Cedele's Blueberry Hazelnut Cheesecake

This is Cedele's Blueberry Hazelnut Cheesecake. It is fantastic! And comes with real whole blueberries inside. Great for those who like substantial cakes that is at the same time not cloying due to the fruity slant. The crushed hazelnut topping also gives an added layer of texture and flavour.

S$46 for an 8" round cake, also available in slices.
Click here for more on the Cedele website.

Cedele

Cedele is a chain of bakery-cafes that we've been going to a lot recently, ever since Mky got her Cedele Card.  To Mky, Cedele is synonymous with tasty, wholesome fare, a convenient pit stop (we frequent the Rail Mall branch near her home) where she can get her quality salad greens + lean protein fix for a decent price.  We've both been quite fascinated with their salads and sandwiches, and after trying their pasta recently, I'm even more convinced its a place that everyone should put onto their list of regular eating places.

Their prices are not as friendly as some might like (the prices also vary depending on the branch you visit, ditto their menu - widest ranges are at the Great World/Takashimaya/Wheelock branches, which are also the most exorbitant in pricing), but considering the choice organic ingredients and fairly good quality (for the salads), its serves its function as a healthy place to refuel, if one makes sensible choices.

Pictured above is the creamy mushroom linguine dish from the Rail Mall branch of Cedele.  Creamy indeed! Chock-a-block with tasty fresh mushrooms.  Perfect, actually!  <-- Dky's fave!

Mky's Seabass and Grilled Shrimp Salad @ Takashimaya.  Based on experience, the branch at Taka seems to serve smaller portions than the Wheelock one, where the salad greens engulf a good half of the plate and more, for the same price.  Visibly less veggies in the above picture, though that may please some less fanatical veggie-eaters... =)  personally, Mky much prefers less-puny veggie portions (GREEN is IN!).

Other good eats we've tried include the Cedele Beef Burger (read: JUICY!!), the grilled chicken, avocado and brie sandwich on herb foccacia (Mky: Dky couldn't stop raving as he ravenously chomped through the sandwich, first time I've ever heard him rave about any kind of sandwich), the creamy mushroom soup (best enjoyed with a ton of the free-flow bread from bread bar, especially the chewy dark rye loaf) and the buttery moist, oblong-shaped muffins.

Mky also has a soft spot for their Depot's Brew (aka "One skinny coffee, please"; they didn't get it when she actually ordered "Depot's Brew" though that's what it's called on the menu board), and their fantabulous all-day breakfast sets (blueberry pancakes!).  Cedele also has its own range of organic ice-cream (available at some branches only), though we haven't given it a try to date, in our bid to eat lighter when possible.

                            Blueberry Hazelnut Cheesecake         Caramel Sea-salt Cheesecake

(These cake pictures were 'borrowed' from the Cedele website)

 On their bakery side, they've got some pretty decent cakes, bakes and pastries, rustic loaves of bread in various permutations, and kickass cheesecakes... such as the caramel sea-salt rendition which Mky received on her birthday.  Praise for the cake came fast and furious as forks dove in to fight for the last creamy bite... Dky's getting the Blueberry Hazelnut Cheesecake for his birthday tomorrow... reviews to come as an update to this post, stay tuned!

(Review above was mostly by Mky)

**Note** The Wheelock branch of Cedele has poor ventilation, expect to come out smelling a bit greasy and stale after a meal there...


398 Upper Bukit Timah Road
The Rail Mall
Tel: 6766 3253

The list of other Cedele branches can be found at their website here.

Spizza

Ursula: Tomato, Mascarpone, Spinach, Smoked Salmon, Capers

Review by Mky:


Hungry and craving pizza yet? The Ursula is always a crowd-pleaser! Just tear off a slice, and eat at will... savour the globs of cheesy unctuous goodness as they slide down your throat...

Hard to go wrong with thick, savoury slices of smoked salmon coddling luscious mounds of melt-in-your-mouth mascarpone!  Could have done with a bit more cheese as it wasn't very well spread out, but delicious overall!  The baby spinach leaves did a good job of cutting through the tasty flavours and helped alleviate some of the guilt...

Spizza is a nice place to head to with a large group, it has a pleasantly laid-back convivial atmosphere, although the Balmoral branch tends to heat up (lousy air-conditioning?) if the weather is warm.  Dropped by with Dky's sister and a couple of the cousins and ordered up a storm (growing boys need a lot of food to keep them running)!

Overall, the food is consistently palatable, as befits a mid-range pizza place.  Spizza's pizza crust has always been pretty decent, light, airy and crisp (not rock-hard as some places make it) though it can get a bit soggy near the centre at times.  Follows is a series of photos and some comments on the dishes we enjoyed... the good company made the food taste even better... 

Caligola: Crispy Calamari With “Pizzaiola” Sauce

 Tasty enough, crispy batter but the calamari rings could be more tender.  Tasted good when paired with the pesto mayo from the next dish...

Mozzarella Sticks with Pesto Mayonnaise

 Moreish crunchy crust encasing molten gooey mozzarella... cheese-lovers will totally dig this!

 

Crispy Chicken Wings with Arrabbiata sauce

Barbara: Tomato, Mozzarella, Hot Italian Minced Pork, Shallots, Olives

Quinta: Tomato, Mozzarella, Egg, Black Truffle Sauce

The scintillating, earthy aroma of black truffles makes this a must-try!  Knock open the gleaming, quivery, runny egg yolk and let it soak into the pizza crust... adds a silky taste sensation which heightens the unique fragrance of truffles... very simple, but very, very good!  Wonder why we've not tried it sooner!

All in all, a casual, reliable place to get reasonably good wood-fired pizza, for fairly decent prices.  A good standby if a craving needs to be satiated and no other places come to mind.

Balmoral Plaza
271 Bukit Timah Rd, 259708
Tel: 6333 8148

The Plain

Dean's Breakfast (can't remember if this was the full-sized or if they only had this size)..

We were brought to this cafe that serves all-day breakfast by friends Shu & Jo (with Serene) one Sunday afternoon. It was about 3.30pm and we hadn't yet had our lunch. Initially we were gonna stop here for a light snack before heading elsewhere for an early dinner, but after our hour-long tete-a-tete, we realized toast, eggs and hot chocolate can make us really full.. Plus the setting was ideal for a really nice catch-up over breakfast, no matter the time of day.

The Dean's Breakfast pictured above was really delicious. Emmenthal cheese on sourdough bread spread with vegemite was pungent and tasty, and topped with perfectly-done poached eggs. Poke the egg and have some runny yolk mixed in for an even stickier experience.

Humpty Dumpty & Vegemite Soldiers.... Pictured here with 1 egg missing.

Vegemite is something that all mothers should introduce into their child's breakfast. Mky and I reminisced about eating bread with Bovril/ Marmite/ Vegemite when we were kids - comfort food for sure! We had a minor issue with one of our half-boiled eggs, the staff needed reminding that we were short on one (and it finally arrived almost fully done). But Mky took her time and thoroughly savoured her single dippy egg.

Hot Drinking Chocolate best sipped slowly.. 

This place has a reputation for great coffee (some say one of the best), and a really chill-out ambience, inspired by Melbourne cafes. There's a mix of staff ranging from young and upbeat kids to an elderly lady who was very eager to please. Great service really!

The Plain
50 Craig Road, #01-01
Singapore 089688
Tel: 6225 4387

Kellog's Corn Flakes Vintage Tin

There was a promotion (not sure if it's still ongoing) for a packet of Kellog's Corn Flakes "Classic" that came packed with a Vintage Tin costing about S$6.60 only. That's for 2 x 275grams of corn flakes (there was an additional 275 grams of corn flakes in the tin). If I remember correctly, we found them in NTUC Fairprice supermarket.

The tin has a 2-sided design, and can be opened from the top-side. The above pic shows one side, the other has a vintage colour image of a kid eating corn flakes with similar wordings. The alternate design for this vintage tin is an all-white one (not pictured).

We thought it was a great deal and a beautifully retro design for our future kitchen and picked up both designs!

Random: K ki

A sweet slice of Japan (the link is a write-up on the Japanese-style cafe from The Puff List. "K ki" is pronounced as "Cakey".)

K ki,
7 Ann Siang Hill.

Home-made Mushroom Cream Pasta

Mky made this mushroom cream pasta dish a few weeks back. It was healthy (wholegrain pasta noodle), and the yummy sauce was entirely home-made, with the natural flavours of rendered pork fat (removed after attaining the oil), onions, mushrooms, as well as peas! The patties we purchased whole from a supermarket, and that was probably the saltiest thing on the plate. Check out the process in the pics above.

Oh yes, as you might be able to tell, we tried to emphasize 'plating' a bit more in this one. Hope it turned out nicer than our previous attempts. We're still learning!