for photos and more reviews, visit http://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.com (:

honestly, i would say that having to queue (a little while, not when the queue stretches halfway across the next store haha) for this ice cream is completely worth it I LOVE IT (:

when i finally got my chance to try the ice cream here, i was hit by the realisation that i didn't know what to chose! they all looked absolutely darn gorgeous k ;)

i tried two ice creams. the first was founder's favourite, which is the sweet cream ice cream (i have no idea what sweet cream is. sounds absolutely sinful, and tasted absolutely wonderful), with pecans, brownies, fudge and caramel. omgosh doesnt it sound delicious already?! i loved how the pecans added a crunch and nutty taste to balance out the smooth creamy sweetness of the ice cream. and who can resist fudge with ice cream? it was so yummy.

and i adored my peanut butter cup perfection. i wonder why it looks so plain and normal in the photo. well, don't be deceived. if you love peanut butter (like meeeee!), ORDER THIS. chocolate ice cream with a generous dollop of peanut butter, REESE'S peanut butter cups and fudge. i loved how while i was eating the ice cream, i would unearth the wonderful creamy Skippy Peanut Butter (my favourite peanut butter brand!). *droooooooools* haha yumyum!

there are three sizes of the ice cream: like it (approx. 5oz), love it (approx. 8oz) and gotta have it (approx. 12oz). i ordered the love it size ($7.90), and to get the waffle cup, it's an additional $1. AND I REALLY LOVED IT xD whee! the ice cream is really nice and creamy and gooey, which is oh-so-yummy. the ones i tried were their signature creations, and you can also customize your own ice cream by choosing an ice cream flavour and two mix-ins (different price from signature creations!). it's really worth a try i would say avoid evenings though, because the queue gets INSANELY long then. O.o

for photos and more reviews, visit http://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.com (:

encased in a crumbly crust, dusted with a fine layer of sugar. take a bite of the cream puff, and out oozes the light, sweet cream. a very generous amount of cream can be found in this palm-sized pastry. it's so lovely! (: one is $2.60, and it is $5 for two.

also tried the macha chiffon cake ($5.80) which i daresay is one of the most authentic macha cakes around. as in the taste of the green tea is really fragrant and strong, infused into the slightly dense cake. it's covered with a layer of light whipped cream, with fresh strawberries embedded within. decadent

for photos and more reviews, visit http://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.com/ (:

we started with a salad which i didn't really like it was too raw and full of capsicum which i wasn't really my taste. but it was a healthy start to the meal! (:

then we had red lentil soup which i really liked!!!! (: this was a somewhat controversial dish, which some people (like me) absolutely loved, but there were others who didn't agree. it was thick and slightly chunky - i loved the bean-y taste of it! even better, it came with turkish bread which everyone swooned over. it was really yummy! simple and tasty, this was such a homely dish.

we had two kinds of kebabs to share - the shish kebab and beyti kebab.

we had a mix of chicken and beef on skewers, marinated with turkish spices and grilled nicely. it came with a mountain of veggies and rice which i really liked! i never thought i would like chickpeas (somehow i just had the impression that it wasn't nice), but i was proven wrong! they're really yummy! they introduced a new dimension to the rice and its taste balanced out the flavours of the spiced rice nicely.

i would say that the beyti kebab was my favourite dish of the day (: it was lamb and chicken meat wrapped in turkist flat bread, and drenched in a lovely tomato-based sauce. i just loved the sauciness of the dish i guess! haha. and the bread. awesome. turkish bread is really awesome.

we also had turkish pizza! but i don't have a photo of that it was really yummy though! somehow that day all the breads were so tasty that i just ate all of it, even though it came with lamb which i really dislike. haha ;)

we ordered the Sofra Fish as well, but this was something i didn't really like cos the first bite i took, the fish tasted really fishy >.< and i didn't really like the spices of this dish either. so yup, not something i liked.

the dessert was gorgeous though. *squeals!!!!* a tiny little square piece of saccharine sweetness encased in a crispy flaky pastry. (:

for photos and more reivews, visit https://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.com/ (:

the brunch at graze starts from 10am, but only a limited section of the menu is available unfortunately the rest of the brunch menu is only served after 12pm, so we were restricted to the brunch specials and eggs sections. nevertheless, we were able to order quite a variety of dishes, which were pretty yummy (: first up, we had the free range eggs ($18) which are cooked according to your liking, be it poached, scrambled or fried, and served with bacon, roast vine tomatoes and toast. the eggs, we chose sunny-side up, were cooked beautifully, although they looked a bit small, but they were pretty substantial so that was good.

i ordered my eggs benedict ($19) as usual. probably getting to predictable already, and yi was complaining that i was always the one who ordered eggs ben such that no one else got the chance to try it. oops okay, it's time for a change i guess. next time i shall order something else. haha. the eggs ben comes with a choice of mortadella (i learned that day that it was ham), smoked salmon or baby spinach. such a refreshing and healthy option! but i didn't chose the spinach instead, i got the smoked salmon which was nice and soft and yummy. as always, smoked salmon is a tad salty in my opinion, but that can't be helped i suppose. served atop brioche toast that was warm and crispy on the outside and perfectly crumbly inside, i LOVED this bread. really. it was absolutely delicious and there was a generous dollop of hollandaise sauce on top of it. perfect!

my sis ordered the signature cast iron pan ($24) which sounded like a really big meal. i was really imagining the huge wok i had at home for stir-frying haha. i was over-imagining it apparently. the cast iron pan was significantly smaller than i thought. seeing the number of things on the menu description of this dish though, i was surprised that they actually managed to squeeze everything on it! there were 2 free range eggs (cooked to your liking), hash browns, bacon, chipolata, baked beans, roast vine tomatoes and mushrooms. BIG BREAKFAST! (:

from the brunch section, we ordered the banana french toast ($15)! sounds interesting already doesnt it! the french toast was nicely toasted, slightly crispy outside but soft inside, covered with a generous layer of syrup. the grilled bananas that came with it were topped with toasted coconut shavings. a very interesting combination of tastes (:

finally, we had the homemade orange & vanilla waffles ($15), which was a rather unique, refreshing twist to typical waffles! the moment i bit into the crispy crust of the waffle, i could taste the subtle flavour of the orange. not too overwhelming, it instead lends a citrusy freshness to the pastry. served with a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and the jar of chocolate sauce, this was a decadent dish

for photos and more reviews, visit http://thelittlemomentsofmylife.blogspot.com (:

why the name hippopotamus i wondered? well, maybe it was in reference to the size of their main courses! when my family went there, we only ordered ONE main course for all of us to share. and that gave us the opportunity to try all the other interesting items on the menu as well (:

okay this is pretty odd but i'll start with the main course first! haha. look at those gorgeous slabs of meat! this was the heart of sirloin ($79.90), a hearty 750g of meat! it is meant to be shared among 2-3 diners, but honestly, that would be just wayyyy to much! we had it cut into five portions instead, which was just nice for us. a fabulously smooth piece of meat, we chose medium so it was slightly pinkish inside without being too raw. i think i got the section with all the fats though! so it was a great exercise for my jaw, doing all the chewing. hahaha.

it came with 6 types of sauces on the side, barbeque, bearnaise (some sort of buttery creamy sauce, sinful but yummy!), stewed shallots (like caramelised onions, sooo tasty!), peppercorn, roquefort cheese (i was really curious about this cos it looked delicious, but guess what? it's BLUE CHEESE) and sea salt (awesome for dipping!).

and 6 side dishes! seriously, this alone was enough to fill 5 tummies. haha. the sides were fries, potato gratin (i really liked this cheesy, potato-y dish!), green beans, baked potato, ratatouille and basmati rice (lightly fragrant, a surprisingly tasty dish on its own).

and now let me rewind all the way to the front again. every meal kicks of with a yummy bowl of chips. or rather, bowlS of chips. i dunno whether there was extra charge for chips, but they just kept refilling our bowl until the appetizers came. and you know how i can't resist these crunchy savoury goodies when they're in front of me, so i kinda stuffed myself quite a bit with these before realising i should actually save my stomach for the proper food. they were really salty though! perhaps it would have felt better if they cut down on the salt. otherwise, the mixture of flavours in the seasoning was yummy. (:

we were also served a basket of bread rolls. they looked pretty interesting! it's not so clear in the picture, but they looked kinda greyish in real life. i was a bit suspicious of it haha. but they tasted wonderfully soft when they were nice and toasted. when they got cold, they weren't nice at all though.

i have to say that i had a really hard time ordering food when i was at this restaurant because there were just so many yummy things on the menu, and many were recommended by a food blog i had visited. for appetizers, i knew the the french onion soup ($8.90) was a must-try, and it really lived up to expectations! warm slurpy food for the soul, with the aroma of onions wafting out of it, a beautiful layer of melted cheese on top, and bread in the bowl. two thumbs up! xD

the shrimps potato twists ($12.90 for 6pcs) didn't seem very spectacular though. they looked interesting enough, pretty cute don't you think? but basically they're just prawns wrapped in strings of crispy potato. i suppose the effort put into making this dish (if it's handmade?) is the thing that counts.

the squid sticks ($8.90) sounded really interesting! and they totally reminded me of cheese sticks (if only they had the oozy cheesy taste to it). squid covered in a fine layer of crispy crumbly breadcrumbs, nice and chewy and served with sweet chili. goodie!

okay yes i realised this post is getting awfully long. now on to desserts! this was again a very difficult choice to make! too many yummy looking things xD the two desserts i tried were WONDERFUL. really. truly. the warm chocolate cake ($10.90) looked tiny. it was, considering how yummy it was, we couldnt have enough of it! we just attacked it and in 2 minutes it was gone. haha! warm, slightly crusty on the outside. poke your fork into the soft spongy interior of the cake. dig in slightly deeper, and out oozes the warm chocolate lava. omgosh!!! this is totally chocolate heaven xD the warm chocolate paired with cold vanilla ice cream was the perfect combination for an immensely satisfying dessert!

my other dessert was the chocolate hazelnut cake ($8.90) which i loved for the mixture of two of my favourite flavours and the LOVELY CRACKLY BASE of the cake! the top of the cake was sprinkled with a hazelnuts, followed by a few alternating layers of spongy cake and delightful hazelnut cream (? paste? sauce? i dunno what do you call that! haha), atop a firm cookie-like base. omgosh. heavenly!!

last thing before i'm done! i have to recommend their sangria hippo ($9.90)! i think it's a really interesting drink with all the fruits and everything inside it! looks so pretty doesn't it? i think the fruits really made a lot of difference in adding a unique flavour to this drink (:

yupps, a wonderful meal at this restaurant! and i have to say that the service staff are really attentive and friendly as well, so A++!