For full review and more photos, visit shirlynnyang.blogspot.com

Penny University is not a new university in Singapore. It is a cafe located in the east side of Singapore. So why is it called Penny University?

"Penny University is a term that originated from 18th century coffeehouses in London, England.
For the price of a penny, one had access to coffee, the company of people from all levels of society, discussions, bulletins, newspapers and the latest gossip.
Penny University is an artisanal cafe born out of a love of coffee discovered in London. We source our beans from local roasters, serve specialist cakes and bread freshly baked daily in the area, support and collaborate with local bakers and aim to be a haven for people of the East Coast and beyond. We serve all-day breakfast, a rotating selection of fresh pastries and cakes, and great coffee using our favourite local blends."

Penny University uses earthy colours for its decor, consisting of mainly brown and grey. I thought that makes the place very inviting. However, when I was there at 2 plus on a Sunday, the whole cafe was packed, as if the whole of Singapore was there. I had to wait for 15 min before I could get a seat at the communal table.

Like I've mentioned in my post about Windowsill Pies, they cater their pies to lots of cafe and one of them is Penny University! I tried the Strawberry Lemon Tart which was excellent. I like my lemon tarts to be sour and this totally hit the spot.

Coffee can't go wrong here as beans are sourced from Nylon so go ahead and have your caffeine fix ;)

The cafe became really empty after 530pm and it was really relaxing to just sit there and read a book. Such bliss..

Penny University is one of the few artisanal cafes in the east and I can see that it's a great hit amongst the easties. Go check it out if you are living nearby!

Barely opened for a month, Department of Caffeine (D.O.C) has already gained a bunch of loyal customers. Most cafes pride themselves on their coffee, and by the name of this cafe, you would have thought that they are too. But most people who keep returning to D.O.C, go back for their food and not their coffee.The Pulled Pork Sandwich ($13) was one of the popular dishes that I've heard before heading there. It's my first time having it and though I've to agree that it's good, I was expecting more. I thought that the pork could be more flavourful. That aside, the carrot and coriander coleslaw that was layered on top of the pulled pork made the dish really refreshing. The chargrilled Broccoli with Garlic and Chili that was served at the side was very crunchy and tasty as well. Overall, this dish is definitely worth a try.The Mocha ($5.50) was pretty disappointing. I was expecting more from them. After all, they are named the Department of Caffeine! I think that the coffee could have been stronger. I wouldn't say it's bad, but definitely not the best I've had.

And now, this is the reason why everyone is visiting D.O.C time and again. THE BUTTERMILK WAFFLES WITH BUTTER RUM BANANAS!! THIS IS DA BOMB. Nobody can leave D.O.C without trying this.

I'm personally not a fan of soft waffles; I prefer those that are crispy. But this is sooo good. It's not soggily soft, but it's actually kind of chewy, yet not to the extent of making your jaws tired from chewing. The butter rum banana was soooo tasty and the vanilla ice cream was really rich and sticky too (definitely not the cheapo kind as you can see vanilla seeds inside!). It's so enjoyable eating it, my sis and I had to play scissors paper stone to decide who gets to eat the last mouth (and I lost booo). Priced at $12, I think it's worth every penny. This definitely goes on my list of the best waffles.

This cafe has really high potential as I've heard from other foodies that the other items on the menu are really good too. I'm kinda reluctant to share this place cos it's really small and I think it's gonna get crowded soon. So go soon before it gets crowded!! I'm definitely heading back to try more items!!

Maple & Market is a bakery opened by blogger Sarah. I've seen lots of her bakes around on Instagram and have always wanted to tried it. So I made a trip down to her shop on the second day after her opening.

The shop is a small and cosy one, with two communal tables for visitors to hang around. As stated by her, "Maple & Market is not a cafe...you could call it a cake shop or a bakery that has some seating available. However, that's not all that we do... which is why I keep calling it "my shop"."

The Blueberry and Lemon loaf ($2.80) was delightful. Soft and moist with fresh berries packed inside. It was a little sweet on its own but it goes really well with the Iced Mocha ($5.50) that I ordered. The mocha was lacking in the chocolate taste and tasted more like a latte. But the barista has kindly came over to asked for my opinion and mentioned that they are still in the midst of fine-tuning. Nonetheless, I honestly wasn't expecting much from the coffee here, but it sure surprised me.

On my second visit (yes, I returned two days later ), I tried the 1919 ($5.50). It is a gula melaka cake with kaya cream cheese frosting and almond brittle between the layers and toasted almond slices on the side. There were finely grated coconut shavings on the top as well which made the cake really fragrant. This time round, I ordered a hot latte to go with it and I enjoyed every bit of my tea break. The cake was moist and not too sweet, considering there's gula melaka and kaya inside. I thought it was really special as I've never tried such a cake before. Thumbs up for that!

They have different selection of cakes and savouries on both days I visited so I'm pretty sure there will be something that you'll like. I really love this space for now as most of the customers are those living nearby - very unpretentious.

For full review and photos, please visit shirlynnyang.blogspot.com

The cafe was pretty empty when we were there. And I'm totally loving it as we prefer to be in a quiet place to catch up with each other! But I think the cafe soon turned a bit noisy cos of our laughter

Quoted from the Selfish Gene website, "Gene has always been rather selfish when it comes to food. It is not that he will never share his food, but rather he will not serve anyone food that he would not eat himself."

I've to say, my taste of food is pretty much the same as Gene ;)

If you have read about Selfish Gene from other blogs before, you would have known that their banana cake is one of the most popular items there. True enough, the cake was light and fluffy and the peanut butter surprisingly goes so well with banana cake! The crumble on top provided a different texture to otherwise soft and fluffy cake. The 3 slices of banana served at the side was really yummy too.

The 3 of us shared a caffe mocha as we want to save our stomach space for the other cafes. I had a sip of it and thought that it was pretty bitter as most would have expected caffe mocha to be sweeter due to the chocolate content in it.

Haven't heard much about the breakfast items at Selfish Gene but I'm so glad we tried them! The simple named Ham & Cheese Sandwich was not simple at all! It was really delish, our eyes lit up the moment our teeth sank into it.

Their Breakfast Plate was really good too. The scrambled eggs was more to the creamier side but it suited our palates. Both my friends agreed that the tomatoes were really fresh and juicy. The bread was crispy at the edges. The best thing was, everything was served on a warm plate, which helped kept the food hotter for a longer time!

For full review and photos, please visit shirlynnyang.blogspot.com

My third time back at Group Therapy, but first time reviewing it. I've had a good first impression of Group Therapy and its Eggs Benedict so I decided to go back again to see if standard has dropped.

And nope, the Eggs Benedict did not disappoint. If you like Eggs Benedict with thick creamy hollandaise sauce, here's the place to go. Served hot with perfectly poached egg on a thick crispy toast, this eggs ben is to die for! In fact, I feel that Group Therapy has one of the best eggs benedict out of so many that I've tried before. The Mushroom and Chicken pie was served super hot, enough to scald your tongue. But it tasted very yummy! My friend commented that if would have been better if the chicken chunks were more tender though.I like the design of Group Therapy. The dining area and the chillax area is separated by a wall.With Department of Caffeine on the same stretch, Duxton Hill is definitely a place to go if you are looking to have a good brunch.