For full review, visit http://www.molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2015/01/mias-review-spicy-thai-thai-cafe-food.htmlWith the area of a regular kopitiam, Spicy Thai provides a large airy eating space, an awesome choice for mookata, with an absolutely no frills, minimalist set up to the big restaurant.The boss himself, a homegrown businessman, Mr Ron Poh, is such a hands-on man, he has done up the ceiling lights all on his own too!With two Thai chefs from the suburban North Eastern Thailand whipping up your orders in the kitchen, expect yourself to try out some authentic North Eastern Thailand style dishes, which can be even more flavourful as compared to the Bangkok style dishes usually served at our Thai restaurants here.Organic Wheatgrass Drink - $3.50

Rather than going for the usual Thai Iced Tea, Janel and I wanted to try something more unique, and decided on this glass of the deadly green. Although healthy, we all know how palatable wheatgrass drinks can be, but this was surprisingly light and refreshing on my tongue. Even though there's still this distinctive wheatgrass taste, the usual turn-off of the 'raw bitter vegetable' taste was missing, plus it rewards you with a refreshing sweetness in the aftertaste too. A healthy drink that's easy on your tastebuds, so why not?La La (Clam) Bee Hoon - $18Yes, your eyes aren't playing a trick on you. There's really an overflowing amount of fresh clams tossed in this slightly spicy beehoon. They were so generous with the clams that I really felt that there's more clams than beehoon in the pot. Just imagine my surprise when I started tossing the piping hot beehoon around, expecting the 'overflowing clams' to start disappearing into the beehoon, and instead, tossed out even more clams that were stacked beneath the beehoon.

So for all those fellow shellfish-lovers out there who enjoys a slight spicy kick in your food, this lala beehoon is a must try!The clams, albeit not monstrous sized like those I've eaten overseas, were still pretty fat for local standards and fresh. The beehoon, having soaked up all the flavour from the savoury and spicy gravy, will definitely have you going for seconds.

This is my favourite dish of the day and I strongly recommend that you try this out, peeps!Basil Mussels - $15Yes, another one of my favourite seafood, mussels! Cooked in a spicy and savoury broth, the mussels were just a little spicy and very flavourful, chewy and yet, not overcooked and rubbery despite served steaming hot above charcoal flames. The remaining yummy broth simply screams, "Get a bowl of white rice!"Dill Pattie (Cha Om) Omelette - $8 If you're not familiar with dill, it's actually a herb that packs a load of nutritional benefits, which includes protection against free radicals and carcinogens, anti-bacterial properties, and rich in calcium, dietary fibre and other minerals.

And frankly speaking when I first saw the omelette, I was slightly taken aback at the amount of greens in it. Well, I'm not exactly a carnivore, but I'm highly selective with the greens I put into my mouth. And with this dish, it seems like dill has made it on my to-eat list! Even though generously packed with the thai herb, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that dill actually doesn't taste herbal or bitter at all. In fact, there's a very subtle sweetness to it, which actually will get covered up by the taste of the well flavoured omelette, which basically means that the dill will be pretty 'negligible' in taste, unless you intentionally pull them out of the egg to get a true taste of it.BBQ Pork Neck - $10Grilled till perfection using charcoal and served with a tangy and spicy dip, this dish is a must try for all pork-lovers! Albeit slightly dry, the fact that it was charcoal-grilled also gave it a delicious fragrance to the chewy and savoury meat. I exceptionally loved the slightly charred bits. Heh, my sinful pleasures. Stir Fry Smelly Beans with Prawns - $12Smelly beans, or better known as Petai, is actually also packed with tons of nutrition to give us health benefits, which helps with cases of anemia, HBP, diabetes, heartburn, hangovers, constipation and the list really drones on. However, due to its distinctive pungent smell and the raw and hard texture, it's also one of my most hated greens.

But you know what, I actually went for seconds for this dish! The strong savoury flavour and spiciness of the dish really did well to mask the distinctive taste of the petai, which I'm not a big fan of. Although the raw, hard texture is still something I'm not really loving very much, the addictive taste of the gravy got the better of me and I just kept scooping more onto my own plate.

Heh, petai can't stop my gluttony here. Hommok (Thai Style Otak) - $16This was undeniably Janel's favourite dish of the day.

Comprising mainly of seafood, egg, coconut flesh and thai spices, I will say that this is one of the most visually appealing dish we had for the day. I mean, just look at all that vibrant colours stuffed into a small young coconut. Can it get any better? And I have to say, this dish is all kind of tastes in just one bite. There was the freshness of the seafood, savoury from the egg, sweetness from the (huge chunk of) coconut flesh, and then everything was further oomphed up with a strong taste of Thai spices. Sleeping Fish Set - $15Just like how they're usually served in Thailand, these Short Mackerel looks a little strange with the head tilt that's due to the fact that it gets its backbone broken just behind the head such that it can fit into the bamboo steamer used to cook it in salt brine. To enjoy this dish, grab a piece of the cabbage, pack in some of the vermicelli, basil, coriander, and a bite sized piece of the mackerel. Then, add in the chili of your choice (there's 4 types for you to choose from) before wrapping everything up and stuffing it into your mouth.

And just like any other mackerel, the fish does have this distinctive 'fishy mackerel' taste, which I'm not a big fan of. But the addition of both the basil and the thai chili sauces really helps to mask the typical fishy mackerel taste. And you know what, I'm usually not a fan of fresh basil either. It's really interesting to find how 2 really strong tastes, which I happen to not be a fan of, complementing each other so well that I ended up enjoying the dish.

And of course, how can we end this without desserts?Tapioca in Coconut Milk - $3.50

To be frank, this is not something I'll call dessert. To me, tapioca is as good (and filling, obviously) as a main dish!

Drenched generously in rich coconut milk and served comfortably warm, this is a dessert for sharing, and definitely not with an almost full tummy.Lemongrass Jelly with Aloe Vera Cubes and Calamansi - $2.50

I definitely enjoyed this light and refreshing cold jelly dessert. The ice cold jelly was so easy to swallow and soothing to the throat and the tangy flavour from the calamansi just makes you want more of it. A good choice of dessert to refresh your palates after a feast on all the spicy, flavourful dishes.

It was a pretty rocky experience for us, but thank goodness for the patience of their staff, everything still turned out pretty okay. And the issue was, BEEF. Fellow non beef-eater beware, if you ever patronise Hoshino Coffee, the only mains you can eat, are the pastas. Only the pastas (and sandwiches, if you consider that as a main dish too) and nothing else, for all their omu rice, doria, and curry rice contains beef.

And Hoshino Coffee does not entertain any kind of special orders to have any form of changes to their dishes, which came as our second problem of the night, for YS was pretty insistent on having their Salmon with Wasabi Cream Sauce Spaghetti, without wasabi. The chef, or should I say kitchen staff, was really apologetic as he kept repeating that Hoshino cannot entertain special orders, as their chefs are all trained to only follow the intended recipes for their dishes, and any changes might just ruin the taste of the dish.

Well, Hoshino Coffee, I truly commend your staff for his utmost patience with us, but not your inflexibility with regards to special orders. Perhaps it's the chef's pride, but you cannot expect everyone's taste to go the same direction. If wasabi is as good as poison to our taste buds, then obviously Salmon with Cream Sauce will be more delicious than Salmon with Wasabi Cream Sauce to us, don't you think so?

Anyway, YS finally gotten a KO from the staff and she eventually settled for something else....Iced Sakura Latte with Ice Cream - $9.30

Frankly speaking, $9.30 for this is really expensive! But look, it's so pretty how can you possibly resist it? That piece of flower garnish at the tip of the ice cream is acutely sour, so if you're not a fan of sourish food, do not attempt to eat it.

Otherwise, I'll say this drink is something worth trying, for sakura flavour is really not very common in Singapore, but the price tag doesn't really make it a good re-purchase. I'm a little 'cheated' by the word latte, thinking that it's going to be some sakura infused coffee, but it really turned out as a yummy sweet milky drink with pretty pink flakes all over.R's Matcha Latte - $9

Frankly speaking I was really surprised by how small it was. It was, well, really tiny for a $9 drink.YS's Hoshino Blended Coffee - $5.30

This is just so adorable, with that cute tiny tin of creamer at the side. But it's flavour was a little lacking for my liking, for it comes with the sour aftertaste, I'll say pretty typical of Japanese coffee, which I really dislike.Mentaiko Shrimp & Japanese Herb Obha - $15.50

If you're not a fan of the mentaiko flavour, this might get too strong for you to handle, because there really is a generous blob of mentaiko served along with the pasta, along with 5 huge fat juicy shrimps. The pretty generous garnish of shredded seaweed, katsuobushi (dried fish flakes) and spring onions helped to add a stronger taste to the flavourful pasta. So, this pasta may look pretty light on the flavour but it actually packs a punch.YS's Lobster Bisque Soup Spaghetti - $16

Even though named the lobster bisque soup spaghetti, expect prawns/shrimps in your pasta instead of real lobster meat. The lobster for this pasta is all 'dissolved' in the bisque used to whip this up. This pasta looks as heavily flavourful as it looks. I just stole a teeny weeny sip of the gravy and it was really very tasty and flavourful. Might be my next try-out if I drop by Hoshino again!

And then for R's food for the night, I didn't get to try any. So, pictures for your viewing only!R's Clam Chowder - $6.50R's Shrimp, Avocado & Egg Toast - $9.80

And that night, R seemed to be on a hungry streak and he suggested desserts after gobbling down the sandwiches and soup (served with a pretty thick slice of toast).

Being pretty full, YS and I decided to share one. Oh well, there's always space for dessert, yeah?Our Chocolate Fondant with Ice Cream - $9.80

The chocolate lava cake is rich and moist at the cake layer, with the truly molten centre of yummy gooey chocolate sauce. Simply decadent! But, as the taste can really get pretty rich and heavy, it's really best to find a dessert buddy for sharing.

Well, same enjoyment with half the calories, why not?R's Pancake Souffle Style - $9.80

Didn't get to try it because I was too full by then, but it looks so so so fluffy, I'm gonna dieeee....

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/10/mias-review-pies-coffee.html

I remembered my first visit with T was an unplanned one. We wanted to drop by The Ground's, which is actually a few shops away, but turned out it wasn't opened. So, Pies & Coffee it was! It was a pretty small outlet, with the interior seating of probably around 15 to 20 pax, and even though they're named Pies & Coffee, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they do have some pretty looking desserts as well, just that their pies were indeed filling and on both occasions I dropped by, I didn't have sufficient stomach space to try out any of their sweet treats.

Even though not exceptionally affordable, all their pies are still reasonably priced at $10 ish or so.Chicken Cheddar Pie

The pie crust is crumbly crisp with a hint of buttery toasted fragrance, and the pie filling so moist with generous amount of gravy, yet doesn't soften the pie crust that much.A snap to show you just how moist the filling was. It was almost like a soup bowl, no kidding! The filling was packed full of cheesy goodness with quite a generous chunks of chicken that was cooked till it has soaked up the cheesy savoury flavour of the gravy.

Other than Chicken Cheddar, I've also tried their Lamb Shank and Chicken & Mushroom Pies, out of which the latter has paled in comparison as compared to the other two.Hot Honey Yuzu Tea

Frankly speaking, I have no idea why they served a piece of chocolate cookie along with my honey yuzu tea.

And on a side note, Pies and Coffee uses Toby Estate's roasted coffee beans, so all coffee lovers out there, do remember to get a cuppa coffee when you're here!

For full review: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/10/mias-review-criollo-cocoa-cafe.htmlThe cafe was pretty empty on a Monday night, and we chose the corner most table. And just nice, right beside the coffee machine, so we get a whiff of the coffee fragrance whenever an order was being made. Dark Hot Cocoa - $4.80

And I got a cute teddy bear for my latte art. I've seen some cute pictures of 3D latte art on their facebook, but we didn't get any that night.

I wonder if it depends on which barista is on duty or maybe we will need to specially request for 3D latte art or what.

But the drink itself was so yummy! It was pretty rich, yet not overly sweet for the dark chocolate added a nice bitterness to the sweet richness. YS's Strawberry Hot Cocoa - $4.80

I got to try a sip and it tasted just like strawberry milk, but in hot cocoa shade of brown! A pretty interesting one, with a cute bunny latte art too!Big Breakfast - $19.90

Was tempted to go for their chocolate waffle, but in the end decided to go for the big breakfast instead.... and I'm pretty glad I did!

It was a pity I had to eat so much just after having 3 large fillings done just days earlier at Tooth Angels (both sides has had tooth filled so there's no 'safe side' to chew on) and they obviously still hurt quite a bit when I bite on hard, chewy food. But well, I got through the meal without much discomfort other than having to chew through the crispy bacon and toasts. It's really a shame though, they have the crispiest toast I've ever eaten on an all day breakfast meal. Absolutely loved everything on the plate, but would have preferred my scrambled eggs to be less runny though.Fish and Chips - $16.80

Both R and YS chose the same mains. Didn't try any because I really didn't want to add on any unnecessary pressure on my sore teeth, but they really did look yummy!

For full reivew: http://molly-mia.blogspot.sg/2014/11/mias-review-cake-spade.html

I first stumbled onto Cake Spade after a google search of "cake cafes near tanjong pagar" due to a pretty sudden cake craving while waiting for T at the mrt station. And subsequently, I returned with A recently for a quick cake fix. Located around Orchid Hotel, I have to be honest to say that Cake Spade is a cafe so small and humble looking, with just 6 seatings in the interior and a couple more humbly plain looking tables and chairs laid out on the outside, that you probably will just walk right past it without a second look or the slightly recognition that that's a friggin awesome cake cafe right there. Chinese Apple Pomegranate Green Tea

I first saw this selling at Cedele and instantly got attracted to the pretty bottles! But due to the price (it was about $4.50 or so), I didn't want to buy it then for I tend to spend less on a pick-and-go as compared to a cafe-hopping trip. So yup, tried it at Cake Spade instead.

But frankly speaking, judging from the fact that you probably will not be keeping the bottle after consuming the beverage, the price tag does not justify the purchase at all.Nutella Fudge Crumble - $4.50

A layer of fudge and nutella sandwiched between a buttery short crust pastry and a layer of crumbs! Sounds yummy, eh?And to show how runny the fudge-nutella layer is.

First bite, heavenly! The bottom crust tasted like an exceptionally short (buttery and crumbly) shortbread and the top layer of crumbs added just the right amount of crunchiness oomph up the overall texture of this decadent treat!

But as you slowly polish the entire bar off the plate, things might get a little difficult as the taste is way too rich, both the chocolate-nutty richness of the filling and the buttery fragrance of the bottom and top layers just made it too jerlat (strong, overpowering) for me.

Best to visit with a friend (or two) and share a few other choices of goodies together so as to not experience a sweet-richness overkill.Oreo Cookie Brownie - $3.20

Come on, oreo cookies, brownie, and a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. What more can you ask for?

The brownie was rich, chocolatey and very dense. I remembered it was a little too dry and dense for my liking and the oreo cookie were somehow, too soft and soggy. Would have been a perfect match made in heaven, but oh well, it somehow fell short of my expectation, which I have to admit that I might have unknowingly set them a little too high?Red Velvet Cake - $5.90

Of course, with T around how can we not have red velvet cake? Look at the moist layer of red sponge cake and pretty swirls of cream cheese icing on top!

But I didn't really try out the taste, for I'm really not a fan of red velvet (mostly due to the cream cheese icing).And on my 2nd visit with A, I got myself a cup of Iced Latte due to the hot weather.

The coffee was just so-so, and quickly got washed down when the ice started to melt.Chocolate Blackout Cake - $5.90

A classic chocolate cake with moist chocolate sponge cake and iced with rich and smooth chocolate ganache.

This cake is truly decadent and is a must try for all chocolate-addicts out there. The sponge layer is (obviously) moist and soft, and the ganache velvety smooth and rich. But once again, the taste can be pretty jerlat even for a chocolate-lover like me, so sharing with fellow chocoholic friends is highly recommended.Lastly, Strawberry Tofu Cheesecake - $5.90

Yeah of course, how can we miss out their signature cake?

And with just one bite, both A and I nodded our heads and said, "Yummy!" Worthy of the signature tag indeed! The cheesecake was truly of an almost tofu-like consistency, super smooth and finely textured, which literally melts away in your mouth. Topped with quite a generous chunk of fresh strawberries encased in sweetened jelly, this is a remarkably light and refreshing cheesecake. A pleasant surprise indeed, for I've always feel that cheesecakes are the most jerlat cake of all.