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/2014/10/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.

If you didn't know, I'm a serial Katong hang-outer and Le Petit Paradis caught my eye one of those days as I was walking aimlessly along the street houses, while they're still under going their very final stages of pre-opening preparations.

"Hey, isn't this the French food stall from the Ali Babar kopitiam?"

And yes, it is. And apparently, this kopitiam really has some awesome fengshui, for its previous tenants include Aston's (after which they started 20 over franchises) and then Saveur. Le Petit Paradis has obviously, followed their footsteps and expanded just a few shops down the street. The restaurant is actually pretty small, yet not crowded on a Sunday evening when we visited. Interior decor is also kept simple and chic.Just showing off my pot of tea. xpSous-vide Lamb Leg - $21

62 degree Celsius slow-cooked lamb leg, served on top of creamy basmati rice and topped (or in a literal sense, surrounded) herb vinaigrette.

Sounds yummy? Yes it is! I love the lamb leg! It's not exactly moist-slimy kind of tenderness you find in chicken or duck, but it's definitely tender yet with a chewy bite. The meat still remain much of the natural sweetness and juices, brought out and complemented with a strong flavour of spices that I reckon, help to mask out the distinctive 'lamb smell' commonly feared by many.

As for the creamy basmati rice, it's pretty average and taste just like a mediocre risotto. The rice remains hard and generously covered in creamy cheesey sauce, albeit not as flavourful as I will like it to be.

And lastly, the herb vinaigrette didn't go too well with my tastebuds. Too.... herbal?Steak and Fries - $23

150 days grains-fed Angus Sirloin with thick crispy fries and caramalised onions.

T commented that the steak is too thin to be deemed nice, but later on changed his mind in relation to its affordable price. It would be a decent choice for a cheap steak & fries fix.

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!

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