I read about Skyve - Elementary Bistro & Bar from the papers recently & thought this could be a cool hangout for a weekend breakfast / brunch, especially because it also serves my new favourite breakfast - the Egg Benedict! Excited that 2 friends were willing to give it a try, I quickly made a reservation for 3 of us for a weekend brunch earlier today.

All 3 of us ordered our food from the Loafing Breakfast menu as it is available during weekend brunch hours till 4pm. Check out our lovely food:All the breakfast dishes we ordered above were awesome (all $12++ each)!

1. Skyve Sous Vide Egg Benedict

I had this egg benedict, which came with 2 eggs with hollandaise sauce, 1 grilled portobello mushroom, 1 sourdough bread (toasted), sweetcorn and arugula salad. The grilled portobello mushroom was topped with 1 of the eggs, and it was yummy! The bread looked very hard, but it was actually just nice, crispy yet chewy, and very fragrant. The salad was great too, the greens used look like those bitter types but again, looks were deceiving haha. I actually "licked" the plate clean as it was too good to waste any part hehe.

2. Potato Rosti

2 pieces of the potato rosti were served, together with smoked salmon, tomato and avocado salsa. I had a bite of the potato rosti, and it tasted like a cross between a hashbrown and the rosti we see in Marche or Switzerland. Delicious!

3. Croque Madame

The Croque Madame looked the most appetitising and colourful when I compared against the other 2 dishes. There were 2 pieces of brioche bread sandwiched with melted cheddar cheese, sliced ham and tomatoes, accompanied with a sunny side up egg as well as salad. Again I had a bite of the sandwich and it wasn't as hard as it looked, in fact it was similar texture as the bread on my plate.

We also ordered a beverage each - a pot of Earl Grey tea for myself ($6++ each), a Cafe Latte ($6++) and a freshly squeezed Orange Juice ($8++) for my friends. I had a total of 2.5 cups of tea from the pot, very worthwhile! This Bistro & Bar's location is away from the city hustle, tucked in an old school building next to ACS (Junior) school. However it's still pretty convenient, about 10 minutes of leisurely walk from Newton MRT (Newton Circus exit). So, if you are thinking of having a leisurely weekend breakfast/ brunch, without compromising on quality of food, don't miss Skyve! ^^

After a filling Korean dinner, my friend & I decided to head down to 313 @Somerset for some Hong Kong desserts as she had been hearing me rave about Honeymoon Desserts but always miss the chance to try. Hehe

Grass Jelly in Vanilla Sauce with Green Tea Ice Cream $4.50

I finally decided to try something different from my usual Mango dessert. Thankfully this was very good too! There was a big scoop of green tea ice cream in the middle of the bowl filled with grass jelly & vanilla sauce. Very refreshing bowl of dessert! We both loved it

Mixed Fruits Sago with Mango Juice $6.00

My friend is an avid Mango lover so she decided on this. It was a generous bowl of different types of fruits - strawberry, kiwi, mango, papaya, rock melon and toddy palm in yummy mango sauce. Surprisingly this time the toddy palm was quite soft. Thumbs up!

Mango Iced drink $4.50

We realised that there is a current UOB credit card promotion - minimum spending of $15 with UOB credit card and you will get a free Mango Pudding ($3.50). So we decided to order this drink hehe, plus we were actually quite thirsty. This drink didn't really "wow" us as the mango didn't taste as fresh & sweet as those in the Mixed Fruits Sago. It was just a normal drink......

Mango Pudding (on the house)

Thanks to the UOB credit card promotion, we had this pudding free of charge, nice! The shop Chinese name was even printed on the pudding. With or without the syrup they provided, this mango pudding is worth trying. Yummy.

It was a great choice to go to this desserts joint for our mango fix. A great way to end the night hee.

If not for the Christmas lunch treat from my department head, perhaps I wouldn't even know this restaurant existed hehe. Before I had lunch here, my impression of French food is the servings are usually small & belong to the "fine-dining" category, so I've never craved for French food.

The restaurant is not very big, probably can sit about 50-75 guests only. It has quite a tasteful European decor which makes one feel at home. The set lunch menu is $28+++, and depending on the appetizer, main course or dessert you choose, you may have to add $3++ for more exquisite orders. Anyway, here's my thoughts about what I had:

I have to mention the free flow of bread served before the food came. They were warm & nicely toasted. I love them, though the downside is it breaks into crumbs easily.

Appetizer: Cream Pumpkin Soup with Cheese Croutons

I think this is the first time I've tasted such creamy yet nice pumpkin soup. The creaminess of the soup doesn't make one feel too much but it gives a very smooth texture. It's my first time eating cheese croutons too and it's really good!

Main Course: Pan fried Salmon with Fennel and Fries

The salmon looks quite "tiny" on the big plate, just like what I had imagined French food to be (small servings). Haha. However it was actually just the right portion for me after I finished the very freshly pan fried salmon. It didn't feel too oily in the mouth and was delicious too. The fries were served in a big plate for all to share, as most of us had this main course, so I guess the restaurant decided to give us 1 big plate instead of putting some fries on each plate haha. They were quite crisply fried, and not too salty.

Dessert: Warm Pear Tart with Vanilla Ice Cream

According to our department head, this is authentic French cuisine so it's a must-try. Anyway I like the presentation of this dessert. The scoop of vanilla ice cream placed on top of the pear tart didn't look like the normal ice cream scoop but it was shaped like a mini tornado. The pear tart was nicely baked and the vanilla ice cream very smooth & yummy.

Lastly, I selected tea after my dessert. it's not the normal lipton tea and after adding only milk, I thought it was fragrant enough & not bitter, although I did not add sugar.

In general, I have no complaints about this restaurant for its service and quality of food, except perhaps the long waiting time for food to be served. From the time of order to the time our appetizers came, it took about 45 minutes! Then we had to wait another 15-20 minutes for the main course. So you need to have a lot of patience if you want to enjoy quality French cuisine hehe. Maybe French favours slow cooking so as to bring out the best flavours of the food they cook?

I love visiting this Coffee Club outlet at Paragon for some tea & drinks, as it's conveniently located in town, yet not too crowded like the one at Ngee Ann City, & the seats are pretty cosy! It's especially relaxing after a tiring day of shopping haha.

My all-time favourite drinks at Coffee Club are: Iced Rambutan and Iced Earl Vanilla. We would usually order at least 1 of these drinks, or better still, both drinks and share the joy. They taste great, just the right sweetness level, and very refreshing to perk me up.

For the Iced Rambutan drink, you can even bite into small rambutan bits. As for the Iced Earl Vanilla, it has a faint yet fragrant Earl Grey tea aroma, and the vanilla is also not too overwhelming.

Give these drinks a try if u haven't done so. You won't regret I think.

While shopping on level 2 of Vivo City, I happened to see the signboard at level 1 which spelt out Honeymoon Desserts 满记甜品! I was so excited tat I told my friend we HAD to go there later to have some dessert hehe. This is my favourite dessert store in Hong Kong.;)

So anyway, after a quick dinner at the B1 food court, we headed to 满记甜品 & I ordered the Mango in Vanilla Sauce with Thai Black Glutinous Rice (cold) 芒果白雪黑糯米甜甜 ($4.50). Fortunately, it didn't disappoint me! The standard was the same as the one in Hong Kong, except well, the mango slices weren't as sweet. but I give them benefit of the doubt that maybe it's not the mango season yet.

My friend ordered the Hot Ginger Milk 姜汁撞奶 ($3.00) but she commented that the ginger smell was too strong for her liking.

Nonetheless, this is still a worthy dessert joint to visit. But expect long queues, especially during peak evening hours or weekends or public holidays.