Lunch at Restore Cafe by Restore Living

124 Tanjong Pagar Road, Singapore 088533

Tel: 6222 3510
Website: http://restoreliving.blogspot.sg/p/cafe.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Restoreliving

If one would like to be surrounded by vintage furniture, great music and a quiet respite, while sipping a cup of hot coffee or eating a nice dessert, Restore Cafe is the perfect spot to hit.

Yes, this charming little place consists of lovingly restored quality vintage furniture, transforming this place into a cosy, backdated little place for furniture lovers and cafe hoppers alike.

Amongst the quirkily lined furniture on the walls (since this is also a furniture shop), there are also books on sale - for the solo cafe hoppers to indulge in, or book lovers to bring home with them.

There are also many objet d'art and other home accessories for purchase and forming part of the decoration.

I browsed the limited menu and came up blank, so went to the counter to check out desserts. The Dark Chocolate Tart and Lemon Cake looked nice - and they were freshly baked on the spot!

I ordered something to occupy myself with first, while waiting for a close friend, *Nancy, to get here (like, an hour later??) This was the Dark Chocolate Tart (SGD$6.80) - with a crispy biscuit base that crumbled in the mouth deliciously. The ganache, though not moist enough - had a very rich dark chocolate flavor, a sticky sweetness which the palate warmed up to immediately. Best of all was that it was not too sweet, so it was really enjoyable to eat.

I also had an Iced Mocha (SGD6.00) - a lovely chocolatey drink that blended beautifully into the bittersweet coffee. I did not even need any of that sugar syrup.

A piece of Earl Grey Cookie was served a la "biscotti" style - this was one of the cafe's own bake as well. A crunchy delicacy resplendant of earl grey's ever-so-slight ashy fragrance - the perfect accompaniment to any beverage, hot or cold.

*Nancy finally got here, so we ordered the mains. I wasn't really hungry by then, but just ordered a sandwich to try it out, since it was stated to be  "freshly-made". Curiosity got the better of me, and I chose the Who Moo Sandwich (SGD$12.90) - out of three mere choices.

It consisted of hummus (mashed chickpeas), fresh rocket, feta cheese, tomatoes, olives, cucumber slices - drizzled with olive oil and served with corn chips. The ingredients seemed simple enough, and the hummus paste did not look appetizing, but after our first bites, *Nancy and I both had to admit the taste was good. The distinctive chickpea taste was not lost in its paste-like form, and went really well with the crispy toast, chips and even leaves.

*Nancy had the Chocolate, Almond & Banana Waffle (SGD$9.80) - served with freshly sliced bananas and toasted sliced almonds and Hershey's chocolate sauce, topped with icing sugar and freshly whipped cream. The waffles had a cripsy edge framing soft, buttery center. The ingredients again seem simple, but one could tell that efforts have been put into it to ensure everything's fresh - which undoubtedly made the waffle a sumptuous dessert.

We sat and chatted over more drinks, and both enjoyed the serenity of this vintage furniture-shop-cum-cafe. The food is undeniably good, but we both felt that the menu should be more extensive, so as to attract more people.

Dinner at Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Cafe (again)

After the first time discovering Stuttgart Blackforest Boutique S-Cafe, I suggested to my dear girls *Charmaine and *Micaela to dine there since it is near their office. Located at 141 Middle Road, #01-01 GSM Building, Singapore 188976, the number to dial is 6336 8875.

I was late because of a company event, but nonetheless *Micaela saved a portion of sausage for me from her dish of Lentils, homemade Swabian pasta and Sausages dish (SGD$15.00). The sausage was springy with freshness, and tasted of real veal meat instead of the artificial / mixed-meat flavors of some sausages elsewhere. The gravy was a lovely mushroomy flavor - which *Micaela couldn't help but swipe clean the plate with bread, lolling in the deliciousness of the gravy.

I had the Maultaschen Swabian Dumplings with Potato Salad (SGD$15.00) with Tomato Salsa dressing. The potato salad with its tiny cubes of potato was something I have been craving for since the last time I had it. The dumpling skin was made of pasta / dough, and the ground beef inside the dumplings was tasty in a light flavor. There was not an ounce of fatty meat to be found, which scored high points in my book. Topped with the sour-sweet salsa sauce, this dish was simply divine!

An Engel Radler beer (SGD$12.00) accompanied my meal, and I liked it more than the Alpirsbacher Radler  that I had during the last visit. Light and fizzy with deliciousness of lemonade amongst this pure beer, it was the perfect drink after a hard day's of work.

*Charmaine had the good sense to order the single portion Pork Knuckle (SGD$18.00) - which she held praises for as well, except that the portion was large. I knew one of these girls would order the pork knuckle already, since it was one of our favorites during the Paulaner's days.

I was glad that the beauties enjoyed the beautiful cafe and the food. Anyway, after *Micaela left, I had two male friends, *M and *E joining us for beers and tea, and a slice of the must-have Blackforest cake infused with alcohol (SGD$10.00). This time, we migrated from the wooden table to the lounge area where it was more comfortable, relaxed, and  not as cold (a corporate event was taking place upstairs, hence the air-conditioning was set very low, despite the open doors).

Mid-Autumn Festival / Mooncakes Festival

Mid-Autumn Festival falls on 8 September 2014 (Monday) this year, a day celebrated with beautiful lanterns, admiring the beautiful Full Moon and eating mooncakes.

To share a little history, there had been many stories surrounding the Mid-Autumn festival. The most famous one of all would be Chang Er flying to the moon upon taking an elixir meant for her cruel husband, who wanted to live forever. The other tales would be the Wu Gang's chopping of laurel tree and Jade Rabbit pounding medicine etc legends.

Unsure of where mooncake came about, but since young we have been enjoying mooncakes with hot tea, after playing lanterns with friends and neighbors at the estate playgrounds. Sometimes there were fireworks too, or fire crackers - it had been fun.  The very traditional ones came from Da Zhong Guo bakery - baked skin with different fillings.

The one on the right is five nuts (五仁) mooncakes, consisting of a sweet paste and five different types of nuts, as the name implies. Though the mom loves this, I never knew how to appreciate the nutty cake.

I must have three types of mooncakes every year - because I love mooncakes (no savoury ones like curry fillings though, please!). The first type being the baked skin mooncakes, usually white lotus paste filled with egg yolk preferred (like the ones by Fullerton Hotel and Da Zhong Guo as shown in photo above).

Snowskin mooncakes have always been a favorite of mine as well, starting from the usual green tea, durian etc flavors from most hotels and bakeries. Then more flavors were invented over the years, such as Antoinette's chestnut-flavored ones, or Regent Hotel's black sesame ones (both also my favorite).

Lately, I have also came to crave the traditional Teochew ones with the flakey skin. I love the light sweetness of the flakey layers of "skin" embracing  lovely lotus paste fillings within them. I also like Goodwood Park's durian mooncakes as well as Raffles Hotel's champagne truffles ones. One year, I remember receiving a box of Hotel Rendezvous' snowskin blackforest mooncakes, and loved them tremendously as well. The new snowskin tea mooncakes by Shangri-la are starting to grow on  me as well.

This year, I bought for my family and relatives the Low-Sugar ones from Intercontinental Hotel - lotus paste and egg yolks ones, of course. I didn't choose it specifically - I just happened to be in between queues for two telcos at Bugis Junction so I popped into the hotel on a whim, tasted the not-so-sweet mooncakes, liked the pretty packaging and ordered on the spot.

Photosource: http://7lunes.blogspot.sg/2012/07/trapa-bicornis-une-fabuleuse-illusion.html

Though, I would still pop by the mooncake bazaar to sample different mooncakes and see if I could purchase more sometimes....  It was always fun to have mooncakes with tea, and steamed yam alongside
trapas bicornis (better known as "Ling Jiao" or "Bullhorn Nuts").

Well, herein are some of my favorite mooncakes. Here's wishing you a Happy Mid-autumn Festival!

Brunch at Wheelers Yard Cafe

28 Lorong Ampas, Singapore 328781

Tel: 6254 9128

Heard of this cafe for ages, and it is not far from where I reside, so I decided to pop by for brunch after running some errands on a weekend morning.

Located amongst industrial office buildings and warehouses along the Balestier area, this cafe looks so non-discreet from the outside. It is a bicycle cafe for bikers to rest, get their bicycling gears and enjoy a lovely meal / coffee before heading for the roads again.

Not a cyclist (I cannot cycle, lol), but I did appreciate being able to see the different types of bicycles mounted / strewn around the cafe with huge capacity.

The "alfresco" area consists of a long counter selling all kinds of bicycle gears and parts, whereas there are tables for the patrons to sit and dine in cool comfort, listening to bustling  rock music.

There were quite a lot of people already up and getting their weekend doses of caffeine and good food around noon-time. The crowd is mixed - families, friends, couples and solo diners with good books in their hands.

I guess this could be considered a "sports cafe" as well. Anyway, after checking the seats, I decided to head indoors.The casual, rustic and spacious cafe makes one feel right at home, and the service crew members are ever-attentive.

Besides the menu with savoury items such as breakfasts and pastas, there's an interesting assortment of pastries such as lemon tarts, yuzu tarts, soursop tarts and horlicks tarts etc.

I had a Cuppaccino (SGD$5.00) to start the day off.  There was no fanciful latte art, but there were chocolate / cocoa powder on top, just the way I love my cuppaccinos. The coffee was aromatic and the creamy top layer of foam was very satisfying.

For the mains, I had a Scrambled Eggs with Smoked Salmon set (SGD$18.90) - consisting of bouncy smoked salmon, fresh greens with lots of halved cherry tomatoes, buttery scrambled eggs that were smooth as tofu, and golden toast which was crispy. It was a hearty indulgence.

For desserts, I chose the Soursop Tart (SGD$7.50) - sweet cream atop crunchy pastry crust, containing luscious soursop paste within. I hadn't expected the soursop taste to be distinctive, but it broke through the surface of cream and pastry to form an impression of its own, boldly letting its delicious flavor assault the palate pleasantly.

Overall, the dining experience was nice and simply relaxing - the perfect spot for non cyclists to chill out at over chatter or a good book.

Informal updates

This is something out of the norm for me, but I must say that some changes have been rather pleasing to note. I was part of an online forum that seemed potential to turn into something lovelier, and members could redeem credits for chatting and make new friends, etc.

Discuss SG - http://www.discuss.com.sg

The rewards were real, and some of us have redeemed vouchers, cheques etc from this platform. Some genuine friendship has been formed as well. However, it was run by the wrong leader, turning it into a playground of sorts for his own pleasure, and some other lies or breach of members' confidentiality that I shall not disclose.

Recently, it is good to see that the potential platform has changed hands, and is now managed by a team that is experienced, professional and have at least one member who is adept in managing many other businesses. More changes have been implemented, as well as marketing measures (more budget from a bigger corporation?).  

That's getting Step 1 of my plan out of the way (even though it may just be the ownership changing hands instead of closure) :)

Anyway, do feel free to register and earn credits for chatting / playing games / referring friends etc at this online forum.

On a sidenote, there had to be some eliminations in order to get to the end results that I want,so I had worked on it.  Recently I came across an ex-forummer's post (shown to me by another fellow forummer) on her blog that denoted me as being "jealous", "bitter", "sarcastic" etc, amongst other things. It amused me greatly, because sadly, while people like her were harboring fantasies that they were important enough for me to "hate" them , they failed to see that they were just insignificant roles that had to be tossed out of the way to make room for bigger ones, lol.

To put it in layman's terms, it was all an act to get the minor inconveniences out of the way to attain the end results - the battle was never between me and her (or the others who thought I "hated" them), it was always between me and the bigger players.  They were just digits to be diminished for part of a business.

And the joke is, she actually thought I would be jealous of someone who looks like that?! 

Ok, I can hear you all laughing uproariously. BE NICE!

The best part is, she thinks that owning a few pieces of branded items and cafe-hopping is termed as "struggling to lead the high life". 

Ok, now go and laugh your hearts out!

People sure didn't call her a dimwit for nothing, and now I see why.

I am concluding this now. Don't take it too hard yeah. I am not trying to be mean here, but people need to grasp reality sometimes. I couldn't care less if the whole load of them return to the forum, or even buy over it now. LOL. 

Dinner at Wild Oats Restaurant @ Punggol Park

97 Hougang Avenue 8, Punggol Park, Singapore 538768

Tel: 6858 2087

Talk about riverside dining... we could never get close enough at Boat / Clarke / Robertson Quay, but here at Punggol Park, one could literally sit by the waters, smell it, and dine by it. That was also one of the reasons that The Beau and I chose to dine at Wild Oats Restaurant.

A long restaurant nestled in Punggol Park itself, with an interior dining hall and lots of vast, spacious al fresco dining space.

The relaxed ambience attracted plenty of diners - families, couples and friends alike. Good music was blasting throughout the place, and the cool night air swept through the area soothingly.

We chose al fresco dining, sitting outdoors and by the river - what a romantic and beautiful idea. The sheltered structure ensured that even if it was raining, we would still be able to dine in peace without due disturbances. Here we overlooked the lights of buildings opposite, as well as see the reflections of the lit buildings clearly in the waters - and sat perched at the edge of the pond.

We started with a Luncheon Meat Fries, served with Kaffe Lime Leaf mayonnaise. For luncheon meat lovers, this crispy delicacy is something that you would enjoy - strips of deep fried processed pork meat without any hints of fattiness, and went well with the citrusy creamy mayo sauce. It got a tad salty for us after a while though.

I had the Sarawak Chicken Curry Shepherd Pie - a delicious, thick curry blended into a baked dish topped with cheese atop. The curry was piping hot and somewhat spicy, with slices of tender chicken. It was delicious no doubt, an interesting fusion of traditional Asian and Western dishes. The sticky baked dish would have been perfect without the fatty meats and skin though - there was quite a fair bit of that and I had to keep fishing them out. Constant trepidation of trying to prevent biting into a piece of chicken skin has reduced the enjoyment of this dish significantly.

The Beau had the Creamy Mushroom Pasta - a pool of creamy delicacy encompassing springy (slightly on the hard side, the way I like it) spaghetti strands, and generous portions of shittake mushrooms. Needless to explain the unique, rich flavor of luscious shiitake flavor and chewy texture - this goes very well with the pasta drenched in rich cream sauce.

For drinks, we had the Fruli Belgium Strawberry beer (SGD$11.50) and Pink Grapefruit Juice. The fruit beer was light and refreshing with fruity overture. The grapefruit juice was resplendant of bittersweet grapefruit flavor, and both drinks made for perfect thirst quenchers to our rather heavy-flavored food.