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I've always been keen to try Korean stews locally but there were two major obstacles preventing me from doing so. First of all, many places I've been to so far tend to have such stews in sharing sizes which effectively meant that for someone like me who eats out often on my own, there was no way I could have finished the food singlehandedly. Even if I could, some restaurants had the rule that there must be at least two persons present before certain dishes can be ordered (yes, I'm referring to a particular bijin nabe which I've yet to try because of this rule). Secondly, a lot of the stews tend to use beef which I can't eat for religious reasons. It was really difficult to find a place which offers stews using anything other than beef and in a size friendly to singles.First up would definitely be the pork ribs stew. There are three types of meat stews to choose from i.e. pork, beef and chicken. Note that for the chicken stew, the default option is spicy so for those who can't really take spicy food, you might want to keep this in mind. Personally, I'm not too good with spicy stuff too but I would probably come back another day just to try the chicken stew.

I really liked the pork ribs which were well-marinated and absorbed the flavours of the slightly spicy soup which goes well with the multi-grain rice served together. Although I ordered the single portion, there were more than 5 pieces of the pork ribs and they were mostly soft ribs which meant that there was more meat than the typical spare ribs used in bak kut teh. The meat texture in turn was soft and you could detach the meat from the bones very easily.

After choosing your meat, you can then select the spiciness level. For a "beginner" like me, I chose Level 1 which was slightly spicy in my opinion. For those who are OK with spicy stuff, you might find this not challenging at all so by all means challenge yourself with a Level 4.

Next, you get to choose between Korean udon and glass noodles. I'm not sure what Korean udon is and how it differs from its Japanese counterpart since I ordered the latter. However, I was rather disappointed to see the flat and thick version rather than the thinner one in my stew because it tends not to absorb the gravy/soup/sauce as well as the latter. True enough, I didn't like how the glass noodles tasted. As the thick glass noodles was rather stretchy and difficult to lift from the pot, I was conscious of the fact that whenever the glass noodles snapped backwards into the pot, the gravy seemed to spurt outwards to my neighbours and myself. Might be worth considering that if you want to avoid this messy situation.

If you find that your stew is not filling enough, you can add other things like Korean rice cakes as a top-up. I didn't add any this time since I wasn't sure of the portion size. I guess if I am just ordering the stew without other dishes next time, I might want to try adding the rice cakes.Read the full review at http://shokushisouseikatsu.blogspot.sg/

It seems like many people are very excited about the arrival of Caffebene, a South Korean cafe chain, in Singapore, considering the number of times I've been seeing pictures of the food and drinks there on various social media platforms. Pardon me for being ignorant but even though I've heard of the brand before, I've never tried it in South Korea so I don't feel the hype or get what it is all about. Nor am I a fan of bingsu (similar to our local ice-kacang in a sense) which is said to be one of the biggest selling points of Caffebene. It certainly does look appealing but the portion size is indeed daunting for a person to finish especially in this season when it rains almost every afternoon. Last but not least, as for the coffee which Caffebene takes great pride in, it will probably never win me over because of the fact that I don't drink coffee at all.

So why did I go there anyway if there was no strong pull factor in the first place? Well, let's just say that I was being curious. Hearing people rave all about it, I thought that it was only right to pop in for a visit and see if it really is as good as it seems. Knowing that it will probably be a long wait on weekends, I deliberately chose a weekday afternoon to visit the first outlet at Vivocity. Much as I would expect the place to be crowded as it is the school holidays now, about 95% full on a weekday afternoon with office workers, tai-tais, families with kids and teenagers forming the bulk of the customers is really not my idea of a chill-out cafe.

Before I visited the cafe, I did some research online to see what kind of items it offers on its menu. In the food department, there are waffles, honeybread, gelato and bingsu while for drinks, there are coffee, frappeno and non-alcoholic cocktails to choose from. However, when I was at the cafe, there were also cakes and sandwiches that were not mentioned on the site so I'm not sure if these will be offered all the time. Based on the selection so far, this looks like a place which I'll probably swing by for desserts after the main meal rather than have a full course meal at.Currently, there is a promotional discount of 20% off for beverages to celebrate the opening of the cafe. I chose the cold peppermint tea which was rather refreshing and not too sweet to go with the dessert.

As for the dessert, I chose the walnut-base waffle with Korean rice cake which came with some walnuts and a generous portion of soybean powder sprinkled over the waffle along with some almonds and walnuts. The aroma of the waffle was very noticeable from the moment it was handed over at the counter and further accentuated by the soybean powder. Much as I don't really like the thick and dense waffle, I thought it was still done pretty nicely and tasted good without the usual accompanying syrup or ice cream. The rice cake had a red bean filling and due to the heat from the waffle, became really soft and easy to chew. Surprisingly, the rice cake went well with the waffle despite being vastly different types of desserts. My only grouse is that the soybean powder kept falling onto my clothes with each mouthful of this dessert so be sure to shake the excess powder off to prevent this from happening.

In conclusion, would I go back to this cafe again? Well, the crowds can be rather intimidating and I certainly don't fancy sitting in a noisy cafe to relax. Having said that, I thought that they had a few items which I'm pretty interested in so I may just return for the sake of trying them out on a day when the hype has sort of settled and I won't have to jostle for space with the other customers. The issue is, going by the crowds I saw, it doesn't look like it will happen anytime soon which is definitely good news for the cafe.

In the sleepy Icon Village building lies a quaint bakery/confectionery named Patisserie Glace. As the shop space is very small, there is actually no space for you to sit around to enjoy their products. However, I don't think this bothers its customers too much since its baked goods are usually in small packages and can be easily picked up and brought back to the office as a post-lunch/teatime treat.
It was by chance that I walked past this bakery and I was tempted by the very delicious-looking baked goods. During a recent visit in June, I picked up the original flavour financier and chocolate madeleine which were simply among the best I've tasted. On most occasions, the financiers I tasted had strong buttery tastes or the texture didn't impress me. Glace's version had the right taste and texture (at least to me). The madeleine also did well because its chocolate taste wasn't too overwhelming and it had the right amount of moisture. I usually have to drink tea while eating madeleines because they tend to be rather dry but I can eat Glace's version on its own.
I haven't had the opportunity to try their sliced or whole cakes though but it sure looks appealing through the glass showcases.