Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

It's the final post for July and with a bit of guilt given that I took a week off last week. Wanted to feature Tanuki Raw last week but failed due to the long queues. I spent my last weekend of July visiting the Garden Festival at Gardens by the Bay. It's the final week of the festival and my gosh, the queue is crazy! It is nevertheless a pleasant walk around the garden. I was rewarded with a new display picture taken for my Facebook and a healthy afternoon after a hearty brunch.

This week we journey to Thomson. It's a very rare visit because it's extremely out of the way from where Vain Pot lives and I usually pick her up from her home before we proceed to food hunting. Also, parking in the Thomson area is always a hassle. Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters was shortlisted some way back after it caught the attention of a number of bloggers I was following on Instagram. No doubt, its popularity rehashed itself rather than a new discovery because a quick google showed that it first gained popularity in 2014. Online reviews then and now remains highly favourable and it helps that their food looks extremely camera friendly. I am so looking forward to this visit today as a result! 

One of the highlights of this place is its coffee. We shared an ice mocha ($6.50) because Vain Pot wanted to try but she can't take much caffeine and I have too much coffee ever since a Nespresso machine entered my life. 

I wanted to try their red velvet pancakes with mascarpone cheese initially but too bad they removed it from their menu. Sulks! Was really disappointed. I settled for BBQ Pork with Mac and Cheese ($18.50) instead. Vain Pot wanted clean food so she picked Avocado and Eggs ($15.90). 

The BBQ Pork with Mac and Cheese made my long journey to Thomson worthwhile. The dish is made up of 4 different cheese (parmesan, feta cheese, mozerella and mild cheddar) which made the Mac and cheese sufficiently cheesy without being overly 'jelat'. It helps that the portion wasn't too big so it's easy to eat and finish but people with bigger appetites might find the dish a little pricey. I also like it that the BBQ pork was honey coated and tasted like Bak Kwa. The mixture of pork sweetness with the cheesiness of the cheese provided a good balance to the overall meal. I'll definitely order this again when I want a Mac and cheese fix. 

Vain Pot's Avocado with Eggs was also perfectly executed. The poached eggs were runny and the avocado was richly flavored with cherry tomatoes and lemon making the entire taste refreshing. My first worry when I saw the sourdough bread was if it was toasted too hard. It passed the test as it was well toasted and the avocado was well spread across the bread. As a meal, this is a healthy delicious choice! Vain Pot was rather let down by the portion though. We both kinda expected two slices of bread with generous avocado serving like what they offer at Boufe. One slice does appear rather miserly for a $15.90 meal. 

How would I rate the overall experience having travelled a long way to dine here? I really love the food and would be back to try other dishes on the menu. However, it's a really bad place to dine if you come with someone you can't stop talking to. It's way way too noisy and many times Vain Pot and I had to repeat ourselves. It's however a wonderful place to dine if your companion and you loves food, loves taking pretty food photos and just want to share everything on the menu. The food and photos are awesome! No wonder food aficionados love this place! 

Pacamara Boutique Coffee Roasters

185 Upper Thomson Road

Dutch Baby Cafe

Lately I've been rather busy and haven't really had the time to be adventurous with my food hunts. The horrible heat is causing a spree of coughs amongst people and my throat is showing signs of a cough festering also. Drink more water people. This week's outing is with the brother. He suggested a number of cafes and I just picked one because I simply have no time to hunt for any.

The hunt of the week is thus Dutch Baby Cafe! This is an establishment opened by Japan Food Company and the signature is their Dutch baby pancakes. The pancakes look really friendly to the cameras and even though I encountered online reviews which were generally mixed, I am sufficiently curious to want to try. 

Apparently their udon is popular as well and we happened to visit the store at a time where they just changed their menu! This Lemon Chicken Udon ($13.80) is one of their new additions and I must say I give it the thumbs up. I'm not a fan of udon because they are typically fat and not shiok to slurp in my opinion. This version however comes with thin udon noodles which makes it a pleasure to slurp. The noodles are Q and easy to eat. I also found that the taste of the lemon chicken very unique from other chicken noodles I have eaten and that's in a good way. I need to point out though that the soup is MSG laden. But for $13.80 I'm not complaining. 

The highlight of the day is of course the Dutch baby pancakes served in a hot pan. We picked Caramel Apple ($12.80) which comes with caramelized Apple with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a Dutch pancake. My brother especially liked the pancake texture which was soft and aromatic. I felt that the caramelized apple went well with the pancakes. Unfortunately, I feel that the ice cream can't handle the heat and melted before we were even half way through leaving us with liquid ice cream.

Would I come back again? Honestly with the ever expansive number of new cafes opening and old popular cafes I haven't tried, Dutch Baby Cafe isn't high up my list. I will however pop by if I am catching up with a friend in Orchard Road and would like to introduce them to something new at the heart of town. I suspect I might come back to eat the udon again if I'm alone and want a noodle fix. 

Dutch Baby Cafe

290 Orchard Road, The Paragon, #B1-13

Hello Kitty Orchid Garden

It's weekends again! This week is pretty much holiday filled with Hari Raya Puasa smacked in the middle of the week. It's a rather lazy weekend for me not doing much besides reading up on some topics of interest and renewing some good luck at Full of Luck Club. I might write more about it another day.

The feature this week is my long anticipated visit to Hello Kitty Orchid Garden! I kinda waited over 2 months to visit this place but the queue still hasn't died down. I went there during Hari Raya Puasa so perhaps it's the public holiday effect. An interesting observation was that there were lots of families in the queue unlike most of the other long queue places I dined at. Waiting time was around 1.5hrs.

Given that we queued so long, Vain Pot and I endeavor to try as much food and drinks as our stomachs can take. We kicked off our visit trying their Cumbernade ($7.90) and Apple Cinnamon Tea ($7.80). The Cumbernade is a mock tail combination of cucumber syrup with lemonade and soda. It tastes refreshing if you like frizzy drinks. I quite like the Apple Cinnamon Tea which was light with distinct apple and cinnamon taste. I find the cookie at the side really weird though with its edges wet. 

One of the biggest plus points I give the Hello Kitty cafe was how the Hello Kitty Orchid Garden theme was incorporated into the food. The other theme cafes like DC Superheroes cafe at MBS didn't successfully achieve this to a large extent of their menu. I picked the Big Breakfast ($18.50) for its Instagramable presentation and a soft spot for waffles. It's a rather interesting dish. The maple syrup had a bit of fruity taste attached to it and the two waffles that came with the meal had different texture. 

One was crispy, the other fluffy cake like texture. One the whole, the meal was definitely decent but nothing fantastic taste-wise so don't expect too much.

Vain Pot's choice of Enchanted Forest ($17.90) was highly satisfactory. In her own words, "I don't know what I'm eating but this is really good." Haha! Basically it's quesadillas with prawns, avocado slices mashed with Hello Kitty cafe's very own wasabi sesame mayonnaise sauce. I tried it, it's really good. I especially like how the tangy wasabi taste was brought out. 

For desserts, we picked the overhyped cat in paradise. It's a combination of mango mousse with almond crumble and a hazelnut sorbet. It doesn't taste horrible but nothing fantastic. The biggest plus point for this dish is how the colors are pleasing to the cameras.

Summing up our visit, I would like to come back again to try the other parts of the menu. I felt the queue didn't felt as long as I waited perhaps because of my wonderful companion. The food exceeded my expectations for a thematic cafe and can definitely hold its own as a tourist attraction and even against other cafes. The aesthetics of the food and venue makes it a wonderful place for families and couples alike. 

Hello Kitty Orchid Garden

Singapore Changi Airport, Terminal 3, Arrival Meeting Hall Central, #01-22

(The fastest way to get a seat during peak hours is to visit the place in pairs)

Mitzo

It's weekends again and the start of July! I was kinda looking forward for about two weeks now because of the place I shortlisted for weekend brunch. We are celebrating Vain Pot's promotion and also the start of better things to come for my job! I felt it'll be fitting if we found good food to match the occasion.

I wanted a good dim sum and chanced upon the Mitzo Weekend Brunch menu. Online reviews said that the food was tops and the lead chef, Nicky Ng used to be the Executive Chef de Cuisine in 2011 at Michelin starred restaurant, Hakkasan New York City. So with this in mind, we had certain expectations of the food quality.

The weekend brunch ($68++) is a buffet serving classic Cantonese food. Given that the menu is relatively extensive, we picked only the recommended dishes because our stomachs didn't have room for more. While I am tempted to spam a lot of pictures for the benefit of readers, I think it'll be more useful to highlight my favorite dishes. 

This is the Hokkaido Milk Cheese Tart which came at the beginning of our meal without us requesting for it. It's really as good or even better than Baked cheese tarts at Orchard Ion. The cheese is extremely creamy and pastry was excellent. Must try! 

There're 3 dishes which are limited to 1 per diner. They are bamboo clam, live lobster and abalone cooked 3 ways up to the choice of the customer. I felt the spicy chilli lobster served with bun really reminds me of chilli crab and the rendition was good! While lobster like crayfish has limited meat, it was still very appetizing. 

Since Vain Pot and I make up two persons we managed to try 2/3 of the bamboo clam selection. We went with the traditional steamed bamboo clam with minced garlic in soya and steamed bamboo clam with enoki mushroom in spicy peanut sauce. Both bamboo clam dishes were well executed, tasty and leave you craving for more. 

I believed I complained before that good Cantonese soup is hard to find in Singapore. The double boiled soup of the day was boiled rich in taste despite its simple ingredients of pork and winter melon. Reminds me of Hong Kong.,.

Another unique dish I was happy to try was the escargot cheese puff. Shaped in the form of a snail, it's Instagram worthy and taste was cheese and crispy. I like it that the crust is not oily despite being deep fried and the cheesy escargot made it a delight to eat. 

A key dessert highlight will be these deep-fried chocolate liqueur dumpling. It's unique and I've never eaten anything like that before. The balls were well fried and not oily. The chocolate had a distinct alcohol taste yet blended well with the fried balls. Really one of its kind!

Desserts were generally good but if I were to pick a winner, it'll be this generous Aloe Vera Osmanthus Jelly. The sorbet that was included inside made it a joy to eat. The jelly was light and refreshing, a delightful way to end a rich and hearty meal. 

While I felt really pleased with the food quality and the fact it's not mass produced despite being a buffet, Vain Pot and I had some gripes as well. Firstly, a Chinese dim sum buffet but no complimentary tea?! Yet there's a selection of cocktails?! Just didn't go well with me. Secondly, we weren't exactly satisfied with the service either because the staff seem to have difficulty communicating with us. In their defense, they aren't local. (From hongkong I guess) nevertheless I am less forgiving because I have been to hongkong and gotten served in hotels by English speaking staff there which I had no problem comprehending. Singapore staffs shouldn't be worse if we compare hotel expectation standards. Thirdly, they charged us twice for the tea. I didn't feel like going through the hassle of asking for a new receipt and just paid but felt a bit disappointed by the service experience.

I do however feel that the food is worth going back for. My next visit, I'll try all the non star dishes and maybe some cocktails. I also want to say I like the overall design and furniture of Mitzo.

Mitzo

Level 4, Grand Park Orchard

270 Orchard Road

(Please remember to get a complimentary ticket when you dine there because parking is pretty steep)