Midori: Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake

Midori
Matcha Sponge and Azuki Bean Compote layers in Yuzu infused Bavarois

Presentation
This cake has 5 layers. The top layer is yuzu bavarois, followed by the matcha sponge cake. The 4th layer is the Azuki bean layer. Topped with a green tea macaron and backed with a thin white choc piece on the outer portion.

Taste
The 1st bite into this cake gave me a refreshing feeling. The yuzu is of a sweet nature and blends well with the matcha sponge cake. The Azuki layers with the bean gave the cake some texture and is actually quite smooth. Contradicting textures but its nice.
The taste of each layer is very bland, so bland that each layer is almost tasteless. However if you put all the 5 layers together, this is where the miracle comes. The refreshing yuzu sensation will be dancing on your palate. There are also yuzu sacs in the bavarois.
Even though this is the second piece of cake that i had, the citrus taste whets your appetite and makes it easy for the cake to be taken. However I wish that they would complement the cake with a bit more citrus taste.

The tea that was ordered goes very well with this cake. A little description on the tea - Miraculous Mandrain: A melange of warm rich black tea blended with the fresh tartness of normandy apples and notes of caramel. A youth tea of delight.
The taste of the apple from this tea is almost infused into the cake when they mixed on the palate. I wonder if this Miraculous Mandrain tea is specially made for this Midori cake.


Ratings
Presentation: 2.5/5
Taste: 4.5/5
Value for money: 4/5
The best cake that i had taken from 1-Caramel. Both legs and hands up for this cake. Highly Recommended.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel.
Read other reviews of 1-Caramel here.
Banana Cream Pie
Other Cakes

Banana Cream Pie

Banana Cream Pie
Crispy table tart with almond frangipane filling topped with a layer of light pastry cream and fresh banana chunks

 
Presentation
The top layer is banana custard, with banana fruit chunks in between the sweet bottom crust layer. There is also a sweetened white cream covering the outer circumference of the pie.

Taste
The bottom crust is sweet but not too hard. The top layer of the custard gives the whole pie a very nice and smooth texture. The bottom crust gives it a good support, which is of mixed texture. The banana fruit is however not to my liking as it lacks the solid feel to it. However towards the end of the dessert, the sweetness starts to overwhelm you.
Overall it is a good dessert to end your meal with.

Ratings
Presentation: 3.5/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 2.5/5

RECOMMENDED

Location
1-Caramel. Read the other reviews of 1-Caramel here. 

Dessert Review: Chocolate Berries Meringue

Besides the Strawberry Mascarpone, we also order the Chocolate Berries Meringue for our dessert. Our main dishes review: Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza, can be found at the respective links.

Meringue is a type of dessert made from whipped egg whites and sugar.

Food
Chocolate Berries Meringue (RM 15.00)

Presentation
The meringue is slightly browned in colour and this is evidence that the meringue has been baked in high temperature for a short period of time. There are multiple layers of meringue and cream with blue berries and strawberries. There are generous chunks of strawberries and whole blueberries on the top layer cream.


Taste
The strawberries are not too sweet and is slightly sourish. In contrast, the meringue is sweet. Put these 2 together and it becomes a marvelous mix. The sourish taste is neutralised by the sweetness. Though the meringue is hard in nature, the crispiness is welcomed. The meringue simply melts in the mouth. However there are a bit too much cream in this dessert. The is not much chocolate taste although this is know as Chocoloate Berries Meringue.
One thing that i find disturbing is that the meringue smells slightly fishy. This could be from the egg white, which sometimes give out such smell after being baked, but this smell is gone once it goes into your mouth.

RECOMMENDED

Dessert Review: Strawberry Mascarpone

No meal is ever completed without desserts. We had ordered Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berry Meringue for dessert after our main dishes of Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza.

Mascarpone is is an Italian triple-cream cheese, originated in the area between Lodi and Abbiategrasso, Italy, southwest of Milan, probably in the late 16th or early 17th century.

Basically, this is a strawberry cheesecake that we had ordered.

Food
Strawberry Mascarpone (RM12.50)
A.K.A Strawberry Cheesecake

Presentation
An italian cheesecake that comes with crusted biscuits at the bottom. There are small chunks of strawberries in the cheesecake. Strawberry puree was also mixed into the cheesecake to give it the red strawberry colour in the cheesecake.



Taste
With the mascarpone cheese, it gives the cheesecake a very buttery smooth texture, to be exact it has a very creamy texture. There are small chunks of  strawberries in the cheesecake though mostly are concentrated in the centre of the cake. As with the strawberry to whet the appetite, I dont find it too cheesy.



RECOMMENDED

Cheesecake -- Banana Style

It is never enough to just take 1 dessert. We had ordered 2 dessert from the start and the 2nd one is Banana Cheesecake.

Check out the other items that we had ordered

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

Food
Banana Cheesecake (RM7.90)

Presentation
The dessert in Kissaten, I realised, is decorated at a minimum. The cake is just placed in the middle of the plate.

Taste
The banana fruit in the cake blends well with the cheese taste. It goes smoothly together with the cheesecake. The layer of choc at the bottom gives and ending to the taste of the cheesecake in a flavourful way.
The cake however could be quite filling  if taken by just one pax. I would advise ordering this piece of cake to share between 2 pax or 3 if all had taken dinner.

RECOMMENDED

A nice piece of cake with well supported base of choc. Banana fruit meat gives the cheese a complimentary taste.

Caramel Pudding

Who dont have a second stomach for dessert? Dessert is a must. Now for the desserts that we ordered in Kissaten.


The other items that we ordered

1. Grilled Saba Fish Set
2. Japanese Curry Pizza
3. Caramel Pudding
4. Banana Cheesecake

1st dessert that comes to us. Caramel Pudding.



Food
Caramel Pudding (RM 4.90)

Presentation
The pudding is rather plain. The pudding is like a fortress surrounded by the caramel sauce.

Taste
The pudding texture is very smooth. The pudding wobbles like a piece of soft tofu about to collapse but still remains intact. Caramel taste is strong but it is very refreshing.

RECOMMENDED

This dessert is a must try especially if it is a hot sunny afternoon. This will definitely perk you up.

Apple Strudel from Modesto @ Vivocity

Following the main dish of pasta, I ordered an apple strudel as my dessert. Read the pasta review here.

Strudel Di Melee Con Gelato Alla Vaniglia ($13.00)
Home Made Apple Strudel, served warm and topped with Vanilla Ice-Cream

Presentation
This dessert comes with a scope of vanilla ice-cream on top of the golden brown baked apple strudel. Cocoa powder and icing sugar were sprinkled around the plate to give it a simple decoration.

Taste
I started eating from the crust of the strudel, but found that the crust is not crispy. It would be a lot better if the crust is crispy. Even though the crust is not cripsy, I can still find a fragrant butter taste used for making the crust and making the crust golden brown. It contains caramelised pine nuts, raisins, walnuts and a few slices of apple.
There is nothing special about the ice-cream which can be found almost anywhere. However having the hot studel and the cold ice-cream both in the mouth at the same time gives a very contradictory feeling, which some people may not like. I like this feeling, which feels like a tug of war happening on my tongue.

Ratings
Presentation: 3/5
Taste: 3.5/5
Value for money: 3/5

NOT RECOMMENDED

This is not a dessert that i will go back for, at least not at Modesto. I think there could be other places that do the strudel better than they do.

1, 2 buckle my shoes...NO its 1Caramel

I saw from some videos that recommend the sweet places in Singapore and this was 1 of the patisserie that they had visited and interviewed. I was impressed by the cakes and what the manager said of the cakes. Its a fusion of japanese quality and french method of making the cakes.

It is well known that japanese quality means ichiban and the french are known for their fussiness in food. Mixing these 2 together, it can never go wrong and it is indeed so.
They serve not only dessert but also other items like salad and other western food, but since they are famous for their cakes, shouldn't i order the cakes to fill my calories instead of wasting them on other food.

Food

Nid D'abeilles (S$7.90)
Layers of honey chiboust cream and strawberry jelly sandwiched with crispy almond dacquoise.

Presentation:
The cake is placed very simply on an oval plate, with some chocolate decorations. The chocolate decorations were beautifully done and it is an art to look at. The strawberry jelly is sandwiched between the honey mousse topped with a piece of almod dacquoise. A little cream is used to tilt the dacquoise up to give it a little more depth.
The chocolate decoration is made from real chocolate and can be achieved by drawing hot chocolate over a frozen plate. The temperature difference will immediate freeze the chocolate and form the decoration. However once this is done there is no way to scrape the chocolate in whole out from the plate.

Taste：
The honey mousse is smooth and is a little sweet. The strawberry jelly has texture just like mousse with a tinge of strawberry taste. The strawberry taste is not overpowering the honey mousse and both goes well together. The cream though is not the main attraction, is fresh.
The almond dacquoise is somewhat lacking in flavour. All that can be tasted are the sweet and almond flavour. Dacquoise is supposed to be a layered nut meringue layered with buttercream and dacquoise itself can already be a dessert by itself. Adding this layer of almond dacquoise on the top somehow does not really compliment the dessert, in terms of taste.
That said, the cake itself is still worth a try.

Recommended Dessert


Lychee Rose (S$7.90)
Lychee rose mousse with juicy lychee jelly and valrhona ivory chocolate glaze.




Presentation:
The cake is served in a similar fashion as the Nid D'abeilles, with the cake on top of the chocolate decoration. However the deocration is not as finely drawn on the plate as the other one. In fact if the cake is placed on the previous chocolate decoration, it would be better, since this is a very light cake, and would be liked by many ladies.

Taste:
If you do not read the description of this cake before or while you are eating it, you can easily mistaken this as a wet sponge cake filled with lychee and rose frangrance.
This is a very 'juicy' 'sponge' cake and the bottom layer taste full of lychee fragrance. The lychee taste is as if they are bouncing on your palate bringing with it a mild rose smell.
The white valrhona chocolate is like a layer of gel over the cake and povides an additional layer of moisture to the cake.
This is a marvellous cake for the ladies whose palate takes a liking for the light taste, provided that the lady likes lychee.

Recommended Dessert


1Caramel Service Attitude
The staff could provide more help in telling customers that the cakes in the menu are on display on the other side of the room. It would be even better if they invite the customers to take a look at those beautiful cakes before they order, since their cakes are placed quite attractively in a glass see-thru cabinet.
In addition, the staff can make the initiation to recommend their new cakes which were not in the menu.


1Caramel Cleanliness
As a standard restaurant/cafe, the surrounding is very nice and utensils are sprakling clean. Nothing much can be commented.


Ratings
Food Presentation: 4/5
Food Taste: 4/5
Service Attitude: 3.25/5
Cleanliness: 4.5/5
Value for Money: 3.75/5
The quality of the cakes are good and in fact before this post is out, i had been back to the cafe and tried some of their other cakes which were not on their menu, and those cakes taste even better than these 2 above. I am definitely going back again to try the other cakes.

Recommended

Attractive Patisserie from Carousel

I first saw the nice box picture in facebook. Next in the album was a very nice piece of cake, a few more pictures showed me pictures of more cakes, all done in a delicate manner. All these cakes are from Gourmet Carousel, the bakery from Royal Plaza on Scotts.

Faced with such beautiful cakes, I made a trip down to the hotel and look at the cakes and to try them, however I bought the cakes back home as they only serve the cakes in their lounge which is very dark. Their lounge is a place to drink some beer and chill so there are not much lights.

The cakes were decorated with some fine details that it has become an eye candy, to look at rather than to eat it. Each of the cakes comes in either the small size, which is just enough for 1 person, or the bigger size which can be shared by a party of 4 or 5 person.

Patisserie Naranja (S$7.00)

Presentation:
Naranja is a layered cake with blood orange and pitted orange with Manjari chocolate 64%. The bottom layer is the dacquoise, topped with the Manjari chocolate, followed by the orange mousse. Compared to the other cakes, this cake is much simpler.

Taste:
The first bite into the cake gives me a fragrant pistachio nuts and blood orange flavour. The chocolate adds a slight thickness to the cake, while not overpowering the core flavour. If the description is not known, the cake can easily be passed off as an apricot cake layered with pistachio nuts. I am not really a fan of orange cakes so I would not recommend this one.

Not Recommended Cake


Ispahan (A La Pierre Herme) (S$7.00)

Presentation:
Ispahan is a patisserie that comes with bisquit macaroon a la rose, crème au beurre a la rose lychee and fresh raspberries

Taste:
This cake is a very refreshing and light cake, though slightly on the sweet side because of the macaroon, which is notoriously known for being sweet. The lychee creme comes packed with the rose fragrance and it hits on you the moment it enters your mouth. The 2 flavours are gives a very comfortable feeling especially after you had taken 1 or 2 chocolaty cakes. It gives the palate a break.

Recommended Cake


Sunset (S$7.00)

Presentation:
Sunset is Gourmet Carousel's signature cake. It is a dark chocolate mousse with a orange crème Brule, a nougatine of sesame, chocolate sponge.

Taste:

This is a heavy chocolate cake. The best description would be so chocolaty till your drop. The choc mousse is very rich however once you hit the center of the cake, it contains a different type of filling, which is the sesame nougatine. Nougatine is usually in the hard solid form however this one is different in that it like just like creme. This nougatine has a relatively smooth texture. This sesame creme in the middle gives an unique twist to the chocolate taste and both goes well togehter. No wonder it is their signature cake.
Though overall the cake is very nice, it is a heavy and relatively sinful cake, though not the most sinful one that i had tried elsewhere.

Recommended Cake


Tart Praline (S$7.00)

Presentation:
This is a tartlet that consist of pecan nut and almonds, with a custard of hazelnut praline. There is a chocolate ball that is supporting the layer of nut based 'plate'.

Taste:
The crust of the tart is very nice, though it is not soft. The praline inside is the core that is holding the crust together. In fact the praline is so hard that it takes quite some strength to chip off a part of the tart. The praline uses thick caramel to hold the almonds and peacons together, and is full of the almond and peacon taste. With the thick caramel and the nuts, it is very easy for them to stick into the teeth gap and i hate this type of feeling.

Not Recommended Cake


Royal Jasmine (S$7.00)

Presentation:
Royal Jasmine, a beautifully designed cake, is one that contains infuse Jasmine chocolate cream with hazelnut rice krispie and chocolate almond sponge with manjari chocolate mousse. Flanked on the sides by the white jasmine macarons, this piece of cake gave a very balanced look.

Taste:
Royal Jasmine is more of a chocolate cake. The chocolate mousse is very rich. There is only a slight tinge of jasmine flavour, and that only happens in the jasmine macarons. The cake itself taste only of the chocolate. Deep inside the center of the cake are the hazelnut rice krispie. These krispie goes well with the chocolate. The white macarons though sweet gives out a fragrant jasmine flavour when melted.

Recommended Cake

Ratings
Presentation: 4.5/5
Taste: 4/5
Value for money: 3.5/5
The cakes are very nice and while some of them i do not like the them, its a matter of preferences. The cakes are full of flavour and since i am a dessert kind of person, i will be back to grab more of the cakes. I do wish that their lounge can be brighter so that i know what i am eating.

Recommended