My quest for crepes in Singapore ends at Keen On Crepes, not that it has the best crepes but cuz it’s the last of the 4 creperies I know that exist on our little island. This is a new creperie that has opened since April 2010 and has quite a low profile so far. Which makes me wonder how long it can survive, given the competitive F&B environment in Singapore, hmm.

Like Out of the Pan, these are not the authentic French crepes. More like fusion crepes, filled with spices and homemade legume-based spreads. The crepes are freshly made to order and prices are extremely reasonable (less than $10). Great for a healthy and light meal!

To show you how healthy the crepe can be, take a look at this crepe named “Light yet Wholesome” ($5), a hearty wholewheat crepe with egg, cheese, vegetables and pesto.

I, on the other hand, didn’t have anything that healthy. Rather than choosing the fixed combinations on the menu, I decided to build my own crepe. Easily done by following these 4 steps: 1. choose a crepe (whole wheat, 7 grains, persian spice); 2. choose a spread (hummus, dhal, egg); 3. choose fillings (chicken, beef, mushroom); and 4. choose toppings (beetroot, cheese, sprouts).

Ta-da, here’s my customised crepe: buckwheat crepe with mushrooms, spicy hummus, vegetables and basil pesto ($8)! It tastes surprisingly good, hee.

We feel that the crepes here are like Indian roti prata, only much healthier! And I thought I needed to eat two to be full initially (I was very hungry that day, you see) but it’s filling enough! Good value for money, I’ll be back.

With its long opening hours and numerous outlets islandwide, MOF (Ministry of Food) is a handy choice to satisfy the craving for sugar at odd hours. I’m no stranger to their desserts and will always get a few predictable items, like this Macha Kurian ($8.80+) with kanten jelly, fruits, Japanese dumplings and Japanese red bean paste. The soft serve and green tea gelato (additional $2.50+) melt super fast though so remember to eat first, then talk! =)

And this matcha soft serve ($6.80+) is my MOF favourite since it has everything I like: a mix of fried imo (sweet potato) and yam, topped with a scoop of black sesame gelato (additional $2.50+). Love the contrast between hot and cold at the same time~

If you love Japanese cuisine in omakase style, you gotta check out Nagomi! It’s one of my best hidden finds of 2010 and it’s definitely going to be one of my top picks for ”places to recommend for dinner” this year too.

This time, the Hokkaido king crab is in season and it’s HUGE. Like seriously, the leg is about the size of my forearm! So naturally sweet, fresh and meaty~

Otoshi of burdock and radish was a nice starter; my usual dose of simmered pumpkin from the bowls of cooked food laid out on the counter was good comfort food; ikura don was rich and briny; and I was most impressed with the Japanese tomato with sea salt. Beautifully sweet and juicy, quite unlike any I’ve ever tasted!

Then chef prepared the ultimate protein feast! So many different types of fish, from deep fried crispy fish (can’t remember what’s the name) and simmered kinki, to super fresh sashimi (love the plump scallop most!) and grilled fish cheek, oishii!

I’m a noob when it comes to Chinese cuisine. Teochew, Cantonese, Sichuan, Hokkien etc, I simply lump them all under the category of “Chinese food”. Now there’s Hing Wa thrown into the mix, a cuisine I’ve frankly never heard of. Until Pu Tien comes into the picture, that is. I’ve heard many good stuff about this rapidly expanding chain of restaurants and finally had a chance to try it for myself with the loved ones for company~

I fell in love with this humble dish in Shanghai when I had it for the first time. Pu Tien’s version of spinach with salted egg and century egg ($12.90++) is superb, all thanks to the sweet and flavourful supreme stock!

The stir-fried yam ($10.90++) is what made me interested to visit Pu Tien. Coated with a sweet sticky glaze, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, these little cubes of carbs didn’t disappoint! So addictive that I pretty much finished this whole dish on my own, haha.

Another star dish of the night for us was the homemade beancurd ($8.90++) which had an incredibly smooth and silky texture. So simple, yet so good.

I went “I want that” when I saw the claypot sea cucumber with chestnuts ($35.90++) on the menu cuz I love both sea cucumber and chestnuts! Sadly, there’s only 2 or 3 chestnuts in the claypot (as though thrown in as an afterthought) but the sea cucumber was great. Firm, gelatinous and not too rubbery-tough-to-chew~

All of us enjoyed our meal here very much, yours truly surprisingly included. The dishes we had were better than decent and the food wasn’t heavy in sodium, which is important to me since I like to eat them “bare” without rice as accompaniment. First it was Restaurant Ten; now it’s Pu Tien… My appreciation of Chinese cuisine is slowly increasing, yay!

Just a hop, skip and a jump away from Pavé Chocolates is Coccogelo, the latest newcomer on the artisan gelato scene in Singapore.

The staff was great, very friendly and geniunely happy to let us sample all the flavours. And I didn’t sense even a teeny-weeny bit of impatience from them even though I took (as usual) a long time to decide on the ultimate flavours to get.

I already had my heart set on a triple scoop but the thing is, after trying all the flavours available that day, I only really wanted Pistachio and Dark Chocolate (the rest was so-so to me). Then, my innocent question “there’s no Black Sesame today?” hit jackpot! Turned out that there’s a fresh batch of BS sitting in the kitchen, waiting to be sold the next day. Initially, the lady boss was adament and refused to sell it to me but after much pleading (haha), she relented, yay!

It’s rich and intense enough, and the texture is good, very creamy and smooth. So much so that I wish there’s some bits of nuts or something in it to cut through the smoothness. And the melting rate here is a little too high for my liking. Yes yes, I know authentic gelato melts faster because it has less milk fat etc etc but this was way too fast for me. But still, any ice cream/gelato (especially homemade ones) always make me happy!

In addition to the above-mentioned flavours, there’s Pina Colada, Strawberry, Coffee, Blueberry Cheesecake, Peanut Butter, Hazelnut, and Sweet Corn with Nutmeg~

Flavours change daily so it’s a matter of being at the right place at the right time if you want to try a particular flavour. Speaking of which, Coccogelo has some pretty interesting flavours. Blue cheese with Honey, anyone? How about Spiced Apple Curry (which is way too exotic for my tastebuds)? And there was Roasted Honey Pumpkin gelato over the Halloween weekend which I missed, argh!

FYI: Get your Piccolo (single scoop), Medio (double scoop) and Grande (triple scoop) for $3.80, $4.80 and $6.80 respectively.