Home-made: Funky Sandwiches

 For lunch bento this week, we have egg whites (with a couple yolks) scrambled with minced chicken, baby chard and plenty of black pepper, nestled in wholegrain Ozery thins.
I thought this concoction was super tasty! 9/10!

Sandwich 2 comprises smoked salmon and mashed avocado on gigantic foccacia buns. Both sammies are accompanied by homemade quick pickles in honey balsamic, on top on beds of mizuna and baby sweet pea sprouts.
Avocado and salmon is a safe bet that I can eat without complaint anytime, everytime!

Home-made: Recent Sandwiches

Parma ham and cheese sandwich, from stuff easily found in your local Cold Storage. Simple things that come together to make a delightful taste indulgence!

Just had this really tasty avocado smoked salmon sandwich. Salmon and avocado makes for a deliciously creamy combination. Yum!

Perfect Afternoon "Tea"

 

Henry Congressional is a really interesting place. Stripped bare minimalist, eclectic, yet filled with personal touches that encourages one to sit back and relax - be at home. On approaching the cafe, the glass facade (as seen above), shrouded by a white semi-transparent sheet, gives an impression of an American diner.

Mky was lured to this cafe by the coffee, pandan cake and the flourless chocolate cake. Our friends also recommended trying their American imported beer from Hair of the Dog brewing company. What? Beer in a coffee, cake and tea place? Rare yes, and it turns out that this actually makes for a really great combo for an afternoon tea for Mky and me. What with her coffee and pandan cake, and me with my beer and chocolate cake. =D

All confections found in this little cafe are home-baked by a tattooed guy. Turns out he used to be a sea-faring sailor, and he has some skills at cake-making! Flourless chocolate cakes are perfect for chocolate lovers like me who don't care much for cake. THIS is the kind of cake I love. Thick, no airy-fairy cakey bits getting in the way of the good stuff. And they serve them on those old-school metal plates too. See eclectic above.

Mky thought the pandan cake was divine. Pfft.. Pandan cake? People who love flourless choco cakes don't understand how exquisite a simple pandan cake can be. I'll let her add her comments later. *rolls eyes* hehe

Is that a fixie by the wall? Yea, along with the vacuum tube audio amplifier, the decor of Henry Congressional lures in the cool cats, and the hip-without-trying-to-be crowd. Me and Mky? We're just there to eat and drink. =) And by drink, check out the Westvleteren beer crate! How many places can boast of having a Westvleteren beer crate?? We're talking about Belgium monks churning out one of the best rated beers in the world here.

One thing to note, in the cafe, there are only 2 large tables and 1 smaller one against the wall. That's it. So it's pretty much a communal sitting kinda thing. Don't bring a large group there, you'll have problems with seating. The staff had to request for the customers to bunch up a little to create space for us.

Oh yes, then there's coffee. Mmm coffee. I'll let Mky comment on the coffee.

I chose to go for a cheap $9 St Bernardus 'wit' beer (actually, that was the most expensive thing we had there!), to cool me off from the warm afternoon heat. Nice and mellow. There's lots of craft beer choices, as mentioned, Hair of the Dog as well. Oh, the Westvleteren crate is just a show-off thing, I don't think they sell those. I wouldn't hand-cart those all the way from Belgium just to sell it either.

So since Mky skipped lunch, and I had mine pretty early on in the day, we decided to share one of their sandwiches. The rosemary chicken & watercress sandwich was pretty good. There's a huge chunk of grilled chicken in there, it was warm and it tasted great on the bed of watercress. I love the smell of the cheese, and the ciabatta that enveloped it was a perfectly crisp outer layer.

Seen on the wall of the cafe - "Henry Congressional: of or pertaining to the meeting of common folks for the appreciation of specialty coffee, tea & craft beer." This sort of spells out the intention of the place. Unfortunately, they'll only be around till Feb 2013, so head on over and check 'em out soon!

Henry Congressional

44 Holland Grove Road

9107 7547

Closed Mondays and Tuesdays,
Open till midnight on Fridays & Saturdays.

Jewel Coffee - a real gem in the CBD

 

If you've taken a stroll along Shenton Way, you'd probably already have seen this striking cafe opposite the SGX Building. "Jewel Coffee" in bold red words is framed by naked light bulbs that are reminiscent of a Hollywood starlet's dressing mirror. Seats are mostly outdoor al fresco with a few bar stools within the confines of the air-conditioned serving area.

We ordered the skinny cappuccino, El Carmen Estate blend from El Salvador. Strong chocolatey coco notes, dark and smooth. Rich and velvety mouth feel, when taken with skinny milk. If compared with beer, it would be akin to Stone Brewery's Russian Imperial Stout. $5.50.

The boss served us the Pork Cubes and asked about our thoughts on the coffee. He then suggested we try his other blend to find out the difference. He immediately went and brewed us a complimentary cup!

The Fried Pork Cubes were actually meaty pieces of pork collar, one of the tastiest cuts of pork available. If compared with Santouka's divine pork cheek dish, this would be a less tender version but just as flavorful. Do note that this dish, visually, fails to look appetizing. When it came, I just thought it looked like meat that was over-soaked in end-of-day oil. however, this is one of those dishes that warrants a try in order to really appreciate it. The marinade used with the fatty pork tastes quite Asian: vinegary, hints of dark/black sauce, possibly five spice powder. This results in a darned tasty and meaty bite! Only $10!

Jewel Coffee

1 Shenton Way

#01-07

 Tel: 66369452