[ Coolplay Softserve Singapore ]
Location: Toa Payoh Lor 4, Blk 85B
Situated at Toa Payoh old estate, below a hdb block, it's was standing in the middle of the whole stretch. Location wasn't impressive, you might just walked past without noticing.
Deco: The whole shop was in blue & yellow wallpaper throughout, with cute moustache cartoon illustrations on them. A long bench was placed for customers to take photos against the yellow background. Lotsa interesting props were also provided to you to play around with your camera.
Food: Softserve ice cream on cone or cup. $4.50 for a flavour and $5.00 for mixed. Different flavours are rotated each week. This week they have Strawberry, Heavy Chocolate & Honey Walnut. I bought all 3. The texture of the softserve was smooth & creamy.
For me, best among all is the strawberry flavour softserve. Refreshing plus abit sourish taste from the fruit bits. Felt like eating frozen strawberries
Heavy Chocolate tastes dark and intense, chocolate lovers will like it. If you choose the mixed version softserve, it actually balances well with strawberry.
Honey walnut has a nutty aftertaste and halfway through it, the taste that remains in my mouth becomes like gula melaka.. This flavour is too sweet for my liking.
By the way, a cute little piece of moustache-shaped cookie is placed on each order too.
Verdict: Overall experience was decent. Price reasonable and staff was friendly also. I will revisit soon for other flavours if I'm in Toa Payoh hood.

[ Black&Ink ]
A cosy cafe along Changi road. Nearest to Eunos MRT station, followed by 5-8mins walk. The interior deco were mainly in black & white. White marble-top tables with old skool black wooden chairs that we usually sees in aged coffeeshops.
The owner behind this place is Roy. I had quite a long chat with him and heard him saying the mission behind these work that he is doing. Alot of entrepreneurs started cafe businesses because of the current market trend & profits, but he does it to help a certain group of people. People whom are in need of proper help, care and guidance which books can't assist. Conclusion: A small place with a BIG HEART.
The main highlight of Black & Ink is coffee. Although I'm not good in it but when you taste it, you can feel the passion and heart that Roy puts in it. He's a certified barista by the way and he is really proud of his coffee.
My personal preferences are the cakes & pastries served in a cafe. There are quite a variety of them offered in Black & Ink and I could assure you, they're as good as they looked! I ordered a Salted Egg Yolk Muffin and the "Under Table" cake. A savory and a sweet. For coffee, we had a black and a white
My white coffee: Smooth and not very acidic, the taste I like it to be. When cool, it has a berry aftertaste that lingers in your mouth.
Salted Egg Yolk Muffin: As coffee is the highlight here, thus main ingredient for this muffin. Initially I thought it's gula melaka till Roy clarifies. And the fillings? Let it flow.. Let it floooooww... The salted egg yolk taste wasn't very over-whelming or salty, thus create a balance with the coffee muffin. It's yum!
Under-Table cake: First layer of cream cheese, then the bananas, followed by belgium chocolate and the crispy base. It's heavenly! The fruit & chocolate blends so well together while taste of bananas wasn't overpowered. Most importantly, it's not too sweet
Assorted pastries, danish, buns & cakes are on daily menu. Currently cafe serves new items like burgers, assorted gelato. Gelato flavours changes monthly Mao Shan Wang gelato is the highlight of July.
Verdict: Black & Ink cafe is a great place to chill out. Prices are reasonable too. I will definitely frequent here.

[ Dessert Project ]
Location: Blk 22 Havelock Rd #01-673
Decor: White walls with simple "concrete" finished areas around the whole shop. Wooden tabletops & metal chairs.
Service: Boss is friendly but he opened the shop late. Supposed to operate at 12noon but till 1230pm, it's not ready. My order came in only at 1.10pm
Food: Other than coffee, I ordered the Nutella Toast. Boss says he get this inspiration from Thailand popular cafe, After You.
This selection comes in a 3inch buttered thick toast (9 cuts), Vanilla & Ferrero Rocher ice cream scoops, Nutella drizzle, crushed peanuts, whipped cream & a strawberry. One share is $14.90 Enough to share among 2pax.
If you are a Nutella lover, this choice is da bomb! The Ferrero Rocher ice cream was so yum too with Rocher bits mixed in
Verdict: 4/5 Definitely will come again but hopefully they could open their shop punctually.
I also suggested to Dessert Project, to cut the toast into 12s, rather than 9. So that butter coverage could be more. More BUTTER would taste even better

[ Do.Main Bakery ]
By looking at this Bakery name, have you wondered the meaning behind it? Because the word "domain" to me is about "owned","territorized". The great man behind this , Chef Frederic Deshayes, tells us that "Do" represents dough, "Main" means hands. And together, the magic hands created fresh & heartwarming french pastries daily.
On this perfect Wednesday evening, I hopped onto Openrice food tasting bus and came to Do.Main Bakery. When you pulled open the door, the aromatic smell from within pulled your souls away and making me hungry at the same time. Really can't wait to taste the french bread and dishes.
The whole place has simple classic deco, themed of black and white, making the bread and pastries at the counters outstanding. Cosy is the word.
Fellow Openrice members and i were shown to the kitchen, where we could see the sous chefs in action. Chef Deshayes tells us their daily kitchen routine and show us the machines they were using. Woah they were huge and I bet they were very costly too. It was a quick tour, probably Chef Deshayes knows we are hungrrrrry *hahaha*
Thereafter came our first appetizer, Charcuterie Platter with sourdough basket, followed by a salad. This platter consists of Ham, Pork Rillette, Duck terrine w/Pistachios and pickles on the side.

The meat in the rillette was shredded nicely into semi-paste form and served as a good spread on our bread. I put a pickle on it to bring up more taste, as having it alone is abit bland for me.

As i munch my way through the chunks of tender duck meat inside the terrine, the pistachios in it did blend in well to give that additional crunch and nutty taste. This duck terrine was seasoned nicely and feelings I had for it is the same as the ham. I could eat it on its own without any additional carbo. $20 for this platter is rather reasonable to me
Next is Four Seasons Salad- The colors they presents on the plate was so pretty that I don't bear to mess them up with my fork! This pretty creation is a combi of lentils, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes, lettuce and roasted capsicums. Among all, I crowned the roasted capsicums the winner! Soft but not mushy, roasted but not burnt, yums! I can have a few more rounds of the capsicums alone The price? $18 per serving.
Third we have the Broken Eggs with Mouillettes. Base is tomato confit, made in-house (4 hours processing time). French ate it the rough way where you pick up a bread stick and swirl up the eggs hard, like a tornado. For me, it tasted rather plain and not salty enough. For $15, it's rather pricey.
After the eggs, we have the Tartiflette with Reblochon cheese and Cassolette oven-baked Escargots. Each serving is $16. Tartiflette with reblochon is a winter dish for the French families. It consists of cheese, bacon bits and potato cubes. If you are a cheesy person like me, then this dish is the right one for you. Indulge every mouthful filled with melted cheese, flavour from the bacon & sweetness from the potatoes cubes. The melted reblochon cheese covered on top kept the ingredients below warm, it warms our tummies when we gulp it down, probably that's why French families love to eat this during winter.
The other dish to brag about is the Cassolette oven-baked escargots. 06 sexy shell-less creatures swimming in tomato confit and topped with parsley garlic purée. The parsley garlic purée is so good and it lingers in your mouth for quite awhile. Initially I still thought it's pesto. As you know snails can be tasteless on its own, therefore this combination of tomato confit, parsley and garlic brings life to this dish.
Finally we have come to the long waited desserts time! Girls love desserts, but after this food tasting session, I realized guys at our table love them as much as we do!!
Chef Deshayes presents us with Lemon tart, Paris Brest, Royal Chocolate cake (Gluten free) and Red Plum Quetsche tart. My favorite dessert among all 4 is the lemon tart. The crust is buttery and not too hard. The lemon curd inside is jelly smooth and zesty. I love it!! Next is the royal chocolate cake made with valrhona manjari chocolate. Rich in texture and crisp at the base, feels like eating dark ferrero rocher chocolate in cake form As for the Paris Brest, the choux pastry is covered with so much nuts compared to the sugar studs, giving the choux a good crunch but the praline filling lacked flavour. I've ate more impressive ones elsewhere. Dark red plum quetsche tart is one of Do.Main bakery's hot selling item. Made daily with fresh red plums, tastes sweet with a little natural sourness from the fruit. Although I'm not a die hard fan for fruit tart, but this is worth a try. Prices for cakes, tarts, eclairs range from $5 to $8 each.
This food tasting session ends with a fun group photo. I had a great time and hope the rest too. Thanks Openrice for having us.
I will definitely revisit this bakery. It is a cosy place for afternoon tea, not noisy, good for both business meet-ups and dating too. Food portion is good enough to fill up my tummies as most mains comes with French bread but price wise, mostly reasonable but a few abit pricey. But if compare between the mains and desserts, I still prefers the latter so I will come back again for more desserts.
Bon appetit!

[Hungry Heros]
Location: 33 Tessensohn Road (S)217656
Decor: Superheroes Themed Restaurant. From the shopfront, nothing impresses you until you pushed open that glass door of theirs. WOW! Bam!! What an eye opener! The whole restaurant are displayed with lotsa Superheroes figurines. From small to life sized, very impressive! Lotsa toy guns are glued on the ceiling near the bar counter. Posters & Paintings of superheroes are hung up for sale too.
Level one projects a more cosy area, with dimmer, yellow light shining throughout.
Level two is more brightly lit, you could see the figurines & displays clearer & the area is a lot more spacious than level one. There were pretty lights, planes etc. Customers are busy taking photos, while disturbing the rest of diners there! Lol
Service: Staff were very polite & attentive. Due to no reservations made, and restaurant indoor area was full, hubby & I took up the alfresco seating area. The staff showed us to our seats very quickly & present us with the menu. Despite busy night, the staff still attended to our requests, went through the menu with us & also introduced us to their signature dishes.
Food: Hubby & I ordered a Mac & cheese as starters and the "Nice to meat you" platter as main. The platter feeds 2-3 paxs. It includes Pulled Pork, De-boned Chicken, Half rack Ribs, Sirloin steak, Roast potatoes/fries, Bread, Salad & corn. As i don't take beef, the kitchen separately plated the sirloin steak on another tray for my hubby
Mac & cheese tasted pretty normal but no wow factor for me. You can skip it! The food presentation was normal, with everything placed on an rectangular aluminum tray.
Pulled Pork was very flavourful. But somehow It gave me a similar taste like those canned pork cubes that I always loved! Heehee Hubby accompanies it with the bread slices provided.
The de-boned chicken was very tender. The best part was the chicken skin. Slight crispy with the Bbq "chao ta" taste running around my tongue! Woohoo!! It's heaven!
Pork ribs was sweet on the outside & soft on the inside. Well marinated & tasted good too ;)
As for the sirloin steak, I can't comment because I don't take beef but hubby said it was good. Especially with the accompanied "hero sauce". You can choose either this or mushroom sauce or black pepper sauce to go along. Medium rare was done perfectly!
This platter portion is pretty big and we could not finished ours.
Experience: overall experience was very good. After dinner, my hubby & I went round the whole place to take more pictures before we go off. So fun! I will definitely come again!! This is definitely a cool place for families & friends gathering!