DONQ Boulangerie

It is tucked inside the end of the basement 2 Takashimaya, you may easily missed it if you did not walk till the end. I happen to find this bakery when I had my shopping at Takashimaya and I noticed this bakery. I myself quite like the french pastry especially Japanese French type, it could be I always see all the tempted bun even I taste it. The presentations are really appealing. 

Finally, I decided to try this out. All the buns looks so nice, which one should I get, I walked at least 3 rounds inside the bakery shop. In the end, I decided to go to their best seller items and the rest I will leave to my next visit.

This bean bun have 4 types of bean - I know there are red bean and some not sure what is that. Tasted good but slightly sweet because of the sugar coating.

This is slightly hard for us, it has to go with some drink else a bit hard to swallow. It tasted average but healthy I think.

Cream cheese bun - the best seller no 1 and is my no 1 so far too for this bakery. The bun is soft and filling is just nice. Love this!

DONQ Boulangerie Bakery

Address: 391 Orchard Road, #B203, Singapore, Singapore 238873

Website: http://www.donq.co.jp/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/donqbakery

The Sugar Pantry

We were invited to the “Let Them Eat The Cake” private event organized by The Sugar Pantry on 20th Oct 2013.  There was a cake and pastry baking demo session run by the Shop Owner: Yen Kok.  She learnt the cake & pastry making in France.  This event was awesome!

The shop was opened since February 2013 and it is just located near the Jusco in Permas Jaya.  It was not difficult to locate the area and it only takes 15min from Causeway to Singapore.  However, the Shop is inside the Permas Mall that you need to spend some time to look for it.  But this will not be a problem for Cake and Pastry lovers.

The ambience of the shop is cozy and comfortable.  I think the owner did spend some time to look for good furniture and some decorations.  But I can’t find menu in the shop as I wonder if they have one.  Or we just order whatever cake or pastry they made for that day.  Any way there’re about 10 different varieties that you can see at the counter.  They look yummy.

Now let’s talk about the event.  First, there’s welcome drink: fruit punch for all of the participants.  Then followed by the Demo Session while we were having coffee or jasmine tea and some ready prepared handy food: Macaroons, Smoked Salmon Blini, Duck Rilletes on toast, Financier with Pistachio Cream, Gateau Basque aux Pruneaux and Cherry Clafoutis.

The coffee taste and outlook is awesome but the jasmine tea is very bitter in taste and high caffeine.  For the handy food, we love Macaroons, Smoked Salmon Blini, Financier with Pistachio Cream and Gateau Basque aux Puneaux.  This is my first time having Macaroons.  I heard people were saying Macaroons are usually very sweet.  However, the Macaroons made by Yen were just nice.  It was soft and not too sweet (I don’t like too much sweet food).  The Smoked Salmon Blini was not bad as well.  Salmon with mayonnaise was good match….  I love the Financier with Pistachio Cream. The Financier is soft (It looks very hard) and the pistachio cream was very nice.  Yum yum…  Another tasty handy food is the Gateau Basque aux Puneaux (I don’t know how to pronounce).  It contains steamed egg and some vege.  A bit taste like the Chinese tantart.  Good to try.  The Duck Rilletes is too hard to bite and the Cherry Clafoutis is too sour.  Not recommended.

In the Demo, she showed us step by step on how to make Millefeuille, Macaroon and Chocolate Soufflé.  Yen share some tips on the bakery skill and techniques that she used.  It was a good session for those who really want to learn bakery.  Millefeuille is very crunchy and tasty with the layer of cream in between.  However the Millefeuille produced at this session was fail because of the pastry being too thick.  Everyone seems to be more interested in the making of Macaroon.  The Chocolate Soufflé is rather bitter because of the dark chocolate.  I think chocolate lover is going to love this.

The Sugar Pantry
Address: G-03, Blk B Permas Mall, Jalan Permas Utara, Permas Jaya 81750 Johor Bahru Malaysia.
Tel: +607-380 6910
Email: thesugarpantry@yahoo.com.my
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Sugar-Pantry/427620387309490

***Article and photoes by Vincent

Poulet III

My 3rd visit to Poulet as my friends never try before and I started to find that I can see Poulet everywhere. The original at Bugis+, then Great World City, Jurong Point, Raffles City Tower etc. I had been to both at Bugis+ and there is always queue for that, with the more branches open I guess the queue will be reduced.  No queue and less people on the Sunday afternoon we went. Partly I guess it is over lunch time.

For appetizer we got the Salad de Paris($9.80) and Cream of Wild Mushrooms and Idaho Potato($5.80++). I somehow like the salad combination and 1st time tried their mushrooms soup. Unlike the other restaurant, the 1st spoonful it looked like diluted because it is more watery. When you taste it, it is good apparently, very much flavoring.

Iberico Pork Belly ($15.80++) - The pork is tender and taste good, serves well with the mash potatoes.

I introduced the signature Poulet Roti($15.80 - Half, $28.80 - Whole) to my friends and requested for more sauce.  The sauce is still good but the chicken I felt not as good as my 1st experience.  The new dish, the same roasted chicken serves with home-made cranberry sauce and double mustard was disappointing. I did not really like the combination. Both chicken tasted like not roasted well for me.

We got the Tiramisu($7.80++) and Banana Bread Pudding($6.80++) for the desserts. I wonder if they make the tiramisu at the different kitchen, it was average.  The bread pudding was too hard for me, not the texture I like. The ice cream just like normal vanilla flavour that you can get in the supermarket.

Overall, if you never try Poulet, it is still worth for the visit, compared to the fine dining French restaurant, this is a cheaper choice.

You may also interested on my last 2 visit at Bugis+:-

1st Visit

2nd Visit

Poulét 

Address: 1 Jurong West Central 2, #B1-57/58/59, Singapore 648331

Tel: (+65) 6861 0217

Website: http://poulet.com.sg/

Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/PouletSG

La Petite Cuisine

I found this restaurant while finding a better venue for me and my friend, one north and one west so I was thinking Botanical Garden station will be good for both of us. So I targeted the restaurant there.

A blur photo for the La Letite Cuisine taken at night. Sorry for the quality. They have another branch at Upper Thomson Road. There isn't any service charges and GST, so what you see is what you pay for.

This is the menu for all the starter, entrees and main course. Back side is the desserts and drink which I forgot to take a picture.

While waiting for me, my friend ordered a 4 kind of French Cheese with Crackers($13), it comes with 4 types of cheese(Roblecuon,Polybek, Camoyek, Goat Milk) biscuits and bun. I tried hard to get the staff to tell me what is the cheese and even wrote on the paper but I failed to recognize the handwriting and they said pronunciation is hard for French. I feel not good to disturb them long so I just walked away with what I have. I tried googled the French Cheese but doesn't really match from what I got. May be you can figure out what is the cheese from the picture below.

This came in complimentary, the bun tasted quite nice while served warm.

Filet of chicken w/cepes and Rice($13) - tasted the chicken tender and I like the sauce. looks healthy.

Choucroute Alsacienne(a dish with pork cutlet/sausage/ham/pork belly and fremented cabbage)($19.50) - the cutlet and sausage is nice but I can't really appreciate the rest. It is a huge portion which I think it can be shared by two if you are not a big eater.

Confit de canard with gratin potatoes($17) - I feel I made the correct choice to go with duck, I dun usually take duck, but my impression like French food always have this cuisines on the menu. For last French Cuisine experience, I feel the confit tasted quite good, so I ordered this time. Tasted quite different from what I had previously but this has its own great taste. I like it and the gratin potatoes tasted great too.

The chef behind, he seems come out one a while to check with the customer on how the food is. So I grabbed him for a photo.

La Petite Cuisine

Address: Serene Center, 10 Jalan Serene, Singapore 258748

Tel:6314 3173

Saveur

I can't remember how I get to know about this restaurant,  it could be when I am searching about the French food and this popped up.

This is known as the cheapest French dining place. French dining always like very high class to me but Saveur provided us platform on the cheaper selection.  The price of the main course is cheaper than Poulet but they served different main courses. The maim courses here are pretty straight forward and there is nit much choices so it is kind of easier for you to choose which one to go for.

We started with Foie Gras as appetizer  Duck conflict is the famous in French dining so I told my friends about that and both go for it. I dun really like duck because of the smell so I took pork belly. We ended our meal with 2 desserts and so happen both we chose were green in colour.

FOIE GRAS($9.90++) - Pan-seared duck(It suppose to be goose but this restaurant written as duck and I forget to clarify with them on this) liver served with apple-infused port wine and vanilla bean. I never tasted Foie Gras before so this is my 1st time. I am wondering why it is so expensive and people are craving for it. It tasted crispy outside and very soft inside. I asked the friend who tasted this before she said the taste is like that. The portion is pretty small(of course, it is very expensive!) but we just want to try it, both us who 1st tried it feel, it tasted ok but seems we were not really appreciate the goodness of this.

DUCK($10.90++) -Duck leg confit, homemade mashed potato, sauteed shitake mushroom, orange segments & prange infused natural jus. I dun like duck but this is really nice and I think I can have this for myself, it is tender and the taste is kind of my liking.

PORK($10.90++) - Pork belly served with creamy green lentils, soft boiled egg & natural jus. Tasted very special, I never had pork in such combination, but it tasted good. The skin of the pork belly is kind of not really crispy but chewy and it stuck on my teeth which made me feel uncomfortable while eating. I need to remove it before I can enjoy the meal.

PISTACHIO PANNA COTTA($6.90++) - Pistachio-flavoured cooked cream, topped with ground and caramelised pistachio. Tasted quite good but too sweet for me and it is kind of too soft, I tried the panna cotta version with slightly harder.

CREME BRULEE($6.90++) - with compote of Summer Berries. You have to check with the counter for the flavor and I did not. So when it came in green I thought why the creme brulee is such colour. Apparently on that day, they serve panda creme brulee. Tasted very pandan, I still prefer the original version.

Saveur

Address: 05 Purvis Street #01-04, Singapore, Singapore 188584

Tel: 6333 3121

Operating Hour: Daily 12:00 pm - 2:15 pm, 6:00 pm - 9:15 pm

Website: http://www.saveur.sg/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Saveur/101667346588431