Maison Kayser - French Bakery in Town

Over the weekend, I strove to get some balance in my work-life and met a friend for breakfast. I've been on a diet lately and am striving to keep my food intake on the healthy side. Starting your day early at some cafe can be rather refreshing. I particularly enjoyed the time where after good food and coffee, I can sit back relax and enjoy a good read. I want to do this more often!

Maison Kayser is a French bakery with a few outlets in Singapore. They are known for their fresh bakes. I went to the Scotts Square outlet partially because it's near the MRT. One of the guys I was supposed to meet doesn't drive. The other reason is my own fatigue of driving when I don't have to. Sitting on the train allows me to read on the go and do other productive stuff.

While I was there for breakfast, I was trying to eat enough so that I don't need to have lunch. I picked the Pasta Salad ($10) which comes with a bun on the side. It's pretty good. I enjoyed the tangy spiciness of the pasta shells, the cheese, greens and cherry tomatoes that made my meal healthier. I'd think it's a good healthy fix for anyone who wishes to grab something on the go too.

Naturally we tried the fresh bakes too. I didn't try the Almond Croissant which my friend ordered ($3.50) but it looks delicious enough. One thing I notice is that the staff won't offer or ask if you wish to warm the bread. So you need to ask. I had a set breakfast ($5.90) while waiting for my friend. Comes with brewed coffee and a fresh baked. My selection choice was Plie Aux Chocolat. It's tastes fantastic and I highly recommend it. The bun was fresh and soft. I enjoyed the mild custard and chocolate stuffed that goes excellently with the pastry. The sweetness was just right too. Enjoyed every bite!

For dessert, I settled for the eclaire with vanilla cream ($5.50). While the vanilla icing was pretty good, I found the dough to be not very fresh with a bit of over-night feeling. The texture was dry and too doughy. Not gonna order this again.

Would I return for a second visit? I'd say it's 50-50. The place is pretty small so you got to be early if you want seats. I went there at 9.30am and there were people already inside. I totally enjoyed my fresh baked and would like to try more of their pastries. I'd say only go there if you love fresh bakes like me and you probably should have it on the go without the coffee.

Maison Kayser
6 Scott's Road, #B1-25 Scotts Square, S228209

The Playground Coffee

This is a throwback post. I've been on budget for the past half a month to try out a save money challenge so couldn't afford luxuries like restaurants. In any case, my conclusion remains that earning more still works best for me as compared to trying to cut down on expenses which felt really miserable. Incidentally, today I fulfilled my desire to try the Pablo tart in house and also indulged in very satisfying Prawn Aglio Olio and Chicken wings at D'Good Cafe. I also bought a new book - Made to Stick, to resume my reading habit.

I went to The Playground Coffee a couple of weeks back when work took me to Pioneer. Given that I would never have travelled to Jurong West on my own even if it's for the food, I decided to indulge in some instagrammable brunch food before I left this ulu corner of the west. The Playground Coffee is a new cafe that fits the bill for the typical cafe hopping culture in Singapore. Located in Nanyang Community Centre, it serves a very niche community who probably have a long travel every time they leave home.

As it was a weekday, they had some attractive lunch sets where you pay for the main and add $7 for an additional drink and cake. I made this trip with a colleague of mine and settled for the Salmon Grain Bowl ($16) while he picked the Hearty Breakfast ($16). I found the food to be very competent for a neighbourhood cafe and was pretty thankful for the healthy meal. I enjoyed the quinoa in the bowl but would have preferred if the Barley was excluded the next time. I guess while everything was competently prepared, I didn't find any standout factor in my meal. 

As for the Hearty Breakfast, my colleague's comment was that it tasted like how a typical big breakfast dish should. Average was his comment. I took particular pleasure in the plating, liked the vibrant colours that stood out of the bowl.

I didn't feel like drinking anymore caffiene or soda given my pretty intense consumption over the past couple of days so gave the set lunch a pass. Instead, I ordered a separate dessert called Death's Nectar ($8) which is basically brownie with warm hot fudge and a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This is really good! As someone who loves all things chocolate besides chocolate itself, I took particular pleasure in the richness of the chocolate fudge sauce. The brownies were soft and warm which goes exceedingly well with the cold vanilla ice cream. Awesome dessert!

My colleague went along with the set lunch and got a red velvet cake as his dessert. The cake was pretty delicious. The cake was coated with a cream cheese icing while the red velvet sponge is layered with milk chocolate. Taste is awesome but a little too rich that it's pretty difficult to finish solo. I think most of the cakes are pre-made so the cake is a little on the hard side given that it is frozen for hours. I like hard cakes but if you like your cake soft and fluffy, this isn't the cake for you.

In the past, there was a shortage of cafes in the West and The Playground Coffee would definitely cater to the Westies well. Given that, there's a rise in cafes springing up in the West, The Playground Coffee would have a challenging time trying to get a slice of the market share. That said, their food is very decent. I did note that their pricing is tilted a little to the high side considering its location. Whether this backfires on them remains to be seen. I won't specially travel to Jurong West to eat this again but if I'm around the area, I'll treat myself to Death's Nectar one more time!

The Playground Coffee
60 Jurong West Street 91, #01-04, Nanyang Community Club, S649040

Haakon Superfoods and Juice

It's healthy week! I love Saturyays because it's the day I give myself some breathing space from work. This week I went for a 10km hike at McRitchie Reservoir for the Tree Top Walk. The perfect activity when you are trying to lose weight but I'd prefer to walk elsewhere. All I saw was rubble and mud and branches... It's still one thing off my to-do list and a good 3 hour experience!

As I'm currently on diet after gaining a considerable amount of weight in Hong Kong, been on the food hunt for healthy delicious food. This week, Vain Pot and I head to Haakon Superfoods and Juice for our lunch.A perfect combination after our 10km hike! Haakon is a Swedish cafe serving clean food. When I was in Bangkok late last year, I went to a Swedish cafe there and was really impressed by their simplistic menus that tasted really great. You can read more here: Brunch Places Worth a Visit in Bangkok

We had a considerably light lunch because it was 3pm when we reached Haakon Superfoods and Juice. The truth was we accidentally took the longer route when we embarked on the MacRitchie hike so the 10km was really a result of a mistake... HAHA...

Vain Pot picked the Haakon Classic Acai Bowl ($7.90 for small) as she had a dinner early evening. She told me it taste a lot like all the other acai bowls she have eaten. Basically the composition is made up of granola, coconut flakes, chia seeds parfait, blueberries, banana and seasonal fruits. A typical health meal that tastes really good if you are a fruit lover.

As for me, I settled for the Salmon Salad Bowl ($11.90) and the Breakfast Smoothie ($5.90). Honestly, for foods like salads and acai bowls there's no one bowl that beats the other. It's pretty much raw food put together with sauce. My salad bowl consisted of Norwegian smoked salmon, baked egg, edamame, quinoa, tomatoes, feta cheese and lettuce. I picked the honey mustard sauce to go with it. Not exactly the healthiest choice. I give it to Haakon that their salad bowl combi was well mixed and I enjoyed the selection I picked.

The Breakfast Smoothie is what I would like to rave about. Basically I was looking forward to the Nut Milk which I read on Seth Lui but apparently they currently don't sell it. I was really disappointed and they recommended the Breakfast Smoothie which they claimed tasted like the nut milk. I totally enjoyed my drink! The smoothie is touted as an appetite suppressant and energy booster which explains why it's a breakfast smoothie. The ingredients include almond butter, oats, soy, whey protein and banana. It's really good! I enjoyed the almond soy milk taste and the crunchy bits of oats that is blended in the smoothie. Reminds me of ice cream with cookie crumbs. Tasty yet healthy!

I'll definitely visit Haakon Superfoods and Juice again for the breakfast smoothie and acai bowls. I'm not a hardcore healthy food fan but the smoothie really got me sold. They also have a range of cooked food like eggs benedict and other healthier waffle choices which I would like to be back to try too! I strongly recommend this place for the health conscious foodie.

Haakon Superfoods and Juice
118 Holland Ave #01-03 Raffles Holland V, S278997
(they have another outlet at 313 Somerset which might be more convenient to go)

Wildseed Cafe & Bar

Spent the weekend visiting the very much hyped about Wheeler's Estate. To be exact, I only managed to eat there because the rain put a stop to our dry weather plans. I always thought Seletar Aerospace Park is located at the north of Singapore, imagine my surprise to find it near Sengkang/Punggol. I've heard a lot about Wheeler's Estate, the revamped area which was taken over by the folks of Wheeler's Yard. Apparently, you can cycle there, picnic there and eat in their multiple establishments. Too bad for me, I didn't have the luxury to explore the place today.

Thankfully, the trip wasn't in vain. Vain Pot and I still managed to brunch at Wildseed Cafe & Bar. This cafe is run by a chef named Florian Ridder. The owner comes with quite an impressive resume, having worked in 1 Star Michelin Piment and 3 Star Michelin La Belle Epoque in Germany as well as 1 Star Michelin Alma by Juan Amador locally. So despite the really unfamiliar menu, I told Vain Pot let's give it a go. One attractive aspect of Wildseed Cafe & Bar is their edible garden. Most of the ingredients are produced and prepared in-house, thus you don't really have to worry if the food isn't fresh.

To kick off our meal, we each picked one from the weekend brunch menu and one from the regular menu. Vain Pot's choice of Scrambled Avocado Roti ($18) made of Kranji mushrooms, creamy egg, chilli and grated parmesan was really unique but good. The egg is cooked till just right, runny when you cut through it. The elements despite its unique combination went well together. I particularly liked the chilli padi taste in my mouth and yet not taste the spiciness. A very healthy breakfast that adds variety to your week surely.

Not to be outdone, I was determined to order the Falafel Sourdough Burger ($14). Those who know me long enough will know how much I dislike trying really unique food with uncommon food combinations. Yes... fussy eater literally. I decided to be adventurous today, drawn to the ball-like ingredient which I initially mistook for meatballs (I love meatballs). The burger composite is actually feta cheese, cucumber, egg plant stew, fresh lemon coriander and yogurt sauce. I felt the spices reminded me of Indian cuisines and found the dish surprisingly appetizing. In fact, I felt the spices made the dish fairly addictive. A far less guilty indulgence from the usual.

For desserts, we picked Ginger Flower Banana Loaf ($7.50) and Citronella Passionfruit Cheesecake ($7.50) to share. The banana loaf is really awesome. I'll recommend you to try it too when you are there. I liked it that the edges are caramelized giving the loaf sufficient sweetness as a dessert but not overwhelming that you feel guilty eating it. I also liked the mild ginger flower taste that is embedded inside the loaf. Yummy!

The Cheesecake on the other hand is probably an acquired taste. The tart and the cheesecake has nothing to fault but I just fail to appreciate the taste. In the first place, I don't really like fruits in my food. Probably not my thing but it's definitely a decent tart for those who knows how to appreciate.

I'll definitely be back again at Wildseed Cafe & Bar. For starters, I still want to explore Wheeler's Estate so I'm coming back on a sunny day. The food here is very unique, very different from the mainstream brunch places I usually frequent. I was confident that Vain Pot would love the food here and she did. One more customer for them! Haha! If you have a strong love for healthy, fresh food with a refreshing break from city life, this is definitely the place to spend your weekend.

Wildseed Cafe & Bar
3 Park Lane, S793387
(Parking is free! Another incentive to visit this place!)

Alter Ego

It's weekends and I'm writing early this week. Too much stuff on my to-do list to clear, I'm getting down to write early morning. Spent the past week enjoying a few rounds of good food with colleagues and friends in between work. My colleague actually asked if I specially hunt for food everyday.

I managed a mid week lunch with Fat Fat at Alter Ego. I specially picked the place after I saw this Southern Chicken Sandwich on one of the blogs but alas, its only available in March. Why they even market the food so early?! Disappointing start to the lunch. Alter Ego is the sister outlet to A Poke Theory. Its focus on semi-sinful food is a contrast to the healthy bowls at Poke Theory.

Kicking off the meal, Fat Fat and I decided to share a Grilled Cheese ($11) and the Original Poke Shaker ($16). Fat Fat as her name suggest even wanted to order another main and I had to stop her! The Grilled Cheese is one of their popular dishes and does live up to its popularity. The grueye and taleggio cheese combi gives off this gooey stretch to it when you bite leaving you with cheesy satisfaction. The tangy tomato sauce on the side was the perfect match to the wafer-like cheesy crust, reminding me of good pizza. Definitely worth a try!

The Original Poke Shaker is made up of original shoyu salmon, with their signature sushi rice top with fresh ingredients like pineapple, lime avocado and fresh roasted cashews. Yums! It definitely adds healthy balance to all that sinful cheese. I felt that it would make a satisfying lunch fix on its own especially so for the health conscious. I found the salmon fresh and the cashews has this addictive sweetness that made me can't stop eating.

Fat Fat wanted more food so we added a side French Onion Dip ($10). It basically is a blend of mayo, cream cheese, sour cream and balsamic caramelized onions served with tortilla chips. The taste wasn't as strong as we liked it but I enjoyed the chips. I felt that this dish added a satisfying finish to the meal but the dip certainly has room for improvement.

On the whole, it was a satisfying mid week lunch with Fat Fat. I'm still a little disapproving about the marketing efforts which promoted a burger which wasn't available yet. I saw it late January. How long ago was that?! To be fair, the food is decently priced and the meal teeters between healthy and sinful depending on what you pick on the menu. A perfect place for afternoon lunches with colleagues and friends which caters to all sorts of taste buds. I like it that weekdays they are generally empty (probably due to its location) and it means a cozy place for catch ups with respectable food as well!

Alter Ego
8 Raffles Avenue, #01-13D, Esplanade Mall
(Please note that Alter Ego morphs into a bar grub at night, they also serve alcohol for people who wish to chill)

Ninja Cut

I'm late on my post because of the Christmas break and some screw ups on the food feature because of some irresponsible behavior from some inconsiderate guy that got Vain Pot very sick. Seriously, if you don't have such a big head, don't wear such a big hat period. Due to the illness, we couldn't explore an Italian Weekend Brunch which I wanted to try. Oh well...

In any case, we went to Ninja Cut the week before to enjoy some healthy food. Ninja Cut is the sister outlet of the other healthy bowl Ninja Bowl. Both concepts are largely similar except that Ninja Cut provides a brunch menu along with a greater focus on proteins.

Vain Pot selected Oh My Cod! ($18) which contains baked miso cod, pickled beets, honey-glazed carrots, asparagus & endamame and onsen egg. It presents itself as a pretty hearty meal. Customers can choose to add a carbo of choice at an extra cost too with Quinoa being the most expensive carb. I like it that the cod was soft and decently tasty. The side vegetables were also well seasoned and not difficult to finish.

My food of choice was Squid Fix ($18). It contains grilled surume ika, sauteed mushrooms, miso cucumbers, onsen egg and honey-glazed carrots, furikake. I enjoyed my bowl too and especially enjoyed eating the large chunks of squid meat which were all very tender. I do think the cafe owners should remove the tentacles from the Squid Fix bowl because they are really tough and difficult to bite. I particularly enjoyed my bowl because I ate all the other ingredients given and they tasted healthy! I also thought that for a squid bowl $18 is quite a steal.

Drinks wise, Vain Pot chose Hot Mocha ($6.50) while I settled for Earl Grey Imperial ($7). Honestly, I think these healthy bowls are wasted with coffee. Tea is the right pairing for such bowls and I enjoyed the tea so much better than the mocha.

As a whole, just like my experience with Ninja Bowl, I'd be back again for another healthy bowl fix. I do like their location at Seah Street better than Ninja Bowl at Duxton. I would recommend this place if you are into clean food.

Ninja Cut
32 Seah Street

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

Ninja Bowl

This week is meet the friends week! Given that I work everyday but a couple of hours, my free time is spent catching with friends over lunch and dinners. One of the highlights is meeting Bak Bak to try the new fried milk rolls at Tim Ho Wan. It's good so it's worth trying! There's also my long awaited visit with another friend to Ninja Bowl which I'll be featuring today.

Ninja Bowl is the replacement to Department of Caffiene. They serve healthy Japanese bowls and is really suitable for those who eat salad as their staple meal. 

So anyway, my friend and I, starting to get lazy with name inventions because there's too many, we settled for Yasai and Genki ($16 each). Yasai is a salmon bowl with mixed sultanas, onsen egg and tomatoes. Both of us added quinoa ($3) to our dishes as our carbo. As someone who hasn't eaten any white rice replacement before, I found quinoa to be surprisingly tasty. It went exceedingly well with the bowl and salmon were really fresh! However, the amount of ingredients in Yasai is rather little and after a while the taste starts to get repetitive with salmon and quinoa running the show. It is still very healthy! 

My friend's choice of Genki was a combination of Yaki Unagi, roasted pumpkin, beansprouts, onsen egg and pickled beets. Apparently it's a refreshing mix of her favorite Japanese food without the unhealthy additions. The pumpkin and beet root added variety to the egg, Unagi and quinoa which she added and I felt it's a more complete bowl. 

As we were chatting, and the place was rather small, I discovered that Ninja Bowl is probably not the best place to chill out. The staff attempted to clear us out with little actions like clearing our bowls. When we made no attempt to leave they tried to upsell us with their cakes. Alright fair enough, we could try some cakes. Except there're only two cakes to choose from. Some berry cake which was out of the question because I hate fruits in my food and this Thai Milk Tea cake ($16) which we both settled for a slice each. 

The cake was generally light and the milk tea taste was distinct however the sponge cake was a little bit too dry to be a good cake. It's nonetheless edible and not difficult to finish. 

Ninja bowl is one of those places I'll be eager to return to. The trouble with this place is its location. It's smacked in the middle of nowhere and at the outskirts of the CBD area. The bowls which I can foresee myself eating for lunch isn't your typical cafe food but a good replacement to the healthy salads I eat. So because of its location, if I ever eat here again, it'll be because I specially made a trip down. It's still highly recommended if you are into healthy food and love jap! 

Ninja Bowl

15 Duxton Road