Sunday, November 18, 2012

Cups N Canvas

Invited Food Tasting

Cups N Canvas is a 2.5 months old cafe cum art studio along Selegie Road which pampers your tastebuds and brings out the artistic side in you. Parking is readily available in the numerous buildings around and also, it's only a short 5 minutes walk away from an open air public carpark.

It was no mean feat locating the cafe as it sits right next to the main road.

We were greeted warmly by Joanna, one of the owners of Cups N Canvas, when we entered the cafe. She was really bubbly and cheerful! She told us about the concept behind CNC and recommended the popular items on their menu to us. We were also told that the mains haven't been incorporated into the menu yet and they will slowly be added into the menu week by week! I think that's a really exciting thing because you can look forward to new surprises every week!

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Isn't the painting on the wall pretty?
The art pieces on display are changed weekly according to the theme that they've decided on for that particular week
This really keeps things fresh!

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Alfresco area that is great for a chill-out session

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Art lessons are held in the adjacent art studio almost everyday!
They have oil painting, live painting and many more!
Can you see the painting of the doggies on the rack?
They are painted by individuals who have just attended the lessons!
Wish I was as artistically inclined as them!

When the lessons are over, tables and chairs will be set up to accommodate more patrons of the cafe!

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All their bakes and cakes are made freshly by the good people behind Cups N Canvas daily!
The wide array of desserts boasts goodies such as earl grey cheesecake and cuppycakes!

We had a really hard time deciding on the drinks because everything sounded so good. Spoilt for choice indeed haha. With competitors such as roasted almond latte and sticky date shake... it sure wasn't easy for our two warm drinks to emerge the winners!
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Hot Chocolate - $5.30

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You won't be able to find this hot chocolate anywhere else because the good people at Cups N Canvas created the chocolate mix themselves! It's rich, optimally sweet, and not overly thick! A really good cup of chocolate! However, the chocolate was thicker and richer towards the bottom of the cup. It will be good if a spoon came along with it so we could have a more even cup of chocolate.

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Sweet Potato Latte - $4.80
We had this when we were in Korea! It's nice to know that we can now have it in Singapore! And as we guessed, the drink was inspired by the Koreans haha. The one that we had in Korea was orange in colour but this is purple so I guess its a different kind of sweet potato? Joanna loves sweet potato so they experimented with it and came up with a pretty damn good recipe. The sweet potato taste does not overwhelm and it really grows on you! You won't get sick of it! The sweet potato bits settled at the bottom of the cup and once we got to the end of our drink, there were kinda too much of the bits. Again, it will be ideal if we had a spoon to stir our drink.

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Starters

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Mushroom Fields Forever Soup - $5.90
White button mushrooms, shitake, cream, milk, home-made garlic croutons

I really liked the mushroom soup! It was fragrant and the mushroom chunks were chewy! It wasn't too creamy or milky and we thought the texture was really good. The garlic croutons added flavour to the soup and really complemented the soup.

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Salad Canvas - $9.90
Poached egg, mesclun mix, Japanese cucumber, cherry tomatoes, furikare, homemade miso dressing

Joanna recommended that we try the salad and X did. He kept saying that the salad was good and that the dressing was delicious haha. And Joanna revealed to us that the secret to the dish is their homemade miso dressing. Salad lovers, you certainly have to try this!

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PK Duck Sandwich - $9.90
Duck, Japanese cucumber, cracker, mozarella, orange-hoisin sauce, ciabatta

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X felt that the foccacia was too dry but I thought it was nice! It was slightly crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. Coupled with the melted cheese and bite-sized duck pieces, I could understand why it's one of their most popular dishes!

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Vermillion Prawn - $17.90
Prawn, asparagus, tomatoes, white wine, lemon zest, garlic, linguine

PhotobucketSpringy pasta with a light tomato base infused with a subtle hint of lemon and fresh, juicy prawns. We have nothing much to say about this because... it was a home-run. Undoubtedly our favourite dish! You just have to try it!

Cups N Canvas is a cafe where you can spend an entire afternoon reading a book or having a catch-up session with your friends. The relaxing and cosy vibe that it projects will make you feel at home. All dishes are prepared freshly upon order and they also have all-day breakfast! Service is pretty efficient and Joanna takes the effort to connect on a personal level with all the patrons. I think that's really sweet and it makes the patrons feel welcomed. Cups N Canvas is up and coming and we're guessing that it will soon be the talk of the town!

We will like to thank Joanna and Fiona for having us and for the wonderful evening and, of course, the sumptuous food [:


139 Selegie Road

Tue - Thu:10:30 - 22:00
Fri - Sat:10:30 - 23:00
Sun:10:00 - 18:00

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Love, K

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Sunnyne Dog Cafe @ Hongdae (Seoul)

Sunnyne Dog Cafe is located in Hongdae!
It's definitely my favourite place!
I went there 3 times during my one month stay in Korea while X went there twice and he also went to the dog cafe in Myeongdong!

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Everyone has to order a drink and here's my hot chocolate!

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The Spitz that fell in love with X hahaha

The friendly owner asked if he could borrow my camera and he started snapping pictures of all his precious doggypals resting on the floor
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The very smart Goldie!

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Overweight Corgi

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Pug that's blind in one eye

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There are 3 Borders. One of them is the mummy and the other 2 are her son and daughter

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Seductive Maltese

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MY FAVOURITE!!! Her name is Pear-soh which means snow white or something!

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The schnauzer that tried to steal my drink..

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A mixed that looks like a pom!

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Very elderly poodle

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Jin-do

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Dachshund

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The English Sheepdog belongs to a Korean celebrity! She's damn hyper and active and is an entertainer haha

SECOND VISIT:
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She looks so happy!

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The very naughty puppy that looks like a husky-mix

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Pretty girllll

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So cute! Reminds me of Waffles

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Angsty Cocker

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FINAL VISIT:
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British Bulldog

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Six months old Pomeranian. AWWWWW. She puked on me after I took a picture with her hahaha

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They close at ten and it was around 9.40pm when the Goldie sat at the table, waiting for me to hand him the bill. The Goldie has been trained to pass the billholder to the cashier! I have a video of it!

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AWWWW again

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Very clingy haha


The drinks there aren't exactly cheap. A hot chocolate and iced green tea cost about 14,000 won. But its definitely worth the money! [:

Do mind your belongings as the dogs tend to pee everywhere so they might pee on the table too! The owner is extremely friendly and nice and he'll occasionally carry the small dogs to you and put them on your lap haha. Don't miss this place if you're in Seoul!

The cafe is located on the second level so do look out for the bright yellow signboard while walking along the streets!

16, Yanghwa-ro 18an-gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 04051, South Korea



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Love, K