Finally get to try the egg tarts from Joy Luck Teahouse, thks to my mom for getting it for me....haha...
There are 2 types of egg tarts, the shortbread crust type shown on top and the puff flaky pastry shell shown on the bottom.
For me, I prefer the shortcrust shell as there is a nice buttery aroma when I bite into it. Can tell that they used some good quality butter for it. The taste was v buttery and soft, almost like a butter cookie. Hands down, my fave crust for egg tart.
Today was hubby’s birthday and I took leave from work to celebrate this special day for him.
Starting with breakfast, I got him the passion fruit meringue and Charlotte from Dolc pattiserie
Their best seller was the beautiful red Charlotte made of strawberry, basil and mascarpone. The taste was truely unique with strawberry, and a hint of basil which surprisingly seem to work well together. The outer mascarpone layer was creamy and light and covered with a thin red chocolate shell. However for me and hubby, we preferred the passionfruit meringue as we like the texture of the tart and the passionfruit taste which goes well with coffee.
For lunch, I made a reservation at fleurdesel, a French restaurant which we had never tried before but happen to chance upon it while we were at Baristart coffee and it was just opposite.
For its set lunch, there are 2 types:
The 4 course set lunch at $58++ per person or the 3 course set lunch at $48++ per person. Hubby took the 3 course excutive set lunch as he likes eating lamb while I took the 4 course set lunch.
We were both served this light paste-like dish which were not inside the menu and was supposed to cleanse our palettes, together with some sourdough bread. There are 2 types of sea salts which came from France, available for us to try. The dark coloured sea salt was infused with tomatoes and the other was infused with rosemary
For my first dish, it’s the pan seared duck liver with some figs on the side. It was so good! The outer layer was seared to a crispy and light texture without being overcook and the inside was soft and buttery without the organ smell. Hubby tried some and he said it was better than the ones he tried in France.
Hubby said he love his lamb main dish as it was v well cooked. The meat was v tender but not bloody at all. For me, I don’t eat lamb so I din try it. For my main dish, I chose the la bouillabaisse which was prawns, squid, scallops, potatoes etc. It looked v pretty and the seafood was v fresh.
Hubby’s dessert was the la baba which was dark rum baba with vanilla whipped cream and passionfruit.
Initially, it did not look appealing to me as I thought it was too heavy and filling with the huge sponge cake and the big lump of whipped cream. But when we tasted it, we were blown away by how good it was! The alcoholic smell from the rum was quite strong but when we bite into the sponge, which was totally soaked with the dark rum, it dun have any of the strong alcohol taste at all. Instead, it had a pleasantly sweet taste and goes well with the light whipped cream and the citrusy passionfruit. It’s so addictive that it was gone before I even know it. Learnt a new French dessert word today and it’s La Baba......definitely a must try!
The restaurant was quite small so it’s recommended to make a reservation. It was full house today. Half of the guests were Caucasians. The owner and French chef, Alexandre Lazachmeur was there as well cooking and manning the open kitchen. Good quality authentic French food, highly recommended.
After a satisfying good lunch, we drop by five oars coffee roaster for coffee to perk ourselves up from drowsy food coma.
We had never tried this coffee joint but it was always packed with ppl whenever we passed by.
Ordered their house blend ice white. At first sip, it instantly reminds me of arabica coffee, another coffee joint which was always packed with ppl. The taste was v similar but hubby said the aftertaste was more balanced as compared to arabica. Arabica was nice but bit expensive, so now I know where to get my coffee fix at a cheaper price. Their house blend coffee beans are available for sale at 200g for $16.
Hubby wanted to visit the National Museum of Singapore after all that food. It’s been a long long time since we came here. There are hardly anyone around since there are no more to tourists due to covid-19.
Admission was free today not because we are Singaporeans but because today happens to be the 133th anniversary of the museum and it’s open house day. Kinda sad coz if it wasn’t for this pandemic, there will sure be many ppl and a lot of events happening.
We went there mainly for the exhibition: Story of the Forest digital display created by TeamLab.
Happy Cup from Taiwan has finally opened today after many months of delay due to covid-19. It is located on the second floor of 100am mall. Today was the first day of their opening and I was lucky to chance upon it.
We ordered the osmanthus Oolong tea which was one of their recommended drinks and a sun moon lake black tea with cream top.
We waited around 20 mins for our drinks....😅 coz the staffs was having problems with the machines as it was the first day of operation. Lucky we were not in a rush or anything and there was a place to sit and rest at the store.
It has a sitting capacity of around 10 ppl, I guess. Noticed they also have a self ordering machine but it was not on and the menu LCD monitor screens on top at the ordering area were not on either. Hope they can sort out their operations kinks soon.
Our drinks after 20 mins wait.... I really like their osmanthus oolong drink as it was v refreshing and the osmanthus taste was v strong. There was a tinge of mint also. Would definitely get that again especially in Singapore hot and humid weather. Noticed after a short while, the shop closed their lights and had to stop operation. I suspect they are having problems with the machine making the drinks....Poor happy cup, not a good start on their first day of operation.
It’s the mid autumn festival again but this year it was different from previous years due to the pandemic. Previously, we used to have big mooncake festival events showcasing different stores/hotels mooncake for tasting etc but not this year. So this year, there are no tasting so I just go for gut feel....haha
Decided to get 4 snow skinned moon cakes from TWG which supposedly was infused with different types of tea into the lotus paste.
Got it at a early bird discount so total price for this box of 4 mooncakes cost about $48-$49 SGD.
Each mooncake was individually enclosed in a casing and comes with a plastic knife and toothpicks
The white snow skinned mooncake consist of white lotus paste infused with sky lantern tea and has a core of raspberry rose confit enclosed inside white chocolate. I don’t really see much of the raspberry bits in the lotus paste though. It was quite hard to cut the mooncake due to the chocolate core and can get messy at times.
Overall, the taste was smooth and I like the raspberry rose confit core. The mooncake was not oily which was a huge plus but the skin was not my fave as it lacks the QQ texture of snow skinned mooncakes. It was rather pasty and flour tasting type.
For the orange coloured mooncake, it was a hojicha infused white lotus paste with a black current and raspberry confit center. I particularly like the confit as it’s not overly sweet but with a refreshing sourish sort of taste which add some kick to the white lotus paste. Definitely preferred this over the salted duck egg york.
For that price, it was quite worth getting and may considered it again next year.
The UNIQLO airism mask which was sold out the moment it was released in Japan previously was finally available in Singapore yesterday on 24th Aug 2020.
Each person was only allowed to buy 1 packet of it. Was given a ticket with the colour and size preference stated and then go to cashier to pay for it. Each packet was $14.90 and comes with 3 masks inside.
Colour available was either black or white and sizes were S, M or L.
In the end, I chose M size, black.
On the left was the UNIQLO mask and on the right was the govt issued mask. Among all the govt issued masks, my fave was the Temasek mask as it was the most comfortable.
Comparison between these 2 masks: the ear loops for the govt mask are better as it’s longer and are adjustable. Less painful for prolong wearing.
Sizewise, the UNIQLO mask is longer and more close fitting to the face. The govt issued mask has more pockets of space between the face. The UNIQLO mask has some space between the nose and mask so there are some breathing space. Material wise, the UNIQLO mask feels smooth and cooling but bit thick coz I do feel some difficulty in breathing hard when I wear it. Maybe the material is not so porous as compared to the govt issued mask.
Overall, in terms of efficiency of protection, I feel that UNIQLO mask are better as it fits more tightly to the face and the material less breathable. For comfort, the govt issued mask is better.
For me, I prefer the govt issued mask....haha....coz comfort is more important to me in hot and humid Singapore. I do hope Temasek will give another round of this mask but in black colour.
I finally get to try the Xin Mei Xiang lor mee located a old airport road food center. In order to eat this, you will need to check after 10pm on their Facebook
to see whether they will be open the next day as they tend to be closed most of the time and also they are closed every Thur. Upon reaching Dakota Station, exit B and crossed the small zebra crossing. Follow the path on your right towards the main road and walk till u come to a junction. Old airport food center is located across the junction. It’s hard to miss the lor mee stall as the first thing I saw when reaching was the long queue of people. Was there on a Tuesday at 11am and the line was stretched across 5 stalls and turned around a corner. Waited in line for 45mins in total....
The red arrow pointing at the red stall was the Xin Mei Xiang Lor Mee. Finally saw the stall after 15mins waiting.
They have $4, $5 and $6 portion. Takeaway at extra $0.30. You can also bring your own container to save money. Notice the uncle putting the closed sign after taking my order at around 11.45am. There are still a long queue of people behind me, guess they are too late.
Taste review: it was flavorful and delicious. They also gave quite a lot of fish meat for $5. The broth was not as thick and starchy as some other lor mee. It was more fluid and soupy texture. The noodle was al dente and chewy. Actually it was good lor mee but to queue 45mins for this, I probably don’t think it’s worth it as I can find similar tasting lor mee at Seah Im food center which I find was good enough. To me, I still feel the best lor mee I ever eaten was the one that used to be in Bukit Purmei and it had this crunchy bits ingredients. Sadly, it’s no longer around....ðŸ˜
Conclusions: Good food don’t stay for long, better eat them before they are gone.
Today, Hubby and I went down to activate our free 1 year National Gallery Insider membership at the National Gallery.
There was a long queue at the ticketing area, mostly Singaporeans & PR who are redeeming their free membership. U need to download the national gallery app on your phone, log in and then activate the pass at the counter in order to get the free 1 year membership. Usually, I don’t see much ppl at the National Gallery, having been there a few times before covid. However, there was nothing for Singaporeans to do during this long weekend since we can’t travel out of the country. For me, I just wana go somewhere air con as the weather was insanely hot these few days.
Saw this new installation on the roof top. Looks quite nice and was supposed to move every 25mins but there was a notice saying it was under maintenance? Anyway, all the interactive displays were off, the theatre screening and all other multimedia shows were off, and even the museum cafe and store was closed.
The best part of this museum visit was the scenery on the roof top. It was shaded and there was a nice breeze. There were some chairs around to sit down since the rooftop restaurants were all closed. Anyway, was there for about 30mins before we decide to move to another place, Funan which was located just behind the National Gallery.
Saw this place selling purple rice yogurt drink on the second floor of Funan. There was a long queue for it. Decide to give it a try and it was worth the wait.
Not sure where it comes from but saw some good reviews on it from social media. I got their recommended basic drink which was the Yanmi’s purple rice yogurt drink.
The packaging was so cute! Looks like a Dino egg, haha...
Taste review: surprising good for someone like me who don’t like yogurt drink. It’s not too sour and had a light milky taste. The best part was the purple rice which acts like tapioca pearls. Similar to pearls, the purple rice has a chewy sticky texture. Definitely a much healthier option to BBT but sadly there was only 1 outlet at Funan. Considering getting a few bottles to stock up at home. Can’t do that for BBT as the pearls will get hard over time but not the purple rice. Also, I notice myself burping a few times after drinking, and I don’t have bloatiness problem from it which is good as I often suffer from indigestion and bloatiness. For $4.30, the price was reasonable so I will definitely get it again.
