Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie

From a PR perspective, Les Amis has done an excellent textbook-example job of catapulting its corporate brand to sugar-heights. Take Canele for instance, from mass media to social media, it seems to have won band of followers who pledge allegiance to Chef Pang Kok Keong’s toothsome creations. While I wouldn't dispute the validity of their opinions (taste is, afterall, as subjective as the perfume you wear), I must confess I have had less than oo-la-la luck with Les Amis.

However, when Ming suggested "cake shop opposite Starbucks Paragon" for tea, I threw caution to the wind for a potential afternoon of decadent sweet treats.



Our party of five ordered 5 different cakes so as to quintuple the fun. While waiting for our table, the three early ones peered over the glass display early, eyes wide with desire as if choosing engagement rings. Princess cut or round solitaire? Though it was slightly nerve-wrecking (oh why can't all of life's problems revolve around ganache or praline), we picked out what our hearts responded to and decided to practise "dictatorial democracy" over what the other two ordered.

What do you mean you want to order the tiramisu? Oh no you don't, you must be confused. You probably don't know what you want. Here take a seat, don't fret, we will make up your mind for you.

Who says politics and dessert can't mix? Haha, we sure sound like model citizens from Ogress R Us corporation.



Something swirly on tart caught my eye and I was told it was 'Nutella Pie'. As soon as I heard the word 'Nutella', I was sold. Absolutely sold-to-the-drooling-buyer SOLD! Be warned though: the nutella-tart-part is rather hard. To get to first and second base -giggle-, I ended up looking like a caveman with his spear stuck in a slab of frozen mammoth. Although it was a little unglamorous to get through it (HAD TO use my fingers for the biscuit-tart base), it was goooood- would have awesome if there was more nutella.



With a penchant for citrus, Ming zeroed in on the Tart Citron, a meringue topped lemon tart. You know it really depends on how high your lemon-threshold is. This dessert works if you are wary for the marsmallowy meringue threatens to overshadow the lemon taste; otherwise I suggest you leave the meringue alone and work on the rest of the tart. Like the nutella pie, the tart base was hard- so beware of flying shards and crumbs.



Qin picked the Mont Blanc, a chestnut and cream dessert that is perhaps the most unique looking dessert i''ve ever come across. It seems the chef had too much fun with the Play-doh Fuzzy Pumper playset and created a dessert that bears striking resemblance to Cousin It from Addams Family. No wait, Cousin It after it had been caught in a revolving door. Despite the outrageous look, this cake is surprisingly mild. Great for those who got dragged to Canele by chocoholic friends but want nothing to do with chocolate-filled-layer-or-topped cakes.



I love Toon's chocolate caramel log that had bits of hazelnut crunch trap between layers of sponge cake and mousse. Think Princess and the Pea, only with more peas within the Princess's tower of mattresses. To truly enjoy this dessert, you have to pierce your fork through midsection the cake to savour the enigmatic play on texture.



By the time Becks arrived, we decided suggested she order the Jupiter, a cute as ET-call-home cake. It was an essentially chocolate dessert, filled with caramel, pecan nut nougatine and exotic coulis. The exotic coulis reminded me of guava, which I wasn't too keen on since I'm not into mixing fruit with chocolate.



I'm curious as to why the chef name this dessert 'Jupiter'? Is it really because it's er- round and thus shaped like a planet (like ten thousand other things) or is there a darker meaning like a correlation between too much cakes and your size-of-Jupiter ass? Could 'Jupiter' be the new "saddlebag"? Somebody please ask Oprah.



After the cakes, we decided to linger in the company of macarons and caneles. I don't think any of us are big macaron-lovers and since we only wanted a 'test drive', we shared four (violet, hazelnut, passionfruit and rose) macarons and a couple of caneles. I had imagined the macarons to be airy light as tinkerbell but they turned out denser than expected, almost like toothachly-sweet chewy ear muffs.



It was a pity the namesake didn't quite hit the sweet spot as the caneles tasted like stogy hard malt candy cakes that had been left out for too long.



Although I have a sweet tooth, I have always preferred down-to-earth desserts such as ice cream, brownies, mudpies- not cakes that looked like they have been dressed by couturiers or pastries that looked too pretty to taste good. At Canele, I have learnt to stay away from the hot food unless absolutely necessary and stick to the desserts. Canele sure helped me get over my phobia of prettier-than-thou cakes and I can't wait to sample the rest of the cakes soon!