Saturday: Lazy Day // Chocolat N' Spice // Pâtisserie Glacé

Today I'll be talking about a muffin place quite a number of people already know: Chocolat N' Spice located at Tanjong Pajar/Shunfu Road/Telok Blangah. I went to the one @ TP after Muaythai class and ended up walking all the way from Shenton House to TP thinking that it would be near. Yes I'm an idiot like this. Sigh.

But it was worth the walk! I had a little bit of difficulty locating the place but if you're near Icon Village, you know you're near Tanjong Pajar Plaza. 

I went on a Saturday afternoon arnd 2pm and there were about 4-5 people in front of me. Whilst waiting for my turn I heard the little girl in front of me shouting repeatedly "Mommy I want the coffee walnut one I want the coffee walnut one!" She said it in a pretty cute way, roleplaying how she would receive the muffin from the counter and her sister being the cashier. Awwwwww.

So I ended up getting 4 flavours:

Blueberry ($1.40), Cheese ($1.20), Double Chocolate ($1.40) & Cranberry ($1.40)

Blueberry Muffin ($1.40)

Boy was I in for a treat! I had it the next morning (Yes I actually didn't touch any of them till the next day which was a miracle) and it was still moist, decadent and flavourful. I would attribute the moistness to the amount of butter they included but I refused to think about it. Heh. The blueberries were aplenty, which was a plus point. Definitely one of the better muffins I've had! 4.5/5

Cheese Muffin ($1.20)

Now I've heard many rave reviews about this particular muffin so I decided to get one since you rarely hear of cheese muffins. I was quite disappointed though. There was very little cheese in the muffin, resulting the muffin to be a plain, regular muffin albeit the flavour of it was really good. If they added more cheese it would be much better, imo. 3.5/5

I didn't get a chance to snap any pictures of the double chocolate or cranberry cos I whipped them up later that night without giving much thought as to taking my phone out. But I personally loved the Double Chocolate Chip Muffin ($1.40) Rich, full of chocolate chips and fluffy like how a muffin should be, it left me wanting more. Now, I wish I could head down to get another one instead of being stuck in the office... However I still think the chocolate chip muffin @ Sunshine Plaza wins hands down due to its crispiness on the outside and moistness on the inside. 4.5/5

The Cranberry Muffin ($1.40) wasn't too bad too. However all the muffins started to taste alike due to the same batter they would use for all of them. Not complaining but just letting you guys know it's just the ingredients that change the name of the muffin. 3.7/5

Will I be going back to Chocolat N' Spice for more? Sure, I'd love to try their coffee mocha and pumpkin muffin soon. Be sure to go early to avoid disappointment cos I heard their muffins run out fast!

Chocolat N' Spice

Blk 320, #02-12 & #02-13 Shunfu Mart (Shunfu Market) Singapore 570320 (View map) Business Hours : 8.30am - 2.30pm (Tues. - Sat.) Closed on Sun. & Mon. 

 Phone Orders (No delivery): 93830413 

(Every Tues. - Fri. 2.30 pm - 5.30pm)

Please note: ** Muffins are sold on a while stocks last basis. Please come early to avoid disappointment. ** 

Selected cheesecakes/mousse cakes (by slices) are only available on Saturday. 

Blk 1 #01-18, Tanjong Pagar Plaza (Opp. Amara Hotel) Singapore 082001 (View map) 

Business Hours : 8.30am - 5.30pm (Tues. - Sat.) Closed on Sun. & Mon. & Public Holidays

 Phone Orders (No delivery): 92762110 (After 5.30pm daily) 

 Please note: ** Muffins are sold on a while stocks last basis. Please come early to avoid disappointment. ** Selected cheesecakes/mousse cakes (by slices) are sold daily

Blk 78B, #01-27, Telok Blangah St. 32, Singapore 102078 (View map) 

 Business Hours : 8.30am - 2.30pm (Tues. - Sat.) Closed on Sun. & Mon.

So since I was in the area, I decided to give Pâtisserie Glacé a try after walking past it at Icon Village and realizing their cakes were made of tofu! Being a fan of tofu I grabbed 2 things:

Mango Tofu Chiffon Cake ($5+)

I can't remember the exact price I paid for this but for $5, this was good stuff. It was soft, light, and definitely not sinful! I loved the texture of the cake together with the mango bits. It felt like I was biting into tiny pieces of fluffy clouds (Did that make any sense? Prolly not.) Having never tried anything like this before, I would love to grab this again when I'm around that area. 4.7/5

I also got a Peach Rin Rin Cheesetart ($3.20) which isn't pictured cos I, as always, was too hungry so I dug in before snapping a pic. It was pretty small for the price though, $3.20 for a pre-packaged tart the size of your palm? But it was rich, crumbly, and heavenly. I love all things decadent and cheesy, so this was definitely the tart for me. It would go best with some coffee or tea though as it gets a little too much after a while. 4.5/5

Will I be coming back? A resounding yes! I remember my birthday cake being bought from Pâtisserie Glacé and it was soooooooo good. It's a little on the pricey side but for cakes this good and 'healthy' (or healthi-er in that sense) yes I'd be willing to pay.

Pâtisserie Glacé
12 Gopeng Street #01-33/34 Icon Village Singapore 078877
+65-6400-0247

The Salad Shop: Lunch for One

So I just got back from lunch about an hour ago and I've a bit of time to kill before work starts so I decided to blog about a new salad place I gave a try.

Now, I've always told people that if ever I see grown men willing to pay for salads or even wait for a seat at a salad eatery, you know you've found yourself a good place. I reached The Salad Shop about 12.15pm in hopes that it wouldn't be too crowded although it was the time millions of office people would dart for lunch. It wasn't too crowded though. There were a few pockets of seats left although this place isn't space friendly at all.

So after looking at the order form I decided to go with Elephant. Their salads come in three sizes – rabbit, zebra ($10) and elephant ($12) size. This isn't to be confused with how big the salads are though.

The "rabbit" size would consist of a base (which vegetable you'd like) and 4 main feeds (among many are alfalfa, kidney beans, sweet corn, mushrooms etc). The "zebra" would consist of a base, 4 main feeds and 2 supplementary feeds (like avocado, cranberries, chicken etc) & the "Elephant" would consist of a base, 4 main feeds, 2 supplementary feeds and 1 prime (smoked salmon etc)

So because I was in quite a hurry as I needed to bank in a cheque later on, I ordered an elephant without realising I didn't order any supplementary at all... It wasn't till I paid that I realised I was paying $11 instead of $12. Genius. Nonetheless I didn't really mind as I was eyeing on the prime (smoked salmon) rather than the supplementary condiments. Not to say that the supplementary condiments aren't go but they are called supplementary for a reason no? :)

Service was fast & efficient. All you have to do is pass your order form to the crew and thereafter head to the cashier to make payment. About 5 minutes later, lunch was served! And boy was I hungry. (Since when am I not?)

I ordered the elephant size & got baby spinach, topped with broccoli, alfalfa, sweet corn, pumpkin, feta cheese, capers topped with smoked salmon and red wine vinegarette.

Now everyone knows how well smoked salmon goes w capers and how brilliant a combination pumpkin & feta cheese is. So I mashed those 2 together to form a smorgasbord of flavour. The entire salad was satisfying and packed a punch. The red wine vinegarette was especially good with this combination too. It wasn't too sour and the pumpkin helped to ease out the flavour together with the feta cheese. Their portions were pretty decent too. Not as big as salad stop's but certainly enough for one.

Halfway through the meal though the queue got much longer than expected. This was at 12.30pm when i noticed people queueing up to submit their order forms, make payment or even find a seat.

All in all, I can say I'm a happy camper here. Compared to other salad eateries like Sumo Salad or Salad Stop, The Salad Shop has beat Salad Stop in my opinion. Now if only I worked in the CBD area..

Xoxo,
Thehungryunicorn

Banana Bread + Nutella Muffins: Baking after Midnight.

There are times when you're seated down, looking through recipes and suddenly you across a recipe in which the ingredients are all stored in your cabinet somewhere, waiting to be used? Tonight was the night I decided to whip up a banana bread and nutella muffins.

My burnt top banana bread :( The top was a tad bit burnt cos it was too near the heater of my mini toaster but nonetheless it was so, so good. Moist, bursting with flavour, full of walnuts & chocolate chips in every slice, I couldn't help but cut myself 2 slices for dessert knowing that I shouldn't be binging at night. But YOLO so... :) It was worth it. Btw sorry for the ugly picture, I had a whole loaf of bread but I cut it into half for my colleagues tmr and I ate 2 slices and kept the rest in the tupperware for my mom tomorrow so this was the best I could do with an iphone and at 12 in the morning. 

My 3 step nutella muffins! All this included was flour, an egg, & of course nutella. I had a whole tub of Nutella Ferraro Roche (Yes it's nutella AND Ferraro Roche in one!) lying in my fridge cos the only person that eats chocolate in the family is me so I decided to whip this up after baking the bread. I've a feeling I added a bit too much flour from the feel of the muffins cos they felt a bit too hard but I hope noone dies tomorrow when I bring them to work.

Anywho here's the recipe for my 3 step nutella muffin. For the people who can't sleep at night and need something to do:

Three-Ingredient Nutella Muffins/Cupcakes

adapted from Cake0rdeath

yields 6 muffins/cupcakes

3/4 cup Nutella Spread

1 Egg

4 1/2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1. Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line 6 cups of a mini muffin pan with paper or muffin cases.

2. Put 1/2 cup of the Nutella and egg in a large bowl and whisk until properly blended. Add the flour and whisk until blended again.

3. Using an icecream scooper (or a spoon if you don't have one), put the batter into the prepared muffin tins (about 3/4 full) and bake until a pick comes out clean. Remember not to overbake and keep a watchful eye!

4. Set on a rack to cool completely which would take you about 10 mins.

5. Once cooled, put the remaining 1/4 of nutella over each muffin/cupcake and use a spoon to spread it out. Grab your icing sugar & ice those babies and you're done!

Okay I need my beauty sleep, g'night you lovely people!

Sumo Salad: They truly live up to their name, Sumo.

Hello again you greedy pigs! This time I shall do a review on something I had a few days back whilst catching up with a long time girlfriend of mine, N.

Grilled Chicken Cesar (Can't rmbr the exact price but it was around $9+ for a large)

So N ordered this after we both stood in front of the counter looking at the hugeass menu of too many combinations. I never got to try it but she did comment on it lacking seasoning (Well it is a salad...) :D Their portions were pretty alright though, and 1 large salad bowl would be perfect for 1 greedy pig.

Left: Smoked Salmon Wrap ($3.90 for half)

Right: Pumpkin & Pinenut Wrap ($3.90 for half)

Because they only had half a pumpkin & pinenut wrap left, I decided to order a smoked salmon wrap too. I regretted ordering the smoked salmon though. It was bland, had wayyyy too much vege in my opinion (I love healthy food but not to the extent of tasting the bitterness of the spinach, if I'm not mistaken, with every bite) and there was barely any salmon in the wrap :( Judge for yourselves from the above picture.

BUT the saving grace of the day was the pumpkin & pinenut wrap. It was heaaaaaavenly. The whole combination of pumpkin, nuts and feta cheese would explode in your mouth each time you bit into it and you'd never think this would be something healthy. Although the dressing on this was very little too, it did make me feel a wee bit healthier cos I normally love my salad w lots of dressing thus defeating the whole purpose of a salad...

To sum it all up, I'd rather have Salad Stop any time of the day. Even though they don't provide nutritional info anywhere (And I find that just a wee bit strange cos I know people have been asking but they refuse to disclose it), Sumo Salad left me wanting more of the pumpkin & pinenut. For $3.90 this was really affordable too. I was full after both the wraps and it only cost me $7.80 instead of the usual $9/10 I would pay for salads.

Sumo Salad

• Raffles City Shopping Centre #B1-72 (10am - 10pm)
• 1 Shenton Way #01-05 (Weekdays 9am - 8pm, Saturday 9am - 5pm)
• 313@Somerset #B3-52 (10am to 10pm)
• Holland Village MRT Station Xchange #B1-11 (10am to 9pm)

  

Dinner Round II at Balzac Brasserie, Hotel Rendezvous

So after a not so satisfying dinner @ Shimbashi (or so my friend said...) we decided to find a place for dessert. He recommended going to Antoinette which I've been wanting to go but we settled for Balzac Brasserie, a french diner which we heard had pretty good desserts. We walked all the way from Paragon to Hotel Rendezvous cos we were crazy and bored.

Valehona Chocolate Moelleux ($9++) with an extra scoop of Salted Caramel Ice-Cream ($5++)

I'm no expert in lava cakes believe me. The only one I've tried was 3 Inch Sin's and it felt like I died and went to lava cake heaven. But this was... This was good. Maybe it was me and my current craving for a good chocolate dessert then, but Valehona is the chocolate you can never go wrong with. Although a very simple dish, the richness of the chocolate oozing out from the cake with each scoop was divine. 4.3/5

Next up was the chocolate ice-cream. Mind you, 2 mins into eating the ice-cream I realised it was melting at a really fast pace, much faster than the ones @ regular icecream outlets. I asked my friend (Who's a chef) why that was so and he said it's due to the high sugar content in both the icecreams. But hey, I wasn't complaining. Neither was my bulging belly. The chocolate icecream wasn't fantastic but any means but it definitely did its purpose of leaving me happy and satisfied. 4/5

The Salted Caramel ($5++), as said by many, is to be one of the best in Singapore. However I beg to differ. I love salted caramel, and I love things that are thick, decadent and creamy so maybe this wasn't to my liking. It was light and the taste was well-balanced (oh the irony in this statement), so it would suit people who'd prefer a lighter kind of dessert. 3.5/5

Btw see the butter biscuit in the middle of the picture? I wish they served more cos it was gooooood. Oh well, call me greedy.

Creme Brulee ($9)

I've never tried Creme Brulee in my life but I always wanted to. So when my friend ordered this dessert I was overwhelmed. Serving a a portion for 1, I would say this dessert would be for someone who's had a pretty light dinner (Which was not me for sure). The texture of the dessert was soft and would melt in your mouth with each bite, complete with the caramelized sugar on top. But after gobbling half of it up I felt a little 'heavy', probably due to the creaminess and sweetness of the previous dessert and this. But if the portion's big, who's to complain? No rating for this cos I've never tried any apart from this.

Dubois' Lobster Bisque (Signature Dish)

With organic sauteed mini prawns ($16)

Now we never intended to have dinner again. Before meeting my friend I kept telling myself I'd go for a light dinner. From 2pm to 6pm I kept repeating that in my head as I sourced for the perfect dinner spot. But I'm no angel and I know no limits when it comes to food so.. We ended up getting this.

If anything's worth eating extra calories for in life, it's GOT to be this bowl of Lobster Bisque. I've tried LB before but I've never had this fantastic a bowl. Creamy, rich and thick in texture, don't be fooled by the bubbles on top. It may look slightly different at first, what with the bubbles forming and an extra plate of miniature prawns seated by its side, but this was to die for.

A family recipe from Chef Dubois himself, the bowl of Lobster Bisque came with a side of sauteed petite Mozambique prawns. These may be small but they complemented the soup extremely well. Its natural saltiness paired with the rich texture of the soup was like having an explosion of different taste in my mouth. If there's a soup you have to order, please do everyone a favour & order this. 4.8/5

Duck Confit ($26)

At this point in time my stomach was telling me to stop being such a greedy pig. But after the presuasion of my friend (Actually it was just a statement not a persuasion but...) we decided to order the Duck Confit as he said it was spectacular. And so we did.

We waited for about 7 mins before we were served (Service was extremely fast btw). Good jolly I thought I died as I nibbled on the duck coupled with the mashed potatoes. Using truffle oil in their mashed potatoes if I'm not wrong, it was a completely different texture than your regular mashed potatoes. It had a silky, fine texture that would leave you wanting more. They were generous with the amount of mashed potatoes served too. The duck was cooked to perfection, the crispiness of the skin was the added bonus, with the meat melting in your mouth with each bite. No it wasn't a small piece of duck, yes it was a whole thigh if I'm not mistaken, and worth every penny. 4.6/5

Tart Au Citron
Lemon tart with meringue snow ($9)

And why did we order this even though we were about to explode into tiny bits of confetti? Because we wanted more and couldn't bear to leave without trying the Tart Au Citron. Having never tried a lemon tart before (I lead a pauper life), this was a new experience for me. My friend mentioned the tart here would be different from the ones at regular bakeries or restaurants but I looked at him blankly as he blabbered on about it. Okay not blabbered but.. He gently explained the differences:

1. It was more on the sour side, thus if you're not a fan of all things sour I'd suggest you steer clear of this. I don't love sour desserts but this was a good palette cleanser from all the sweet desserts previously. It was sour but at the same time very attracting, something about the tart made me want to eat more, and more, and more...

2. The meringue they used isn't your normal meringue. They oven bake it for about 2 hours after piping it onto a sheet at a low temperature, but the sweetness of the meringue and the sourness of the tart complemented each other so well. Not forgetting the tart-like looking biscuit underneath it all, which completed the entire dessert. No rating for this as I've never tried such a dessert before.

All in all, I'd love to give Balzac a visit once again. With it's lovely interior decor (They use real plants on the walls btw which I find extremely impressive cos I've no idea how they can keep up with the maintaining of it), and practically all of the furniture being directly imported from France, you can't help but wonder if you're actually in Singapore or in a lovely quaint little restaurant by the streets of Paris once you step into a place like Balzac Brasserie.

Service: 3/5 (Waiters were attentive but not all smiles)
Value: 4/5 (A little bit on the pricier side BUT the food was good)
Food: 4.7/5 (Good food with good company, what more can I say?)
Ambience: 4.6/5 (A perfect place for a date I would say!)

Balzac Brasserie
9 Bras Basah Road,
#01-1 Rendezvous Gallery,
Tel; +65 63360797

Xoxo,

TheHungryUnicorn

Dinner Round I at Shimbashi Soba, Paragon

So after a long, hard day at work (Of doing nothing but foodhunting, shaking legs and laughing with my colleague, I managed to squeeze in time to catch up with a friend for dinner. Being the one in charge of finding the place, I was caught between 3 places: The Lawn @ Biopolis, Saveur @ Purvis Street or Shimbashi Soba @ Paragon. After half a day of thinking of where to have dinner, we finally decided to settle for a nearby place in town. So to Shimbashi Soba it was!

Random snapshot of the chilli powder sitting on our table whilst waiting for our meal.

Teriyaki Chicken ($8.90)

Cripsy and sweet, the teriyaki chicken was pretty decent for 2 hungry monsters. It's not the best I've tasted, but it definitely had a sweet condiment which I loved! However for $8.90, the portion was a tad bit too small for my liking. Think we only had about 7 pieces of thumb-size chicken pieces? 3.8/5

Salmon Soba ($18.90+)

So I forgot the name of the soba I ordered.. Yes shoot me. But anywho if you see salmon on the menu of the Cold Soba section, this is definitely the one. When it first arrived I looked at my friend in shock. After the waitress left I said "This looks like a... Salad?" Don't get me wrong, I LOVE good salads, but I came here for soba, not salad! This dish was topped with lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, lettuce, radish... And tomatoes.

But upon adding the sesame based sauce and mixing it in with the greens, radish and (oh so yummy soba noodles), it was rich, light and creamy all at the same time. The sauce they provided was sesame base but it packed a punch. I used about 1/4 of the sauce they provided in the bottle (as shown in the last picture at the top left), and it did its job pretty damn well. Although I personally felt the salmon wasn't up to standard as it was cold albeit grilled at the top (and they only gave 4 pieces of salmon), the soba noodles were the winner. Handmade with love by the chefs at the window display of the restaurant, it was a pretty good meal. 3.9/5

Didn't manage to capture my friend's dish cos we were starving but he ordered Value Shokado ($22.80) which included Japanese Style Fried Chicken, Tempura, Onigiri Rice Ball, A Slice of Watermelon and either Udon or Soba Noodles. He did say the entire meal was lackluster and lacked seasoning but I didn't get a chance to try it.

All in all, if you do come by to Shimbashi Soba I would recommend you take the Cold Soba noodles over any of the rice dishes. They are famous for their handmade noodles afterall! They have a new vegetarian menu too and though I'm a sworn carnivore I'd love to give that a try one day.

Service: 4.5/5 (Waiters were fast and orders were delivered within 5-10 mins)
Value: 3.5/5 (For the amount we paid for it wasn't exactly that worth it)
Food: 3.7/5 (The noodles were good but everything else was so-so)
Ambience: 3.7/5 (Good place to chill out with friends!)

Shimbashi Soba

#B1-41 Paragon

290 Orchard Road

Tel: 6735 9882

Daily: 11.30am – 10.00pm

Last order: 9.30pm

A Small Introduction

Well hello there.

You must have been hungry eh? Looking for food, searching for the better foods in Singapore without having to burn a huge hole in your already burnt pocket (Either due to shopping for us girls or Diablo III *tsk* for guys). Well you've found the right place. 

Being an avid lover of books, unicorns and of course food, I've decided to set up this blog to share with you some of the most well-known & hidden gems around Singapore at student friendly prices for all to eat.

Wanna know where I head to when I'm not already planning on where to go for my next trip? Then stick on to find out!

Xoxo,

TheHungryUnicorn