51 Fiveone Degrees @ Toa Payoh North

There was this particular day where I felt terribly lousy at work and so I went around TPY area in search of this 51 degrees bakery. Turns out that it's located right opposite SPH and beside my favourite nasi padang stall!

I saw the raving reviews of the pandan chiffon cake from their facebook page and decided to give it a try. Me being the glutton, could not resist the tempting cupcakes on display and I ordered 2 cupcakes and a tart to share with my colleagues.

Salted caramel (left) & Dark Grey cupcakes - $3.50 each

The salted caramel cupcake is light, fluffy and the moist level is just right. A pity I forgot to take a picture of the caramel filling but it's  darn good! The caramel is thick and gooey and it's sinful to the max with the cupcake. Topped with the buttercream drizzled with caramel... So satisfying!

The Dark grey cupcake is chocolate based which is more moist and dense than the caramel cupcake. I actually prefer this because the earl grey core, which is not too sweet, was a refreshing change from the usual favourites. I like the crunchy chocolate topping and there's this subtle sexy appeal with the gold powder at the top of the cupcakes.

Lemon Meringue Tart - $2.80

Oh I love love love this!! The sweetness of the meringue plus the zesty creamy lemon custard with the crusty tart is an awesome combination. So perfect for a midday snack. You must try it when you are there! The only drawback about this is the size. :( Wished it would be more generous!

Pandan Chiffon cake - $12+

I heard that the pandan chiffon cakes (which I'm eating as i am typing now) are always sold out before end of the day! And true enough, when I went during lunchtime, there's only left with 1. I could understand the hype for this cake because you can literally taste the lurrrve as you savour each mouthful of the soft and moist and fluffy pandan cake. 1 slice was definitely not enough for me! I would say that it's quite worth it for $12+ as the portion is very big and could serve my family of 4 for a few days' of breakfast. ;)

Turns out the baker is only 22 years old and she opened the bakery about 2 years ago. I really admire her passion in baking awesome cakes and tarts and the courage to open a shop at such a young age! I hope more people will get to know about this bakery and support her!

I think i shall be doing a post of comparison of the different cupcakes in Singapore next time. ;)

51 Fiveone Degrees
Blk 203 Toa Payoh North #01-1113 S(310203)
Tel : 6526 9328
51 Degrees FB page
51 Degrees website
Operating hours:
Mon-Fri : 11.55am - 8.55pm
Sat - Sun : Closed

Sun Ray Cafe @ Serangoon Gardens

I got to know about Sun Ray Cafe from Instagram! Haha, the wonders of social media. I posted a picture of a latte and the admin person of Sun Ray Cafe liked the pic and that's how I decided to give this Cafe a visit to give their coffee a try!

Mocha - $5.00

Latte - $4.00

I must say that I was very impressed with their coffee! Good thing that this quaint lil cafe, which is pet-friendly too, was not busy on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The head barista came over to chat with us and it was interesting to learn about the different coffee and the art of coffee from her evident passion in making good coffee. She shared with us about the different types of coffee and the logic for the different terminology, like what goes into a latte, a cappuccino, a macchiato, etc etc. In the end we had a total of 4 cups of coffee at the cafe! The other two - cold drip coffee and americano were not featured above.

 American breakfast - $14.90

Fresh scones - $2.50 each (come with Butter)

I am quite glad they served pretty decent food too! They served all day brunch items and I ordered an American breakfast, which came with sausages, cheese croquette, scrambled eggs (or sunny side-up), rocket salad and fresh scones. I must say that the scrambled eggs were not done to my expectation as they were tasteless and not as "milky" as I like. The other condiments were average but the SCONES were DA BOMB! 

In fact, we loved the scones so much, we ordered extra serving and as you can see, they were HUGE! They were crumbly and slightly cakey, fragrant and went very well with Americano. Can't wait to have it again! They serve dessert and other main dishes too.

I'm glad I made the trip down because it was really nice chatting with the staff and seeing cute dogs. I would definitely come back for the good coffee and nice ambience. Customer service was superb, the waiters were friendly, attentive, and very courteous. It's really hard to find good local service staff nowadays! Do visit the cafe if you happen to be around the area! :) UOB card holders get to enjoy 12% off.

****

Sun Ray Cafe79 Brighton Crescent (Off Serangoon Gardens way)
Singapore, Singapore 559218

Tel: 62838700

Sun Ray Cafe WebsiteSun Ray Cafe FB page

Loola's by Awfully Chocolate @ Esplanade

Happened to be around Esplanade area to standby for Chingay's on a Saturday afternoon and chanced upon this cafe for some sweet treats. Warning: Please read this after your meal!

We were at a loss of what to choose cos all looked really awesome especially the cupcakes. So in the end we minimainiminimo and...

We chose Hazel Crumble that came with a scoop of Awfully Chocolate's signature chocolate ice cream. I like the mixture of the slight saltiness of the hazel crumble on top of the dense and moist chocolate cake! Even though it seems like an overkill, but the mixture of the cake plus the chocolate ice cream was so good!

The only gripe I had was the price of this dessert. Even though it's located at a tourist attraction, $12 (without GST & service charge) for this is quite overpriced to me.

Moreover, the latte was a huge disappointment. It was scalding hot and the latteart looked so halfhearted! We had to wait for a while for it to be drinkable and the coffee was not as kickass as we expected it to be. Even after we hinted to the waitress that the temperature of the coffee is not acceptable, the only solution she came back with was to add cold milk. I heard "Aiyo aiyo ai ai yo..." in my head at her lacklustre service. But luckily the dessert saved the day, really.

As much as I would love to recommend the dessert to my friends to try at Loola's, I feel that the money can be better spent elsewhere for equally awesome dessert at a more affordable price. However it is a nice place to chill at Esplanade while waiting for a concert or gig to start. Maybe you can try the iced drinks instead! ;)

*****

Loola's by Awfully Chocolate
8 Raffles Avenue #02-14
Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay
Operation Hours:
Sun to Thu: 1200 - 2200
Fri - Sat: 1200 - 0000

Jamaica Blue & Blackball @ Star Vista

There are quite a few cafes at Star Vista that I've been wanting to try and Jamaica Blue's one of them. The cafe gave me the suburban Aussie feel and it seems like the perfect cafe to chill on a Sunday afternoon. We had our lunch somewhere and was itching for small bites and coffee.

The coffee pecan bread loaf was light and quite fluffy, not too dense so it went well with the latte. However, I would have liked the coffee taste to be slightly stronger for the bread loaf.

I started my love for scones when I was in Penang working few years back and my colleagues and I went for this awesome high-tea session at the oldest hotel and the scones were ahhhmazinggg. So since then, I've been wanting to find back the kind of perfect scone I had back at that hotel but sadly, none had quite matched up.

However, the scones here at Jamaica Blue were not too bad, crumbly and not too sweet. Do share if you have tried some scones in some cafes that were great ok!

I liked the ambience and simple decor of the cafe. The good thing is that the place doesn't get too crowded during the weekends so it's quite perfect for long catch-ups.

 Gave this Taiwanese dessert a try, which was opened endorsed by a Mediacorp artiste. We asked for recommendation and this seemed to be the most popular dessert- Blackball Signature. You can even choose the level of "coldness" of the dessert and we chose the Icy option. I like the chewy texture of the sweet potato balls, taro balls and black pearls! I would say that its a good mash-up of all the chewy stuff and the grass jelly and red bean.

*****

Jamaicablue
1, Vista Exchange Green
#01-32, The Star Vista
Jamaicablue Website

Blackball Singapore
1, Vista Exchange Green
#02-14, The Star Vista
Blackball Website

[Homecooked] Chicken cutlet Salad

I was craving for salad last weekend and was scratching my brain to whip up something different with chicken. Just so happened that I was looking at a blogger's blog post on Katsu Don and I suddenly craved for crispy and light chicken cutlet covered with bread crumbs! Even though I have no recipe at all and basically just mashed up everything together, I think my chicken turned out pretty decent!

Chicken cutlet (serves 3-4 pax)

You'll need:
- 300g Chicken thigh
- 2 tablespoon worchester sauce (my secret ingredient)
- pinch of salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- Corn flour
- Bread crumbs
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoon olive oil

1. Marinate chicken with the worchester sauce, salt and lemon juice. (Lemon juice helps to tenderize the chicken or even beef)
2. Leave in frige for about 3-4 hours.
3. Heat up pan and pour in the olive oil. (MAKE SURE IT'S HOT HOT!)
4. Beat up the egg into a small bowl, mix the chicken with flour and dip into the egg and bread crumbs before sliding into a frying pan. I made sure the entire slab of chicken is covered with tons and heaps of bread crumbs!
5. Let it cool on kitchen towel (to soak up the oil) before serving.

I mixed in romaine lettuce, brown rice, sun-dried tomatoes, olives, cranberries, carrots with balsamic vinaigrette to compliment the chicken cutlet and voila! A healthy (yet sinful) meal. :)