Lady M Confections is a popular cake boutique that is known to attract very long queue in the upper east side of New York City, mainly for their famous Mille Crepe Cake. This boutique prides itself on creating the freshest finest cakes and desserts accompanied with aromatic tea and coffee. I have queued for 10 minutes on a Saturday night at 8pm to enjoy a heavenly experience. Let's start from the best! Their signature Lady M Mille Crepe ($7.50) was surprising affordable considering the brand and the complexity of perfecting this cake. It may seem very plain and simple but don't judge! Never judge. We were told by the waitress at 8.10pm that they only left 2 slices of this and asked whether we wanted it before it's gone. Regrettably, we only ordered 1 slice, the most regretful decision I've made that day! This slice basically brought us up to heaven, the perfectly caramelized golden top with exactly 20 thin meticulously handmade crepes covered with layers of sweet pastry cream was more than amazing, the best cake I've ever had this entire year of 2013! We then got ourselves the Strawberry Shortcake ($7.50), which was great too. Light and pure in nature with sweet cream and delicious fresh strawberries, the vanilla spongecake was something I miss having for a long time. We also got their Tarte aux Fruits ($10), which may seem the prettiest among all 3 cakes we had that night but not the best I've tried. It's not that bad with all the fresh fruits, but nowhere near the taste I get from the mille crepe in comparison. A good try nevertheless! Overall, I wasn't expecting to experience a heavenly moment here. Everything served here was great! Appearance wise, the mille crepe may not be the best. But in terms of taste and quality, I say I wouldn't mind coming back just to take away up to 10 slices of their signature for my family.

So I was having this sudden urge of craving for Swensen's and one afternoon I simply decided to pull my buddy along to this quieter outlet to try out their Christmas menu. We started off with a simple side from their regular menu, the <b style="line-height: 1.6;">Deep Fried Mushrooms ($6.40) was served hot promptly within 5minutes beyond our expectation. The shiitake mushrooms are plump and fried to golden crisp perfection. Coating them with the tartar sauce that comes along would definitely open up anyone's appetite! My buddy ordered the Stuffed US Turkey Roll ($19.90) which came along at the right timing as we were almost with finished our side. The turkey roll was nicely sliced into medallions and complimented with mashed potato and fresh garden vegetables of carrots and broccoli. The entire dish was nicely seasoned to our liking. For the best taste and texture, this is my personal recommended way of eating western cuisine. Ultimate perfection! For myself, I have ordered the Grilled Piri Piri Chicken ($16.90) which was amazing! From the first mouth, it was obvious that this Portugese-styled chicken was well-marinated for hours then grilled on a really suitable temperature because it was cooked through so nicely which resulted it to be so tender and juicy! It also comes with side salad and raisin rice which were really tasty as well! A definite must order from their Christmas menu! We were both very full but there's always room for desserts! Between the free drinks or sundaes, we opted for the free sundaes! So we got ourselves <b style="line-height: 1.6;">Hot Fudge Sundae (vanilla icecream with hot fudge & almonds) & <b style="line-height: 1.6;">Merri-Mint Sundae (mint icecream covered with hot fudge) and those ended well! The one thing I always love about Swensen's is that we'll always be given $5 voucher for every $35 spent. This can also be given to your friends or family if you have no time to visit within the valid period so that always makes this place better than many other casual dining restaurants! Overall, the service here was really efficient and environment was really nice for a casual date. The food at Swensen's never go wrong so I'm considering on returning soon to try other items from the Christmas menu!

Have heard about Osaka Ohsho several times because of its popularity in Osaka, Japan. The name itself translates to "The King of Gyoza in Osaka" and because of that, I've been waiting for a chance to try it ever since it opened its doors in Singapore. 

There are currently two outlets in Singapore, one at Raffles City and the other one which I've went at Bukit Panjang Plaza. I tend to try out new dining places at really off-peak hours around 3-4pm just to avoid the crowd, which explains the almost empty place. I do this because it actually helps me to test out the restaurant's true product and service performance and potential. The young male waiter who served my buddy and I was really friendly and pleasant, he was able to answer my questions because some items on the menu are based in Japanese romanji style, and I needed to know the ingredients. I got myself this Chicken Tenshin Han & Gyoza ($13.90), the chicken actually refers to the chicken bits in the omurice. But seriously this omurice tasted amazing! They are not certainly not stingy in their eggs as it's probably made out of several beaten eggs that created the fluffy soft and smooth omelette. The rice used was also of top quality and the overall dish was topped with thick gravy that boost the flavour of everything else. The gyoza that comes with it were by far the best I've tried in Singapore so far! Before this, I was on the lookout for the best gyoza around the country and I'm so glad I've found it! It's actually handmade with generous but optimal filling of cabbage, ginger, garlic and 3 different kinds of pork wrapped in their special wonton paper. The grilled gyoza have no hint of oiliness to it and tasted great with the black vinegar. The ala carte price for 6pc was also relatively cheap at $3.90 and 12pc at $7.80. The addictive nature may have you ordering more for takeaways so you may want to order the 12pc one at all times! My buddy ordered the Teriyaki Chicken Set ($14.90) which comes with 3pc gyoza. Gyoza aside, the teriyaki chicken was cooked nicely on hot sizzling plate. The soy sauce glaze tasted fine but there's nothing that special. But that's okay because they're known for their gyoza anyway. Have also ordered their Fried Ika Gesu ($7.90), which is basically fried squid legs, I guess my buddy's on the hunt for the best fried squid legs and he didn't think this was great for its price. Although it tasted fresh and probably deep fried with new chaned oil, it is still considered overpriced for that small portion. So anyway we got the bill and I think it's a pretty reasonable amount for a casual dining Japanese restaurant with lovely ambience and irresistible gyoza.Overall, I would definitely visit again to this gyoza specialist! There may be hits and misses to look out for and hopefully this review may help in your future experience here!

Starbucks will always be the only place I'll happily read my notes and sip some good old drinks. 

Have you found a Starbucks drink that shouts you? Most of the times I'll find myself ordering the Green Tea Frappucino because that's like my all time favourite. And sometimes I'll get a pie or cheesecake as an encouraging treat. Their New York Cheesecake is hands down perfect. 

Been dying to try Blackball ever since it opened its doors! Never really got a chance up till recently because the previous times were either lined with super long queues or having their signature sold out. 

So I finally got a chance to try it out on a rainy evening at Star Vista, there's still customers but my buddy and I managed to get a table. There's only 3 tables inside and 1 table outside which is relatively small but it doesn't matter because people can always takeaway! Then I've got my queue number for which my order was ready in less than a minute. The Blackball Signature ($5.40) is their best selling star item and it can be ordered in 4 different ways - hot, warm, cold or icy. The no.1 grass jelly dessert from Taiwan consists of interesting ingredients like yamQ, golden sweet potato, yam balls, sweet potato balls, red beans and pearls. I love all of them equally! Milk was given as an optional thing to add, it didn't affect much of the overall taste so it probably doesn't matter much. But it's good for pictures. The dessert is not too sweet and the blend of distinctive different textures of each ingredient helps to set the art of how asian desserts should really taste like. Overall, Blackball did a great job satisfying my desserts craving and I do look forward to my future visits! Hopefully they'll have open up more outlets in the North too!