Karafuru Desserts

Have you heard?

Japanese-inspired and serving an array of colourful eclairs and gourmet yogurt parfaits, Karafuru (Japanese for colourful!) is the latest to-go cafe for instagram-worthy desserts!

There was a period of time when I was cray cray over Windowsill Pies, so imagine how happy I am to find out that Chef Michael Liu (ex-Windowsill Pies creator) is the man behind the unique, one-of-a-kind menu!

Priced between $6 to $7, each slightly savoury choux is carefully baked before being hand-piped with smooth velvety creams. Karafuru’s eclairs are lighter, fluffier, and more dainty than its French counterparts so expectations need to be managed as some may think the flavours are muted and the pastry too soft.

Ume Shiso ($7)
umeboshi creme, shiso

Black Forest ($7)
kirshwasser creme, candied wild cherries, raspberries, dark chocolate

Marc de Champagne ($7)
marc de champagne creme, marzipan, silver leaves

Traditional Japanese flavours get a contemporary facelift in the form of an unusual ume shiso, complete with a real shiso leaf! If you like choya, try it! Otherwise, the other “boozy” eclairs include marc de champagne, irish cream and black forest.

Matcha Azuki ($6)
matcha crème, azuki beans, matcha sables

Cafe Au Lait ($6)
milk coffee creme, marzipan, dark chocolate sables

My personal favourites are the matcha azuki and cafe au lait, as both have strong and distinct flavours. Plus, they go well with UCC coffee (for K) and Lupicia tea (I highly recommend peach momo)!

Irish Cream ($7)
coffee whiskey creme, mascarpone chantilly, toasted almonds

A generous swirl of freshly made yogurt soft serve sits atop a plate surrounded by a spread of moist souffle cake, wobbly pudding, Japanese dango balls and thin buttery langue de chat… That’s Karafuru’s spin on the classic Japanese parfait!

Gianduja Parfait ($16)
hazelnut souffle, chocolate pudding, hazelnut and orange crisp, dark chocolate curd, candied orange, curaçao sauce

My heart broke when I was told that the matchazuke parfait was sold out (go early, especially on weekends!) so I settled for gianduja (chocolate will never fail) and the more interesting daizu with white miso souffle, soybean pudding and kinako sauce. I didn’t fancy every element (like those chewy dango balls) but what won my heart were the creamy soft serve, dense “souffle” (quite a misnomer) cakes and the hazelnut orange crisp! Now I can’t wait to try the matcha parfait!

Daizu ($16)
white miso souffle, soymilk pudding, kuromitsu, sesame dango, ‘rice stalks’, kinako cream

My thanks to Joseph for the sweet treats!

Karafuru Desserts
8 Jalan Klapa
62914430

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Putu Piring – The Singaporean Food Culture

Hello judges,

Here’s why the picture below best represents ‘Singaporean Food Culture‘:

1. Affordable ($2 for 5 pieces of melt-in-the-mouth heaven, so cheap!!);

2. Transcends racial boundaries (I’m a Chinese who loves this dessert believed to be a Malay adaptation of an Indian snack);

3. Looks unassuming but packs a punch (sweet gula melaka + salty coconut shreds, omg);

4. Brings back childhood memories (love getting tutu kueh at pasar malam when I was a kid!);

5. Instagram-worthy (admit it, taking pics of food is the Singaporean food culture)!

Okie that’s all, let me win please! Xoxo.

Post written as submission for the contest organized by Foodpanda and Sethlui.com~

Traditional Haig Road Putu Piring
#01-08, Haig Road Market and Food Centre
14 Haig Road

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Rabbit Owl Depot

When we went to Rabbit Owl Depot, it was an up-and-coming ice cream parlor. But by the time I write about it, dozens of others have already taken its place (in terms of newness). Such is the cafe scene in Singapore, I love it!

Their signature snowflake waffles can be seen on almost every table and I had mine without icing sugar (hate that white powder with a passion). Guess they were very concerned when I posted a picture of the snow-less waffles on Instagram lol: “Oh no! Did we miss out the snow?! ❄️❄️” Anyway, although the waffles were crispy enough, we thought the batter was bland and could do with more taste/aroma. 小王子 is still our #1 favourite!

Snowflake Waffles ($6.50)

The ice cream did a better job of impressing us! A tad sweet but all three flavours were smooth, rich and intense. Earl grey, black sesame and coffee – I’ll be back for you.

Ice Cream Platter ($10)

Rabbit Owl Depot
#01-06, 420 North Bridge Road
6336 4075

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Honey Creme – Happy CNY 2015

I missed out on the limited edition Strawberry Nutella Parfait from Honey Creme on Valentine’s Day but luckily, the two Lunar New Year specials are still available!

Both Honey Creme Alishan Milk Tea ($5.50) and Honey Creme Yuan Yang ($6) incorporate a rich milk tea formula made from fragrant black tea from the famed Alishan region in Taiwan. Think of it as a take on the bubble tea craze in Singapore – parfait of alternating layers of springy honey-coated pearls (not a fan of pearls though), cookie crumbs, almond crisp (additional $0.80) and of course, the creamy ice cream! The Yuan Yang is even better as the added shot of espresso packs quite a powerful caffeine punch!

I even bought a separate cup of organic mixed grains soft serve ($5.90) just to do a taste test of the ice cream. My verdict is that I prefer the milk tea flavour over the plain milk version! Can’t wait to try the Teh-C creation when it’s launched on March 2! Stay tuned on my instagram!

My thanks to Jia En and Jo for the CNY treats!

Honey Creme
#01-37, 313@Somerset
313 Orchard Road
6884 8468

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Shrove Tuesday

Saturday night. Dessert time. K wanted Little Prince. I suggested Shrove Tuesday.

As usual, I get my way hahaha.

Actually, this place has been on my to-go list for quite some time but due to mixed reviews, I’ve been ignoring it. One waffle and three scoops of gelato later, I’m berating myself for procrastinating!

The crispy waffle was impressively light – it’s like eating battered air? We didn’t feel full even after it disappeared into our tummies and I like that feeling. That said, I’d give full marks for texture but maybe a fail for taste because it was very bland. Not a major problem to me though since we had gelato! Coconut, roasted peanut, earl grey. Can’t wait to try black sesame next time!

By the way, the two staff were super friendly! If I open a shop, I want to hire them!

Shrove Tuesday
Block 94 Lorong 4 Toa Payoh #01-32
6258 2254

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The Little Prince Cafe

If you are my Instagram friend (hi hi, thanks for following!), you would have seen numerous pictures of waffles and ice cream from The Little Prince Cafe. We discovered it last year after Creamier (which used to be our to-go place) turns so perpetually crowded and this cafe has become our new quiet haven for delicious late night desserts!

“L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.”
what is essential is invisible to the eye

Initially, cooking time for the waffles was somewhat inconsistent – we’ve had soft, hard, semi-hard waffles over the span of 8 visits (already on our 3rd loyalty card yay!) so nowadays, I always make it a point to request for “extra crispy, super hard, almost chao ta (burnt)” waffles. Personal preference, don’t judge ha. Anyway, bingo! Never been disappointed ever since; waffles are beautifully eggy on the inside and stay crisp under the weight of three generous scoops of ice cream (our greedy default hehe).

Speaking of ice cream, they are in fact homemade gelato. Low fat FTW. I believe we have tried all of the flavours and our favourites include uji matcha, avocado gula melaka, coconut, earl grey/rose latte, salted caramel and thai milk tea occasionally. Writing this makes me hungry so see you tonight, 小王子?

The Little Prince Cafe
小王子咖啡座
Blk 47, #01-134
Lor 6 Toa Payoh

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Pantler

Previously from Grand Hyatt Tokyo and Joel Robuchon Singapore, the two baker/chef-owners of Pantler, Matthias Phua and Tomoharu Morita, are obviously talented baker “pantlers”, a word which refers to someone in charge of the bread and pantry of a great family in the old days. Their exquisite artisanal pastries and bakes are served in a chic minimalist boutique shop along Telok Ayer Street and I’m happy to report that most of the desserts are very agreeable to my palate (it’s not just the sugar talking)!

Bartlett Pear Tart ($6.80); Mango Passion Panna Cotta ($5.80); Crème Caramel ($5.80)

Filled with caramel custard and dark chocolate cream, the big and fat banana elcair is a timeless choice! I love the creamy filling with bits of fresh banana but not so much the choux pastry, which I found to be “flat” and a little stale, hmm.

Banana Eclair ($8.50)

Opera held no surprises for us that evening – ganache of chocolate cream and almond sponge coated with espresso, very safe and reliable interpretation of the French classic. My favourites were the ruby tart and tangy apricot yogurt dome made with Greek yogurt and Moroccan apricot compote, rather unexpected because I tend to fancy richer to lighter cakes (usually anything with chocolate haha). To me, the star of the pretty tart was the pate sucree base, a sweet shortcrust pastry with crisp cookie-like texture. Some excellent baking technique there!

Opera ($8.50); Ruby Tart ($7.50); Apricot Yogurt Dome ($7.50)

I thought I’d like the orange peel and crumble cake with chocolate but the lingering sweetness was overwhelming. Dark chocolate delice fared much better with a thick bittersweet blanket of 70% roasted dark chocolate on top of a sable breton, i.e. French butter biscuit. Recommended to eat it at room temperature so that the mousse will melt in the mouth!

Orange & Dark Chocolate ($8.50); Dark Chocolate Delice ($7.80)

Yatsura is one of the signatures at Pantler and rightly so! The entremet has neat contrasting layers of crumbly hazelnut dacquoise, smooth dark chocolate mousse and crunchy hazelnut feuilletine. Delicious.

Yatsura ($8.50)

Many have raved about Pantler’s Choux Crème and finally I could taste it for myself! Crispy choux pastry, lush vanilla pastry cream (see dissected picture here), and the nougatine made a pleasant crunching noise when chewed. This is a dine-in-only item but I’ve heard that as long as you promise to eat it within 30mins, the kind Pantler folks can be persuaded to let you take it away!

Choux Crème ($5.50)

Many thanks to Tecks for the kind invitation! Happy New Year!

Pantler
198 Telok Ayer Street
6221 6223

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Honey Creme

With 2014 coming to an end, I reckon it’s apt to write about Honey Creme since it is definitely one of the best F&B success stories this year (even my mom knows of it haha). Contrary to popular belief, Honey Creme is not from South Korea! They sell Korean-inspired soft serve ice cream, hence the confusion I think. The brand first opened in Taipei in March 2014 and has since expanded to Kaohsiung, Hong Kong, Macau and Singapore within a year! Such astounding growth!

Honey Creme Organic Cotton Candy Affogato ($6.20)

On that crazy I-don’t-care-about-calories night, we tried five varieties and I picked out my favourites easily. The first was unorthodox – soft serve with mixed grains! It was surprisingly very delicious, especially the blended powder of millet, black sweet rice, buckwheat, oats, brown rice, and black sesame! Reminded me of cereal ice cream, yumz. The other one I liked was the theatrical cotton candy affogato. A freshly brewed shot of Nespresso dark coffee sealed the deal and I probably will get the version without the sweet cotton candy next time. The other three flavours of organic honey comb, caramel popcorn and dark chocolate sprinkled with pink Himalayan sea salt were nice (how can velvety soft serve not be?!) but it’s gonna be the mixed grains and affogato that will bring me back.

Honey Creme Organic Honey Comb ($5.50); Honey Creme Caramel Popcorn ($5.50); Honey Creme Organic Mixed Grains ($5.90); Honey Creme Double Flavored Macarons ($3 per piece)

For a limited time until 31 December, Honey Creme introduces a new limited edition flavour, Honey Creme Irish Cream ($6), just for Christmas. I’ve been told that the soft serve is swirled with sweet caramel and dark chocolate atop a bed of crushed pretzels, topped with bittersweet chocolate beans and crunchy pretzel, and drizzled with a milky smooth Irish Cream formula with hints of coffee and liqueur. The picture looks very cute so I’m going to try that tomorrow before it’s too late, see you there!

Honey Creme Dark Chocolate ($5.50)

Special thanks to the lovely Ate and Honey Creme teams for letting us beat the queue and hosting such a sinful session!

Honey Creme
#01-37, 313@Somerset
313 Orchard Road
6884 8468

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Merely Ice Cream

I had high hopes for Merely Ice Cream as I had read plenty of positive reviews about their “French-style” ice-cream made using egg yolks as natural emulsifier.

So was I impressed?

In a word, no.

The flavour that brought me to Merely was actually gula pandan (i.e. gula melaka + pandan cake), which I thought sounded like a sure winner when I was doing my “research”. After sampling it, I realized I was wrong. Didn’t like the weak flavour and the pieces of cake were dry. Because our SOP is a cup of triple scoops, we eventually settled on chocolate stout (best of the lot to me), salted butterscotch and earl grey. Verdict? –> Click here to read more about my (and others’) comments on Instagram!

Merely Ice Cream
#01-13 Sunshine Plaza (directly opposite NAFA Campus 2)
91 Bencoolen Street
6238 0890

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Afternoon Tea at Anti:dote Lounge

Anti:dote‘s all-new afternoon tea is like no other.

Amidst a chic setting, the charming experience takes place at Anti:dote Lounge, an adjoining posh space linked to the main bar space at Anti:dote and the lobby of Fairmont Singapore. It’s classy, one-of-a-kind and I’m so glad that I don’t have to eat my words that Anti:dote “easily has both style and substance”.

Priced at S$38++ per person and available daily from 3-5pm, The Anti:dote Tea set is replete with an accompaniment of black truffle scrambled eggs while The Oriental Tea set is served with classic dim sum such as har gau (shrimp dumpling), chive dumpling and scallop siew mai. All afternoon tea sets are complemented with an extensive menu of TWG teas.

I’m perplexed as to why would anyone choose dim sum (please, just go Crystal Jade or something) over the delish black truffle scrambled eggs, simply because the latter was too delicious! Extremely creamy and a perfect match with the crispy toasted soldiers on the side. Presentation was a cross between cute (egg shell!) and sophisticated (black truffle!!) haha.

After the “starter” came the star – an exquisite white leather-clad jewellery drawer-chest filled with a medley of sweet and savoury surprises.

Get your camera phones ready when unveiling each layer of beautifully presented treats! Instagram/Facebook/Twitter-worthy, guaranteed.

The top platform showcased a selection of saccharine pleasures – girly and pretty strawberry gateau with raspberry lychee pearls, apple almond crumbles, earl grey eclairs (my favourite!), potent rum baba, handmade truffles, huge and juicy chocolate-dipped strawberries, lemon macarons and decadent karukera chocolate mirror tarts (another favourite! Don’t ask me to choose ha).

Five different types of gourmet finger sandwiches were elegantly laid out in the first drawer. I knew that I’d like the smoked salmon with creme fraiche and caviar but I didn’t expect it to be that good – very smokey and not too salty! I love the mini boston lobster roll with herb mayonnaise too but thought the cucumber dill salad sandwich with cream cheese was boring. Prosciutto with onion jam and aged cheddar and coronation curried chicken tarts were all K’s and he was more than happy to eat my share.

If you think the petite items served at the afternoon tea will leave you hungry, then the second drawer of carbs heavyweights is for you! Freshly baked moist lemon basil pound cakes and warm raisin and candied ginger scones with homemade strawberry jam, devonshire clotted cream and tangy lemon curd await. Necessary “fillers”, I call them.

To complete the whole experience, a couple of sugared butter cookies were packed and left in the last drawer as take-home goodies! A thoughtful gesture by the team of chefs who crafted the afternoon tea menu, seeing those cookies at home a few days later brought back lovely memories of the afternoon spent at Anti:dote!

Many thanks to Ruth for a most enjoyable afternoon!

Anti:dote
Level 1, Fairmont Singapore
80 Bras Basah Road
6431 5315

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