Best 5 waffles I've had in Singapore (so far) [Edited]

Whenever I have a craving, I'll google for "best ________ in Singapore" and hope to get something. Everytime I do this, I'll wonder how other people search for good food. One issue I had was some results gave me like 16 best waffles or 20 best waffles, and I'll start thinking but I only want to eat good waffles tomorrow. So many how to research and narrow down?! Nowadays, with Instagram and Burpple, it's getting easier to stay abreast on the latest 'in' food in town. In any case, I thought that this week I'll share my own top 5 waffles places having spent the last two years feasting on a lot of waffles. I've had fun and much success discovering a number of nice new places this way, and thought I'd share my own favorites with everyone. These 5 favorites are in no particular order. 

This photo was taken 2 years ago when I first googled best waffles in Singapore 2014. Strangers Reunion came out top of that list of top 5. Strangers Reunion is known for their latte art because their owner has won numerous top barista awards and also for their buttermilk waffles with maple syrup and fresh fruit ($11.90). The waffles batter made the waffles light, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. Paired with maple syrup and fruits, it's an awesome combination that doesn't make you 'jelat'. In fact, it is so good, I'm motivated to go back and try the ice cream version now that I'm done with my waffles exploration. 

Strangers Reunion

35 Kampong Bahru Road

(Please note that I haven't been there in two years and can't attest that the standard remains the same. The taste 2 years ago is still my top 5 favorite if they maintained the quality today)

This was also eaten 2 years ago as part of the top 5 waffles list that I googled back in 2014. After the visit to Strangers Reunion which was very promising, I told myself next time must try waffles with ice cream. Prior to this visit, my only experience with ice cream waffles was at Gelare which as a poor clueless student, I thought it was very good waffles. Last year I ate Gelare again to check out the difference between good and bad batter. My findings was that the waffles was dry and it felt like tasteless flour that accompanied cold ice cream and there's no satisfaction after eating. 

Anyway, back to good ice cream waffles, the buttermilk waffles with premium New Zealand Ice cream with butter rum bananas ($15) at Department of Caffeine is a clear winner. The butter rum bananas is by far the best rendition of bananas with waffles I've tried. I've always felt that good waffles are the kind you can eat them on their own and still find them awesome. The buttermilk waffles at DOC sure makes the grade. 

Department of Caffiene (Closed Permanently)

15 Duxton Road 

(Again please note that this was eaten 2 years ago and hopefully their quality remains. If it does, then the taste still retains in my memory as top 5 today)

Hatter Street was introduced to me by a friend (let's call her fat fat) few months ago. In 2015 there seems to be more waffles establishments springing up and the modern day waffles have more variations. This pandan ice cream waffles with gula melaka is very different from the ice cream waffles I ate in 2014 (Yes all of them!). The texture of the waffles reminds me of Belgian waffles and it's very flavorful. The batter gave the exterior a bit of biscuit-like crispy and interior was fluffy. I felt that the mix of pandan ice cream and gula melaka goes perfectly together and I have been back twice since. 

Hatter Street Bakehouse and Cafe

212 Hougang Street 21 #01-333

Another waffle place also introduced to me very recently by Fat fat is Oblong. While flavored waffles actually existed since 2013, the craze only caught on late 2014. Oblong offers a variety of waffles flavours with a variety of ice cream and a variety of sauce and add ons. The picture you see is a red velvet waffles with earl grey ice cream with cream cheese and butterscotch syrup. If you order it as a combo with drinks it cost you $10. I really like the mix and match concept and their flavours really go well together. The waffles is light and fluffy. I felt that the variety of flavours gives a refreshing twist to waffles and I like it that the waffles are meant for individuals which means I can walk in on my own after dinner and not worry it's too much for my tummy. 

Oblong

10 Maju Avenue

Last but not least, I specially went to eat here on Thursday with Ms MooMoo. Montana Brew Bar is the "IN" waffles in town now. I found it on Instagram and Burpple with lots of noise from the Blogosphere. Apparently I'm considered late at trying out this place because the hype started late last year. Montana Brew Bar is famous for their creative waffles. The photo you see is their Mac and Cheese waffles with Jalapeños and Salsa Sauce ($13.80) version 4. Based on my research I discovered that the owners having invited bloggers for tasting and have worked on their food and the ones I'm eating is already the 4th version of the dish. It's really one of the best savory waffles I've had. The aroma of Mac and Cheese was very distinct on the onset and the smell alone can wet your appetite. The waffles are very crispy on the outside and the stuff macaroni and cheese inside the waffles really gives it a unique combination that goes very well together. On top of that the salsa sauce was really very balanced, spicy enough not to mask the Mac and cheese taste and provides the added oomph to make this dish my new favorite. 

Montana Brew Bar

1 Selegie Road, POMO, #02-25

Clinton St Baking Company

Every Saturday is my favorite day of the week and today is probably the best Saturday I have this month. I played badminton this morning! Yes, it's only badminton but anybody who plays badminton in indoor courts in Singapore knows how hard it is to get an ideal court at the time slot of your choice so I was really looking forward to today. Apart from that, there's of course the much anticipated brunch at Clinton St Baking Company which I crave for.

And so after a month of blogging, I get questions on why I even bother to blog when there's so many more established blogs out there. For a start, this is a hobby, I like to eat and share the food I eat. As of now, I am not interested to be involved in anything commercialized, if you notice, there's no way to contact me on my blog. I hunt for food every week and I enjoy taking pictures of food everywhere I go. I don't care how distinctly Singaporean this makes me, I like doing it period. I take the trouble to read a lot of reviews so that my Saturdays remain awesome. Plus Singapore has really limited stuff to do but its a food paradise. And since I have taken so much trouble, why not share with people who might not have time to do the homework about interesting food. I even have this crazy idea where this blog can be a go-to place for people who need inspiration for weekly outings and meet ups and have no time to plan. If after so much trouble and I discover bad food, I see it as my responsibility to highlight it too! 

So anyway, today I am really excited to share my experience dining at Clinton St Baking Company.  After all the research, I was extremely looking forward to dining there. Clinton St Baking Company hails from New York City and has won awards for their brunch dishes in particular their pancakes. However, the dish that made me utterly excited was the buttermilk biscuit sandwich ($13.50). When I saw photos of it online, it looked so mouth watering good I couldn't wait for Saturday to come. My first buttermilk biscuit was from KFC. It was dry yet the taste gave me a hint that if executed better elsewhere I'll like it.  Buttermilk biscuits is a very American breakfast ingredient. And the ones I was served were buttery, soft and goes perfectly with the scrambled eggs and melted cheddar cheese. The house made tomato jam is really a winner on its own. It retained the sour tomato taste yet it carries with it a tinge of spiciness that lingers in your mouth. If it wasn't served as a sandwich, I would say it could beat many tomato pasta sauces hands down. 

Apart from the sandwich, we also had Pancakes with Warm Maple Butter with wild blueberry ($18). This is really the best pancakes I had in Singapore. It was fluffy, generous, crispy on the outside soft on the inside and the warm maple butter that goes with it provides the added oomph that differentiates this pancake from its peers. I didn't touch the blueberries, I don't like fruit dishes but fussypot gobbled it up so it must be good. 

After this visit, Clinton St Baking Company has made it into my top 5 favorite brunch places. Their portions are American size so if you have a small appetite, it'll be wise to share. One very distinctive observation I had about this meal was that Fussypot ate more than me and this rarely happens. Either the badminton contributed to it or the food must be darn good! I'll definitely be back as many times as possible to clear as much of the menu as my time permits and this is definitely my go-to place if I ever need a pancake fix. 

Clinton St Baking Company

31 Purvis St
(Parking is a hassle along Purvis St, you might wish to take the train or park at the nearby malls)

Tian Fu Tea Room

One of my childhood dreams has always been to be an Emperor no matter how funny that sound. I am a hardcore Chinese Dynasty drama fan and once scored a B+ for my assignment on my Business History module because I wrote about similiarities in how Chinese Dynasties handled their succession planning like family businesses. B+ because I got penalized for doing my assignment on submission day and did not provide any academic references for my information source otherwise I believe I scored an A. Now that you get my fascination with dynasties, you probably understand why I chose to try Tian Fu Tea Room's Reunion Imperial High Tea this weekend.

The Reunion Imperial High Tea ($38++ per pax) is a limited time only promotion for Chinese New Year. It runs from 8 Feb till 22 Feb. Perhaps due to its short notice, it's not widely marketed and thus explains why we were the only 3 set of guests having the high tea on a Saturday at Park Royal Hotel, Kitchener Road branch. To give you some background on this place, Tian Fu Tea Room is a subset of the more known Si Chuan Dou Hua restaurant. 

The first dish was Premium Black Truffle Yusheng. I've never been a fan of Yusheng. To me it's messy, doesn't taste nice and I honestly prefer cooked food. That said, my first encounter with black truffle Yusheng is a refreshing encounter. It helps that fussy pot didn't make a mess of the Yusheng when we did the usual Lou Hei. I felt the taste was given a very modern twist and it's the first Yusheng I ate more than the customary one bite. 

The high tea basically served three different Chinese teas to go with different types of dim sum the chef prepared. The first tea being Bai Mu Dan (white tea). The accompanying dim sum was steamed siew mai with black moss and bird's nest dumpling in superior broth. I'd be upfront and say the steam siew mai looked pathetically small. However, the taste was pretty good and I particularly liked the chilli they gave me to go with my food! The bird nest dumpling in superior broth while tasted decent left me disappointed. I've drank better soup with less expensive ingredients and fussy pot couldn't even tell that there was bird nest since she asked me which dish had the bird nest after the meal. 

The next tea served was Bi Tan Piao Xue (flower tea) and the accompanying dishes is a mouth full. Steamed prawn dumpling with crab roe, pan-fried carrot cake with waxed meat and peanuts, pan-fried pancake with chicken floss and Sichuan Dan Dan noodles with shredded abalone. This round the food was far more competent. Steamed prawn dumpling with crab roe was rich in flavour and the prawn was very crunchy. Pan-fried carrot cake on its own was ordinary but accompanied with the chilli, I ate more and more. Frankly this place should just be known for their chilli. Everything goes well with it. The pancake with chicken floss was another competently executed dish. The pancake was well fried and the chicken floss left me satisfied. Even though I have no major complains about the food, I kept feeling that something was missing and the Dan Dan noodles was the savior. It's probably the best dish of the day, sauce a tinge of spiciness while possessing the added oomph that makes the noodles addictive. The shredded abalone and vegetables were perfect variety to make you not get bored of this dish. 

The final tea served was Yunnan Dian Hong (Red Tea), incidentally my favorite. The dessert selection was decent but nothing to wow me. To begin with, I am not a dessert person. They had pan-fried soy milk new year cake with soya bean crisps, chilled almond cake with strawberry sauce and homemade fine beancurd with wolfberry. The desserts in general aren't for the sweet tooth. The ingredients used are pure and fresh which is what I like about it. The fine beancurd with wolfberry is the authentic recipe of Si Chuan Dou Hua which I felt was good value for the price I paid. 

All in all, food wise, Reunion Imperial High Tea at Tian Fu Tea Room is really value for money. $38 isn't exactly cheap but for the premium ingredients used and the number of dishes, it's good value. I was a little surprised that there's so little people, but I guess it's partially caused by Valentine's Day. A side note would be the service. The staff seemed a little untrained for this promotion and we felt really lost at the beginning whether we had to order from the menu or wait to be served since we already informed them we were here for the high tea. Other than that, I don't mind feeling like royalty for a day and paying $38 bucks to eat bird nest, abalone and truffle. 

Tian Fu Tea Room

Parkroyal on Kitchener Road

181 Kitchener Road

(There's two other outlets at UOB Plaza 1 and Parkroyal at Beach Road with differing menus under the same promotion)

Tsukada Nojo

This week has been all about reunion dinners amidst the Chinese New Year fever. As always, I like to feature food I eat with Fussy Pot because I feel she shares my peculiar taste buds. My choice of reunion dinner has always been steamboat or dishes with rice because they give me a homely feeling. Wanting to soak in some festive atmosphere, we settled on Chinatown and Beauty Pot (what better way to get ready for Chinese New Year).

Documenting my Tsukada Nojo visits in numbers... This is my fourth visit, my first at Chinatown Point outlet, second visit with fussy pot and my first visit without having to queue for two hours. Tsukada Nojo is a Japanese beauty pot steamboat which is famous for their collagen soup and infamous for long queues especially at their Plaza Singapura outlet. One discovery I made was that the Chinatown outlet is more catered for bigger groups whilst the Plaza Singapura outlet is largely for two people. 

 The highlight of the place is their Nabe Bijin set ($50 for 2 pax) which offers golden collagen chicken soup accompanied with chicken, prawn, lettuce, red radish, sunflower sprout, enoki mushrooms, baby sweet potato leaves, baby corn, lady's finger, deep fried tofu, yellow zucchini, fresh black fungus and tori tsukune. Apart from this long list, you are also entitled to choose one type of noodles from a selection of three. We chose thin egg noodles. 

The soup broth has always been consistently good. Rich in chicken flavour, although very oily but take my word for it, it's good. Personally, I am not an outside steamboat person and all steamboat pretty much taste as expected after you cook the raw food inside the hot broth. That said, there's still the distinction between steamboats using frozen or processed ingredients and freshly produced ingredients. One reason I have been here four times is because they use fresh ingredients at affordable prices. A new addition is the heart shaped seaweed which they claim will change the taste of the soup after we add it in. I like it that their ingredient selection is tilted towards the healthier side and the tori tsukune particularly stood out for me. 

Another key highlight I really like is that the staff are all artistically talented. They all can draw numerous designs. Tsukada Nojo will provide jelly with a bit of chocolate sauce to sooth the tastebuds after each hearty meal. Their jelly is always delivered with an attractive art piece. I once have them write happy last day to one of my departing colleague and they so pleasantly obliged. 

Tsukada Nojo is definitely worth going to for a reasonably priced beauty pot experience. I've braved the two hour queues at Plaza Singapura to eat there three times attesting to my belief that their food is worth the wait. I also like the name card they gave me with a corporate rank attached to it as a way to reward returning customers. Currently I'm a manager with two chops on my card :)

Tsukada Nojo

#02-37 Chinatown Point, 133 New Bridge Road