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

Food Review: Pollo Pizza

The 2nd main dish that I took at Alexis was the Pollo Pizza. Look at the 1st main dish here and my dessert Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berries Meringue here.

Food
Pollo Pizza
Chicken Pizza (RM 29.00)

Presentation
The pizza is a thin crusted pizza with moderate amount of melted cheese and topped with thin slices of capsicum. The pizza is about 10 to 12 inches wide.

Taste
It seems that this pizza looks like a normal cheese pizza topped with capsicum. However the secret is the layer of chicken in between the cheese and crust layers. The chicken is pounded to a very thin layer and similar to the chicken escalope, the chicken meat is tender and smooth.
The slices of pizza appears to be quite cheesy but it is not as what it seems. The cheese amounts to just nice.
If you are like me that is not a fan of capsicum, you will be surprised at how sweet the capsicum has become on this pizza dish.

RECOMMENDED

This pizza dish surprises me with the thin layer of chicken under the cheese. Sure is a new way to top the pizza. The toppings taste good too.

Food Review: Pound the Chicken Escalope

Went to Alexis at The Gardens. This is my second visit and for the 1st visit, the food was so nice that i ate quite a lot. For my 2nd visit, I ordered Chicken Escalope and Pollo Pizza for as my main dish and Strawberry Mascarpone and Chocolate Berries Meringue for my dessert.

Food
Chicken Escalope (RM35.00)
Crispy Breaded Fried with Flattened Minched Chicken Meat.

Presentation
The piece of chicken is quite large about the size of a 6 inch pizza. It comes with some pan-fried tomatoes on top of the meat. There are also a side salad and a slice of lemon to add flavour to the chicken meat.

A bit of a lesson here: Escalopes originate from France and are pieces of boneless meat which have been thinned out using a mallet, rolling pin or beaten with the handle of a knife.That is why the piece of chicken is so flat.


Taste
The cruumps are mixed with different spices, distinctly indian spices. The chicken is deep fried till quite crispy, and the texture of the chicken is smooth and nice, even though the layer of meat is relatively thin. The smoothness is usually obtained from the pounding of the meat into this flat layer. However the taste of the chicken is slightly bland even with the indian spices. Just add a little salt and pepper and squish the lemon slice and it would taste wonderful.
The salad is very fresh and is mixed well using olive oil and lemon.
The pan-fried tomatoes are just nicely cooked.


RECOMMENDED
Even though the dish may look quite plain with just the chicken, salad and the lemon. I enjoyed this piece of chicken meat, done just right.

Wine Review: Nepenthe - The Fugue 2003

Just bought this wine from Cold Storage. I had tried the yr 2000 btl and it was a wonderful bottle. This is the 1st time i am trying the 2003 bottle. Lets see if it taste just as good as the year 2000 bottle.

Nepenthe The Fugue
Year 2003
Limited Release
Adelaide Hills
Australia
S$49.95

Mixed blend of grapes: Cabernet Sauvignon 48%, Malbec 22%, Merlot 15%, Cabernet Franc 15%
Contains Sulphites.

Described in Homers, The Odyssey, the original Nepenthe was a potion so powerful that it erased gruef and banished sorrow. Nepenthe is located in the steep Adelaide Hills, where ancient soils and the cooling influence of altitude ensure long living wines.

Fugue: A musical piece with two or more melodies which build to a complex form with a marked climax; made famous by J.S. Bach. The Fugue reflects the music after which it is named; richly layered, resonating and building with time in a bottle.

Based on Cabernet Sauvignon, enhanced by blending with its traditional partners, The Fugue is a full flavoured, complex and elegantly structured wine. It is recommended to be decanted before serving.

My Tasting Notes:
Wine is dark crimson in colour. The bouquet smells of dark fruits. The wine is of slightly buttery texture and exhibits a bit of earthly tones with a tinge of tobacco. There are dark berries taste which remains on the palate for sometime. The finish of the wine goes to mid throat. I would consider this to be mid-full flavoured.

Ratings: 85/100

RECOMMENDED

If you would like to take a look at the wineyard's tasting notes, take a look here.

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.

Pizza with Japanese Curry

From Kissaten, we also ordered a Japanese Curry Pizza. You can read about the other items that we ordered here.

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

Food
Japanese Curry Pizza (RM17.90)

Presentation
The pizza is about 9 to 10 inch wide. It is a japanese curry pizza topped with egg plant and mozzarella cheese. The egg plants are well spaced out but otherwise, it is quite plan looking.

Taste
The curry taste is not strong. It is a light flavour pizza, which the egg plant blends nicely with the japanese curry. Cheese volume is slightly lacking. I find that there are not enough cheese on top of the pizza. It is also possibly because of the lack of cheese that the egg plant blends with the cheese. I have not imagined that egg plant can be used on pizza and with japanese curry. A very interesting dish i would say.

RECOMMENDED

It is ok to give this pizza a try if you have not taken any japanese pizza before. However the chances of re-ordering this again would be very low, as there could be other dishes that is worth more of my attention.

Fusion of Western and Jap Food - Kissaten

Met up with my friend on a Saturday when i was in KL for a dinner meal. One of the party wants to eat Tonkatsu and so we decided to head to a nearby Jap and western fusion restaurant near our place. Kissaten @ Jaya One.

Kissaten, 喫茶店, in Japanese means Japanese-style coffee shop, those older and smaller establishment. Though it is a coffee shop, it does not have the cosiness of those smaller establishment. It is more of a restaurant then a coffee shop. They offer al-fresco dining experience as well.

The 'coffee shop' is quite a popular place for family outing. Most of the tables were taken and there were some big families dining in the restaurant. There were quite a number of tables and in some of the locations where the tables were placed, it seemed quite out of place. Imagine putting a table with 4 chairs in a cross junction between the exit from the kitchen, the main entrance to the  restaurant and the entrance to the restaurant from the stairs from level 1. It comes across to me that they are really making full use of the space that they are neglecting the safety of the diners.

We had ordered quite a few items to fill our stomach.

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

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.

Pasta from Modesto's @ Vivocity

Modesto, a place that i had been to 3 times before with my love one but this time i went alone after my fashion shoot. Modesto in Italian means shy, modest and humble.

This branch has a rustic interior of old Italy and Tuscan brickwork. In the evening, the interior has a warm feeling and with the yellow lights, makes the place rather romantic. The tables are spaced quite far away which makes private talk ok.

It also an outdoor area that overlooks the bay and be able to see Sentosa and Resort World Singapore. Once the Resort World has fully completed the iconic Crane Dance and the Maritime Xperiential Museum, it would pack a view to behold, especially if there are fireworks. This view would be fantastic.

Modesto serves quite a number of Italian dishes. The menu items are all in Italian but the description of the dish is in English. This is to cater to the local crowd. Modesto specialises in their Pasta and also the traditional wood-fried pizza with thin, crisp crust. I had tried their pizza before and indeed they are quite good, but this time i tried their pasta instead.

Food

Tagliolini Aglio Olio Di Nocciola E Peperoncino Con Aragostine ($29.00)

Fresh home made pasta with baby lobster meat, slices of fresh chilli, garlic and hazelnut oil

Q & A With Andrew Scrivani (Round 2)

This is the following the article that i posted a few days back on.


If you missed the main article. Read it here.
Read the 1st part of the Q&A here



Q.

Any tips on shooting brown food? Like sauces, mashed potatoes with gravy, etc? They never come out right. Thanks.

A.

I am so glad you asked this question. Brown and dark green foods are by far the hardest to photograph. This is where all of your skill as a photographer and especially a lighter comes into play. When I shot the Nigella Lawson column for the Times several years ago, a large portion of her food was dark. Creating a shimmer on the food is essential to create depth. Side lighting the food was almost always the solution to get that shimmer. I have also taken to extreme macro shots (finding one specific highlight on the plate to focus on) or the action shot as was the case with her food: pouring, spooning, cutting, etc. Also, carefully selecting your props and colors really helps compliment the food.

Q & A With Andrew Scrivani (Round 1)

This is the following the article that i posted a few days back on. The last tip really is a helpful one. Check it out.


If you missed the previous article. Read it here.
For the 2nd part of the Q&A, read it here

Some Tips on How to Take Photos of Food

An article that i found in NYtimes on how to take good photos of food.  Read the full article below. 

A few of the tips i find are really useful. Pay attention to point 1 and 2. Those are the easiest to achieve in any typical restaurant setting. 

Point 4 seems a bit technical to non photo enthusiast. It is basically saying not to shine direct light onto the food. Best that the light source has a translucent white paper covering it.

For point 5, ask the waitress for the brightest table and seat that the restaurant has. This is a must. 

I will post more of Andrew's tips in the next few updates. Remember to come back if you want to improve your food photo taking skills. 

The 1st part of his Q&A can be found here.

Having Sleepless nights? It may be linked to what you ate in the day.

If you are having sleeping trouble, there are 5 foods that are advised not to be eaten before going to sleep.




Canned and smoked meats:

A favorite meal for many people, a sandwich of smoked meat, sausage, or sliced meat. Smoked meats have high levels of amino acid tyramine, which causes the brain to release norepinephrine, which alerts the brain and makes us to be vigilant and stir.

First Camera, Then Fork

This is an article that i found from New York Times regarding the current relationship of eating and photography. Nowadays with the affordability of the digital cameras, DSLR or not, everything and anything you eat can be photographed. Read on.......

Did I just get 'clubbed' at Coffee Club, Holland?

Coffee Club, a chain coffee cafe along with TCC and Starbucks, are all competing with each other in the small Singapore.

I happened to pop into the branch at Holland Village after my class at about 4.30pm. The whole cafe is almost empty at that time. The manager greeted me and lead me to a place at the 2nd storey. Wonderful view i must say, as the cafe is located at a corner of Holland V and i am seated at a table next to the glass panel where i can see the people that are walking outside.

Since i was the only few patrons in the cafe, ordering was easy and serving was quick. I had ordered a Choc Delice and a pot of Earl Grey.

Tasty Fried Chicken.. Finger lickin good. Not KFC but Nasi Abg Mie

Located just 8 minutes walk from Renaissance Hotel, Kelantan is Nasi Abg Mie. The store may look like just some normal coffee shop stall that is selling malay rice but it takes more than looking to know that it is really good stuff that they are selling.

Have a look around the Roof Terrace

In a most unlikely place to find a nice ambience restaurant, is one that brings you out of Singapore and it is located at the top of an old shopping centre in Holland Village. I believe most people will have heard of this place called 211 Roof Terrace in Holland Village. Out of the 10 i spoke to about this place, 8 told me they heard of it.

211 Roof Terrace has both indoor and outdoor dining. The indoor dining area is relatively small and does not provide any special dining experience. Their outdoor area is on the contrast a much better place to be. It has a very nice surrounding, adding to it are the easy listening music that are playing in the background, loud enough to be heard but not intrusive. One damper though is that HDB flats can be seen. If not for these high rise concrete forest, it could easily be forgotten that you are in the busy Singapore city.

A surprising realisation is that I did not hear the hustle and bustle of the busy street activity even though it is located right next to a busy street, that is always full of cars and business activities. This would be a perfect place to spend a cooling afternoon with friends to chat over a couple of beers or drinks.

Food
Baby Back Ribs (S$24.00)
Hickory BBQ sauce over baby backed ribs served with chunky chips and tossed salad

Presentation:
This dish comes with tossed salad mixed in olive oil and a dash of balsamic vinegar. The Ribs comes covered with Hickory BBQ sauce. The portion of the ribs are huge and it already fills me when i am 3/4 done with it. There are about 10-11 ribs when combined the 2 racks together, which is a commercially acceptable size for the ribs.

Taste:
The ribs are not too dry, but could be a bit more juicier. The fats portion are still attached, though not overwhelming, and this is the reason why the ribs are taste juicy. However towards the side of the ribs, the meat turns slightly dryer.
The meat is easily separated from the ribs and this made it easy to extract the ribs out from the meat. A big taboo in cooking ribs is to undercook the meat causing it to stick to the bone, or overcook the meat till it becomes like a jerky.
The BBQ sauce is just nice, not too salty nor too sweet. A lot of BBQ sauce will cause the palate to itch or even numb due to the saltiness of the bbq sauce towards the end of the meal, but i am still able to feel my palate being active after the whole meal.
It is a acceptable standard ribs and given the big portion, it would be better that this is s shared dish.

Recommended Dish


Peach Fantasia (S$8.00)
A classic blend of yellow peach fruit and peach liqueur with traditional gelato and Chocolate centre, dipped in natural coloured chocolate and hand painted

Presentation
The dessert is a little over decorated with the strawberry and melted white choc. The whole peach 'fruit' looks likes more like an apple than a peach, even though the outer layer of choc is hand painted to look like one. At certain angle, it does look like a peach especially the transition areas from red to yellow colour. You may have to zoom right into the peach and ignore the other parts and it will look entirely like that part of the peach.
The peach itself consist of 4 parts, the peach choc outer shell, the peach gelato internal, the chocolate stem and the chocolate core.

Taste
The outer shell is a peach flavoured which chocolate. This shell takes some time to crack as it is very hard when it was served, due to the freezing temperature that this dessert was placed in. The 1st moment this outer layer enters the mouth, it gave me a very refreshing, fragrant peach flavour. The peach fragrance fills your mouth and it feels as if you are walking in peach farm with slight cool breeze blowing the fragrant towards you.
The gelato inside is not too sweet and although it is also made with peach liqueur, there are no taste of any alchol but only a slightl taste of peach, so parents can be assured it is children friendly. As with any gelato, it do not freeze and has a smooth texture once it enters the mouth.
As you chip your way down to the center of the peach, you will find that there is a twist to the peach. The core is a chocolate. This core is the spoiler of the whole dessert. It is Ferraro Roche, and Ferraro Roche chocolates are not supposed to be eaten with the chocolate frozen. The 3rd layer of Ferraro Roche has become so hard that it takes some effort to bite thru it.
I love this dessert. It is light and has a very refreshing taste. However, the Chocolate core can be given up as it definitely spoils the dessert. It made the whole ending very unbalanced.

Recommended Dessert(Skip the choc core)


211 Roof Terrace Service Attitude
The staff were quite relaxed when i visited them. This could be because of the off-peak time that i went in. Not much recommendations and interactions were made. The staff were also not available when i needed them, possibily due to the fact that they were decorating the X'mas tree, which was about 4 taboles behind me. These 2 staff could be more alert and attentive.

211 Roof Terrace Cleanliness
Cleanliness is as expected in any restaurant, seats and utensils were clean. Not much comments can be made.

Ratings
Food Presentation: 3/5
Food Taste: 3.5/5
Service Attitude: 3/5
Cleanliness: 3.5/5
Ambience: 4/5
Value for Money: 3.5/5
Roof Terrace is a good place to chill out with some acceptable food. If you want to skip the hustle and bustle of Singapore, while not forgetting that you are still within Singapore, this is a good place to be at. Do note that it is not advisable to go at about 2 to 3pm in a hot and sunny weather, you could be getting a sun tan if the tables under the shade/shelter are not available.

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