Poteato @ Yong Siak St

If there is one particular day in a year which I hate the most, it'd have to be V-day. Overpriced roses, chocolates and the restaurants are fully booked with kiasu couples who seem to bank on 1 day to shower their loved ones with love and flowers. Quite frustrated that most of the cool cafes did not take in any walk-in customers along Yong Siak Street. There's this new kid on the block that was different- Poteato and BOY, were we glad to patronize this quaint cafe opposite Open Door Policy because the Eggless Chocolate Cake was DA BOMB. Shall go to that in a bit.

This cafe had red petals scattered across the reserved table - a very nice and sweet touch for a supposedly lomantic day. Although the special menu could be improved in my humble opinion.

I'm no coffee connoisseur, but the latte served here was medium-bodied with slight bittersweet aftertaste. Definitely not as bitter as Blackbird Cafe's coffee but I liked the subtle bitterness that lingered in my taste bud after each sip.

My partner ordered the Pulled Chicken Sandwich that came with salsa dip and potato chips. The chicken strips were tender and tasty but the herbed focaccia bun could be toasted last before serving because I guess they wanted to serve both dishes together and the bun was prepared first perhaps. The bun was a lil too dense and oily after a few mouthfuls, which affected the overall taste with the chicken.

I enjoyed the Aglio Olio with mushrooms very much though! It was light yet flavourful, spicy and the sautéed mushrooms were soft and delectable. Even the boyfriend urged me to cook something like that the next time. Heh.

We had wanted to try the lemon meringue tart but it was sold out so we changed to the Eggless Chocolate Cake instead and that was actually the BEST choice made. Ever. The chocolate cake was dense, not too sweet and it was such a sinful gooey chocolatey mess! Definitely one of the best chocolate cake we had ever tasted and I could cry with happiness after taking the first mouthful. "The uglier the cake, the nicer it will taste!" was what the positive boyfriend said after it was served to us. It is true. Please try and let me know if you had the same sentiment as us!

Although the cafe does not charge service fee and GST, we need to order directly from the counter and help ourselves to free-flow ice water & cutlery. I welcome such arrangement because I do feel a bit paiseh at times if I kept asking the waitress to refill our water.

I like the simplistic yet rustic decor of the cafe and the affordable tasty food served here. A nice place to chill out with friends/loved ones over comfort food and drinks.

My first in posting a picture of us but today's dinner really was one of the best so far, despite us being anti-vday advocates. A great day that ended with an awesome meal at a quaint little cafe along the hippy street. Good for us! ;)

Ending off with a 'paparazzi-like' shot of the Monocle event that happened at Books Actually. Pretty apt for Monocle, though I think the guests may have preferred a bigger venue.

Poteato
78 Yong Siak Street
Singapore 163078
Poteato FB page
Call 6221 2488 for reservations

Blackbird Cafe @ Cathay

Due to the 3 days of non-stop Chinese food, I decided to have something non-Chinese on the 3rd day of CNY. Chanced upon this cafe, which was not crowded and serves brunch items! (Most cafes don't serve brunch items on weekdays even though it's PH) Shall let the pictures do the talking!

I quite like the ambience of the cafe as it's cosy and conducive for catchups and the service staff did not chase us away despite us ordering just 2 cup of coffee and pancakes. The decor was done up quite tastefully and fits well with the museum concept. *thumbs up*

Flat White, $5.50

Ever since I got hooked onto Papa Palheta's coffee, I've stopped adding sugar to my lattes and would just soak in the aroma of the pure espresso + milk combi. Most lattes' bitterness were acceptable to me and I relish in the slight bittersweet taste of the coffee. But I must comment that Blackbird's latte was one of the most bitter one I've tasted. It's not a bad thing, but I prefer a not-so-bitter coffee. A lil sugar does the trick though, so it's all good.

Buttermilk Pancakes, $10.00

I was a little skeptical about ordering buttermilk pancakes because I had a horrible experience at Five & Dime. However, I haven't had pancakes for a while, so decided to go ahead to try. It wasn't dry, which was my consolation because I hate hate dry and flaky pancakes. However, the pancakes lack taste and were a bit flat. You can choose either bacon, caramelized bananas or strawberries with the pancakes but I opt for fresh strawberries as it's more healthy. For just $10, I believe it's quite affordable for brunch items in town area!

Rating: 3/5

Although the food we tried were so-so, I would still want to go back to give other brunch items as try! The steak sandwich that the couple next to ours ordered looked divine though, so I'll definitely make a mental note to order it the next time I'm there. A good location to chill before catching a blockbuster if you happen to be around Cathay area!

Blackbird Cafe
6 Handy Road
The Luxe
Blackbird Cafe FB

Flam's @ Orchard Central

Even though we were a little skeptical about the standard of food here at Flam's, I was tempted for a light meal and the thin crust pizza looked pretty harmless for my tummy. The menu was not local-friendly at all with the french names, but thank god for English description!

For starters, we had Salade Bressane, which is salad with roasted chicken and I love the sweet honey mustard dressing that goes very well with the tender chicken and greens. Good appetizer alright!

For our mains to share, we had The Charolaise - minced beef thin-crust pizza with loads of rocket salad and drizzled with whole grain mustard sauce. Really tasty and light! It's really perfect for a light meal if you are trying to keep your calories in check or not wanna over-indulge.

Even though we had our dinner at 6+, the place was still quite empty and I hope more people will wanna give it a try cos the food here is really quite affordable and yummy!

Flam's
Orchard Central
#02-30
Flam's FB page
Flam's website
Tel: 6884 4242

Tanuki Raw oysters @ Orchard Central

All hail the OYSTERS!

Tanuki Raw Oysters - $12/dozen (promo price)

I must say that it's an exquisite type of cuisine really, it's slimy, juicy and you taste the SEA, literally. Here's how I think people should enjoy oysters - Squeeze a little lemon and squirt a little tobasco sauce... there, feel the oysters mingle with your tastebuds and smell the ocean within your soul... quite a nice feeling actually.

American Roll - $10

We gave American Roll a try too, with thin beef slices sandwiched between the rice and mayo. Not too bad though the beef can be a tad more generous! I would definitely try other sushi rolls when I'm there the next time.

Tanuki is opened by Standing Sushi Bar's Howard Lo and I guess the raw food are the must-try items like the fresh sashimi, steak tartare and oysters! They also serve a fushion of western-meet-eastern kind of cuisine if you want something more interesting to try.

Oh btw, skip the drinks, not worth the tummy space. ;)

Tanuki Raw
Orchard Central
#02-03
Tanuki Raw FB pageTanuki website
Tel: 6636 5949

Wholemeal buttermilk pancakes with Strawberry

Few weeks ago, I would have snorted at the thought of replacing my all-purpose flour with wholemeal flour for my buttermilk pancakes. That would have sounded so... meh. But ever since I've been on this whole-grain, eating clean kinda diet nowadays, I went online to search for recipes for wholemeal pancakes and ta-dah! Here's my version with buttermilk:

Ingredients (good for 2-3 pax):

3/4 cup wholemeal flour (or 1/4 cup normal plain flour and 2/4 wholemeal flour)
1 egg
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (you will love it!)
4-5 Korean strawberries (SO FRIGGIN AWESOME)

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Make a well in the center and using an egg whisk, whisk the egg and milk together.
3. Give it a good whisk (I feel that it makes the pancakes fluffier)
4. Grease the pan slightly. I usually use a soup ladle as a gauge for 1 pancake. Feel free to modify to your own liking!
5. Eat with your favourite fruit, maple syrup or even nutella. I served mine with bacon even.

I feel so healthy after eating them and I don't deny there's still a bit of 'yeast' taste from the wholemeal flour. If you are really particular about such taste, you can always add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice to rid the smell, and it won't really affect the taste of the pancakes too. Try and let me know if you like it! =)

Habitat Coffee @ Upper Thomson Road

Upper Thomson area is like West area's Holland Village. Full of pumped-up kids, hippies, youngsters, cafes, bars, food places and I especially like to visit Habitat Coffee!

Eggs Benedict

The hollandaise sauce is delicious and goes really well with the poached eggs and toasted muffins. But they can be slightly more generous with the sauce I think!

Cafe Latte

I like the caramel biscuit that comes complementary with each coffee! However, to be really honest, the coffee is not bad.. but not entirely fantastic.

Mama's Banana pancakes

The one thing I always look out for in pancakes will be fluffiness and flavour. The pancakes served at Habitat were fluffy but  a lil bit dry on the texture, though the bananas and maple syrup and chocolate fudge made up for it.

I like how attentive and polite the service crew were and the nice ambience in the cafe. Oh and not forgetting the generous serving of Truffle Fries (sorry I couldn't find the photo in any of my storage spaces!) which you definitely have to try!

If you happen to be around Upper Thomson area, Habitat Coffee's the place to chill and catchup with friends over good coffee.

Habitat Coffee
233 Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574355

Standing Sushi Bar @ Queens Street

I don't deny that I'm a very typical Singaporean who loves promotions/sales/discounts - especially when it comes to food! So recently, I chanced upon this $3 salmon sashimi promotion (5 slices) on Standing Sushi Bar's FB page and I quickly set up a date with 2 girlfriends (who are foodies like me) for a salmon feast!

And we weren't disappointed! The salmon sashimi were really fresh and generous with thick soft and almost melt-in-the-mouth kinda texture. In the end... we ordered 30 friggin pieces to share, for just 3 of us and not forgetting the tasty beef sukiyaki! Perfect for the chilly weather nowadays actually. Due to the dark environment (and dark soup), the picture turned out quite nasty! :( But anyhoo...

Catch the salmon promo while you can! Details in the banner below. ;)

Credits to Standing Sushi Bar

Standing Sushi Bar
8 Queen Street
(Just besides Food for Thought)