L'ÉCLAIR by Sarah Michelle is the first éclair specialty store and café in Singapore. It was founded in 2014 by Sarah and Michelle, two good friends and pâtissières with a similar dream and passion. The ladies traveled across the globe to Le Cordon Bleu Paris where they spent nine months learning the art of French pastry. They then returned back to Singapore and started with pop-up stores and finally settled on a in-town location.Their interior is very glossy and shiny, with marble like decor and a simple round table as the epicentre of the store as you walk in towards to the eclair display and ordering counter.Behold! The holy display of eclairs. They are all so pretty and you can definitely tell alot of time went into meticulously placing all these decorations/toppings onto the eclairs. They were all neatly aligned in the display.The eclairs had toppings that helped distinguish what eclairs they were. Like the Isaphan eclar had a rose petal on it, which I felt was very cute and creative of them. As you walk down the eclair display, it's almost as if you're admiring a display of art work!Most of their eclairs are priced between $7.50-$8.50 

1. Isaphan Eclair $8.50Filled with a light rose cream, embedded with fresh raspberries  and cut lychees, this is my favourite eclair! I have never tasted an eclair quite like this. The aroma of the sweet rose smell is also very pleasant and actually, due to it, I couldn't really smell anything from the other eclairs. The rose cream was subtly sweet and with the sourness from the raspberries, blended well together.

2. Green Tea Eclair $8As a matcha lover, I had higher expectation of this, but then again. Real matcha isn't supposed to be sweet. The matcha cream here had a very slight matcha taste to me. The outer chocolate layer was so much sweeter that it was all that I could taste. A slight disappointment here, but this green tea eclair is on their seasonal list, so maybe it won't stay in the eclair display for long.

3. Earl Grey Eclair $8Another eclair that I had high hopes for as an earl grey lover. I liked that they played fresh blueberries on top with earl grey infused chocolate. The chocolate was so yummy. The cream on the inside was infused with earl grey as well and was the perfect cream for the eclair. Now if only sarah and michelle can make a thai milk tea eclair, that would be heavenly! I needed like 5 of these, it was that good!

4. Hazelnut Praline Eclair $8The hazelnut praline eclair stood out from the rest of the eclairs on display because of it's choux au craquelin top! It was filled with valrhona hazelnut cream and roasted hazelnuts. There were alot of roasted hazelnuts in this one. Any hazelnut lover would be extremely pleased with this eclair. The hazelnut cream here was one of the sweeter ones in comparison to the rest that I had tried.At L'eclair, they insist on using top quality ingredients to produce the finest tastes and flavours. Each piece is lovingly assembled by hand which are generously filled and delicately garnished with utmost precision. All of these attributes to beautifully hand made eclairs that taste just as beautiful!

I can safely say that this place is probably going to be a hit with the ladies. Being how pretty these eclairs are!!!  You can also order these eclairs online whenever you have the craving. Their nearest mrt is Dhoby Ghaut, so it's not too far off for anyone to reach. 

Verdict : Their eclairs are not just special in appearance! They are also spectacular in taste! The eclairs are a work of art and though at $8 a pop, I feel it is worth the money! 

Located on the top floor of Grassroots club is Imperial Court Shark's Fin Restaurant. It has been here for several years and it generally serves the neighbourhood of Yio Chu Kang and Ang Mo Kio and caters for traditional Chinese weddings.

Imperial Court Shark's Fin Restaurant is owned by Gim Tim and has been around since 1975. Gim Tim is also one of the pioneer in the mobile kitchen arena, it has a fleet to cater for outdoor function.The dining area isn't the biggest but they have private rooms lining the entire dining area. On a weekday lunch at 12pm, we were one of 4 tables of dinners. It is definitely very quiet during the weekday and you can enjoy the peace and quiet while having dim sum.Their dim sum menu is pretty small but do not be initimidated. Having patronized their dim sum over the past 4 years. I am convinced that their dim sum quality outshines more chained competitors.

1. Prawn Fritter with Fruit Juice $4.20++The prawn fritter was served with apple sauce! That's right! Apple sauce! It was a very sweet and syrupy sauce that gave the salty and yet juicy prawns a tangy taste! This is a very sweet and yet savoury dish! The prawn fritters are wrapped with a seaweed skin, much like the Japanese seaweed chicken!The seaweed skin gives the prawn fritter a crispier and crunchier texture upon each bite!

2. Crispy Bean Curd Skin with Prawn $4.20++This is my typical favourite, served with mayonnaise. This was freshly fried to perfection. You could tell from the piping hot steam coming out of ths prawns as they cut it up with a scissors in front of you. The prawns were succulent and juicy and they were pretty sizeable as well!

3. Pan Fried Carrot Cake $3.80++ *highly recommended*Their pan fried carrot cake is one of the best I've had! The exterior was charred perfectly to give it a slightly crisp exterior and yet still leaving the carrot shreds soft and moist! They were also cubes of char siew embedded in the carrot cake! A very delightful savoury dim sum which is pretty above average!

4. Steamed Chang Fen with Char Siew $4++I had better expectations of this but ths skin wasn't thin enough and the sauce wasn't salty enough. The char siew was it's saving grace.

5. Steamed Chang Fen with Shrimp $4++They have a lobster option for this but luckily we went with the cheaper shrimp option since I didn't quite like the steamed chang fen skin much. It was too thick and it couldn't absorb the sauce. Hence the chang fen just tasted bland.

6. Steamed Shanghai Dumpling (Xiao Long Bao)  $4.50++My favourite dim sum item that arrived last. It tasted okay. Nothing spectacular.The soup in the xiao long bao had enough flavour and meat.

7. Spare Rib in Black Bean Sauce $4.20++The meat was tasty and savoury. But though the came in large chunks with alot of fats. The sauce was also overly oily. 

8. Pan Fried Chilli Crab Bun $4.20++This was an interesting dish and I ordered it out of plain curiousity. It is a pan fried bun and hence the bottom is charred!On the inside, you start to see the chilli crab, which looks to me they used alot of tumeric.Inside the bun, you can see shreds of crab meat and also a small slice of crab stick. Overall, it was too spicy for me and I had to wash it down with my pot of chrysanthemum tea. Nonetheless, if you can take spicy foods, do give this a try!

9. Steamed Custard Bun $4++Probably my most favourite dim sum of the day. They were perfectly round and when they were served to us, they were too hot to be touched! On the inside, liquid gold, salted egg yolk sweet goodness flowed out!The texture and the thickness of the bun was spot on and the sweetness of the liu sha was perfect! Probably one of the best liu sha buns I've had!

The service here was excellent on a weekday lunch since there weren't many customers. Most of the staff here speak cantonese, mandarin and english. They were very friendly in recommending items and explaining their promotions. They were also quick to top up drinks and clear dirty dishes.

For about $25/pax for dim sum of this quality in an air conditioned area, I must say, this is one of the most value for money and yet quality dim sum places!

Located within Amoy hotel is Jin Fine Dining. It has a rather small dining area, catered to the lunch crowd of the CBD area. The ambience is quiet and comfortable, but even the decor doesn't scream "fine dining"Thankfully, the prices also don't scream "fine dining" either. The prices looked reasonable and I was excited to try a Chirashidon here.All lunch sets come with a salad. The salad seemed fresh and was seasoned well.Here's the chef giving ordered to his kitchen staff and getting food to the table. Maguro Shake Chirashi $23.90++After I was done with my salad, I waited another 10 minutes before I got my Chirashi, not a long wait at all. The colours were perfect. The rice was delicious and it is sourced from Hokkaido. There were mushrooms in the rice. The salmon and maguro tasted fresh and melted in my mouth. The ikura burst like liquid gold in my mouth aswell. I am won over and definitely heading back there to try more of their offerings.

Chirashi with Sea Urchin $45++Jin Fine Dining is my kind of restaurant where you can get good quality Japanese food as great prices. This is the kind of place where most of your money goes to paying of the food instead of the ambiance.

Black & Ink is nestled just a stone's throw away from Eunos MRT. You can't miss the huge store sign going along Changi Road. There is also a bus stop right in front of the shop, so even for someone who lives up North, it was still convenient to pop up.Straight away you will realize that though the cafe is horizontal wide, the dining area looks small in the right corner. However, once you step in, with the comfort of the air conditioning, along with the white and black tones, you somehow feel like you've stepped into a traditional "kopitiam"!I liked how you could feel all cosy and in this 16 seat dining area. We did end up spending about 2 hours here and not once did I think that the dining area was too small. The second you step into Black & Ink you are greeted by their cake offerings, which are pretty overwhelming!When I first spoke to Roy the brainchild of Black & Ink and asked for an online version of the menu, he explained that he created the menu around the coffee and hence, they have "damn good" cakes, pastries, gelato and breads. Their breads are made from natural yeast and everything else have no preservatives and additives. There's also less sugar in the cakes and gelato too.I was attracted to this place because of the pictures I had seen about their cookie cups. I mean, waffles served with ice cream is so over done now. It's time we moved on!They had a wide range of gelatos to pick from, all of which came down to Roy who personally promoted each flavour to us, based on what we liked. Thank you Roy for trying to meet our every need!The cookie cups looked alot bigger than I had expected and at $2 a cookie cup, I needed at least 2 of them!

1. Salted Egg Yolk Muffin $4.80Coffee is best paired with cakes and muffins and in this case, Salted egg yolk muffin!The colour of this warmed up muffin was so appetizing!!Roy explained to us how best to eat it! The salted egg yolk colour with the brown muffin was just terrific! The browned exterior of the muffin was slightly crusty and almost like eating a cookie.The muffin itself was quite dense as such, it held up well with the salted egg sauce and didn't turn the muffin soggy. I tasted a slight coconut flavour from the salted egg and I liked the sweet lemak aftertaste!

I highly recommend this to one who needs a light snack in the area.

2. Bread of the day with tuna mayonnaise $7.80 So here are the options for mains at Black & Ink, they don't exactly have a fully equipped kitchen for cooking, but they have ovens and simple cooking techniques could still be applied.Here is the focaccia with tuna mayonnaise. For 3 girls, we struggled to finish the sandwich, mainly because the focaccia bread is typical very filling. Roy said the bread was made with all natural ingredients, natural yeast, herbs, extra virgin olive oil, etc., which probably explains why the bread was so yummy! Definitely for the health conscious! The chips were nice too! We pretty much fought for the last piece of chip!

3. Spicy Lemongrass Chicken Burger with Mayonnaise $8.80After the delicious focaccia, we tried the burger. The buns are made with natural yeast and scattered with mixed seeds. It shows how much Big Roy cares about your health! The chicken itself wasn't spicy even though it's titled "spicy", it's more of a "green curry", thai style chicken. Checkout the thickeness of the chicken. We loved it! Although we feel that the bread didn't taste as nice when it turned soggy from the sauce.

4. Hot CoffeeManager Big Roy was trained in The Coffee School of Australia and is a certified SCAE advanced level Barista, so you can always expect an excellent cup of coffee here at Black & Ink! This cup truly aroused my senses, so much so that I went home and headed straight to the gym! I definitely wish I had this cup of coffee everyday before work!They also sell beans to take home with you so you can enjoy this goodness anyday!Coffee beans are the center of everything in this cafe!

5. Tapping Tapir Pineapple Calamansi $4.50Upon Roy's recommendation, my friend decided to get one of these fruity bottled drinks, that was supposedly a soda, but had very little carbonation, which we appreciate!The drink was very refreshing and the taste of the pineapple and calamansi was a great compliment, they paired up well!

6. Mao Shan Wang in cookie cup $7Okay, so I love durian but I've never actually found a durian ice cream that I liked. Some were too sweet, too artificially coloured yellow etc. But Roy did it right! I was luckily enough to come on a day whereby he was churning his first tub of Mao Shan Wang sorbet and unlike other fruity sorbet, this durian itself is creamy, hence even though it's termed a sorbet. It was creamy goodness! You could close your eyes and imagine that you were eating the real durian fruit! The cookie cup added a perfect crunch to the durian gelato as well!

7. Very Dark Chocolate Sorbet and Good'ol Days in cookie cup $9The dark chocolate sorbet was yummy, but I was still bigger fan of their award winning Good'ol days, as Roy termed it "Chendol without the chendol" and it really was! I loved the salty and sweet gula melaka taste and it paired up well with the dark sorbet. I am a huge fan of these cookie cups, I feel that the time of the ice cream cones and waffles should just give way for the new generation of cookie cups! Cookies and ice cream has always been seen as an ice cream sandwich, now Roy has given the cookies a purpose! The texture of the cookie itself is quite hard and you have to bite it with your mouth and savour the inner chocolate lining of the cookie cup!Here's big roy showing us how to do it right!Black & Ink may not have a huge food menu at the moment, but all the items are worth checking out especially the salted egg muffin, cookie cups, Mao Shang Wang gelato and the coffee! Big Roy is also super friendly and can help you make a decision on what to order! He has a big heart to share his love for cookie, cakes and gelato with everyone, you can see it in everything this cafe serves. This is how a every cafe should be!

Locate right at the entrance of BHG, facing Bugis Village is HarriAnn's delights. On the left, you have ample dining space and on the right, is the ordering counter and about 3 tables in a small air conditioned part of the shop.Their rainbow lapis is alot more striking that the typical childhood favourite, due to the fact that they selected only a few specific colours to highlight. It is no wonder, this is their best seller and I've visited on weekday evenings and told they ran out of it!Next on their best seller list is kueh chendol. I couldn't help notice the little green chendol jelly embedded in the kueh!On top of just the nonya kuehs, HarriAnn's also sells cakes with a nonya twist.They were a promotion, buy 3 kuehs for $2.80 or buy 6 kuehs for $5.50. Original price is $1 per kueh. I find the pricing rather reasonable considering the location and also the quality of the kuehs.

1. Kueh salat $1Not all kueh salat's have blue coloured rice. Only the nonya version do, they cook the rice with blue pea flowers and it takes alot of flowers to get the colour and essence. I love the blue tinge and the rice has a slightly strongly fragrance too. The coconut custard was very soft, smooth and you could taste the coconut very distinctively. Though the custard was up to my liking, I would've prefered if the glutinous rice texture was slightly softer. Nonetheless, still one of the best nonya kueh salats I have ever tried!

2. Rainbow Lapis $1Another rendition of the traditional rainbow lapis. Peeling the layers one and one and slowly enjoying every bite, was what I used to do as a kid. I looked around the shop and realized that almost every table had ordered at least one slice of this rainbow lapis. The layers were sweet but not overly sweet. The texture was great and it was easy to remove the layers one by one. 

3. Kueh Chendol $1The favourite amongst the 3 kuehs I ordered. The chendol jelly was superb! The gula melaka custard on top was even better! I could almost close my eyes and imagine a bowl of gula melaka placed before me. The sweet aroma of the gula melaka is what makes this kueh a winner! I definitely need to head back there to try more of their kuehs and even their cakes which looked fantastic!