Recipe experiments, reviews and everything else about food. Growing up with great cooks (mum & aunts), had developed my palette. Just like art, food are subjective and reviews are solely based on my palette and opinions.
Server (burst out laughing): Sorry lah kak, but you cutelah…made my day
Me (laughs): its ok, glad i made you laugh
Moral of the story: its ok to be blur and laugh at yourself cos you’ll never know when your ‘blurness’ will make someone laugh and even make her/his day…
My family and I are picky when it comes to cupcakes (in fact all desserts). These are my take on the cupcakes that I have tried so far. Just like art, food is subjective…
Top (L-R): Mocha-Mocha, Chocolate Mint and Choc Chip Bottom (L-R): Cookies & Cream, Double Chocolate and Sea Salt Caramel
The halal arm of Twelve Cupcakes. Bought for the first time from the ION Orchard outlet in October 2015. They had since closed the outlet and moved to Parkway Parade (much to my dismay). These were good! Both the cake and the frosting were not sweet, each frosting were flavourful, cake is moist and most importantly not ‘eggy’. It is reasonably priced and the more you buy, the cheaper it is per cupcake. Highly recommended.
Note: As per their Facebook page on 3 March, they have yet to receive their halal certification
Top (L-R): Red Velvet Nutella, Chocolate Infinity, Pisang Bakar (Burnt Banana) Cheese and Maximum Milo Bottom (L-R): Salted Egg Yolk, Salted Caramel and Churros
Muslim-owned. First tried on 9 April 2016. My sis heard of them and been wanting to try their cupcakes. The cupcakes tasted like it is home-baked, moist and some of the flavours that were available on that day were quite unique. The Salted Egg Yolk cupcake is the best of the loot. The churros is just so-so. They also sell epok-epok (curry puffs) which we did not get to try as they were running out and have to wait for quite a while for the fresh batch. Will go back to try other flavours and also their epok-epok which have been receiving rave reviews.
Top (L-R): Campfire Smores, Red Velvet and Ferrero Hazelnut Bottom (L-R): Salted Caramel, Cookies & Cream and Salted Caramel
Muslim-owned. They are located at Pandan Gardens but stumbled upon their pop up while I was exploring Century Square on 23 April 2016. Have not heard of them, honestly. It was already early evening and they were left with seven flavours (6 as per listed above, and the other flavour is Ondeh-Ondeh, a flavour which I refuse to try as prefer to have the traditional Ondeh-Ondeh). The chocolate based cupcakes were too dry and the red velvet were dry and dense. Most were filled with Nutella. The Salted Caramel is the best from the loot – moist and not so sweet. Unsure will have the chance to try them again as they are not easily accessible (for me who is staying in the north) and usually have their pop-ups in the east. Even though they do have online orders and delivery, not a strong pull factor to give another try.
Siblings and I made reservations at Padi four months in advanced (yes, you read it right) for mum’s 60th birthday. I stumbled across Padi when it was newly opened in May. Decided to take a look at the restaurant when we started to explore options and make plans in June. When we saw the VIP room and the menu, we were sold and made the reservations for 3 Oct in June! Of course, had to think of plans B and C if this fails but glad never need to put the back up plans into action. Decided to go old school style with Nasi Ambeng and Pulut Kuning (instead of a birthday cake) because celebrating 60th is a milestone for mum and we want to celebrate it differently.
Food
All the food in the pictures were awesome. The spices and ingredients for each dish were spot on, tasting as if it was home cooked. My family were there with two of our closest aunts and their families who are great cooks like my mum and all three approved and enjoyed the meal.
We loved the Pulut Kuning, from how it was presented to the taste. Since too full from the meal, we packed the Pulut Kuning and kept it in the fridge. It tasted good when it was warmed up (using a steamer) the next day. And the Pulut Kuning goes very well with the Beef Rendang (it was on the base).
Venue
The VIP room was warm, cozy and just nice for 16 of us. It is decorated complete with traditional games like congkak and five stones as well as a tv with a selection of P Ramlee movies (the happy birthday banner and balloon were ours). The room is set up with carpet and cushions as it is meant for guests to sit on the floor. Our request for a table set-up with two chairs were met as my parents can’t sit on the floor for too long.
Service
Met and liaise with the owner, Normala and she has been a great help with all the arrangements. She showed us that she has to paste our reservation slip on the back of the front cover of her reservations book as our reservation was four months in advanced and she has not created the space for Oct reservations. This is to act as a reminder for her team and herself to get in touch with us in Sept to confirm the details.
Her staff were great on that day, very attentive, polite and always comes with a smile. The only hindsight was that we were on the second floor but they were stationed and serving on the first floor most of the time. So if we need something we would have to send someone to the first floor. This does not bother us though as the stairs is at the back of the cashier counter and there is always someone at the counter.
Price
With such serving of food, venue and service, it was totally worth it. The Chut-Chut snail (large) was $14.90+
Padi@Bussorah Menu
Recommendation
A highly recommended restaurant where you can have a great meal as the food taste like home cooked and you can chill with loved ones thereafter. I am picky when it comes to Nasi Ambeng (or any other Malay dishes) and does wonder if this is just another hype as serving Nasi Ambeng is a trend at the moment. Like I had mentioned earlier, the spices and ingredients were spot on as compared to the many others that I had tried before. I just hope that they are able to maintain the food and service standard for as long as they are around. Perhaps they should consider serving Pulut Kuning with the dishes…I know of a few friends who are in search of such and it is not easy to find good ones.
Disclaimer: Growing up with a great cook like my mum has developed my palette. Just like art, food is very subjective. The opinions above are solely mine and it is up to individuals to agree or disagree. But only disagree after you had experienced it for yourself.
How do you like to end a short week for a 4-day long weekend? With a cup of long black, a glass of red, a glass of white, a lime tart or a peanut butter tart? Or with all of the above and throw in great conversations? Those are non-alcoholic wines by the way… Continue reading “And end to a day…”→
