Anyeong Noona

Showing posts with label cafehopping. Show all posts

Anyeong! It has been a while since the last time Noona updates this blog because of some technical glitch and so on. She was kinda pondering on whether she should just abandon this blog entirely but then again, it's so troublesome to create a new blog so Noona is back again now.

Recently, there have been more and more Japanese cafes opening up in Singapore, especially in the busy area of Tanjong Pagar. Tanjong Pagar is a nightmare if you visit the area on weekday lunchtime (but so is all other CBD area in Singapore). The best time to do cafehopping in Tanjong Pagar area is actually during the weekend. Noona did some exploration at the latest addition in the region, Tanjong Pagar Centre last Saturday and oh wow, the place is so quiet it makes chilling out there so enjoyable. Tanjong Pagar Centre houses the cafe that Noona wants to talk about for today, Hattendo Cafe.

Oink Noona: Hattendo Cafe, Tanjong Pagar

Hattendo Cafe specialises in cream buns and it is currently offering 5 different flavors of cream buns including custard, whipped cream (seriously?), matcha, azuki beans and chocolate. One cream bun costs SGD 2.50 while you can get five buns for the price of SGD 12.50. The chocolate cream bun seems to be the most favorite flavor because Hattendo Cafe has already run out of its chocolate cream bun by the time Noona visited the cafe at 4.30PM-ish on Saturday afternoon.

Menu from Hattendo Cafe at Tanjong Pagar Centre

Savory items are available at Hattendo Cafe too. These items are probably included to cater for the lunch crowd at Tanjong Pagar area on weekdays. Some interesting selection includes Iberian Ham with Mozzarella (SGD 8), Okonomiyaki Sausage Rosti (SGD 13) and the DIY Mason Jar Salad (SGD 7 for 1 jar).

Sandwich and salad menu from Hattendo Cafe

Occasionally, Hattendo Cafe will offer seasonal flavour like Matcha Melon Cream Bun (SGD 3). Each cream bun has been wrapped individually and kept in the fridge. The cream buns are best eaten when they are chilled. So if you don't want to eat them immediately, you have to keep them at the fridge at home. The staff behind the counter has informed us that the cream buns last for two hours outside the fridge.

Cream buns from Hattendo Cafe at Tanjong Pagar Centre

This is the serving size of the cream bun. They look rather big when displayed inside the wrapping but once you open the wrap, the cream bun is not as big as what Noona expects. The texture of the buns for the Matcha Melon Cream Bun is rather unique because it resembles the outer skin of Japanese favourite bun, Melon Pan. I am an avid fan of Melon Pan despite its high calorie content. Why everything that taste good to Noona seem to be fattening? *sigh*

Matcha melon cream bun from Hattendo Cafe

XxThe filling of the cream bun taste rather milky just like what the Japanese seem to enjoy. Noona finds the cream bun to be rather sweet, it will taste even better if Hattendo lower down the sugar level by one notch. But since Singapore is a country which love sweetness in their food, Noona does not see her suggestion happening anytime soon. Overall, Hattendo Cafe is a nice cafe to chill out on a weekend. Hmm, just wondering if the cream bun will make a perfect pairing for a cup of flat white. Maybe next time.

Custard and matcha melon cream bun from Hattendo Cafe

Hattendo is located at:

7 Wallich Street,

Tanjong Pagar Centre #01-05

Opening hours:

Monday to Friday 10AM - 9PM

Saturday and Sunday 11AM - 8PM

"Cause tonight I'm feeling like an astronaut, sending SOS from this tiny box."

Anyeong! Noona is back at Lola's Cafe again but this time around, she came with a different chingu. And since this time around we visited Lola's Cafe around 5PM-ish, we dare to order matcha latte and cafe mocha and oh boy, both drinks taste so good. The coffee sold at Lola's Cafe is on par with the ones sold at Paddy Hills.

Oink Noona: Lola's Cafe Revisited, Kovan

Chingu wanted to try out pasta so we order Swimmer Crab and Prawn Pasta (SGD 18). There is an option to make the pasta spicy or non spicy but since we are both spicy lover, we prefer it to be spicy. Noona is more of a fan of cream pasta rather than soupy ones but at least Lola's Cafe is pretty generous with the amount of crabmeat given on this pasta.

Swimmer crab & prawn pasta from Lola's Cafe

Chingu does not want to relent on giving up ordering Nacho Cheese Fries (SGD 9). Haizz, being a very good friend, Noona let her go ahead with her order. Despite having ordering this starter before, it still tastes quite good. Apparently, it's hard to get bored of something which has cheese on top of it.

Nachos cheese fries from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

There are so many cakes to select from the cake display at Lola's Cafe but since we are having some tarts for take-always, we decided to try Lola's Cafe's signature chocolate cake. Hmm it is so-so. It's kinda hard to judge chocolate cake, to be honest with you. Maybe Noona should have gone with Lychee Rosewater Cake instead.

But Lola's Cafe does serve ah-ma-zing tarts. The price tag for each tart is not cheap at SGD 5. But the Black Sesame Tart and Lemon Meringue Tart are really really worth the price tag. If Noona ever comes back to Lola's Cafe again in the future (well, Kovan is pretty far from where Noona lives so...), she will definitely buy the tarts again.

Black sesame and lemon meringue tart from Lola's Cafe

Cony is a happy bunny to receive lemon meringue tart from Lola's Cafe. Are you gonna share the calorie with Brown?

Lemon Meringue Tart from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

Lola's Cafe is located at:

5 Simon Road

Singapore

Opening hours:

Monday closed

Tuesday to Thursday 10AM - 11.30PM

Friday to Saturday 10AM - 12PM

Sunday 10AM - 11.30PM

"I saw your face in a crowded place, but I don't know what to do."

Anyeong! Noona has a trip coming up in the next 2 weeks but she has not reached the ideal summer body shape yet. Eottoke? Based on what she googled, she has to go for such an extreme diet like what those celebrities went through if she wants to reach her targeted body goal by then. Oh my gawd, that sounds pretty much impossible because well, Noona was purely a glutton. Hahahaha.

Well, for instance, you will not see any on-diet K-celebrity eating at a cafe during their crazy regime, right? But Noona has to maintain her social relationship with friends so here goes diet at Hoshino Coffee.

Oink Noona: Hoshino Coffee, Holland Village

Hoshino Coffee is a Japanese Italian cafe specialising in Omurice and Pasta dishes. In a glance, Hoshino Coffee's pasta kinda reminds Noona of Miam Miam's pasta, she starts to suspect both restaurant chains are owned by the same management.

Food menu from Hoshino Coffee at Holland Village

Hoshino Coffee has a pretty interesting coffee and teas. Noona was quite interested at the Sakura Latte. But oh my gawd, why does the price have to be that expensive? 9 dollars for a hot latte is kinda too much because Starbucks does not have even price their latte that expensive, right?

Coffee and teas menu from Hoshino Coffee at Holland Village

If you are visiting Hoshino Coffee recently, you will see additional menu for their 4th Anniversary in Singapore. Hmm it feels like just yesterday that Hoshino Coffee appears in Singapore. Time really flies.

Special menu from Hoshino Coffee Singapore

Despite the 9 dollars price-tag, Noona succumbed to the pinky sakura latte drink. Thankfully, the taste is not bad being sweet without overpoweringly sweet like macaron. But seriously, 9 bucks? This will be once in a lifetime event, my dear sakura latte. Hahaha.

Sakura latte from Hoshino Coffee at Holland Village

Noona's chingu ordered matcha latte instead because she likes to play it safe in ordering food (boring, no?). The hot matcha latte is slightly cheaper at SGD 7.50.

Matcha latte and sakura latte from Hoshino Coffee

Since Hoshino Coffee is having limited edition menu for their 4th Anniversary in Singapore, we decided to order one of their anniversary menus, Omurice and Angus Beef Steak Rice with Salad (SGD 18.80). Kinda wish the beef steak to be thicker but other than that, the dish is pretty good. Noona likes the way salad is prepared with Japanese sesame sauce. Yummy~

Beef steak omurice from Hoshino Coffee at Holland Village

Since we both know that our hunger will not be satisfied by just sharing a plate of omurice + beef steak, we ordered Shrimp, Avocado, Mozzarella with Tomato Sauce (SGD 15). The pasta served at Hoshino Coffee is leaning more toward al-dente style which Noona likes so much. She does not like her pasta to be soupy, which is what usually happen to cream pasta generally sold in Singapore.

Tomato spaghetti from Hoshino Coffee at Holland Village

Hoshino Coffee has a lot of branches in Singapore but the branch that we visited is located at:

118 Holland Avenue 2,

Raffles Holland V #02-02

Opening hours:

Monday - Friday, PH Eve: 11AM - 10PM

Saturday, Sunday and PH: 9AM - 10PM

"Time seems to say forget the world and its weight."

Thanks God there is weekend. Otherwise, Noona really does not know how to take a breather from all the dramas and tiring work she has been enduring throughout the week. Sometimes a chillax session with friend is all you need to unwind for a while especially when the venue for the session is cozy and perfect for lazing (and chatting).

If you are looking for such place in Dhoby Ghaut area, you may want to consider coming to Curious Palette at Prinsep Street.

Oink Noona: Curious Palette, Prinsep Street

This was Noona's second time visiting the cafe and she has never need to wait because a table for 2 is quite easy to secure here. Curious Palette has an extensive list of coffee and chocolate drink.

Drink menu from Curious Palette at Prinsep Street

Food wise, Curious Palette serves waffles and other brunch items like egg Benedictus and stuff. The spam fries are so good but we had ordered that before so it's time to try out other stuff from Curious Palette.

Food menu from Curious Palette at Prinsep Street

Momo, who totally enjoyed her rare day as single lady (since her hubby is off for some work-related-outing), needed her White Magic caffeine-fix which taste pretty good. It kinda tastes like latte and yet not too sweet, not too bitter. Just nice.

White Magic Brew Coffee from Curious Palette

Meanwhile, Noona stick to the lighter drink, Iced Seven-Spice Chai Latte (SGD 6.90). She's able to sleep at midnight despite drinking chai latte. That means the caffeine inside chai latte is really low or there is no caffeine at all inside this drink. But in any case, that's good for her. Hahaha.

Iced Seven Spiced Chai Tea Latte from Curious Palette

Our concept for chillaxing dinner today is brunch-for-dinner. So both our orders has an integral element of brunch, egg. Noona orders Crab Cake with Sweet Potato Fries. While the fries are great and hopefully, slightly healthier than normal fries, the crab cake does not really have the "crabby" taste and more like fried mashed potato. Maybe they should use more crab meats inside the crab cake?

Crab cakes with sweet potatoes from Curious Palette

Momo ordered Corned Beef Scotch Egg which looks kinda interesting. The scotch eggs are served with healthy sides from tomato salsa, guacamole, brussels sprouts and a big spoonful of quinoa. She got full after eating half the scotch egg. That's not a surprise because she consumed a bag of Taiwanese crispy fried chicken right before our chillax session. Greedy Momo. LOL.

Scotch eggs with quinoa and guacamole from Curious Palette

Curious Palette is located at:

64 Prinsep Street

Nearest MRT: Dhoby Ghaut MRT

Opening hours:

Sunday - Monday, Wednesday - Thursday 9AM to 10PM

Friday and Saturday 9AM to 12AM

Closed on Tuesdays

"I could've been a princess, you'd be a king"

Once upon a time, there was a Queen, a Princess and a Prince living in their wonderful castle served by many maids. Fast forward to the modern days, the Queen, the Princess and the Prince somehow have no escape from the brutality of high living cost and now they have to work in an office. However, despite the change in season, they still demand certain service from someone who they think are not worthy i.e. Noona. Once their meets are not met, they have succumbed to their irrational behaviour and end up exploding to bits and pieces much to Noona's amusement. Too bad the last part has not happened yet. Instead, the Prince gave rude attitude and keep making up excuses when his work does not meet standard, the Princess simply refuses to do what she's supposed to do since Noona can't help but doing the task since Princess kept someone as hostage, and the Queen file a complaint to...wait-a-minute, what's higher than Queen and female? Queen Mother? Fairy Godmother? Oh well, let's just say the Queen file a complaint to the higher-up and act like she's a victim or something. Epic. You guys deserve an Oscar. Really.

With this kind of drama, Noona needs a nice and cozy place to spend time hanging out with her BFF while venting about this drama. And there's one nice cafe at Kovan which seems to be the perfect venue for this occasion.

Turns out Lola's Cafe is pretty big, it uses two side-by-side units and yet, don't get deceived by its big premise. It's still recommended to reserve seats before you make your way all the way to Kovan to avoid disappointment or long waiting time. Since Kovan is considered far far away from where Noona's staying, it seems wise to just make a booking nonetheless.

Even with the booking, Noona still has to wait for 5 minutes or so. Hmm okay, she could wait for 5 minutes. No biggie. We should not live a rushed life all the time. Especially when it's time to unwind and chill.

Noona was more excited than her cafehopping buddy to check out the menu. This is normal considering that her cafehopping buddy has been at Lola's Cafe so many times before since this cafe is located near to the TCM that she often visits for health check-up.

Food and desserts menu from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

Lola's Cafe is famous for its coffee too but it was already quite late at night and Noona did not want to risk insomnia since she wanted to just lie on bed and doze after this dinner. Hmm, let's see what we should order other than coffee then.

The tarts on display at Lola's Cafe look so damn good seriously. So many diners are requesting for these tarts for takeaways so Noona feels these tarts must be quite good.

But tonight is the night meant for booze. So let's drink our ice cold (watermelon) beer and cheers for good days ahead. Noona was quite surprised this watermelon beer taste so good.

Watermelon beer from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

And the beer goes super well with the two starters that we ordered, the nacho cheese fries (SGD 9) and the honey paprika chicken wings (SGD 10). The nacho cheese fries taste so good, we ended up finishing the whole bowl.

Nacho cheese fries from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

The honey paprika chicken wings also taste so crispy and yet tender and well seasoned. Since the serving portion of the starters are quite big, it was a wise decision for both of us not to order anymore food other than these two. For your information, we often over-order during our course of cafe-hopping adventure. Sometimes our eyes got the better of us.

Honey Paprika Chicken Wings from Lola's Cafe at Kovan

Lola's Cafe is located at:

5 Simon Road

Opening hours:

Closed on Mondays

Tues - Thurs, Sun 10AM - 11.30PM

Friday and Saturday 10AM - 12AM

"If I lay here, if I just lay here.

Would you lie with me and just forget the world?"

Anyeong! Noona is currently feeling a tad emo because it seems that the more she sees some light about certain situations (or someone), the more her fantasy crumbles. Crack crack, yeah, that's more like it *dry laugh*. For someone who has always been a dreamer (despite the fact that she has become less and less idealist because of some reality lessons learned from life), she kinda feels sad when her fantasy crumbling. Oh man.

In time like this, let's go for a cuppa joe. Noona used to think that Tyrwhitt Road is somewhat inaccessible because the last time Noona visited Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar (CSHH Coffee Bar), she has to take a bus from Lavender to a she-dunno-where bus stop and then walk for a bit to CSHH Coffee Bar.

Oink Noona: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar, Farrer Park

But now, Noona and her cafehopping buddy took a train to Farrer Park MRT Station and made our way to CSHH Coffee Bar on foot. It seems to be way nearer than taking bus from Lavender MRT Station. Since this was cafehopping buddy's first time at CSHH Coffee Bar, she was kinda shocked when Noona brought her into a building which looks like a deserted office building. Once you are inside though, you will immediately see an al-fresco area of CSHH Coffee Bar which obviously look like a normal cafe and not some industrial building. Hahaha.

Al fresco area of Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar

This is the main entrance of CSHH Coffee Bar if you would like to sit inside an air-conditioned section of the cafe.

Main door to Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar

Other than coffees, CSHH Coffee Bar serves food too. The food section is divided into mains, to share, salads and sides. Noona has never been a fan of salads so she totally did not look into it. Since we are going for dessert at the neighboring Creamery after this, we tried to limit our food intake by sharing the Huat Dog and Mac and Cheese.

Food menu from CCSH Coffee Bar Farrer Park

While cafehopping buddy proceeded to make order at the cashier, Noona is busy observing the cafe's interior. Yeap, we are sitting at the coffee bar table and hence, we could observe how the coffee is made at CSHH Coffee Bar. Not that we understand how the coffee was made though, so we could not really comment much after looking at the creation line. Hahaha.

Bar area at CCSH Coffee Bar at Farrer Park

Fancy coffee machine at CSHH Coffee Bar. Kinda makes Noona and her cafehopping buddy want to try out learning coffee-making. Barista course on the look. Hahahaha.

Coffee machine from Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee

There is no way we visit CSHH Coffee Bar without ordering their coffee. Noona notices that a lot of customers are buying their coffee powder so CSHH Coffee Bar must have been serving an awesome coffee. The latte art on our mocha looks fantastic too with hearts on both coffee. Definitely happy with our mocha <3.

Mocha from Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar

Halfway sipping our mocha, a plate of Huat Dog (SGD 16) has arrived on our table. It is basically something like coney dog but served with Asian rendang sauce. Quirky and yummy at the same time.

Huat Dog from Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee

There's nothing that can go wrong with an order of Mac and Cheese. Taste even better when eaten with chili sauce (blame my Indonesian tongue). Yummy!

Mac n Cheese from Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee

Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee Bar is located at:

150 Tyrwhitt Road

Singapore

Nearest MRT: Farrer Park MRT

Opening hours:

Sunday to Thursday 9AM - 10PM

Friday to Saturday 9AM - 12AM

"There's no need to complicate, our time is short."

Today is Friday and yet it's so hard to be chill like how Noona is usually is on a Friday because Noona's friend in office is going through a trouble. In a gist, there has been a miscommunication within our team member which resulted in some stuff not reported timely to the tax authority. And this may result in penalty to our workplace. Nothing is a good news when it involves some kind of "loss" to the boss no matter how big or tiny the amount is so yeah, Noona has been busy consoling her friend throughout the day. Sometimes she wonders why work has become so complicated up to the point everybody is busy and tired and start to make mistake.

That's why it is so important to enjoy weekend to the fullness whenever it arrives. Last weekend, Noona and her cafehopping buddy finally managed to get seats at Creamery Boutique Ice Creams (after one hour of waiting, nonetheless).

The one hour waiting time is probably partly because the ice cream boutique is not big in size and hence, only manages to accommodate a few table and chairs. The concept of the dessert sold at Creamery Boutique Ice Cream is a set of cookie and ice cream. The idea is to serve cold ice cream on a lava/ non-lava cookie.

Cookie set menu from Creamery at Farrer Park

The lava cookies will crack and ooze out its fillings whereby the non-lava cookies stay sturdy and solid even when you put a scoop of ice cream on it. Creamery has beverages too but we are not interested in the beverages menu at all.

Cookie, ice cream and beverages menu from Creamery at Farrer Park

Some nice decoration beneath the menu at the black board. The menu on the blackboard is not that complete so it's better to take a look at the paper menu instead.

Some of the flavour of the ice cream to select from include Piko Piko (tiramisu coffee flavour), Sugus (a brand of sweets from the past), Strawberry, Matcha, Thai Tea and classic flavour such as chocolate and vanilla. You can ask for tester first before deciding which ice cream you would like to have with your cookie.

Ice cream flavour at Creamery Farrer Park

Since it took a lot of effort just to get a table at Creamery Boutique Ice Cream, we decided to pig a bit and order two cookie sets. The first set is called Red Devil (SGD 8.90) as it consists of Red Velvet Cream Cheese Lava Cookie and one scoop of ice cream. We chose Milo Dinosaur ice cream to pair with the red velvet cookie. But when the waitress press the cookie, the cream cheese filling did not really ooze out like what we expected it to be.

Lava cookie red velvet cream cheese from Creamier at Farrer Park

In fact, the cream cheese filling was only oozing out from one direction. We found this kinda anti-climax to be honest with you.

Milo Dinosaur on Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cookie from Creamier at Farrer Park

The waitress came back to pour topping which seems to be Milo powder on the whole cookie + ice cream set. Still not impressed with the lack of oozing cream cheese inside our red velvet cookie here. Taste wise, it was not bad. Red velvet and milo make a pretty good combination apparently.

Milo Dinosaur ice cream on Red Velvet Cookie with topping from Creamier at Farrer Park

The next cookie set that we ordered is Brownie (SGD 7.90) which consists of a non-lava Brownie cookie and one scoop of ice cream. We paired our brownie cookie with Piko Piko ice cream. Since it is a non-lava cookie, we left it aside to finish our Red Devil first.

Tiramisu ice cream on Brownie cookie from Creamier at Farrer Park

But when we were going to move on with our second cookie set, the Piko Piko ice cream has started to melt and creating a great visual for our Instagram. Taste-wise, Noona thinks she's about to have diabetes after eating this sugar + sugar combination which leads to sugar overload. Okay, morale of the story is tiramisu + brownie is an overkill. Don't do this unless you have an extremely high tolerance of sugar.

Tiramisu ice cream on brownie cookie at Creamier

Creamery Boutique Ice Cream is located at:

139 Tyrwhitt Road, #01-03

Nearest MRT: Farrer Park

Opening hours:

Daily (except Thursday) 11AM - 10PM

Closed on Thursday

Subscribe to: Posts ( Atom )

Anyeong Noona

Oink Noona: Hattendo Cafe, Tanjong Pagar

Oink Noona: Lola's Cafe Revisited, Kovan

Oink Noona: Hoshino Coffee, Holland Village

Oink Noona: Curious Palette, Prinsep Street

Oink Noona: Lola's Cafe, Kovan

Oink Noona: Chye Seng Huat Hardware Coffee, Farrer Park

Oink Noona: Creamery Boutique Ice Cream, Farrer Park