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2013-09-08
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We were privileged enough to be invited to the Grand Opening of Flor Patisserie at their latest outlet on Siglap Drive. Quietly tucked away in the residential estate, it surely required quite a fair bit of travelling for those craving for a sweet-tooth fix!I always like to explore why a specific name was chosen for the eatery or business. 'Flor' is a Portugese word for flower and pronounced in Japanese as 'fu-ro-ru'. It symbolizes love, passion, beauty while the flower embodies the delicate bala
I always like to explore why a specific name was chosen for the eatery or business. 'Flor' is a Portugese word for flower and pronounced in Japanese as 'fu-ro-ru'. It symbolizes love, passion, beauty while the flower embodies the delicate balance of nature and beauty.
It was not our first try of Flor Patisserie's cakes though the last time we tried was a takeaway order. (Review may be found here) Flor Patisserie is essentially a Japanese-styled patisserie that serves authentic Japanese inspired French pastries. Chef Yamashita hails from Japan and brings with him over 20 years of experience in Japanese baking techniques and has spent a year and a half tailoring Flor's cakes to suit the climate and taste of Singaporeans. He draws his inspiration for cakes from flowers and translates the symbolic elements into dessert creations. It is then presented like the flower, a gift from Mother Nature, through the chef's selection of delectable and colourful offerings which resembles the life of a flourishing life garden.
With a clear understanding of the philosophy that goes into the making of these desserts, we were pleasantly welcomed by the hosts and some of the other invited attendees when we eventually find the hideout. It was surely a pleasure to meet up with some other foodies and invited guests and while it was a shame that we did not manage to speak to them much, I am sure there would be a next time to do so!
Once inside the simply yet clean and chicly decorated eatery, we were captivated by the cakes and pastries on display. Personally, elaborate furnishings somehow just came across as having the customers to pay a premium for the food served so this appealed to me just fine.Avocado mousse with lemon jelly (Complimentary)
This certainly caught my attention as the name itself was pretty exotic to begin with. While we understood a little more from Heidi, the humble chef from Le Cordon Bleu who is responsible for these beautiful creations, we later learnt that this was a new offering yet to be introduced to the public.We loved the rich flavours of the avocado but perhaps owed to the petite serving, the lemon jelly failed to shine as I could barely taste the zest of it. It was surely an interesting teaser but would require some further tweaking to the presentation before being launched as a dessert standalone.
Strawberry Shortcake (Complimentary)
There are too many versions of Strawberry Shortcake out there in the patisserie scene that we become spoilt for choice. If there was one thing to takeaway from this was that impeccable layer of sponge. It was light and fluffy yet maintained slightly moist which gave perfect foundation to build upon this cake. The cream was fresh and light and overall it was a classic cake done elegantly.Coco Royale (Complimentary)
This did not quite live up to my expectation though admittedly I have a very high demand for chocolate cakes. It was an 'okay' chocolate cake in my opinion with the right amount of moisture within the layer of sponge and while we could taste the quality of the dark cocoa, it was somehow pedestrian as it lacked a breakthrough element to make it outstanding on its own. It lacked some texture or variety to give it a notch above and impress our palate.Napoleon (Complimentary)
Personally, I find that there are three main elements to the Napoleon, being the puff pastry, sponge and the sandwiched cream. The one takeaway from Flor Patisserie's cakes and pastries was that you could not quite go wrong with their base bakes such as puff pastry and sponge for they ensure that the quality was top-notch before being served to customers.With that, the Napoleon won us over, easily. The crispiness of the puff pastry left flakes all over the white table. Apart from the mess, it complemented the soft layer of sponge neatly with the cream. That divine combination of textures was good enough to make me fetch for a second round!
Marron Pie (Complimentary)
This was my first try of a marron pie but being made from Japanese chestnut, this pie was surely worthy of our calories! It consists of almond butter cream then baked in a crispy fragrant pastry bottom. This was like a hybrid of muffin and financier but we enjoyed that it was not overly sweet and yet flavourful enough. Could not get enough of those extra crispy pastry bits with a beautiful fragrance.Despite being an invited food tasting session, I could not resist the other desserts on offer and started ordering away!
Mango Pie (S$6.95/-)
The name sounded too innocent for this was surely not your usual mango pie. Beautifully encased with a puff pastry base, the middle layer comprised cream and an almond-flavoured pastry similar to that of the marron pie tried. It was finally topped with some fresh mango fruit cubes and mango puree. It was a powerful punch of rich flavours in each mouthful and I especially enjoyed the variance in texture with the puff pastry, cream and the fresh fruit. The toasted bread crumbs was the icing which added just about another layer of texture to this awfully sinful dessert.It might just be too much for one to finish this, which I imagine would satiate your appetite. I would recommend for this to be shared between two or three.
Exercise caution if you are a weight-watcher for this is a calories-laden dessert, no doubt.
Earl Grey Chocolate (S$6.95/-)
At first glance, I readily assumed that this was the classic Mont Blanc but it was when I asked for cake recommendations from Heidi did I cast a second look at this. Earl Grey Chocolate - now I was pretty sceptical about it but since the chef championed it, there was no way to resist giving it a shot.
If there was one word to describe, it was sublime. The flavours worked harmoniously with each other, starting from the rich earl grey taste that lingered, chocolate chips, layered sponge cake and the fresh banana fruit nestled in the centre of the cake. What surprised our palate was the addition of crunchy chocolate biscuit bits hidden between the layers of cream and chocolate sponge cake. There was a lot going on with each mouthful and the flavours were rich and bold to say the least but this was really a winner.Yuzu Green Tea Cheese Tart (S$3.40/-)
It actually came across more of a cheesecake than a cheese tart but that was beside the point. Served frozen, it was a well-received treat on this hot afternoon! You could just taste the premium matcha used in the making but the slight let-down was that the yuzu taste was barely evident. The takeaway was rather more of a good matcha cheese tart.It was mentioned to us that Flor Patisserie are working on bringing in some really good coffee to complement their current offering of cakes. They also have a good range of tea but being a coffee person, that unfortunately did not quite entice.
On the whole, we enjoyed the high quality cakes which were made of natural and fresh ingredients. Flor Patisserie does not use baking powder, artificial rising and softening agents, stabilizers or preservatives. The soft and moist sponge cakes especially were owed to the natural aeration of eggs being whipped to their full peak.
We thank Flor Patisserie for the invite and the sharing session by Heidi on their pastries and future developments. I firmly believe in their tagline which is 'If we won't eat it, we won't serve it'. Certainly looking forward to this outlet being their R&D branch where we should expect more creations underway!
For those who live and work in the Central like us, you could always drop by the branch at Duxton, Funan or Taka to pick-up a few calories-worthy cakes!
For full review and more photos, please visit http://www.makeyourcaloriescount.com/2013/09/sg-flor-patisserie-cakes-worth-travel.html
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