We aren't huge fans of high tea but we simply love the rich flavors of Nyonya food! Thanks to Pan Pacific and their awesome giveaway, we got to try their latest Peranakan Afternoon Tea menu -- without forking a single cent (:
Considering the Peranakan set and the English set are both $38++ per pax, and given a choice, there is no doubt that we would have chosen the English one. Undeniably, sandwiches, tarts and pastries are more bang for your buck. One could probably put together most of the Peranakan set by spending a mere $10 at Bengawan Solo. We noticed that many couples were ordering one of each set, which is actually quite a good idea.
To go with your munchies, you also get to choose your drink (tea or coffee). We went for the Earl Gray Lavender and the Chamomile Dream. You can request for hot water top ups if your tea has gone cold. We half suspected that we could have changed flavors mid-way though -- didn't try though.
One of the best things about dining at the Atrium were the semi-private pods, which were very cosy. And you can see in the next couple of shots, the ambiance and the surrounding views were also excellent. We should totally stay at the Pan Pacific one day, can't imagine what the rooms are like. Time to save up.
Our atas tea is served in a french press!
And finally, after 30 minutes of waiting, our food arrived in a 3 -tier floral tiffin carrier! One look and we knew that we wouldn't be finishing most of it. Especially those kueh.
Probably one of the more boring looking trays. While the ang ku kueh and the banana thing were passable, the triangle shaped kueh (gula melaka coconut filling) and the haebi hiam stuffed in glutinous rice were pretty tasty.
The highlight of the meal is without a shadow of a doubt, the mouth watering curry chicken! It was rich and super fragrant (thanks to the secret ingredient, rojak flowers!). We would probably be satisfied just having this bowl of curry chicken with the crispy French baguette. They should totally have curry refills. And more of those French baguette.
Love those old colorful old school gem biscuits that bring back lots of childhood memories!
This tray wasn't particularly exciting. The otah sandwiches didn't really taste much of otah; the old school butter cake was, well, buttery.
This slice of rainbow Kueh Lapis is the most photogenic of all. But it didnt taste half as good as it looks. Still prefer the ones with prunes.
The Kueh Pie Tee was Sher's favourite (though it was missing the mandatory chilli sauce) but S' mom handmade Kueh Pie Tee wins hands down anytime. The penang popiah taste somewhat normal, like those you get at coffee shops.
All the leftover kuehs, which we got the staff to pack nicely for us to bring home for desserts (:
On the whole, the meal felt rather lacklustre, but the ambiance and top notch service definitely helped score some brownie points! Maybe we will be back to try the English Afternoon tea if we are feeling rich.
Pan Pacific Hotel Singapore
Address: 7 Raffles Boulevard, Singapore 039595
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun, 14:00-18:00
Website:
http://pacificmarketplace.sg
Damage: $38++/pax (Afternoon Tea)
With so many Korean F&B franchises finding its way into Singapore, one can't help but wonder if these stores are really that popular in Korea or perhaps just riding the K-wave. Sweet Monster is the latest addition to the party. Although it just opened early December, the queues were non-existent at their Plaza Singapura branch when we got there. Nevertheless, Sher's sweet tooth was aching and we stopped for their signature Caramel & Cheese popcorn ice cream.
As you can see, they have quite a few popcorn flavors including several interesting ones such as chocolate, strawberry and milk. You can request to try the popcorns before deciding on your flavor.
Prices are not cheap, although you do get quite a big serving of ice cream. The popcorn only coats the outside, everything inside is good ole milk (75%) ice cream.
Visually, the popcorn ice cream is without a doubt, a head turner. Taste-wise, the ice cream was rather sweet but creamy. With the caramel popcorn, what we got was sweet on sweet, almost to the verge of being cloying. Thankfully, the cheese popcorn lent a much needed saltiness to the whole affair.
As their signature popcorn ice cream was very much a let down, we don't think we would be back to try Sweet Monster's other offerings. For $6.80, we could almost get a Sanum from llaollao ($6.95). Still, those gift boxes are adorable and we could imagine that they would make a cute, and hopefully somewhat edible gift.
Sweet Monster Singapore
Address: Plaza Singapura, #B2-49, Singapore 238839 (Dhoby Ghaut MRT)
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun, 10:00-22:00
Website: http://www.sweetmonster.com.sg/
Damage: $6-10
Sher has been dying to try the newly opened Hvala outlet ever since she saw photos of it flooding Instagram. The shop was hidden between Tsujiri and Churros 101. We almost missed it and had to comb the basement twice before locating it!
We went for the most popular one ($7.90) -- vanilla bean soft serve plus your choice of 2 fruit/topping plus one sauce and the puffle (egg shell waffles) wtith another sauce. You can choose between maple syrup or chocolate sauce for the puffle. They had more variety for the ice cream sauce - maple, chocolate, speculoos and black sesame! The black sesame sauce was worth a try, since its the only unique one as compared to the other yogurt/soft serve outlets but too bad Sher doesnt eat that:/
We choose kiwi and speculoos sauce for the ice cream and froot loops and chocolate sauce for the puffle. The ice cream was average at best, but we could see the vanilla bean seeds inside, which was a nice touch. Should ask the server to put less sauce on the ice cream though, it was quite overpowering. The fluffy puffle looked daunting to eat at first, but we realized we could easily peel it a circle at a time! Eating it was a messy affair though, once we got to the chocolate sauce bits.
With so many competitors around, Hvala doesn't really stand out with its puffle soft serve. But okay la, good effort.
Hvala Waffle Bar
Address: 313 @ Somerset, #B3-50, 313 Orchard Road, 238895
Opening Hours: Mon-Sun, 11:00-22:00
Website:
https://www.facebook.com/HvalaWaffleBar
Damage: $7.90
Even KFC has hopped onto the froyo bandwagon and serving up a version of their own for the budget conscious. At $2 for a cup, you get to choose between natural or passionfruit flavor and a topping (mango sauce, strawberry sauce or Froot Loops). An additional topping costs 50 cents. You can also opt for the cone version ($1). The cone looks like the one from macs.
Taste-wise, KFC's froyo tastes like a watered down version of Yami Yogurt's. It certainly can't compete with the high raved Llao llao, Milk & Honey etc. However, at almost a fraction of the price, we weren't really complaining. This makes a good alternative to MacDonald's ice cream on a hot sunny day -- almost every day.
When we heard McDonald's was selling truffle fries, we were intrigued. At only $3.20 (a la carte), it seemed a good deal if only it was a fraction of what real truffle fries tastes like. Instead of truffle oil, Mac's version is essentially shaker fries with truffle seasoning.
After doing the necessary, we were hit with an incredible whiff of truffle scent/stink upon opening the bag. Promising enough. Until we bit on it... urgh. Initially, it tasted like seaweed shaker fries which wasn't entirely bad. But then came the aftertaste, which was almost like rancid butter and extremely unpleasant. From then on, it just tasted pretty gross and even the truffle smell seemed to have mingled with that of the reused oil. Please bring back seaweed shaker fries.
Tl;dr: In short, don't eat this.
This chicken ramen is known to be extremely spicy and has been making its rounds on social media. For a period of time it was apparently sold out in Singapore due to its popularity. We managed to grab our hands on a cup ($3) but S -- who has been eating chili padi his whole life -- is skeptical about how spicy it can possibly get.
Meant to be served dry, the sauce is in fact quite tasty, and I dare say moreish. Will probably taste great if you jazz it up with a sunny side up egg and some greens. S considers it about a 5 upon 10 in terms of spiciness. A 7 would be NeNe Chicken's 'Freaking Hot' sauce and 10 would be Sunset Grill & Pub's level 35 buffalo wings. Of course, the spiciness lingers on and a glass of cold milk does wonders to soothe your burning tongue.
At $3, this is one of the more expensive cup noodles out there. If it was less pricey, we might even consider stocking up on some. One of the Korean Supermart is selling the packet noodles version at 5 for $5.50 (edit: $4.50 at Shine Korean supermart near SMU). We did spy another brand with a similar looking packaging selling this ($5 for 3 packets). Perhaps that might be worth reviewing another time!
