Mon- Thu), 4pm to 11pm (Fri - Sun)
Venue: Level 2 of Tastes of Asia

Price:
$42.90++ per adult
$19.90++ per child (5 to 11 years old)
- Usual island admission charges apply
- Includes complimentary parking and complimentary entry into Images of Singapore
- Discounts apply for Islander members and credit card holders

Getting There:
Sentosa Express – Board at VivoCity, 3rd Floor, drop off at Beach Station
Drive-in – Park at Beach Car Park (Blue Zone)
Taxi – Alight at Beach Station

Reservations: 
Call 6279 1767 or email carla_cardona@sentosa.com.sg


Update: I noticed a group deal site is selling this buffet a bit cheaper than the price above. Not naming it, you can do a search ;-)