19 Aug 2014
Niche Boulangerie - Your homely neighborhood cafe!
I know many people out there dream of opening their own cafe. I don't mean cafe tycoon or restaurant city where you get to effortlessly open one outlet in your iPad or whatever mobile device you have. Pardon my lengthy story line since both partners of this cafe are people whom I personally know, decided to take the plunge and open a cafe at Toa Payoh.
Starting a food and beverage company is definitely not an easy task since everything has to be planned right from scratch. From renting a space to designing the interiors to settling the troublesome and problematic AVA, it took more than a month and also longer than expected. It was a draining experience, the amount of commitment, effort as well as stamina needed for Niche Boulangerie. Thanks to my friends, I personally get to experience the thrill of working in a cafe! Anyway, despite the hectic production, they produce the following products fresh from the oven almost daily, in their really cramp and small kitchen. If you were to visit them, Melvin's mum, a really nice lady in her seventies could be spotted helping him run the front of house. His pretty wife would often drop by the cafe in the evening after her full time job to help out too.
Anyway, let me introduce some of his niche products available daily, unless they run out of stock. Most of these pictures were taken from my instagram.
Starting a food and beverage company is definitely not an easy task since everything has to be planned right from scratch. From renting a space to designing the interiors to settling the troublesome and problematic AVA, it took more than a month and also longer than expected. It was a draining experience, the amount of commitment, effort as well as stamina needed for Niche Boulangerie. Thanks to my friends, I personally get to experience the thrill of working in a cafe! Anyway, despite the hectic production, they produce the following products fresh from the oven almost daily, in their really cramp and small kitchen. If you were to visit them, Melvin's mum, a really nice lady in her seventies could be spotted helping him run the front of house. His pretty wife would often drop by the cafe in the evening after her full time job to help out too.
Anyway, let me introduce some of his niche products available daily, unless they run out of stock. Most of these pictures were taken from my instagram.
Herb Brioche ($1.50) - These buns are just pure buttery goodness. I have seen many aunties and uncles from the neighborhood dropping by in the morning, just to grab some for their breakfast. You could make your own delicious sandwich with these at your convenience.
No Nonsense Chocolate Brownie ($3.50) - Really affordable based on their size, these slabs of walnuts topped chocolate brownies are baked perfectly for chocolate lovers. It is towards the slightly choco-bitter and fudge type which goes well with ice cream!
Bacon and Cheese Scones ($4.00) - Shaped like gold bars, these unusual scones were as precious as gold. You would not want to leave any crumbs remaining on your plate because they were that yummy and not overly dry. Do not worry if you do not have a savory palette as there are also honey + cinnamon and cranberry + orange scones too!
Banana Nutella Muffin ($2.50) - Another popular choice that often sold off fast would be the Banana Nutella Muffins. For every production of these muffins, he would use 100% fully ripen pure banana flesh to make! No artificial banana essence or flavoring at all. I can vouch for it since I helped in his kitchen before. Besides being natural, the muffins are ultra moist and fluffy too. Sometimes other muffins such as carrot, berry, etc, are also available.
French Apple Tart - Sweet almond paste filling and tartness of the granny smith apples really compliments well in that tart shell. Also goes well with a scope of ice cream!
Macarons - Alright, macarons could be rather uncommon in here since they focused more on other productions instead. A batch is normally gone within 2 or 3 days.
Black Diamond - Purely chocolate indulgence.... (I forgot the descriptions..)
Red Velvet Cake - Not the usual chocolate sponge with red coloring. The sponge itself is made with almond paste, making it substantially delightful to munch on, pairing well with the light and rich cream cheese frosting.
Strawberry Cheesecake - Using baked method and not the easy chilled way, the size of this cheesy goodness is huge enough for 2 to share.
Mango Tart - Freshly diced mangoes with vanilla cream in tart shell.
There are also home made lasagna available for lunch/dinner that comes with salad. Really reasonably priced too.
The Kampung Chicken Pie is also made in limited amount, usually on weekends and would be wiped out rather quickly. I had one for my dinner before and it was really filling. Everything is made in house, including the filling and pie shell.
See what I meant when I say it is overloaded generously with ingredients such as chicken, mushroom, carrot and broccoli.
Anyway the menu is usually not fixed and sometimes there could be new creations and seasonal desserts. The variety of items has since increased and do check out their facebook page here for more information.
They do customized cakes and even orders for any sort of parties too!
Address:
- 128 lorong 1
- Toa payoh unit 1-833
8 Aug 2014
Alive Museum Singapore and some tips to thoroughly enjoy the experience!
I seldom post about lifestyles. But once I do, I do it wild!
I have been wanting to make a trip to Korea partly because of one of its main attraction, the trick eye museum. Thanks to #omy and #alivemuseum , I now had the chance to experience something similar and enjoyable! It is to visit Alive Museum conveniently located at Suntec City!
I have been wanting to make a trip to Korea partly because of one of its main attraction, the trick eye museum. Thanks to #omy and #alivemuseum , I now had the chance to experience something similar and enjoyable! It is to visit Alive Museum conveniently located at Suntec City!
So here are some poses my friend and I did at Alive Museum Sg! Enjoy!
(Note: Some of the captions may contain colourful languages.)
Smacked right at the entrance, the first exhibit was this bare ass woman on the bed.
Hey! I wasn't going to touch that ass! Quit spying on me!
Another one of the more perverted horny shot of me .... Don't judge me as this was purely for photo taking purpose only!
(Note: These 2 pictures are about to be removed from the exhibit site due to many negative feedback.)
Hail to the king! The really relax and slack one.
Hi mom, I am hungry. Can I have food now?
Nooooo! Let me go!
Summoning forest dragon jitsu! Wrong hand sign for a summoning jitsu....O well....I watched too much Naruto episodes!
There was also a fully mirrored room with disco lights! What happens when you place blogger with mirrors? Werking it out with camwhole shots! Girls please wear skirt, we guys promised not to peep.
I did this inverted shot since we had the whole mirror room to ourselves!
When people started coming in, you have no choice but to have them in your shots just because it is a mirrored room! Duh!
''I came in like a wrecking ball!'' My friend owned this picture.
I am not surfing any porn website in here! Oppps, stupid mirror!
I don't know why I looked so calm in here...
Another picture which owned me flat. My friend did a bit of unbuttoning to show his abs tummy! He is going to slaughter me for this.
Thankfully nobody else was around when I stripped and took this shot! Help! The whirlpool is sucking me hard in!
Another dramatic shot! If only a girl would wear a bikini for this....(Not X-L size like below!)
I hope I don't get such a heavy girlfriend or my back would break!
Used my friend's shot as I just refused to get hit! I either blocked or dodged.
NOOOO! My soft serve ice cream! I will Kung-Fu-Fight you for this Mr Panda!
Unleashed the hulk in me! Hulk Smash!
Hi batman, you will get diabetes eating me...because I am too sweet...
Warning: The pole here is really slippery and difficult to climb/grip!
''I am on top of the world looking, down on creations.......''
I forgot how I did this!
Weeeee! A clearer view of your d!ck! Why so small one!?!?
Save me from these zombies!
I am such a great and talented artist!
A bit exaggerated in here since a couple of eyes were on me when I took this shot. Thankfully I could do low rope during my army days easily but just be careful of rope burns! Dang, I should have videoed this station instead!
There were many other stations which I did not feature in this blog post as I did not want to be such a big spoiler (I am only a small spoiler...).
My tips for those who want to thoroughly enjoy the experience:
2) Not only the exhibits are under the spotlight, I myself look ultra white in some of the photos. Get your photographer (best a patient one) to instruct you on the positioning.
3) You do not necessary need to follow the instruction of where to stand to take the best shot, experiment with different positions for personal preference.
4) One important thing is to get the angle right! Hard to explain in the form of words but be sure to keep the alignments in check.
5) Wear clothes you don't mind lying on the floor with because some stations require you to do so.
6) It is really boring seeing repetitive poses of people at each stations. To outshine, be as dramatic as possible, or show exaggerated facial expressions. Pose something people would not dare or want to do.
7) Posing with friends make the experience more fun and lively. However do not overdo it such as having 10 people in a picture.
8) Towards the end of the exhibition, my energy level was drained out. Train up a bit on your flexibility, stamina as well as strength because these are required for crazier extreme poses.
Currently, Alive Museum is having a promotion! Check out the link here for more details!
Ticket Prices
Adult 13 yrs and above: S$25
Child 3 – 12 yrs: S$20
Package 2 Adults + 1 Child: S$60
Opening Hours
Opens daily from 10am to 10pm (last admission at 9pm)
Suntec City Mall
#03-372 (between Towers 3 & 4)
20 Jul 2014
Hee Kee (囍記) Desserts at Jurong Point (Giveaway included!)
Being a hardcore dessert lover, I grabbed the chance to attend the food tasting at Hee Kee Desserts, located at Jurong Point. (Nearest Mrt is Boon Lay and not Jurong East.) Hee Kee means ''treasuring happiness'', based on Hong Kong desserts style, offering a wide range of desserts to choose from.
The vintage style interior design and its 40 seats setting!
Before I go into details of the 6 signature items, here is a picture of them! I can't wait to share and seriously I think that the presentation wise already owned its competitors flat. Time for taste judgement...
First right up was the Traditional Steamed Milk Pudding served warm. I have to admit that it was my first time eating steamed milk pudding due to the fact that I would usually go for the more fanciful and extravagant looking desserts. Despite the minimalist look, the texture was velvety and the milkiness was an acquired taste. Despite it being my least favorite that day, the ladies were all complementing it and enjoying themselves. I guessed this must be a girl's kind of dessert.
Up next would be the Homemade Beancurd with Gula Melaka! Not exactly silky smooth, it was foolproof that the beancurd served here was homemade! The gula melaka syrup was diluted down (light in taste) and not the gooey type of consistency. The intent could be to impart the gula melaka flavor as well as still be easily mixed with the beancurd.
Enjoying my bowl of homemade beancurd with gula melaka! Luckily I added less syrup for this one as I did not want to get a sugar rush so early! 4 more desserts to try though...
The intensity raised as the tasting continued because the desserts were getting interesting! Suited to Singapore's hot weather, the Whole Coconut with Coconut Ice Cream and peanut crush was a hit among us! Who could resist such a dessert? I could already imagine myself having this dessert on the beach! Thumbs up for the effort of craving out the chunky flesh so that I could enjoy myself thoroughly without personally exerting any effort. Not to forget the glass of coconut juice I had that was given with this dessert!
The Mango Cheong Fan was something that sounds questionable at first. Erase all thoughts of the savoury version you once knew because this silky-smooth sweet coconut infused skin could be an incoming dessert trend! Nicely wrapped like a parcel of a perfect gift and encasing a huge juicy chunk of mango within. This was one really slippery dessert of a kind.
Saving the durian related desserts for the last, this D24 Durian Sauce with Sago proved to be too filling to non-durian lovers. I felt like I was drinking a 'Cream of durian' soup-of-the-day with the sago as well as the durian pulp adding textural contrast to the overall creaminess.
Last but not least, the Durian Pancakes wrapped nicely in bright yellow fragile-thin skin. Filled with a mixture of cream and durian flesh, I stuffed half a piece at a time into my mouth, enjoying the intense burst of durian!
Now you guys know that I am a durian lover and I do not want to share this dessert!
Right now I have 6 x of $5 Gift Vouchers by Hee Kee to give away!
Self collection location will be at Ang Mo Kio MRT station if you don't mind.
I will randomly pick 5 winners on the 19th of Aug to win 2 x of $5 Gift Vouchers.
All you have to do is to share this post on Facebook, follow me on instagram
@ dessertingbeauty and leave a comment together with your email on this blog post.
(Vouchers expire by the end of this year, and I will follow back if you are a foodie too!)
(Note: I won't post your comment up.)
Not to forget, all readers who quote 'Alvin' will get a 10% discount at Hee Kee Desserts from
19 July to 19 August!
''In addition, Hee Kee will also be running an Instagram contest from 19 July to 19 August, where there’s up to S$60 worth of Hee Kee vouchers to be won! All participants have to do is snap a picture and Instagram their dessert at Hee Kee, follow Hee Kee Desserts on Instagram, tell us what’s so great about the dessert they’re having and hash tag #heekeedesserts. Winners will be picked at random.''
Thank you alvinology.com, Hee Kee Desserts and Platform for the invite.
*Updates*
Winners of $10 Hee Kee Vouchers by me: elynchan1010, yongxian89 and greddy_sg10
1 Jurong West Central 2,
JP2, #03-54/55,
Jurong Point, S(648886)