Jones the Grocer and PS Cafe

I think it's inevitable that one eats a lot to stay awake, especially when one has been surviving on three hours of sleep for the past three days! =( My plans to catch up on sleep tonight got thwarted due to an unfortunate incident so it's likely that my sleep debt will inflate in proportion.

A few weeks ago, we decided to go to Dempsey area for lunch at the Disgruntled Chef but we were there after lunch hours so we had to give that a miss. We walked to my favourite back-up Western restaurant in that area, PS Cafe, and to our horror, the waiting time was way too long for our already starved tummies to endure so we walked a stone's throw distance to Jones the Grocer, where we had sufficiently decent but not fabulous food. Somehow my impression of Jones the Grocer has altered for the worse, partly because of their limited menu as well as their mediocre food. Perhaps the best thing I'd at Jones the Grocer that day was the banana and berry smoothie ($6.50). It was thick, fruity and tasted deliciously good! (: Would go back just for this!

Knowing that our food will take eons to arrive given the neverending stream of patrons at Jones, we decided to order a bowl of greens to share. The portion was just nice for one person but it suited us well since we ordered this solely to fulfill our veggie quota for the day!

I'd my default (boring) brunch choice that day and the pretty pathetic looking eggs benedict ($19.50) pretty much closed up all chances of redeeming Jones' reputation in my mind. Not only was the portion small, the poached eggs and hollandaise sauce were a huge disappointment because they tasted like the eggs benedict that I'd on a SQ flight back not too long ago! =S

Jeffrey's Jones English Breakfast ($20) looked a little better compared to my dish but I can't help but think that this isn't hearty or satisfying at all! In fact, Jeffrey commented that the bread slices were too tough and hard to eat! He had trouble chewing and swallowing them =(

On hindsight, I think we should have gone off to Cafe Beviamo or somewhere else for proper breakfast/ brunch food!

And because Jones does not have a wide selection of desserts, we decided to go back to PS Cafe to brave the queue and wait for a table just so we could comfort ourselves with their desserts!

We orderd a PS mojito ($16) out of curiosity, hoping that it would taste like the unforgettably fantastic mojito that we had at Touich in December but alas, it was not to be. The PS mojito carries a much stronger alcoholic taste and since both of us aren't alcohol-lovers, we didn't really like this drink.

The PS Banana Butter Scotch Cake with Vanilla Bean Ice-cream ($12.90) was the redeeming dish of the day! The cake smelled nice and its texture was just right for the both of us (: After trying this new dessert that day, I was convinced that it's quite impossible for PS Cafe to serve bad desserts.

Alright my partner in crime has just popped online and I've to scoot off to get some work done before turning in for the night! Shall end this post here! Happy midweek everyone! (:

L'espresso

Hello everyone! (:

I'm back! I'd a good time in the UK with Mrs Tan and her 22 kids despite the cold and the relatively packed schedule! The bad thing about being away during the short and precious March hols is that I've a HUGE backlog of work right now! Brr. Will work like a slave this coming week so that I can clear my deadlines!

Anyhow, since I just came back from the UK, I thought I'd post some pictures of the lovely English hightea at the much beloved L'espresso which I had with possibly the two most wonderful people in my life before leaving for the UK.

I drank so much hot/ warm drinks in the UK to fight the cold! Am surprised that I could stay off chewing icecubes for a week!

Ice-lemon tea is always a favourite cooler in our hot and humid weather.

I think I've eaten more sandwiches and salads the past week than I've ever had in months! The sandwiches at L'espresso aren't as hearty as the ones in UK but they're great as small bites!

More sandwiches and little savoury tea-bites

Sandwiches and two lonely pieces of smoked salmon! Somehow I can't resist having smoked salmon at buffets!

Oh the warm panini bread with tomato, cheese and salmon (on the extreme left) was surprisingly nice! Had lots of that. The rest were generally okay.

Ate the croissant with crabmeat filling (on the extreme right) and it was yummylicious! It's quite filling though so those with small appetites may want to share.

Some of my favourite L'espresso dishes on the same plate

Although the scone was pretty good, I must say that the scones I'd in UK were much better! Somehow the texture of scones in the UK tastes much nicer - perhaps it's due to the difference in humidity.

Chocolate cake which is nothing short of great! Not too sweet, not too soft.

I liked everything on this plate, especially the fruit tart! I know of friends who love the creme brulee and it's to be fair, L'espresso's creme brulee is one of the nicer ones that I've tasted.

How can I ever go to a buffet without indulging in bread and butter pudding with vanilla sauce? I love it! =P Am still on a quest to find the nicest bread and butter pudding!

More desserts and shooters.

Lone scoop of chocolate icecream, which was thick and rich.

This was possibly the last plate of food I'd that day - as you can tell, I'm obsessed with the warm panini bread! I've also come to realise that I like matcha flavoured cakes (:

Alright I think that's all I've to share for today! Pardon the relatively short entry, I've to do some prep for school tomorrow! Hope that everyone had a good and restful weekend! Have a good week ahead! =)

March Holidays

I shall not be updating this space for a while because I'll be going off to revisit these lovely places and to spend time learning with people whom I'm sure I'll come to love (: Am very grateful to the school and the department for giving me an opportunity to travel with these kids to such a culturally rich place. Thank you (: Will update when I'm back!

Cafe Hacienda

Hello everyone! (:

The weekend is FINALLY here! =D It feels good knowing that I'm able to sleep in tomorrow and not wake up before the sun rises!

This weekend's filled with social activity because I won't be around during the week of March holidays so that means that I won't be able to meet my dearest friends and thus I've to make time for them this weekend while I'm still around!

If you're thinking of a nice brunch-y place to go to for a chillout weekend meal, let me recommend Cafe Hacienda at Dempsey area! I think I've blogged about this place before but it's so good that it's worth blogging about again!

A couple of weeks ago, my good pals and I decided to revisit Cafe Hacienda for a late lunch and we had a lovely time there! Having a meal at Cafe Hacienda is like having a spa treatment for your palate and tummy - you'll not only feel good after the meal, you'll want to return again for yet another treatment!

Since all of us are fries-lovers, it wasn't difficult to pick our main starter for the day: straight cut fries with truffle seasoning ($10). It was honestly one of the best bowls of fat fries that I've ever eaten! You MUST give this a try!

As usual, I ordered Eggs Royale ($13.50) and it did not disappoint - the hollandaise sauce was extremely creamy and the rocket salad was perfectly mixed with whatever salad sauce that they used. I'm not a fan of rocket leaves but this rocket salad was pretty good =)

One of my gfs ordered Eggs Benedict ($13.50) and she said that it was good too! The only dissatisfcation that she had with this dish was the fact that they piled a lot of rocket leaves in the middle of her plate and she absolutely detests rocket leaves! Thankfully my other gf ate all her rocket leaves for her so she was pretty okay after that (:

One of the more popular brunch dishes that I know of is the Eggs Any Style ($13.50) and my other gf chose to have this! =) Unlike the big breakfast, it's not as hearty because it's smaller in quantity but I guess it'll be sufficient if you're not ravenous. However, if you've a big appetite like me, this may not be enough for you.

Jeffrey decided to break the brunch-order pattern by placing an order for Fish & Chips ($16), which he mentioned was unlike others that he had tried because it was crispy yet not oily. I guess it's perfect for people who want/ like to eat fried food without tasting too much grease in your mouth.

For desserts, we chose to have the yuzu cheese cake ($6.80), which was extremely light with a hint of orange zing, and the chocolate tart ($7), which I think will please any chocolate lover out there. These two desserts prove to be great complements because they had rather contrasting textures and tastes.

If you only have space for one dessert at Cafe Hacienda, I would highly recommend their sticky date pudding ($10). Although it's not as big as the one served at PS Cafe, this stick date pudding can easily triumph as one of the best stick date puddings that I've ever had. The overabundant toffee sauce that creates a moat around the warm and soft sticky date pudding and scoop of vanilla icecream is thick and luscious. You really need to eat the three together and I promise you, you'll feel like Remy from the movie Ratatouille while he was chewing cheese with strawberries in his mouth! It's really that good!

Alright it's late and I've to sleep. I hope to update this space again before I leave next week. In the mean time, have a great weekend!

Villa Enrique

Hello!

It's really late and I ought to be sleeping but I know that I won't have time to update this space tomorrow so I shall do it now! =)

Last week, we went to Dempsey on two consecutive days to meet our friends for lunch! On our first day there, we decided to try something a little more unique so we headed to Villa Enrique for lunch! Villa Enrique, as you can probably guess from its name, is a Spanish restaurant that is located at a a secluded spot in Dempsey! Thankfully, there's a huge signboard located near the restaurant which can be seen from the carpark area so you shouldn't have any problems looking for it once you've spot this sign.

One relatively good (for us) thing about Villa Enrique is that it is not overpopulated and we actually managed to have a great time having a slow and relaxed meal with my friend (: The seating area looks very comfortable and cosy and I can imagine it being a popular hangout place at night!

Shortly after we arrived and placed our orders, we were served a huge basket full of small, warm bread rolls with thick creamy butter! =D I love the smell of these freshly baked bread buns and they tasted like the perfect meal started that day!

We decided to order a plate of baina ($16), which is actually chicken on slices of thin baughette! According to Jeffrey and my friend, this was quite a good cold starter dish to have as it wasn't too filling and it whets your appetite!

Our waiter told us that the Champ Ajillo ($18), which is essentially a warm mushroom dish, was their best seller so obviously we had to try it! Frankly, it was one of the better mushroom dishes that I've had because the mushrooms were juicy and extremely flavourful! Love what they did to 'marinate' the mushrooms!

Another popular dish we had was called Gambas Ajillo ($22), aka garlic prawns, and it was GOOD! Though the prawns were slightly smaller than expected, they were fresh and springy! The sauce wasn't too spicy and it sat well for all of us.

Perhaps the most interesting dish we had that day was the Pimiento Bacalao ($22), fish wrapped with something in tomato sauce! Initially when I first saw this dish, I thought I'd made the wrong decision to order it because it looked like curry and I was definitely not in the mood for curry! However, my initial reaction towards this dish was quickly transformed after I took a bite of this inexplicably interesting dish! I'm guessing that people who like tomato-based dishes and/ or like their dishes to taste a little coconut-milk-y will like this dish! For myself, I was pretty pleased that I managed to give my tastebuds a new experience! It's definitely worth trying!

This is probably the 'safest' dish we ordered that day - patata bravas ($18), which is cooked potatoes! I especially loved the potatoes at the top because they've flavoured powder sprinkled on them! The sauce that came with this (bottom right of the photo) also went very well with the potatoes and I would recommend that you dip your potatoes into the sauce before savouring them!

For dessert, we ordered the crema catalana ($12), aka creme brulee, as well as

churros madrile ($12), which is churros with chocolate sauce (unfortunately the chocolate sauce is not shown in this photo) to share. Both our desserts were delectable and we finished them off much faster than I'd expected!

As much as I'd wanted to try some of their main courses, I don't regret having a meal that's made up of purely entrees or tapas because that's what Villa Enrique is famous for! I'll probably make a trip back in future when I'm in the mood for some Spanish food!

Alright it's time to sleep. Have a good week ahead everyone! =D