Pique Nique

It was a Saturday afternoon and The Star dragged me out for brunch at 12. That's really early for a Saturday. As usual, I was kept in the dark and was totally clueless about where were going. However when we were reaching town, I started guessing and tadah! When I said Pique Nique he was like "... shit" HAHA

Pique Nique is a pretty new restaurant opened by the Sugar Daddy group, which owns Antoinette too. Pique Nique is located in Ngee Ann City or rather, as we all call it, Taka. It's where Macdonalds used to be, beside KFC. You will probably think that the prices will be quite over the top or will probably burn a hole in your pocket but here comes a surprise! The prices are actually pretty decent
















ALL DAY BREAKFAST. I love places that serve all day breakfast


What a cute jar. I wanted to bring it home


Hot chocolate with marshmallow cloud

The chocolate was far too thick and the taste was somewhat strange and after a few sips, I did not feel like drinking it anymore.



As for the marshmallow cloud, I was pretty amused by it! Usually you get those tiny little marshies but here you get one big cloud all to yourself! However the marshmallow wasn't very nice. It was like I could feel the tiny bits of sugar present in the marsh. Pretty bad texture


Classic benedict. I like their plates/bowls.

I like how it looks so simple, really fits the theme of a picnic doesn't it?


The Benedict was okay. Nothing fantastic, just the good ol' benedict.


Philly steak! When I first dug my fork into the egg, I wasn't expecting to see much corned beef actually. However, I was surprised yet again. This wasn't the kind of dish whereby the wrap looks kinda full but its actually quite empty inside. Haha the corned beef and sauteed onions were a really pleasant combo. Together with half an English muffin, Philly Steak is certainly enjoyable and satisfying for brunch!







Iced Cafe Latte


The cute lil cup with sugar syrup. Doesn't look very cute here but it is! Haha





The cakes are all shaped like bars. Probably a trademark that people will remember about Pique-Nique. Oh and they have really intriguing and unique cupcake flavours! I'll love to try them soon!


Look at the cute signs screaming "I am not a macaron" Hahaha super adorable. These are cookies I think

We did not try their desserts even though we had wanted to try their brownie. It was not bad a meal I feel. I like how the waitresses and waiters were all decked in checks! It enhances the picnic feeling somehow haha. And there were cute furniture and decorations. Cute furniture and decorations are definitely plus plus points for the both of us. Overall, quite an enjoyable experience dining here except that I think it'll be better if the wall facing KFC did not have any openings. It seems like the noise from KFC kinda "floats" into Pique Nique through those openings. And also, they seem to be pretty short of staff and you might have to wait for awhile to get your orders taken.

Recommended if you're looking for a decent brunch and laidback feel that won't cost you a bomb in town.


Ngee Ann City/ Taka
Basement 1, Beside KFC

Love, The Sun

The Sun's rating of Pique Nique : 7.5/10

Bonheur Patisserie

Bonheur patisserie is a relatively new patisserie that popped up in the desserts paradise which is the Duxton, Tanjong Pagar and Ann Siang area. It officially opened in december 2010 to join a list of patisserie like, Flor patisserie, K-ki , Patisserie Glace and others all within a 5 mins drive from each other. I have been wanting to try it ever since i did my usual food research online and was pretty fascinated by some photos of the cakes that i saw. I guess good photography really help to whet the appetite.

white walls interior

chalkboard menu

The first time we went there was on a sunday and it was closed! Thankfully there was Flor Patisserie nearby and their cakes more than made up for this disappointment! Determined to try bonheur's cakes, we went back once more on a saturday. The Sun and I were there around 8ish on a saturday and as they are closed for business on sundays , there weren't many cakes left to choose from. We ordered the banana pound cake, The Chocolate Cake and the caramel opera.

Layers of Jaconde soaked with strong coffee, equatorial ganache and caramel cream

Caramel opera

The flavours of the cake on the first bite was a tad too strong then it became sweeter then the aftertaste of the caramel came which gave it a good finish. The taste of the cake grew onto me. Unfortunately, the cake was frozen as the staff just took it out from the chiller, hence, it was hard and i couldn't really enjoy the texture of my cake. I believe eating it in its optimal condition would have done the cake more justice.

banana pound cake! it was good. One of the best banana cakes i've eaten so far. enough said.

The chocolate cake

Layers of almond success , valrhona chocolate mousse and crunchy praline

The Sun is pretty particular when it comes to the food she puts in her mouth. Hahaha, so most of the time she will be the one having the good ol' chocolate cake. I like the chocolate mousse. But thats about it. Bonheur's chocolate cake for me is rather ordinary.

I would definitely wanna go back and try more of their cakes. Their dome tiramisu , strawberry balsamic, chocolate earl grey etc etc. Just thinking bout how those cakes will taste is giving me the urge to go there right this very moment. Speaking of which, i haven't had a proper nice cake as dessert in a pretty long time.

(The Sun: The Star forgot to mention that we were given a free slice of cake! I think there was a promotion going on. Buy 3 get 1 free! So we got another banana pound cake and gave it to our friend who liked it alot too. I don't know if the offer is still available but do enquire when you're there!)

70 Duxton road

mon- thurs: 10am - 8pm

fri- sat : 10am - 10pm

★ ★ rating of the cakes: 7/10

love,

★ ★

Ciel Patisserie

The Star and I went to Ciel Patisserie one afternoon after his lesson. We got into a cab at 430 to beat the peak hour traffic and the peak hour taxi surcharge haha. He hadn't heard of Ciel Patisserie before, like DUH. Hahahah (inserts smug face )

Ciel Patisserie is a pretty new dessert place which serves French based desserts. Ciel means heaven in French. The owner of Ciel Patisserie is a young and talented lady who has ventured bravely into opening her own store.





Ciel Patisserie is part of a food stall at the side of Midlink Plaza. To find Ciel, you'll have to find this signboard first





Valrhona tart with caramel


Oreo Cheesecake and is it London Cheesecake or something? Can't remember

There were two valrhona chocolate tarts on display. One with nutella and the other with caramel. I chose the caramel one. When I first tasted the chocolate, it was not bad! The tart was a bit too hard to be broken by the fork. So I had to use my hand. I quite like how the tart breaks and crumbles when I bite into it. It's harder than other tarts I've tasted but somehow the extra crunch was surprisingly delightful. However, the caramel made the tart too sweet and I couldn't finish the tart on my own.

The cheesecakes were pretty normal. For the prices that Ciel offer, I think that their desserts are definitely worth more than what you pay for them. At an extremely affordable price of $3.20, we did not hesitate to get three desserts for the both of us. We are not greedy, just being practical and supportive haha.

Do head on down to support Ciel!


Midlink Plaza (behind Iluma)
122 Middle Road

Opening hours : Monday - Friday
10 am - 6pm

Love, The Sun

Sun's rating of Ciel : 7/10

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