Kooka Cafe is an Australian cafe located at Purvis Street. I went on a weekend lunch hour and there was not much people in the cafe, hence it was rather quiet. The dim lights and dark wooden furnishings creates a very comfy and soothing atmosphere; a conducive environment for a lazy afternoon chill-out spot. It sells lunch items, brunch items, cakes and cookies; some of which are very true-blue Australian cuisines.An item perfect for any day for brunch, the Omelette on Toast comes in two variations and I chose the Bacon, Mushroom and Tomato. The egg was not overcooked nor undercooked, hence very fluffy and fragrant. The sauteed mushrooms inside the Omelette was also very juicy and flavourful, offering much earthy flavour to the egg. The bacon’s taste also enhanced the taste of the dish by adding sufficient saltiness to the dish, yet not ruining the texture as it was cooked to perfection without the chewiness of undercooked bacon or being hard and tough from being overcooked. The tomato added a very refreshing zest to the egg, and the toast at the bottom was fluffy in the inside but crisp on the surface; definitely a great dish to have to start the day right!This little babies caught my attention when I was ordering the Omelette on Toast and the coffee and I decided to get them after my meal. These cute little cookies is a cuisine originating from Australia called Yo-Yos and they are cookies with a cream cheese filling (as I am told). These cookies are more similar to shortbread in texture and tasted like a much lighter version too. The cream cheese isn’t as sour as those store-bought ones and felt a bit sweeter, and hence less jialat. It would be a pleasure to have as a tea time biscuit to compliment a cup of coffee or tea.

For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2013/08/16/kooka-cafe-purvis-street/

With all the Cronut craze going around, many patisseries had started to make their own versions of the viral dessert. Brunetti is one of the few that had already started the Cronut in local shores.On first look, the exterior of the Cronut from Brunetti has sugar coated and chocolate topping with flakes sprinkled on the top. The Chocolate Cronut ($4.50) here have a rather thin yet adequate layering of chocolate. The filling is a Chocolate mousse, however it was rather thick and rich in chocolate, though not cloying with sweetness. The Cronuts were quite soft and fluffy in the inside, but it tasted more like a donut in the interior with a flaky and slightly buttery exterior. There is also a bit of crispiness even though there is no crust on the exterior; much of it due to the sugar coated on the surface of the Cronut. Despite so, the sweetness from the sugar gave it another dimension in terms of flavour as it was slightly different in the sweetness created by the mousse. Being a fried dessert, it was oily, but seemed to be the least so amongst the other Cronuts I have tried.

For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/cronuts-from-brunetti/

Drury Lane is the latest addition to the endless hipster coffee joints that have already opened in the Tanjong Pagar Area. Nearly a month old when this visit is made, while it is not as known and therefore as crowded as its peers in the area, it is already making it’s existence somewhat known with a few people visiting this latest hangout and people leaving their footprint in this place via Instagram be it via geotag or hashtag with pictures of brunch and coffee served there. If anything, it is already a beautiful start.I ordered the Eggs Benedict which came with Honey Cured Turkey Bacon, Poached Eggs, Homemade Hollandaise Sauce and Toast. While I do love Bacon, I must admit that I am not fan of Turkey Bacon unfortunately. The Turkey Bacon came with a tint of sweetness coming from the honey, which definitely made the Turkey Bacon taste rather unique being sweet and savoury at the same time. Unfortunately, I had never liked Turkey Bacon as they often come tougher than usual Pork Bacon, which was the case here. The Poached Eggs were pretty great as they burst open with just a small poke and was runny. The Hollandaise sauce was savoury and seemed pretty freshly made, though I would rather they put it over the eggs and toast than place in the middle of the two toasts. The bread was toasted but was somewhat stiff; probably a bit crispier or fluffier would be better.The Flat White was really nice. Medium body and very flat like how it should have been. I might not have been to many cafes, but even the Latte Art here looks so good that a person who normally does not really pay much attention to whatever that is drawn on the coffee was utterly impressed! I also liked that the staff also inform you about the two blends that they use before you make your order and choose the preferred blend.The other Banana creation apart from the different muffin flavours was the Banana Bread with Espresso Butter. It was drier than the muffins which it should have been, and definitely felt more consistent as well. There was also a bit of intended char on the surface of the skin which gives it a nice charred taste along with the bread without ruining the texture. The espresso butter might sound daunting to some but it was definitely the part that intrigued me; the espresso butter was very alluring with the strong taste of espresso and coupled with a light hint of saltiness. This would definitely work on any coffee-lover who prefers strong blends and a serious must try for people who have intentions of visiting. In fact the espresso butter just seemed more interesting than the bread itself.

For more photos and the full review, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2013/07/22/drury-lane-tanjong-pagar-road/

Ever since I had visited Yellow Submarines for the first time, I had been dying to go back to them just to have their food again. My friends had since heard enough of my ravings of the place too, and decided they should also go down and try it for themselves, so I decided to make my second visit there with 2 other friends to try out their burgers and allow my friends to judge for themselves whether it was worth the visit to them.Having tried the Yellow Submarines Classic the previous time, I decided to go for their burgers. The Twin Strike is what I would dub as “fun-sized” burgers because they were so tiny! As the name suggests, this burger comes in twos; very much like the BK Shots that Burger King offers. Inside each of these mini-sized burgers is just a chicken patty with ketchup; nothing more and nothing less. It may appear as plain or uninteresting to some, but I find this a very simplistic and fun burger; particularly a good one to order if you are just looking for a bite or if you have kids who do not eat a lot. It is simple, unpretentious and easy to eat. No extra condiments nor a confusing mix of flavours; just chicken, bread and ketchup combined.If a simple burger like the Twin Strike is not the type of burger that satisfy you, you will be glad that there is another burger offering (which is also the only other burger option in the menu) which is the Single Hit. Single Hit is a beef burger, with condiments such as tomato, vegetable and cheese sauce (the same as the Torpedo Fries). My friend liked it. I never had a bite of it the beef patty looks juicy and nicely grilled; definitely worth a try on my next visit.The N.Y. Cheese Hunt is a cheesecake served in a rectangular bar. The one here at Yellow Submarines is spectacular for one being served in a fast food restaurant. It is very smooth, creamy and cheesy, tasting of what is very typical of a decent New York Cheesecake you might get in cafes, just smaller, though the underlying crust is slightly thin and not particularly crunchy. Given that this is being sold at $2.80 at a fast food restaurant though, it is already of a very high quality and pretty much worth ordering.If cakes don’t suit your fancy and you are in search of an ice-cream treat, you would be happy to find that the Frozen Cannon is actually ice-cream served between a sliced circular bun. It comes in two flavours, Raspberry Ice-Cream or Chocolate Ice-Cream. The bun is reminiscent to the one found in the Twin Strikes burger. This dessert tastes rather similar to what street ice-cream vendors with motorbikes would serve; ice-cream with a slice of bread.

For the full review and more photos, please visit: http://jiaksimipng.wordpress.com/2013/05/27/yellow-submarines-part-2-blk-177-toa-payoh-central/

When I visited their shop on a weekday afternoon, an empty outlet was sitting right in front of me but the staff at the counter was friendly and told me to try the flavours I wished.Eventually I settled for the Salted Egg Yolk and Granny’s Dough. The salted egg yolk is an interesting “east-meets-west” flavour. It tasted much like the salted egg yolks that can be found in mooncakes but with a slight creamy twist. This flavour works especially well if you are more into flavours such as salted caramel; the saltiness of this flavour seems to be done pretty well. For Granny’s Dough it is made up of chocolate, malt and cookie dough. The cookie dough is pretty soft yet crunchy and gave a pretty nice flavour and texture to the ice-cream, with the distinctive chocolate flavour uplifted by the malt.