Along the stretch of Irving Place, Commerce building area, rows of cafes have sprouted almost all at the same time and have since hold a foothold in the area, creating a mini cafe scene amidst the industrial area. Unpretentious 23 Jumpin cafe with a laidback ambiance that serves specialty coffee and hearty meals to their customers.Being a small scaled cafe, not as extensive a food menu but they do have a decent variety of choices, so fret not! Sometimes more doesn’t mean good but instead ensure the quality of the food served is of utmost importance. Another great point of the cafe is the nett prices of the food served!Brunch and Main food menuDrinks and waffles menuHoney Paprika Wings ($8). A little fluffy and crispy batter drizzled with sweet honey and sprinkled with paprika spices and parsley. Sweet wings dished out on a wooden serving board piping hot and juicy with a tinge of spiciness.Duck Confit ($16). Delicately mashed up potatoes in a smooth puree drowned with citrus-y brown sauce with hint of sweetness and sourness. Duck leg is seasoned, well flavored and slow cooked till its meat pink and tender, melts in the mouth upon the bite.
All in all, very cozy and relaxing ambiance with friendly attentive staff and quality food at reasonable price.

https://poohlovesfood.wordpress.com/2015/12/25/23-jumpin/

Overtaking the previous tenant along prinsep street, “Playnation”, now sits the bustling Curious Palette, sister cafe of Strangers Reunion. Despite the plentiful of seating, there’s still always crowd queue during the weekends. Decked in a coat of artistic sculptures lighting and wooden furniture together with the dining crowd, the cafe is filled with youthful exuberance. One of the signature dish Curious Palette is known for, is none other than their Ricotta Hotcakes. Not only that, i must admit they have quite an extensive menu of food variety!Bustling crowd seen within the cafeDrinks MenuBrunch MenuLunch MenuPot of Sencha Tea (cant really remember the price, but should be in the $8 range). It’s very light and smooth, ending with a fruity note.Curious Croque Madamme ($17.90). It’s like a multi-grain sandwich with freshly shaved prosciutto, semi dried tomatoes and cheddar paprika bechamel topped with a pair of well seasoned curious eggs cooked to perfection, retaining the runny nature of the yolks! Served with fresh greens and truffle sweet potatoes fries. Subtle truffle flavor amidst the sweet firm and crisp sweet potatoes fries. Quite an amazing brunch dish to start your day off with!
All in all, curious palette dished out pretty interesting food items of good flavors and quality with a hint of uniqueness! Can’t wait to be back for more.

https://poohlovesfood.wordpress.com/2015/12/20/curious-palette/

Amid the stretch of bustling cafes along the rangoon road sits The Cold Pantry prominently known for their Root Beer Waffles. Limited seatings with unpretentious simple decoration of the cafe which brilliantly re-direct the consumer’s focus to their desserts.Concise and sweet menu filled with soft serve ice cream, soft serve frozen yoghurt and not forgetting their signature waffles! I’m so excited that i finally get to lay my hands on them!As we were pretty full from our lunch and there’s limited food we could stomach in, we decided to just go for their Chocolate Root Beer ($12.50). Dense with crispy edges chocolate root beer waffle that sizzle a little fizziness of the root beer. A delish and unique piece of art. Charcoal vanilla is a little plain jane, but i guess that’s how it complements well with the more intensified flavored waffle. The addition of a chocolate chip cookie greatly enhances the overall taste and chocolaty note of the dessert. I’ll be back to try their Cha Yen Soft Serve!

https://poohlovesfood.wordpress.com/2015/11/16/the-cold-pantry/

Pardon me for such a cute photo of the storefront for Bao Makers, not too sure how did it turn out that way. :/ Located along Horne Road with Lavender MRT being the nearest station rests Bao Makers. Bao Maker has adopted a french window style of exterior coupled with a touch of unfinished cemented walls and furniture with wooden accents.An interesting find within the cafe is this ‘Warm Snacks Dispenser’ where supposedly you will get a warm snack in return for a dime. But currently it is more on a display purpose only.As the name suggest, twists were made to the BAOs that was commonly known to us with our very own local favorites and some korean flavors following the trend. In additon to it, Bao Makers served quite a substantial variety of food varying from Mains to Sides to Desserts to Coffee at decent prices.The 2 best alluring looking Baos were none other than Salted Egg Shrimp Bao ($15) and Chilli Crab Bao ($16). Filled with golden interstellar salted egg yolk sauce oozing out of the once familiar traditional ‘Kong Bah Bao’ with the companion of fresh crunch prawns, giving it a twist of flavors to the traditional has definitely been the hot selling point for this Salted Egg Shrimp Bao. Contrary to it’s delightful outlook, the taste of the salted egg yolk is kind of subtle which fails to bring out the original glamor that of a salted egg. I would wish for a more intensified salted egg yolk sauce and maybe with some remnants in it! The Chilli Crab Bao on the other hand has a luscious golden mantou fried leaving a clean crisp texture on your palette. Enclosed with fresh chunky crab meat beaming with piquantly hot chilli crab sauce that intermittently kicks in and spice up your palette boldly and beautifully. You’ll be deeply immersed and addicted to their chilli crab sauce! I’m well impressed by the creation of Chilli Crab Bao!All in all, it’s quite a cosy and serene environment for a lazy afternoon or a good catch up with friends over food and cuppa.

https://poohlovesfood.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/bao-makers/

Kombi Rocks has always been on the “To go list if you’re driving” kind of articles, but in actual fact it’s not that inaccessible, it’s pretty much accessible from Serangoon Swimming Complex with a bus stop conveiently situated near by. One thing you will never miss from Kombi Rocks are their eye-catching signature retro and colourful Vee-Dubs that are lined up right infront of their cafe. They have a couple of Vee-Dubs which you could rent for events or photoshoot. Don’t they look so cutesy and pretty?Not just Vee-Dubs, the interior of Kombi Rocks are filled with retro items on displays or even some for sale! Really one of the interesting vintage ambiance to dine in.Kombi Rocks dished up mainly chinese and thai food with recipes passed down from generations, so you could really feel the homely touch to each of the dish served up to your table!Koon Kee Mee Goreng ($6.50, small), mee goreng but with a twist of chinese flavors, brimming with eggy and wok aroma accompanied with traces of sweetness and subtle spiciness. A plate filled with heartwarming flavors but the portion was a little too small to fill the stomach though.Signature Kombination Platter ($32 for 4 pax) consisting of Handmade Thai Fish Cake, Handmade Prawn Roll, Thai Spicy Vermicelli Seafood Salad, Crabmeat Omelet and Lychee Pork Ribs. There were some hits and misses to this plate of platter. Their Thai Fish Cake and Thai Spicy Vermicelli Seafood Salad were the only two i would really recommend. Intriguing spicy and sour sensation on the palette by the Thai Spicy Vermicelli Seafood Salad. It has a very refreshing taste with crunchy prawns and fragrant minced meat. The rest of the foods are kind of lacklustre, texture and taste were not controlled well. The Lychee Pork Ribs tasted more like char siew slices with a fruity note; Handmade Prawn Roll lacking the firmness and meatiness and the Crabmeat Omelet was a little too generous on their salt.Signature Fish Maw and Crabmeat soup ($14) on the other hand fared much better. The soup were thick and goooey with abundance of fish maw, shredded crabmeat, mushrooms, and egg drops! It tasted clean cut and sweet, with a little of vinegar and pepper, it’s all ready to warm your stomach!Kombi Rocks has an interesting concept to begin with which has allows it to differentiate itself from many other cafes. Food wise was a pity, though it serves out dishes filled with warmth of a home-cooked meal but lacks the appeal for a return visit. Nonetheless, their floats look really good! Maybe it’s worth a try for their drinks and dessert on a hot afternoon instead.

https://poohlovesfood.wordpress.com/2015/11/08/kombi-rocks/