Located conveniently at Bugis Village, above Burger King (you turn left when facing BK and go up to the 3rd floor at the staircase), I'll say this cafe has won the pioneer in terms of location from an Eastie's POV. Significantly less walking from the MRT station too, yay! T was totally awed by the coffee machine when he first stepped into the cafe. He literally went, "Whoa, chio!" at the machine and the lady boss was actually nice enough to entertain him. =.="

Fees for The Cat Cafe is just a one-time entrance fee of $15, one soft drink included. You may top up for coffee or other hot drinks and get some yummy pastry to eat while inside the cats' area.

Before entering the cats' section, we're given a laminated piece of paper stating the cafe's rules with regards to handling of cats to read through, and then handed over to the "cat-keeper" (staff stationed inside the cats' area), who asked us to remove our shoes and either change into their rubber slippers or we may choose to go barefoot. Lastly, we had to sanitize our hands with the hand sanitizer provided and viola, we're good to go! We were given a low table by the window and our food and drinks were served after a short while. T got his usual Latte while I went for the Caramel Carameow Latte.

Their coffee isn't fantastic, but it's really not bad. Pretty strong coffee taste with a generous amount of caramel added to give it a rich sweetness. And we also got their Salted Caramel Chocolate Chiffon cake to share, which was highly recommended by the boss herself. I actually wasn't hungry at all (pretty full in fact). But hearing not just chocolate, but also salted caramel, and I was like, "Okay, that too!"

The lady boss's recommendation didn't disappoint us. This is really good! The chiffon cake is soft, fluffy and a little moist, packed with chocolate fragrance and a slight hint of the chocolatey sweetness. The chocolate taste actually isn't rich or sweet at all, but that's the characteristic of such flavoured chiffon cakes. As for the salted caramel cream frosting, it was yummy~! I'm a total sucker for salted caramel AND chocolate, and this cake totally nailed it. The glob of Dulce de Leche at the top sprinkled with some coarse sea salt just perfected it all. Didn't manage to take an overall picture of the cafe as it was full house when we visited on a Saturday evening (waited 1 hour on waiting list). But I took these pictures of the windows upon noticing the cute glass decoration of their cafe mascot, the fat ginger kitty. Heeheehee! The cafe is also filled with low to high wall shelves and "overhead bridges" for tired/annoyed cats to escape from the human clutches.

And now, let's introduce the kitties, shall we? First kitty we met is this 'ginger skinny one', Ginny, who was hogging T's seat.Level of seat-hogging: Ultimatium.

Apart from being very comfortably seated facing T's crotch for a good 30 minutes, she also was very interested in sniffing M's butt (shared by another friend) when they were there a few days after my visit. HAHAHA! At one point she was even licking T's hand merrily. The second kitty we met was this really sleepy kitty, who jumped onto the kitty bed behind my seat and just slept away until their feeding time at around 7pm.And there's also this 'greedy kitty', who not only came by T's bag for a good sniffing multiple times, eyed the cake on our table hungrily, and eventually managed to snatch a bite of some half eaten cake off the other patrons' table. And that's her punishment for her greediness, for like.... 5 minutes?I love how Silver looks like when she's napping.... Here's Tuxedo, the biggest of the 14 resident cats at The Cat Cafe. Here's Jimmy AKA Garfield, Tuxedo's buddy. I found them napping together, cuddled up at one corner of the cafe when I first arrived. Aww...

And Jimmy doesn't really enjoy getting pets. He was swiping away the girl's hand in the first picture.Elly, with the totally "HUH?" look on her face. Hahaha! She loves to prance around on the railing while we're there, hardly touching down on solid grounds.Another cat, whose name I don't know. She (I assume) has striking blue eyes, so pretty! Wave a cat toy at her and she'll start playing!And at about 6:30pm, we suddenly realised that all the cats are 'gone'. Turns out they've all gathered around the feeding area to wait for food!

The mass meowing of these hungry cats when the staff came in with stacks of cat food was so cute. And during feeding time, this particular greedy black cat caught my attention. She gobbled down her food at amazing speed (first to finish) and stealthily went on to steal bites from other slower-eaters.Immediately after feeding, we found this cutie chillaxing in the cat house. Such a cute face!Jimmy then got into a fight with another cat over the roller-tunnel.

And soon after feeding time, their snack-feeding time starts! Do note that the cafe management limits the amount of snacks sold, so if you really wish to feed the cats, go earlier in the day (when I went at 5pm the day snacks were already sold out) or in the evening right after their feeding time at 6 plus 7pm. The snacks is actually a small bowl of wet cat food that resembles our canned tuna. Even overheard a male patron mumbling, "Wah, I really feel like finding 2 pieces of bread to kiap these..."

Do take note that the cats might get a little too excited (claws out, as seen on bottom left... THAT greedy cat!) and will fight over the snacks. The two female patrons, whom I really have insufficient photoshop skills to crop out (sorry!), were both scratched by the cats while they fought for the spoons.

So, take note yeah?And lastly, do make sure you keep your shoes properly. You'll never know which cat has a ribbon fetish.

And now, my thoughts on this 2nd cat cafe in Singapore. Needless to say, they win the pioneer hands down for me. Not just in terms of pricing and location, but the service as well. Hey, this is still a cafe business alright? There's been some harsh criticism by some patrons (actually I don't even know if they're really patrons in the first place), crying cat abuse because the cafe management is too slack on correcting misbehaviours in patrons, especially of young kids.

True enough, when I was there on a Saturday evening, there was an alarmingly large number (compared to the other cat cafe, which I also visited on a weekend, around the same timing) of children. Rowdy children, who were clearly mishandling the cats, terrorising them. I vividly remember this young boy, I reckon to be in lower primary school, who was ruffling Elly's back really roughly while she's perched on the railing.

Once, Elly twisted and stared at his hand.

Twice, Elly once again twisted and the boss told him to stop it.

Yet, he went for the third time.

I was like... boy, do you understand simple English?

Elly raised a paw and the boss quickly reached out her hand and grabbed the boy's hand and put it away, reminding him a 2nd time to stop the misbehaviour.

And the boy's mother turned and stared at the boss and she had to quickly explain, apologetically, that she had to do it because the cat will smack the boy this time round.

Like, WHAT?

Hello, parents... You don't want to (too lazy to?) discipline your kids and yet doesn't like others to do it for you. So what you want?

Now back to the criticisms. Some even compared them to the pioneer, and praised the latter for doing a good job in protecting the cats' welfare, and even went on to saything things like, 'if you cannot get your priorities right, don't try to make money off animals.'

Okay, I suppose this person is against all zoos in the world as well?

I personally don't go very well with the cafe's insistence on allowing kids of 6 years old and above to enter, with the idea of cultivating the love towards cats in children. I feel that that's the sole responsibility of parents and it's really too idealistic on the cafe management's part to want to achieve something so big.

But then again, I respect their big-heartedness and I agree that what's now is to find the balance between caring for the cats' welfare and being customer-oriented. They're not a cat rescue centre. They're a cafe with 14 cats. They're effectively a cafe, still a business, that relies on paying customers to keep going.

And to be very honest, The Cat Cafe is obviously not there yet, but their efforts to make it happen is still worth our warm support.

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/06/mias-review-black-sheep-cafe.htmlAll thanks to the banner, if not we wouldn't have known this building is the legendary Thomson V Two.Even though they're The Black Sheep Cafe, there's also a fair share of white sheeps around to accompany this black sheep! And all the news covers about their Duck Confit....The cafe interior is pretty spacious, yet big enough to house a considerable number of patrons at one time. And pretty cute too! See little meeh meeh looking over all the patrons from the ceiling. Really happy to be able to sit right below the black sheep and his sheep friends. Heehee... And now, let's get started on the food. Rose Raspberry Cider, Belgium - $9

Didn't manage to get a picture of the bottle for the staff took it away after serving it at the table. Actually I can't really decide if it's really a cider or just an extremely sweet and fruity beer. For the bitter beer after taste is too much of a beer thing, but the fragrant sweetness is too much of a cider.

Nevertheless, a good refreshing drink. A recommended choice for ladies who feels ciders are too sweet, yet dislike the bitterness of beers. Chicken in Red Wine,Stuffed Field Mushrooms, Pureed Potato - $26.50

Couldn't put a word to the gravy taste. A mixture of both savoury, sweet and a slight indescribable fragrance. There isn't really much of a red wine or alcohol taste, but I guess it helped to tenderize this big fat chicken drumstick really well. The meat was really soft and tender, yet lacking a bit of flavour for my tastebuds. The stuffed mushroom, on the other hand, was really flavourful. I couldn't make out the ingredient used for the stuffing, but it was slightly chewy yet pretty tender and juicy. I really enjoyed every single bite of it. As for the pureed potato, was a huge let down. Didn't like the taste of it at all, for the potato fragrance was overpowered by a strong cream/milk taste. Plus, the serving was so meagre I kept thinking that the dish name should have ended with Asparagus instead. The Duck Confit on Apple Roesti, Mango Relish - $26.50

Didn't get to try both the fruit side dishes, but did get a bite of the duck confit. It's really flavourful and tasty, but I guess it's already obvious enough from the picture that it's slightly charred and hence, dry. Reviews boast of a crispy surface yet juicy tender meat. But sadly, I didn't taste that. It was dry (and almost tough) throughout the entire chunk of meat I've tried.

Maybe it was a one-off miss by the chef, I don't know. But this definitely wasn't worth the rave I've read of. Homemade Tiramisu with Espresso Tuilles - $9.50

This wasn't very well received at the table but I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if the mascarpone cheese mixture was just totally frozen or the chef substitute part of the cream with ice cream, but the entire dessert was just really refreshing and pretty light. Kahlua Souffle, Double Chocolate Ice Cream - $14

This souffle is really worth every bit of the $14, in terms of serving size. Creamy, fluffy and very moist, infused with a shot of kahlua upon serving at the table, this dessert should be a must try for every souffle lover.

Now back to the cafe, if you're not very familiar with The Black Sheep cafe, one of the main 'attraction' will be that they only have one chef. Yes, ONE CHEF. And that simply equates to long waiting time for order to be served.

Our mains basically took a minimum of 25 minutes to be served, and the souffle took so long that we lost track of the waiting time, I'm estimating a 45 minutes or so. Pretty exasperating if you're on the brink of fainting from hunger, so I strongly recommend that you take into account of the extent of your hunger when dropping by for a visit.

Finally, I'm back with another food/cafe review! Has been doing more beauty related posts recently and my food pictures has been snowballing in my blogging folder. Yikes!Located on the 2nd floor of the row of shophouses along Siglap (above the pub), I was greeted by a cute french bulldog, miu miu, at the gate. The cafe is not very big, with about 10 tables or so to accommodate about 40 plus (human) pax at a time. Other than a drinking fountain for the pooches, the cafe has also placed mop with bucket and litter pan for the pets and their owners.There's a section of the cafe serving dogs' meal, The Barkery. Menu includes savoury mains like meatballs & meat pies, and also desserts like pupcakes and biscuits.

The most popular dish for that day seems to be their meatballs, even a terrified kitty gave it a few munches! Well, we'll get to that later on.And now, to the human food section of the cafe. For a pet cafe, they actually do have a pretty wide range of choices, from light snacks, to salad, to pasta and western mains.My choice of the day:

Roasted Chicken with Salad and Mashed Potato (but they gave wedges) - $12.90

Mocha - $4.90

The coffee was okay, but the food was.... mehhh.

Both SL and I chose the same mains. Hers was okay, while mine was a little too salty, especially the salad. According to her, my salad dressing even looked a darker shade of brownish yellow. I guess that's why mine was overly flavourful.

And while SL and my sides were more flavourful. It was right at the opposite end at OYHZ, Dresden and MD's side. MD took Cabonara while both oyhz and Dresden took their All Day Breakfast.

It was painful looking at oyhz trying hard to stomach the extremely bland eggs. Just think, scrambled eggs with no seasoning?

No thanks.

However, the meatballs from The Barkery seems to be a big hit, for not only Butter couldn't wait to clean up the bowl. but even a terrified Froski ate quite a few bites of them. And even though it was left cold, it still attracted a very cute Corgi!"Woof, will you give me some meatball?"

This Corgi, named Coco, is so sweet and mild. Instead of dashing over to steal a bite, she simply sat down and stared at us until we decided to give up Froski's half eaten meatball for her.

And she literally WOOF it down in one bite.

Her owner was pretty embarrassed, constantly coaxing her to go back to their table and saying that she has already ordered meatballs for her too.The very first dog that caught my attention in the cafe is this 6 months old Chow Chow puppy.

He's so fluffy I'm gonna dieeeeee!Very chillax, sociable and playful too!This Shiba Inu puppy was pretty smitten and kept butt-sniffing and hugging him.

HA HA HA!Then came along a Japanese Spitz, who got pretty fed up by the touchy-feely Shiba Inu and started a small barking fest.And the so adorably tiny Chihuahua twinsy pups! The black pup seems to be blind in one eye, but still a cutie!At one point of time I spotted a toy poodle and a pug as well. And then came the biggest dog of the night, a cute Golden Retriever, who got smitten with Froski and wanted to befriend him.

Froski you got yourself an admirer!"WHAT?!"

When MD and Dresden first came in with Froski and attempted to let him out of the cage, it immediately attracted a handful of pups who bounded over and started barking excessively. Poor guy, he was so terrified and even peed on Dresden while she carried him away from one hostilely barking pup.

Throughout the entire 3 hours plus we were there, Froski was totally stressed up being the only cat in a cafe full of dogs. His face was literally a 囧 and he moved around slowly in a leopard crawl motion. Poor boy!

Apparently, Dresden has called to ask if it's advisable to bring a cat and they didn't bother to give much warning that the cat will probably end up in such a predicament.

Sorry Froski, no second time!As for Butter, it wasn't exactly a stressful time for her since she's just being surrounded by more of her own kind, I reckon.

But being more timid and introverted, she very much preferred to stay close to her humans, SL and P, and literally just dog-watch along with us.

Haha, how sweet!And after being fed meatballs and some of SL's roasted chicken, she went into this Zzz mode.

Love those floppy ears!

All in all, I think III Cafe will be an awesome cafe to bring your pet dogs over to chill and let your pup make some pup-friends and socialise on a weekend. Food wise....

Oh well, on the safe side you can always just stick to fries.

Oh, and please, no cats unless it's a seasoned dog-befriender.

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/10/mias-review-old-school-delights.htmlThe cafe decoration gives off a strong classroom / school canteen vibe. There's even a blackboard written up with the Top 10 list of the things you should know if you're an 'old school' at heart.A wall mounted shelving was located at the entrance, selling numerous 'old school' trinkets like captek, marbles, bouncing balls etc.Their menu also comes in the form of a jotter book!On the table, sits a wooden box named the 'Toy Box'.And it was filled with the old school games of five stones, snakes, donkey, and erasers!

And of course, other than five stones (which T didn't even wanted/know how to play), I lost at every other games. T.T

And as my visit was a good while ago, no definite pricing shall be stated as I can't remember them well. But prices are still considered affordable for a cafe, but pricier if you compare the dish 'apple to apple'. Eg, you can get them at a few dollars cheaper if you've ordered them at your neighbourhood coffee shop or hawker centre. Our drinks for the night - Milo and Barley.

I wanted Milo Dinosaur while T wanted Horlick Dinosaur, but both are sold out.

The milo was okay, but the barley became quite washed down from all the ice after a while.Nasi Briyani with Fried Chicken.

The rice is quite a disappointment, tasting more like just plain rice cooked drier and dyed yellow and orange. There's totally no fragrance of our usual briyani rice, much less to say of any taste. However, the fried chicken was simply divine! Fresh from the fryer, it was piping hot, with the skin totally crispy and the well marinated meat flavourful. I wouldn't say the meat was succulent and tender, for it was more on the dry side but the crispiness and tasty flavour just made every bite so satisfying!

I didn't feel much for the curry gravy, for it was the more 'traditional' Indian curry taste with the distinctive taste of spices. The achar was not too sour, the cucumber remains pretty crunchy, just nice for my tastebuds.

Just for the fried chicken itself, I'll say this was worth it.T's mains for the night - Home-Style Curry Chicken

I asked him to try out their signature dish, the Mee Siam, but it was also sold out for the night, so he chose this instead. This was pretty okay, the curry deviating more towards the Chinese home-cooked style, flavourful and comfortably spicy.Jumbo Otak.

Hmm, once again this is just of mediocre standards. For an otak, I will prefer it to be slightly spicier, and the otak meat was a little too tender it tasted kind of mushy and feels "undercooked". Just my own personal liking, I prefer a chewy, slightly drier otak.

I was also eyeing their Sticky Chewy Chocolate Fudge cake, but when I was there, they were only left with the pound cake. T.T

Not sure if I'm just plain unlucky or they really get sold out on their popular dishes so early into the night, so just to play safe, do drop by earlier in the evening or do a lunch instead if you're interested to try them out.

So on a Sunday, I was back at Velocity @ Novena Square for my 2nd facial appointment and T accompanied me down so we can have dinner here at Velocity/Novena Square/Square 2/United Square!

And look what T has found!One of my favourite food, Ramen!

And this is the Tonkkotsu Kazan Ramen located at Square 2. It was pretty crowded when we got there at about 8 plus, and the small ramen-ya remained pretty packed up until we left at almost 9pm. Pretty popular huh! You'll find out why. And this is how small the entire place is. Erm, sorry uncle, I didn't mean to snap a picture of you slurping the hot ramen... So T chose a pretty 'usual' Karamiso Kazan while I decided to try something new and went for their Hinomaru Tomato Kazan. And then we were first served these jugs of soup....Then this intimidating "volcano" ramen is served, dry in the super hot stone pot. The server will then pour in about half of the soup in the jug and close the red lid back on. Then you wait for 1 minute (there's a cute little timer on your table), until you see smoke rising from the top opening of the lid and, and remove the lid, pour the rest of the soup in and viola, you get your kazan ramen done!

I'll definitely advise that you get the staff to help with removing the lid for it'll be VERY hot.Tadaa~ My Hinomaru Tomato Kazan Ramen,

I think this ramen will be the best choice for ladies, filled to the brim with a huge tomato, tons of cabbage shreds, beansprouts and red capsicums. The pork bone based broth is further 'spiced up' with a tangy flavour from the tomatoes, giving it a lighter and refreshing taste to the usual heavily flavourful ramen tonkotsu broth.

Seriously, I think that all the cabbage and beansprouts combined is twice as much as the noodles inside. Having a ton of beansprouts seemed to be how they do their ramen, so if you dislike beansprouts, please make a special order request to not add them in! It'll be a painfully infinite process if you have to pick them out one by one.T's Karamiso Kazan Ramen.

The broth was strongly flavourful, yet not spicy at all. So we're both a little disappointed. The charsiu, however, was heavenly! So thoroughly braised, and has the right amount of fattiness to make it tender and soft. I took a bite and it literally like melt apart in my mouth.Their flavoured egg was pretty disappointing too.

Yes, the yolk was almost perfect with the outside moist and just cooked through while the innermost is glistening gooey, but... where's the braised flavour?! It was pure white throughout on the insides and the surface was only so ever slightly tanned that on first look I thought it was just a soft boiled egg. Taste wise, same thing.

This is just a soft boiled egg sold as a flavoured egg. Period.Yaki Gyoza.

My first impression when I saw these burnt gyoza was also another mental thumbs-down. But hey, I was surprised when I took a bite! The slightly charred flavour actually added more taste to the gyoza, while the meat filling remains tender and moist.

Failed on the presentation, but passed with flying colours on the actual taste.

repost from: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/12/mias-review-tonkotsu-kazan-ramen.html