Laman's Delight

So we just had an unsatisfying dinner at Kuro Kin. We needed a good dessert to bring up the happiness level of the day. Roamed through Pasarbella, and chanced upon this little cake shop. They sell Russian homemade cakes. All cake flavors had small cuts left out for sampling. After trying out all, we settled for Walnut and Naomi, with a cup of tea each. This little shop only had one table of its own, and we decided that was a nice place to sit and chat, since it was pretty late and the common areas of Pasarbella were sort of in the dark with some of the lights off.

What I really loved about Laman's Delight, is the wholesomeness of the cakes. In this day and age where cafes and cupcake shops are popping up everywhere, desserts tend to come all fancy and over-the-top. In contrast, Laman's Delight serve up good ol' old-fashioned homemade buttercream cakes, which really hits the spot. And they do not scrimp on the ingredients. Walnut was really chock full with chopped walnuts in every bite. And it was a lot of bite as it was a very huge slice of cake, despite looking innocently small in the picture. When we were served our cakes, we regretted ordering two instead of one, because of limited stomach space.

Walnut

Naomi was a slightly alcoholic chocolate cake. I cannot remember which alcohol it was, but it wasn't overwhelming, and lent a very good overall flavor to the cake. The chocolate was rich, with additional shaved chocolate on top. Yet it wasn't overly sweet. We really liked it.

Naomi

Pity I'm blogging this in retrospect. Else I would have requested this for my birthday cake! Haaa. Too late, but it's ok. It's good to remember good food. Unlike the unattractive dinner we had, this is what will really draw me back to the Grandstand.

Laman's Delight

PasarBella @ The Grandstand Bukit Timah

200 Turf Club Road

Singapore 287994
Tel: 9735 0071

Antoinette (Palais Renaissance)

It was CA's birthday. She wanted an all-day breakfast high-tea on a Sunday. After calling around several places, I finally found one that entertained reservations on a Sunday afternoon. So Antoinette it was, the Palais Renaissance branch. Even then, latest reservation was 1.30pm, then it was for dinner. So early high-tea or late lunch? Whatever you want to call it.

I arrived first with a homemade cake. When I request that they keep our cake for us, I was informed that because they are a patisserie, we are only allowed to blow candles at the restaurant, but not allowed to cut and eat the cake. I understand to a certain degree, but might as well not allow us to blow candle at all, since it was a little silly to blow and keep and then hunt for another place to eat the cake. But ah well, that's what we ended up doing but that's beside the point. It was a homemade cake. I content myself to that maybe I did such a good job that it looked store bought and they didn't want it served there. Haha!

A few of us earlier ones were famished. So we ordered teas and a mushroom soup to share before the rest arrive. Their tea sets are elegant, but very unfortunately, to no fault of theirs, the hot tea pot tends to melt the table's lacquer and my tea pot is stuck quite firmly to the table. So each time I want to pour myself more tea, I have to wrestle the tea pot off the table, pour my tea and set it back down. The cycle repeats. It was tiring for me, and the poor table have many many O-shaped scars of lacquers melted off by previous tea pots. On a repeat visit, they learnt to place a coaster under the tea pot. Save me a whole lot of arm wrestling energy, for sure.

Petit rose tea

So she wanted all-day breakfast, and all-day breakfast it was. We ordered a dish each, and a Salad Lyonnaise and a Gnocchi carbonara to share. Because we didn't like gnocchi, we swapped it for spaghetti. Note: Antoinette's servings are pretty huge. A dish each plus two to share was beyond what we can comfortably finish. Their poached eggs were beautifully done. Gorgeous soft egg whites that cut open to reveal the perfectly runny egg yolks. I never liked poached eggs before because those I ever tried were dry and tissue paper-like (really. I actually mistook one for tissue paper and nearly cleaned my finger on it). Antoinette managed to make me fall in love with poached eggs, and I've been loving poached eggs ever since this visit.

Scrambled eggs with Scottish smoked salmon

Poached eggs with Scottish smoked salmon

They also serve up a variety of savoury pancakes. My order was the Crepe Brittany. Oh my gosh. That so-called 'scallops, prawns, squids and mussels sauteed with white wine and cream' was more like a creamy seafood soup. I had imagined it to be a somewhat dry sauté. It turned out to be a rich, creamy, soupy stew, sweet from the seafood, aromatic from the spices. My crepe was the perfect vehicle to soak up all that creamy goodness. Ok, I admit, I was drinking the soup plain too. The Crepe Florentine was almost pizza-like, but softer.

Savoury Blinis with creamy mushroom, grill bacon, grilled tomato and salad

Crepe Brittany

Crepe Florentine

The carbonara wasn't overly cloying, and the sauce was perfect with thick ribbons of parmesan in it. And of course, served with their signature poached egg - which I stole, because my crepe didn't come with an egg, unlike the breakfast dishes the others had. The salad Lyonnaise was a mistake, since we didn't know every dish actually pretty much came with a side salad. So we had a bit of a greens overdose. Or rather, I did, because I can't stand food being wasted and finished almost the whole plate.

Carbonara gnocchi swapped for spaghetti

Salad Lyonnaise

Other than the weird no cake eating rule, we generally did enjoy ourselves. CA ordered a dessert in the end too, from their patisserie, but I forgot to get a picture of it. This branch isn't too crowded, something we like. However, it seems they only had two staff going around, and because of the circular layout of the restaurants, it's sometimes hard to get their attention. Other than that, this is definitely a nice place to chill out and eat and chat.

Antionette
390 Orchard Road, Palais Renaissance
B1-08/09/10C,
Singapore 238871
(65) 67356392

Birthday Triology Final edition: CUT

After our hi-tea, we leisurely made our way to MBS for our long awaited dinner at CUT. It wasn't too crowded when we arrived and were shown to our seats promptly. Took us quite awhile to decide on our orders and with some suggestions from the service staff, we finally decided on the American blue crab and shrimp (~$28), Porterhouse steak, 990g ($175) with wild mushrooms (~$16) as side and baked Alaska as dessert.

Complimentary Bread sticks with cheese

Complimentary Bread cheese ball

See the yummy cheese inside

Complimentary bread selection with butter sprinkled with seasoned salt

Other than trying to make my pictures look dark with their dim dim dim lighting, it seems like CUT isn't gotta let us go without a happy stomach, they are generous with the complimentary bread and god, they are GOOD! the bread cheese ball came piping hot and the taste of cheese fills up your mouth without being too overpowering. Bread sticks are nice to chew with while deciding what to order.. They later came to us with complimentary selection of 4 kinds of bread: Pretzel, Onion bread, sourdough, Olive bread. We skipped the olive bread as Gracie doesn't like olive and we shared a pc of sourdough, had 2 pcs of onion bread and a pretzel each. Sourdough is cold and hard and I din like it, Onion bread is magnificent! Well caramelized onions on top of soft fluffy bread, the sweet onions balanced the saltish bread quite well, however could be better if its warm. 

American Blue Crab and Shrimp "Louis" Spicy Tomato-Horseradish

Appetizer was great, they kindly split the portion into 2 plates for us so we din have to struggle with sharing. Crab and prawns were fresh and juicy sweet and went well with the sauces and cherry tomato, but I find the Mayonnaise-like sauce to be abit too thick. Overall it's an enjoyable appetizer but I can't help but compare with the heavenly colossal crab lumps from Wooloomooloo. 

Sea salt and Mustard Selection

Bearnaise and House Steak Sauce

Wild Field Mushroom

There's 4 kinds of mustards plus the 2 sauces that came with the steak, and my favorite is the sea salt. Hahaha! Mushroom is very well flavored and went perfectly well with the humongous steak. The steak was beautifully done, Australian Angus, 300+ Days grain fed, Rangers Valley, Aged 35 days. It seem to coated with some spices, nicely charred and made its entrance on a sizzling hot plate. The server cut and portioned it for us and we each ended up with 3 big pcs of Sirloin and 2 pcs of fillet mignon. 

Sirloin was wonderfully done, the char on the outside gave it more flavour and the meat was flavorful due to the 35 days aging process, juices were well sealed and its an enjoyment to chew chew and chew and experiment with the different sauces provided. Mignon has a softer, more gentle texture and the same great taste, this really is meat with soul and depth.

The portions are quite huge and would recommend 3 person for comfortable sharing, towards the end we both need to struggle through the meat as its getting cold and harder. But having said so, we still polished off the meat in the end.

Porterhouse 990g Bone-in (for 2 pax)

Portion for one: Fillet Mignon (left), Sirloin (right)

Medium done Sirloin

Baked Alaska

Raspberry Ice cream centre 

We were contemplating on desserts as we were already filled with meat but Gracie saw the Baked Alaska on the dessert menu and we decided we got room for dessert afterall. End up, its a good move as the sourness of the raspberry helped to get rid of the gelat feeling after meat overdose. The egg white portion of the baked alaska was firm with a crisp outer skin and taste abit like marshmallow, its not overly sweet and went well with the sourish raspberry ice-cream

With food and dessert this good, we certainly went home happily rubbing our happy tummies. Total damage of our dinner is slightly less than $300, which in my opinion, money well spent on my BFF.

CUT

Marina Bay Sands
B1-71 Galleria Level
Next to the theaters
Tel: 66888517
Website: http://www.marinabaysands.com/singapore-restaurants/celebrity-chefs/cut/

Birthday Triology Edition 2: Octa Hotel

After our TaiTai shopping, we decided to rest our tired feet at Octa Hotel, Octa Hotel is not a Hotel, in fact its a a small cafe nest within Parco Marina Bay. It's interior was tasteful done up, very English styled with a hint of Japanese influence. It also has a small retail corner that sells small merchandises like stationery, bags and jewellery. 

As it's near dinnertime, we decided to share a hi-tea set that consists of  2 scones, creme brulee, baguette with egg and cherry tomato, wrap. Scones were warm and fluffy, perfect pairing with the cream and jam, after taking a mouthful and washing it down with some tea.. it reallys gives u the "Aaahhh... I am Tai Tai feel"... 

I like the Creme Brulee but Gracie felt that the sugar crust is kinda thick.. We both like the custard within, its light, creamy and has a hint of tea taste, not overly sweet.. Baguette with egg and cherry tomato is just your regular baguette, egg, tomato. Wrap is cold and not fantastic, so both of us can't really remember what meat is inside. LOLZ.. 

Hi-tea set

Warm scones with cream and jam

Overall experience was good, excellent spot to spend a lazy weekend afternoon or to rest your tired feet after some hardcore shopping. Service crew were friendly and helpful, yet they give you enough privacy for chit chat and gossips. Total spending is $15.90 after tax and service charge.

Octa Hotel

9 Raffles Boulevard
Parco Marina Bay
#P1-39
(S)039596
Tel: 63364614
Website: http://octahotel.com.sg/

Birthday edition 2: Wooloomooloo Steakhouse

Yes, the name's quite a mouthful. We came across this name in an article together with Ruth Chris. Both restaurants were touted as great steakhouses comparable to Morton's and Cut. And we enjoyed Ruth Chris so much on my birthday, we were so excited to try Wooloomooloo for Lynn's birthday. I sourced for their menu online before making reservations, and I was drooling just reading through the menu. They had all of our existing favorites such as crab cakes, iceberg lettuce salad, lobster bisque, and foie gras. On top of that, they had several potentially exciting items such as mushroom soup with truffle oil, beef salad with truffle oil and beef wellington with foie gras! And this was before any recommendations from the servers!

We had discussed and decided on a few items beforehand. We agreed that we'll order the beef salad, since Morton's had sort of spoilt the market for iceberg lettuce salad. Then since there's already truffle oil in that, we'll settle for the lobster bisque. Foie gras is a must, of course, as is the crab cakes. Then we decided that we'll let the server recommend the beef. And for dessert, I've been told beforehand that there'll be a complimentary cheesecake for the birthday girl. So we looked through the menu and finalized on a passionfruit souffle, thinking that the sourness of the passionfruit will be perfect for cutting through the richness of the cheesecake. Sounds like a plan.

Then we arrived at the restaurant, and saw the next table eating gorgeous oysters served on a bed of ice. Lynn said she wanted oysters. Then we looked through the menu and started to wonder if we can finish all that we planned to order, plus the oysters. Then the server came along and made two recommendations for the starters. He recommended the Sauteed Garlic Prawns, served with a dash of lobster bisque (drool), and the Colossal Crab lumps, cold lumps of crab meat served over cold lettuce. Hm... both sounds good. More deliberation to do. And he also recommended the Wooloomooloo steak, which we were quick to agree on.

So after another 10 minutes or so discussion (so much for the beforehand planning), this was our final order: Pan-seared Foie Gras, Colossal Crab Lumps, Lobster Bisque, Wooloomooloo salad, Wooloomooloo Steak and a Passionfruit souffle. We decided against the oysters because it really seemed like too much (on top of the bread). We decided against the crab cakes because we thought we'll try something new, since Morton's had set the benchmark for crab cakes.

The bread was quite passable. We cut it into quarters, and only ate one quarter each. The butter was salty and went well with the bread. One of the few places we actually didn't finish the bread! The foie gras was... a disappointment. It wasn't very melt-in-the-mouth. It wasn't very livery either. At least to me. Lynn thought it was ok. Maybe my craving and deprivation was so huge that it couldn't satisfy. It just wasn't quite blissful enough. We didn't care for the caramelized apple, but we did love the 4 little piles of different salt and pepper served with the foie gras. Lynn tried to keep them on our plates, which was unfortunately cleared away subsequently, much to my amusement and her chagrin.

Onion bread served with whipped butter

Pan-Seared Foie Gras

After the not-so-exciting first two dishes (bread counting as one), came the Crab Lumps. Oh my goodness. Those were to-die-for! Fresh, sweet, juicy lumps of crab meat, served cold on a bed of shredded lettuce. The whole bowl was balanced on a tub of ice to maintain the coldness. A dash of lemon made it perfect by itself. It didn't really need the two dips at the side. But both the Louis dressing and the mustard mayo went well with the crab. I'm really missing the crab now. And it's not just me being seafood deprived post-surgery. Lynn went gaga over it too. I can come back just for this. Really. (And maybe several other things along with it. Haa...)

Colossal Crab Lumps

Then came our soup. The serving is smaller than Morton's, but good and bitter (from the cognac). We loved it. Just wished there was more of it. The salad, on the other hand, was ginormous. I tried to put my fork in the picture to show the size of it, but the picture really doesn't do it justice. Chargrilled filet mignon served on a bed of fresh produce in a mustard vinaigrette and truffle oil dressing. It didn't impress as much as Steakhouse's salad, and the truffle goodness came and went.

Lobster Bisque

Wooloomooloo salad

The Wooloomooloo steak is a 12-ounce ribeye marinated with a Cajun spice. That's roughly 340g. We usually share a steak this size quite comfortably. Their steak was another wow. The meat texture was PURRRRFECT~~ And the spices made it really aromatic. It was a tad bland on the salt, which was easily solved by requesting for some sea salt (to replace those that they cleared away. Haha...). This was served with a row of 4 sauces. Seriously, that was ALOT of sauces. Cajun, pepper, red wine reduction and mushroom (order from the right). I didn't like the pepper, I found it too sweet. I did liked the other three. So between the sauces and the salt, I had a really really good beef dinner.

Wooloomooloo Steak

Sauces for the steak

Finally came our desserts. The passionfruit souffle and the complimentary cheese cake. The souffle was by itself generic flavored. The passionfruit flavor was in the sauce. It was actually very good, tangy sauce. I only wished the flavor was in the souffle itself. Like Laurent Bernard's. The cheesecake was a light version, which was a really good way to end the meal. And it was served with a cheesecake flavored ice cream. Yum. The dessert portions were comfortable, and we managed to finish all our food. Yes!

Passionfruit souffle

Complimentary Wooloomooloo cheesecake

We really really loved the crab. And the beef. The rest were nice too, just not as impressive as these two. And the crab made us think that the oysters will be equally good too. And while we're back here why not try the prawns and get the lobster bisque. And maybe the iceberg lettuce salad will impress. How about the crab cake, seeing how great the crab lumps are. AND they have a crab lump salad! See Lynn, there's no way we can come back here and just order the steak. We're just not capable of it.


Wooloomooloo Steakhouse
2 Stamford Road
Level 3 Swissotel The Stamford Singapore 178882
Tel: 6338 0261

Special Birthday Edition: Ruth Chris

It's Gracie's birthday! I announced that we are going to Ruth Chris for her early birthday dinner, and we both excitedly look forward to the BIG day. Reservations made at 7pm but we were delayed by Gracie's shoes disaster and reached at 8pm instead. They were nice to keep the table for us, its not too crowded on a Friday night and we had a small cosy corner to ourselves.

Complimentary Bread and salted whipped butter (It comes warm!)

After placing our orders, complimentary bread was served, the first mouth gives no surprise, however after a few more mouths, pairing with whipped butter , it actually became more and more enjoyable. We unanimously said "YES!" when asked if we wanted a 2nd serving. Carbo monsters indeed.

For appeitizers, we ordered Ruth's Chop Salad, Lobster bisque and Sizzling Blue Crab Cakes. Mains, we shared a 450g Ribeye (medium rare), recommended by our server.



Lobster Bisque

Lobster bisque has a nice prawny flavour with a creamy texture, different from the usual lobster bisque thats more soupy. It comes with fresh springy small chunks of lobster meat in it. Soup is enjoyable but no WOW effect, I prefer my lobster bisque to be more soupy and bursting with prawn flavour and a dash of cognac... hmmmmm!

Ruth's Chopped Salad

Ruth's chopped salad comes with Julienne iceberg lettuce, baby spinach and radicchio are tossed with red onions, mushrooms, green olives, bacon, eggs, hearts of palm, croutons, bleu cheese, lemon basil dressing, all chopped up and then topped with crispy onions. It an easy to eat salad cos its all chopped up so no need to mix it yourself, enjoyable and extra bliss when there's bleu cheese in that mouthful you take.



Sizzling Blue Crab Cakes

Sizzling crab cakes was amazing! It came sizzling hot and drizzled in lemon butter, perfect snack for those who likes crabs but do not wanna dabble with the shells. Although the crab cakes have robust flavours and happiness with every bite, it does not overpower and makes it easy for us to finish a piece each comfortably. I guess the lemon butter helps in giving it extra depth and a tinge of freshness.

Here comes the star of the night!! Our big juicy chunk of medium rare ribeye steak. It's absolute enjoyment of the 5 senses, we could smell the aroma, hear the sizzling sound, feel the goodness of the meat.. Super yummy! Did I mention it comes with sizzling butter on a 260 degrees sizzling hot white plate? We were sharing the meat so they gave us a hot white plate each, coated with butter. We almost wanted to clap in joy when we saw that, the world is just us and steak.

Steak Fries

Yes, there's no typo.. This IS steak fries, not wedges. It comes tossed with fresh rosemary, roasted garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. I can't detect the rosemary taste and the fries are too dry for my liking and I did not finish my share.

Complimentary Chocolate Sin cake for Gracie

Warm apple crumb tart

By dessert time, we were quite filled but decided to try their warm apple tart, hoping that the apples can help to refresh our tastebuds. Apples are baked in a flaky pastry topped with vanilla bean ice cream. Portions are big so we had to struggle through half of it before giving up. I find it a tad too sweet for my liking.

There's a nice complimentary chocolate espresso cake for Gracie. The coffee taste in the cake is quite strong, intially it tasted interesting but after a few mouthfuls, it reminds us of the old school coffee bean grinding machine.

We left Ruth Chris feeling pampered and content, with a happy stomach and a wide smile on our faces. Throughout the dinner we can't help but notice the similar menu that Mortons has. I'll say both places are on par for the great steaks they have but Mortons scored better for their appetitizers and desserts.

Coffee Stars by Dao (Wisma Atria)

Lynn and me met up for a ranting session on my part, because I needed to let out some steam. After comfort food at Din Tai Fung, we were roaming around Wisma Atria for desserts. Came across the pretty display of cakes at Coffee Stars. They have interesting flavors such as taro fresh cream cake, coconut pandan roll and horlick cake. We were tempted, and so decided to try.

After pouring over their menu, we settled for a taro fresh cream cake as well as a cappuccino cake. Lynn ordered a Mango Lassi, while I forgot what drink I ordered. We noticed that their cooked food selection seems not bad. They even have an entire page of vegetarian options!

Our cakes arrived shortly with our drinks. We really liked the taro cake, with its mashed yam frosting. The frosting tastes exactly like the yam paste dessert you eat at chinese restaurants. It's a must have for yam paste lovers! The cappuccino cake was more forgettable. I think we liked it, but it didn't make as big an impression as the taro cake. Lynn even packed a slice back for her mom. I think my mom will love it too, being the yam lover she is. Too bad I'm not staying with her now. It's now a mental note to get this for her birthday. I remember Lynn didn't enjoy her drink too much, while I was ok with mine (whatever it was). I really should complete catching up with my entries so that I'm not digging so far back into my memories...

Taro fresh cream cake

Cappucino cake

Mango Lassi and ???

I really liked the yam cake and will buy one for my mom's birthday. They supposedly serves a Thai and International cuisine. I believe Lynn returned for the mains, not sure if she'll remember to blog about it... Will probably bring hubs back one day to try their mains.

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier

After our dinner at Epicurious, we headed here for desserts upon M's recommendation. A flip through the menu revealed that this place serves a pretty large variety of soufflés, comparing to the usual 3 flavors or so that most places carry. And they also serve a large variety of other desserts. This is a must-go place for sweet-tooths.

After much consideration, we agreed on Lemon soufflé, After-eight soufflé (because I like those mints so much), creme brulee and chocolate profiteroles. Turns out after-eight soufflé was out of stock, so we opted for their chocolate soufflé instead. Profiteroles were out too, so we just skipped that. I ordered some citrusy drink of passionfruit, lemon, lime, orange and grapefruit juice. S ordered a shake, but I forgot the flavor. I just remembered it was nice.

The lemon soufflé was oh-so-nice. Light and refreshing, I think it's my most remembered soufflé of all time. The chocolate soufflé was served with a rasberry sorbet that M really enjoyed. The creme brulee was pretty good too, creamy with a good crusty caramel topping. My drink was oh-so-sour but I loved it. Looking at all the ingredients, I think you can have a sense of the level of sourness. But I so enjoy that kick, especially after eating desserts.

Lemon Soufflé

Chocolate Soufflé

Creme Brulee

My citrusy drink

S's milkshake

 I enjoyed the lemon soufflé so much that I'll definitely want to come back for it. Absolutely have to bring Lynn here. Lol...