Mooncakes

This year, I was pretty excited about Raffles hotel's new snowskin durian mooncake.

I was excited to see if it's better than Goodwood Park's. However, I went to the Taka Mooncake fair with The Star and we both felt that Goodwood Park's durian mooncake cannot be compared to Home's Favourite. We saw many people at the Home's Favourite stall and we headed over too.(yes, typical Singaporeans hahaha) The friendly lady at the stall offered us a generous sample of the D24 one before offering us the Mao Shan Wang. She said that we have to try the D24 first before the Mao Shan Wang to taste the difference and most people usually pick the Mao Shan Wang. After trying the MSW, I must say I was kinda immediately won over by it. The thought of Raffles hotel's durian mooncake disappeared from my mind.

The black skin is made of some charcoal powder thing that is supposed to aid digestion. Another plus point ding ding!

This year, Home's Favourite also had another top grade durian mooncake which was sweeter than the MSW. I quite like it, like duh, cause I like sweet stuff. The lady told us that this top grade durian that they use only comes into season once in three years. So obviously I was like WOAHHHH I think I want this. Haha but I guess it'd be too sweet for my family and all. So I decided on the MSW! And The Star bought it for my family and I. Hehe. It's $70 for 4 mooncakes and the top grade one is $72. These were the most expensive mooncakes I saw at the fair.

I felt that Home's Favourite durian mooncakes were quite a significant bit nicer than Goodwood Park's mainly because the skin is softer and thinner. And the durian is really good. Goodwood Park's durian mooncakes are undeniably good too but the skin is really too thick.

It was my turn to find a box of nice and pretty mooncakes to give to The Star's family. He was talking about the Fullerton's Snowskin Treasures which consist of 4 different mooncakes : Mango Pomelo with Sago, Honey Pineapple , Chocolate Banana with Chocolate Chips and Durian Red Bean.

Sounded really weird to me but he was kinda interested in them so I bought it for his family. BOOM the reviews were horrible. First he told me that the mooncakes tasted really bad and next his mummy told me that the mooncakes were bad too. From the strange flavours to the thick skin.. They weren't nice at all.. Pretty embarrassing don't you think.. I was like "oh shit.. " but didn't know what to reply his mummy. Stupid Fullerton come up with fanciful but awful mooncakes. TSK.

We walked around the fair and sampled quite a few other mooncakes from various places. We tried the champagne and truffle one and another expresso one from Jewels' artisan. They were just okay. Apparently Raffles Hotel's Champage and Truffle is quite good. The Star bought the Champagne and Truffle one from Raffles and Fairmont last year. He said they were not bad. We also tried the custard mooncake from.. (I forgot the name) Tasted average but seems to be quite famous.

My mum wanted me to buy a box of double yolk traditional mooncakes and we couldn't decide which to buy. The Tung Lok mooncake box was REALLY UGLY. So we gave that a pass. Took me sometime to decide to buy from Fullerton cause I thought the box was prettier. Hahaha. The double yolk one was sold out at the Fair and the staff wasn't sure if they were gonna have more stock etc zzzz so we drove over to Fullerton to get the double yolk and the gross snowskin treasures. This is the moment in my life that I'll look back on and regret always. The only consolation was the Citibank discount..

Happy with my MSW from Home's Favourite but really sorry about the distasteful Fullerton Snowskin Treasures. Contemplating to get his family another box of mooncakes.. Any recommendations?

Have a fun Mid-Autumn Festival everybodyyyy!

Love, The Sun

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh

Ya Hua Bak Kut Teh has been around for some time but I've never been there. I've always heard about how good it is and how satisfying it is to have Ya Hua BKT after a night at Zouk. There are two versions of BKT as many would know, the black and the white. Ya Hua's is the white version. I prefer the black to the white because I don't really fancy the strong pepper taste but after hearing so many good things about Ya Hua, I'll be silly to not give it a try when I have a chance to, wouldn't I.

So one fine day, the Star and I were in the area and we decided to head over to Ya Hua for early lunch at 11plus to avoid the potential lunch crowd, especially when it's quite near CBD. It was already pretty crowded when we got there. The numerous photos of celebrities on the wall raised my expectations of the BKT. It must be really good to receive so much support and have so many customers right

We ordered the bak kut teh and some side dishes to go along.

Ribs

Lean Meat

Salted Veggie

Intestines

Service was pretty quick, considering the number of customers they had.

To be honest, I didn't think that the BKT was very nice. I have tasted better ones for sure. The only good thing about this place is that it opens till late and it's right by the main road.

Oh right, guess how much this meal(plus 2 soft drinks) cost us? A good $30 odd. Pretty insane for BKT isn't it. Not worth the money at all. I'll suggest Amoy Street Food Centre or Maxwell for lunch anytime over Ya Hua. However, if you're looking for some comfort food after a night of partying, this may be the place for you.


Isetan Office Bldg
593 Havelock Road, Singapore 169641

Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of YH BKT : 5.5/10

Arteastiq Tea Lounge

I've been wanting to go to Arteastiq for the longest time. Having heard of their unique teas and creations, I was eager to visit this place. I went to Arteastiq with The Star and another friend. When I walked in, I was greeted with colourful furniture next to the big windows. I like sitting near windows, and I like looking out of them haha. We were there at around 2pm and it wasn't that crowded so it was quite a nice place to just chill with the both of them.

The Art of Teasing

We ordered 3 of their set meals to share.

Viva La Fiesta Quesadilla.

I felt that this was the most delicious out of all three

Tuscan Crispy Brioche Panini Turkey

Season of Love Crispy Aromatic Focassia Caprese

Pear Tea 

The Star said that the piece of wanton look-alike thing has red bean paste inside and is really tasty

Bitter Chocolate Cointreau Gelato

Mao Shan Wang Gelato 

The gelato is good but the servings are really pathetic.

The servings are all really small, and there's no way one will feel full after having one of their set meals. Especially when you're there with two big-eaters haha. The Star couldn't stop complaining about how small the servings were. Haha typical Singaporean. I guess the servings will be more ideal for high-tea instead of lunch/dinner. So maybe they should call it a high-tea set instead of a deluding set meal. Their teas are unique and are brewed individually and I guess that is one of their plus points. I'm not a fan of such fruit teas but I quite liked their pear tea. Maybe because I could add as much sugar syrup as I want to make it a cuppa very sweet pear tea. Haha. I like the place but I guess not so much of the food. The gelato was pretty good but the serving was really tiny. I don't think I'll return to this place anytime soon. I guess if you wanna try their fruit teas, you can take one of their set meals which are currently on promotion and if you have a standard chartered bank card, that makes it slightly more worth it to dine there. But if you're looking for a hearty meal to fill your tummy round and full, this is definitely not the place for you unless you don't mind spending at least $30.

Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of the place: 7.5/10
Sun's rating of the food : 6.5/10
Sun's rating of the tea: 8/10

Obolo

The Star and I have always wanted to go to Obolo but as we both stay in the West (and we absolutely detest the fact that most of the good food are in the east), and Obolo is not one of the top to-be-visited places on our list, we kinda let it slip our mind for awhile. However, one night I wanted to have Astons for dinner and The Star was saying "ah hah! you don't know which Astons I'm gonna bring you" Hahaha obviously I thought we would be going to like ghimmoh, or sixth avenue or cathay. I was brought to the East Coast Road outlet instead. Surprise! Haha. After we parked and were walking to Astons, we chanced upon Obolo!! Hahaha and I was quite excited. Even though The Star already had a dessert place in mind, we still went to Obolo before that haha. We are such gluttons haha

Obolo's a pretty small place which will not accommodate too many people comfortably. We were lucky that we were the only ones there at 1015pm. We had the whole place to ourselves and the luxury of taking our time to select our tastebuds-pleasers

I like pretty mirrors like this

Noisette and the bittersweet chocolate macaron

I LOVE NOISETTE. I love the hint of hazelnut which was not too overwhelming. It did not overshadow the taste of the dark chocolate mousse. The crunchy feullitine at the base of the cake added an extra oomph to the cake. I adore cakes with a crunchy base. Especially when the base complements the cake perfectly, what is there not to like? In addition, there were hazelnuts embedded in the cake. The extra crunch gave a different texture to the cake and it was a good touch to the smooth cake. The cake was deliciously satifsfying. It's no wonder Noisette is one of the top 50 cakes in Sunday Times!

The bittersweet macaron. I'm a dark chocolate lover but I don't fancy chocolates which are too dark. The bittersweet macaron was just right for me. Not too bitter, not too sweet, just the way I like it. Definitely a competition against favourites like Canele or Sweetspot. Can't emphasize how much I loveeeee macarons hahaha.

We would have tried more cakes but they were practically out of everything else at such a late timing. I'll definitely return to try their signature cheesecake and new creations that Obolo has to offer! All that aside.. Can I have a Noisette now, please?
 

452 Joo Chiat Road

Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of Obolo : 9/10

Salted Caramel

Salted Caramel is a pretty new ice-cream parlour in Thomson. It's kinda next to Meng's Kitchen. I've been there a couple of times and I really like their horlicks tim tam icecream! Their salted caramel is not bad too. I've also tried the kahlua which will please you if you're a coffee lover! Their earl grey is not bad too! In addition to their icecream, they also have cakes and what everyone loves, waffles and brownies. Their waffles are crispy and fragrant and when served warm with a scoop of icecream, you just can't stop digging into your waffle.




Haha. As for the brownies, I personally feel that their brownies are not bad.
However they are served with hersheys chocolate sauce and I hate Hershey's chocolate sauce.. But other than that, I think the brownies are pretty good!

They have a cute little corner where there's a toy kitchen with cooking utensils, a pretty good play area for kids and even for adults (like The Star and I who started playing with the toys HAHA)



The place is pretty packed almost all the time(or at least when I was there) and it can take quite awhile before you can get a table.

Do head on down to try their creations if you're in the area! Some icecream after Meng's barchormee. Sounds good doesn't it?


Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of Salted Caramel : 8/10

The Plain

It was a Sunday and I was really excited to go to The Plain. And even more excited because The Star had absolutely no idea where we were going even though he's the one driving hahaha. When we were walking to Craig Road he was making wild intelligent guesses but nahhhh he didn't manage to get it right. It was a pretty long walk from the Pinnacle (we parked there) especially in that scorching hot weather.

Coffee drinkers make better lovers. Yes/no?

The interior was just like it's name, plain and simple, but with just enough decorations to not be dull.

They do not have an extensive selection of food or desserts but what they have will certainly delight you. All day breakfast for the early birds or the busy bees or the lazy sloths. All day breakfast is a winner.

My hot chocolate. Pretty average.

The Iced Latte with the pastrami ciabatta

The ciabatta was pretty good. Pretty filling and great for brunch. I felt that the ciabatta got a bit too tiresome to chew on after awhile though.

Half served Darling eggs. I love ham and cheese, so I loved this too. The sourdough toast went exceptionally well with the ham and cheese. Not forgetting the poached eggs. Eggs are a must-have for brunch! Especially poached ones.

Just look at the yolk oozing out... How can anyone not like poached eggs???

The cafe was pretty chill. And as expected on a sunday, all the tables were occupied but the cafe doesn't look at all packed. There were even people studying there. The cafe doesn't feel too crowded and you'll have your privacy for sure. I really dislike restaurants which make you sit so close to others that you guys are practically involved in everyone's conversations.

I probably will not return anytime soon. Despite the delightful selection they have on their menu, it just isn't enough for me to choose from. But yeah, it was definitely worth the visit.


50 craig road
open daily 7.30am - 7.30pm
wednesday until 10.00pm

Love, The Sun

The Sun's rating of The Plain: 7.5/10