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

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)

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