By 8pm, the famous 928 Ngee Fou Ampang YTF would have closed, this is the next alternative available just 2 doors away. You are allowed to choose more variety here, in fact you can also opt to choose the ingredients yrself just like the typical YTF stalls. You will always see the boss drinking beer in the shop with friends. Most of the workers are PRCs. The drinks are sold by them as well a separate smaller kway chup and braised duck rice offering. I was lazy and opted to leave them to choose for me a 1 person share, only requesting to hv more of the crunchy stuffs. When served, i was delighted with a plate of 2 tau kee, kang kong, brinjal, fried toufu, ngoh hiong, fish ball, fried wantan, bittergourd...pretty good variety i must say. And their sauce mix has definitely improved over time and i dun think they lose out to 928 alot. Its more to the saltier side though. Overall i rate it a good eat, can't exactly remember the pricing but it should be <$8 definitely.

Only recently uncovered, Cakes Literally is yet another addition to the already booming site in Farrer Park, no less an of-standard one. I’m not complaining, because food enthusiasts like myself just can’t get enough of cafes, can we.The high contrast of colors exudes a simple yet sophisticated ambience. The pristine white urges you to sit down, unwind and have a cup of coffee and cake. Though they don’t house the most comfortable pieces of furniture, their warm hospitality and slow-dancing tunes make it all up. Run by a close-knit family, you can expect a fuss-free, rules-free kind of cafe-experience, while letting your hair down to sounds from artists like James Morrison and Colbie Caillat from their iPod (that was before a huge crowd of family, including children, came in and stole the mood away).A few words can sum up what Cakes Literally offers – Coffee, Tea, Cakes. Not the most extensive, but hey, simplicity is the way to go now in this fast-paced society, isn’t it.Latte ($4.50) :: When it’s coffee from Papa Palheta, you know it wouldn’t go wrong. Arguably the best coffee I’ve ever had, we further had another cup of Mocha ($4.80) just to fully satisfy our caffeine cravings since the brunch place we were at failed miserably. The Mocha was especially intriguing, as shaved Belgian Belcolade Dark Chocolate makes up the chocolate in the mocha. It was like in coffee heaven; high in acidity, aroma so sublime, and an overall impression that lasts.Valrhona Flourless Cake ($7.50) :: Not only is it flourless, it is also gluten-free, and 100% self-baked. + Mousse + chocolate shards + cocoa + venchi chocolate caviar in belcolade shell. I love the semi-cake semi-mousse overall texture of it, where you can still get a good bite but a soft and smooth one. For the more intense chocolate lovers, go ahead and sprinkle the cup of venchi chocolate caviar over your slice of cake. But to be honest, maybe I have a high tolerance but it wasn’t unbearable at all.Orange Almond Cake ($5.50) :: This, on the other hand, has a different texture all together. Surprisingly, I love the combination. It wasn’t as tangy as I had expected, which is good. Crushed almond is mixed in the cake itself, which I suspect gives the rough and grainy surface of the cake. While the flavor was satisfying, the texture did not quite float my boat.

I have no qualms that they will, like most small family-business, have consistent impeccable service. They’re constantly cheerful and approachable. If I am in the area, I wouldn’t think twice going through the glass door again.

Note #1: Only cash accepted.

Note #2: Prices stated are nett. No GST and service charge.

Note #3: They also sell whole-cakes.

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 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

Ivy is craving for crabs cos her friends "areoplane" her, so she asked if Angela & myself can help her satisfy her craving. We decided to check out the newly opened Momma Kong's Crab Shack at Mosque Street. Simple yet cozy environment. Great for friends gathering!

Menu were limited, so gotta wait for other diners to finish ordering before you get your hands on it. They should consider printing more copies to cater for bigger crowd. "Tools & bins" were also provided on all tables

We were there few minutes before the Happy Hour ends, so we got our ciders at 25% off! I have Pear while Ivy & Angle goes for Elderflower & lime.Our meal started off with Spicy Tangy Top Shell $15 - A little bit of sourness, sweetness & spiciness. Pretty good but I find it too watery. Spicy Ikan Bilis $6 is superb! Tiny yet crunchy. The girls asked for the belachan to put put aside in case it's too spicy. After the first few mouthful of it, the girls decided to dump the rest of the belechan into the remaining Ikan Bilis but soon regretted their decision cos it turn out to be really spicy, but it was terribly good! I asked if they sell the belechan on its own; sadly it is not available for sale now but they will consider selling it soon! Tofu Chips $6 is surprisingly soft inside & crunchy outsideThe crabs are $38 each or $110 for a set of 3 crabs. We decided to opt for the set of 3. We were deciding between Steam or Black Pepper Crab & finally decided on Steam Crab to check out the quality since I read somewhere that the crabs here are frozen. Thus, first on the list will be Steam Crab as this has got the mildest taste. Surprisingly, this is nicely done & couldn't taste that it's frozen. Next on the list - Crab in Bee Hoon Soup. The soup is however a little fishy but it gets better after adding the Hua Diao which is provided at the side. The Pretty Fried Man Tou $1.50 (min 2pc) is surprisingly sweet to eat on it's own. However, it was quite huge I couldn't even finish 2! Luckily we didn't order 2pc each Lastly, Chili Crab. The chili is not like the usual sweet & spicy type which you get in most hawker center. The chili crab here is a little spicy it musk the taste of the crab. The sauce is a little dry & I wish it was served with more sauce.

Service here were friendly & attentive; superb! I won't mind going back again to try the Black Pepper Crab & other new variants if available!

As it was my good friend, Serene’s birthday celebration,we have decided to try Momma Kong’s and how glad we are to have made such a wise choice.

My first impression of Momma Kong’s is it’s quite different in the deco as compare to other crab restaurant. I love the fact that it’s simple and chic with a very relaxed and laid back setting and for the service crews, if I am not wrong is the 2 bosses themselves. One thing about their service is, it’s really very attentive and give you very comfortable and cosy feel.



As for the menu, it is quite interesting as it looks like a compilation of several Facebook pages. However the menu isn’t very extensive, just crabs cooking in 4 different varieties, some small bites , 2 types of vegetables and a variety of beverages. Something that I like about the Momma Kong’s is that they have Asahi on the tap and before 7pm is happy hours so 25% off. But I didn’t order Asahi that day cos I was introduced to another type of beer. Hehe!





Anyway ,we ordered black pepper crab, crab with bee hoon soup,chicken chucks with belachan chilli, 3 mantous. Thank God we didn’t ordered more. Although on the menu,it is written that the crab weight about 650g but 3 of us were quite sure,it was more than that when we saw another table’s crab been served.





Just like all fried food,the chicken chucks are very succulent and yummy. But I must seriously rave about this belacha chilli. It is really flavorful and spicy.Can you imagine 3 of us kept raving over it once we had our first taste of the yummy chilli.

The crab bee hoon soup is simply mind blowing.Can you imagine the rich milky broth with chinese wine and the combination of the fresh sweet crab meat? Simply spot on!We girls finished up the soup in no time. Hiaks.

The black pepper sauce is really finger licking good and goes very well with their beautifully weaved mantous(come in steamed or fried,but we choose the fried ones).

Overall,it was a lovely food hunting experience as we really didn't expect such a 5 stars service from Momma Kong's.On top of that,I am personally very impressed with their food servicing timing.Simply marvelous.Beside that, we didn't paid a lot for such great food and wonderful service,just $144.65,easy on the pocket. On top of that, Momma Kong is also tied up with Perx, an app that can give you digital chops whenever you spend at their merchandisers. Accumulate 5 chops for a free crab on the next visit.Haha I foresee us getting the free crabs very soon as we are going back next month =D