Barracks Cafe at House, Dempsey Hill

It might have been the Father's Day weekend but with Dad away on his golf trip, Mum and I shared some Oyaku time with nosh and interior design.

We did brunch at Barracks Cafe over at Dempsey Hill. Now apart from PS Cafe, I'm not familar with the Dempsey terrain but I saw the allure of Dempsey- a piece of Singapore free from life's daily worries. There were many brunch options at Dempsey but I passed on PS Cafe (too much see-and-be-seen going on), Culina and Jones The Grocer (to visit next).

Save for a table of Girlfriends On Brunch Patrol, Barracks Cafe was thankfully somewhat empty. I liked the haphazard interior design with mismatched chairs and hanging naked bulbs and almost fell for the 'Greenhouse,' a private dining room.



As we weren't all that hungry, Mum and I shared the Old-fashioned American Sliders, a good put-me-together with ciabatta bread, respectable beef patty, cheddar cheese and bacon.



It was a sizable menu with alluring options but what committed me to the sliders were the sides- sweet potato fries and truffle fries. The chunkier sweet potato fries bore a batter-film while the shoestring fries lapped up heady, whoozy tuffle aroma.



Oh I know what you must be thinking... Fries with truffle oil? Very Dirty Sexy Money. Urgh, ever since I started watching these New York Upper East Side dramas, I've been besotted with truffle. Don't get me started on the Grilled Cheese Sandwich with Truffle from Gossip Girl!

Our drinks? The Caring Carrots juice, a blend of carrot, apple and beet, for me while I opted for the Femme Fatale, a elderberry, coconut and blackcurrant tea.

After brunch, we roamed around the Dempsey Cluster for a bit before heading over to Design Intervention at Loewen Cluster. Fabrics and textiles of various prints, patterns and price tags, available for customization- this was my I-Dream-of-Domino-Magazine wonderland. I could finally rid myself of those mass-produced lamp shades and quilt covers! I almost went mad with delight.

After Dempsey and still high on interior design, we drove to Chip Bee Gardens. We popped by Cho Lan's and found it practically empty. Ok, save for a few cushion covers, it was almost cleaned Out. Cho Lan, which I'm sorry to report at time of publish, has closed for good.



By then, I was hungry. Making a pass at Da Paolo Gastronomia was a no-brainer. The fruit cake was generously studded with dried fruit, while the white yogurt crumble (my must-have at Gastronomia) was a triple-layer sensation made of brittle crumbs, luscious tangy yogurt and grated white chocolate.

Cedele Bakery Depot, Wheelock Place

Cedele Bakery Depot at Wheelock Place reopened this June with minimal changes to the layout and an expanded menu. Most of us would know Cedele's USP is organic, trans-fat-free grub, free of artificial flavourings and chemically produced additives. Well, basically if you live on the Cedele Diet, you might just live to see your great-great-great grandchildren... that is if your children, great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren don't drive you to your grave first.

Then again it seems too good to be true, doesn't it? Healthy food that tastes great? Hello, some of us were born yesterday? Cedele's carrot cake (complete with cream cheese) is easily the best in town and their kickass chocolate truffle cake had me thinking, 'good for me? Er, I believe you... almost as much as I believe in natural beauty!'

However rather than accuse them of being 'Liar Liar, pants on fire', I'm all for self-delusion so long as there isn't permanent damage.

I wanted something different. Something other than their soup and sandwiches. Something I couldn't find in any other Cedele cafes.



The savoury pancakes section waved its 'Come Try Me' flag at me and I found myself drawn to the mushroom and bacon pancakes. The pancakes arrived, unlike anything I had expected: studded with spring onions and button mushroom silver, served with bacon rashers and salad.

It was ok (not mind-blowing but edible) and awkwardly familiar. Lo and behold, it suddenly occurred to me that they tasted almost like the scallion pancakes my grandmother makes, only with mushrooms. Curisoty didn't kill the cat but it sure left it hanging.



Mum had the caramelised pork, served with bak choy and an ice cream scoop of rice. I'm hopeless at describing Chinese food so I can only say it tasted like good sweet braised pork.

Oh yeah, another thing to note: portions left us peckish an hour later.

I should have known that 'Adventurous' isn't my middle name and sometimes there is a reason why that rusty but trusty formula works.



We washed down brunch with wolfberry tea with red dates and longan, essentially 'cheng teng in a teapot'.



We fulfilled their Terms and Conditions and were given a complimentary scoop of Earl Grey and Fig ice cream. Eggless but utterly addictive. Begone Burnt Caramel! Earl Grey is THE Flavour of the Month.

2am Dessertbar

To be honest, I didn't enjoy my maiden visit to 2am Dessertbar.

There was some gathering going on. Mini party but major din. Gradually I grew unnerved by the crowd and awkward spaces, someone should have just played a Mariah Carey tune as a form of euthanasia. Was it the dessert bar's fault? Largely no, but I guess if its dessert was unable to cure me of my headache, the dessert bar could not be praised.

After chikalicious, I thought I've had it with artas-fartas desserts but deep within, a naggy feeling persuaded me to make re-visit 2am desert bar. With my new found intrigue, a sms from Diana took me a grand total of 3 secs to reply yes. I returned with Diana on a monday evening. the bar was understandably empty and i felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.

What is dessert without chocolate?

Painful. Incomplete.



The warm chocolate tart resembled Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tales- bittersweet and touching. The blood orange sorbet on the side served as a palate cleanser, creating an interplay of icy and warm, tangy and decadent. Faced with a melting sorbet and leaking molten chocolate, there was a real need to 'seize the moment'!

In life, most of us work towards achieving the 5Cs (I'm sure some regard Madonna's Material Girl as visionary). When it comes to dessert, I have my other set of 5Cs:

1. chocolate
2. caramel
3. crumble
4. cream cheese
5. custard

Twix did a neat job of pinning down points 2 to 4. Burnt caramel mousse and cream cheese slice on a bed of peanut crumble. Here, the flavour was milder but the play on texture was more evident.

2am Dessertbar had gained some flak for being overpriced and underwhelming and after my first visit, I was in that "Dessrtbar rhymes with Blah" school of thought. Although after this visit, I wasn't in Camp Wow-my-pants-off, I have at least defected from Camp Unimpressed.

La Rochefoucauld once said, "To eat is a necessity. To eat intelligently is an art."

And I thought this defnitely applied in this instance.

What do you mean i can't mindlessly gorge on chocolate and ice cream?

Sorry folks but at 2am Dessertbar, you got to give some thought to what you are eating. think of the textures, the pairing and the presentation... It may sound like too much work for dessert but you don't want to be the one who stands in front of a Botero painting, uttering these words, "gaw-, she needs to go on a diet" right?

london + copenhagen

Original Image by Jennifer Ramos at MadeByGirl

Legal Sea Foods, Boston

I had my reservations. And no, it’s not ‘table for 2 at 12.15pm under the name of …'

To cut the long story short: It’s a chain.

The uncut version: Cookie-cutter, One-Business-Strategy-To-Rule-Them-All philosophy. You know what else is a chain? MacDonald’s. KFC. Kenny Rogers. Companies that invest more in supply chain management than customization or customer satisfaction.

Still, I was intrigued by their tagline: If it isn’t fresh, it isn’t Legal.

It wasn’t just about producing finger-lickin’ good crustaceans or some overused ‘satisfaction promise’. I mean freshness, like Chewbacca's lack of sex appeal, is hardly debatable right?



I usually stay away from clam chowders because most places serve something that comes out of you when you get really really drunk and really really sick.



But not this clam chowder. Creamy. Punchy. Coated practically everything from our spoons to the pre-packed oyster crackers.



The crab cake was awesome, topping wide-eyed expectations. The auburn brown façade broke away to reveal a cross between crab chunks and flakes. De-lovely!



Our main course arrived, brimmed with blessings from Neptune himself. It’s sweet bouncey flesh had us lobbying for the lobster.



The lobster’s protective hold over the spadeful of mussels was useless against our relentless confrontation.





The dish came with corn and a chorizo sausage though I honestly don’t know what’s the link between seafood, corn and sausage.



Yup, it might be a chain but it’s good… good enough to make me pose with this seriously unglamourous PVC bib.

Legal Sea Foods
At various locations

Cold Stone Creamery, Boston

On my last day in Boston, with just an hour to kill, we decided to head over to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. At Cold Stone Creamery, you can customize your ice cream with various mix-ins such as snicker bars, OREO cookies, Reese Peanut Butter cups, health bars etc. Although their selection of specialties pretty much took up my entire creative bandwidth, I was intrigued by the ideology:

Ice cream democracy! Freedom of choice! Power to the People!

However being a Singaporean meant that I wasn’t not wholly accustomed to the notion of democracy, and I turned my attention the list of specialties instead.



They have an amusing way of naming their portions- Like it (small), Love it (medium) and Gotta have it (huge ass)! After placing our order, our server got to work right away, scalping, nudging, kneading, as if she was giving our ice cream a good massage, well somebody should be giving her one after that workout.



Initially I left the decision-making to Edward but he ended up choosing the strawberry-based concoctions. I mean what were the odds right? Out of that many selections, he chose those that ranked lowly on my list. I know I sound like a dictator but I really wasn’t in the mood for strawberries! After vetoing his first 3 choices, we finally compromised on The Pie Who Loved Me™, made with cheesecake Ice Cream, OREO cookie, graham cracker pie crust and fudge.



It was good though but it didn’t leave me gasping for more. I tend not to fault anything with copious amounts of sugar and cream anyway. But you know me, I love exotic flavours but am at best cordial towards ‘funky mad scientist’ flavours. It’s just like how I feel towards Ben & Jerry’s and the World of chuck-anything-in-and-give-it-a-fancy name ice cream.





That being said, I’m not picky about ice cream as it is, after all, the second best medicine (after laughter) to anything! Between ‘funky mad scientist’ flavours and not having ice cream, I would definitely still choose the ‘funky mad scientist’.

Finale Desserterie & Bakery, Boston

On my second day on Boston, Edward and I dined at Finale, an upscale desserterie (love this word). Although there was an outlet near Edward's place, we visited the one on Columbus Avenue as we had the Blue Man Group to catch thereafter. Dining at Finale is like hitting the fast-forward button to dessert. Not that it was a rushed meal, it was more of 'cut the chase, let's get down to dessert!'

Cut the chase, we shall.



The Whole Nine Yards served as our "Getting Started" guide- a sampler platter featuring nine tasting portions of Finale's specialty desserts, including the Chocolate Infatuation, Fantasia, Caramel Carnivale II, Manjari Mousse, Crème Brûlée, Finale Cheesecake, Boston Cream Delight and Sorbet.

Ha, by the time you finish reading that paragraph and googled ‘Manjari Mousse’, I would have been more or less done with the dainty offerings.



Great for people with an attention span of three bites and believers of the Law of Diminishing Returns. Aka ‘Almost Perfect for Me’ since I fall into both categories- what are the odds?

Well, ‘almost ’ because what am I suppose to do with one bite? Savour it? Come on, don’t tease me!





Naturally we ‘upsized’ our next order the Boston Cream Pie. You so saw that coming, didn’t you? When in Rome Boston, order … Finale’s version of the famed dessert was made up of yellow cake, cream and chocolate, and also featured chocolate whoopie pies (vanilla gelato sandwiches!), cherry almond Florentines, apricot sauce and fresh fruit.



We couldn’t resist the Fruit Tart, which bore such bright hues it could have qualified as one of Blair Bitch’s sidekicks in Gossip Girl. Why not, since it’s already a ‘tart’ to begin with!?

After Blue Man Group performance, we walked back to Finale for some hot chocolate. The cool breezy night was perfect for Noisette Chocolate, which was rich with hazelnut flavour, kind of like sipping kinder bueno... truly an encore-worthy performance.

Finale
At various locations around Boston

Upper Crust Pizzeria, Boston

The pizza should be the only thing cheesy on a date.

There I said it and once again, thrown myself at the mercy of half the population.



Edward and I hobbled down to Upper Curst, a Boston-based pizza chain, on Newbury Street for lunch. Despite the fact that the pizza-box-sized eatery was packed with the young and the young at heart, that atmohsphere was considerably calm, people were still well-mannered and considerate. That’s Boston for you.





There were many specialty pizzas to choose from and We had The State House and The Newbury. I was thrilled we could do the half-this-half-that option… OOO democracy, freedom of choice…Toto, we are in America!



“Created for the meat lover”, The State House, hamburger, pepperonni and italian sausage scattered all over fresh mozzarella, was a peace offering that one made before embarking on that detox-cabbaage-south-beach-blood-type diet.

Not to be outdone, The Newbury, topped with breaded-and-deep-fried veal scallopine, fresh mozzarella, marinara and basil, joined in the send-off party.

“AYE CHUBBY, pizza not fattening enough for you, you gotta get fatty meat and deep-fried stuff on it too?”

Shush. I’m on a holiday.



I loved how the pizza was served on an elevated stand as if it had been raised on higher divine forces. Next thing I knew, the pizza had sparked off a spiritual aura, a self-healing light that drew me closer and closer, as if to whisper the words…

“I’m delicious… You are getting sleepy… so sleepy…”

I refused to snap out of my pizza-triggered hypnosis.

Thin, cheesy and packed with oomph, I was filled with such sadness for a while, knowing that I would be deprived of this once I’m back in Singapore. In fact, it’s ridiculous that I’ve been introduced to such awesomeness many times over on this trip but would have to settle for not-enough-cheese! pizzas once I’m back.

I’m going to observe a moment of silence once I’m done. For now, please ignore the funny ‘MMM’ noises…


It's that good.

Upper Crust Pizzeria
222 Newbury Street
Back Bay, Boston, MA 02116
Phone 617-262-0090

Toscanini's, Boston

Toscanini's- Ice Cream for Intellects.



On our way to Havard (like Dorothy on her way to the Land of Oz), Edward and I stumbled upon Toscanini's on Main Street. From the outside, the exterior looked like another geek-friendly coffee place or designer furniture shop ala Design Within Reach. But the words "The best ice cream in the world - New York Times" printed on the lower right hand corner of the store front whispered, "enterrrrrrrrrrrrrr".

"Ooo ice cream place!" I said to Edward, in my best Judy-Garland-as-Dorothy voice.

"Do you want to have some?" he replied, like me, choosing to forget that we had just polished off a pizza about an hour ago.

"Well... let's just check out the flavours, shall we?"

As if.

As soon as we stepped, let's just say I knew it was going to be good. The ice cream flavours sounded intriguing without being OTT and the ice cream looked unapologetically rich.

"Just a sample..." I was seriously tempting fate.

It all happened so fast... Before I knew it, I found myself clutching a sturdy waffle cone, topped with burnt caramel and hydrox cookie (kosher oreo).

It was marvelous, as good as it looked or sounded. It was glide-on-your-tongue creamy and uncomplicatedly enjoyable. It was awesome awesome awesome. It was "oh man, i can't get this in Singapore... WHYYYY?!!"











Ok, now I look like one of those crazy mums who takes 400 odd photos of their baby's first day out.


Edward and his orange chocolate ice cream

Should I even be surprised that I found the best ice cream in Boston- the city that consumes the most ice cream per capita, square foot and household in the whole of America?



Although Toscanini's is frequented by Harvard and M.I.T. students, you don't need half their IQ to know this is one awesome chill treat.

Toscanini's Ice Cream and Coffee
899 Main Street (Central Square)
Cambridge, MA

So what I've been up to lately

1. Semi-addicted to Sudoku (ok mum I admit it!). Well I guess I could think of worse things to get hooked on. It's not like I'm Bringing Sudoku Back but I'm Three-Stars-going-onto-Diabolical! Give me some credit.

2. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep every night. Not fun if you wake up at 8am every morning.

3. Research for London & Copenhagen. Our Singapore Tourism Board could take a leaf out of Visit London website because so far the only thing unique about Singapore is how we haven't voiced our dissent or acted against rising fuel prices.

4. Catching up on my sitcoms. Ugly Betty. Cashmere Mafia. Gossip Girl. 30 Rock... thanks to youku.com and tudou.com.

Love Jack and Amanda from Ugly Betty. The funniest gay-best-friend-and-bitch-with-issues combi since Jack and Karen from Will and Grace. See how gay guys are always funnier?

Compared to 30 Rock, Gossip Girl is quite blah-boring. With brouhaha bigger than Anya Hindmarch's I'm Not A Plastic Bag launch, it was disappointing. Like the idea behind the bag, the show's content seemed recycled from other high school dramas. Rich kids + Love and Parental Problems = Please take a hike to any developing economy.

30 Rock, on the other hand, is GENIUS.

Really.

My favorite episode is episode 14 from season 2.



Jack gets kicked out of his office and banished to 12th floor and his former assistant Jonathan makes this 'FRIENDS 2EVA' collage for the guy.



Liz's ex-boyfriend returns and she tries hard to convince him she's doing better than ever. Her friends help by orchestrating the perfect meet-up scene with some wind-blowing-in-hair effect.

Freakin Fabulous.

The ladies from Cashmere Mafia is the latest quartet to hit our mini screens. I like it more than Sex And The City and it's not because they have all the hair colour covered... or that Lucy Liu as powerful publisher honcho is in it... It's going beyond the whole 'looking for love' theme and more (gawd, I so do not want to say this) 'Girl power, I want it all'. The pilot episode alone had me nodding in agreement on the sacrifices women have to go through to be successful. Cashmere Mafia is must-watch for any femme climbing the corporate ladder in stilettos and single-handedly because she can't let go of her Hermes Birkin.

With two, you get Frenemies like Serene and Blair; three- you could form a girl band ala Destiny's Child but it could get messy when people take sides; and four- the magic number for lunch-cocktail girlfriends (gays included)... ever wondered why mahjong tables are particularly gossip-friendly?

=) Just asking.

LA Burdick Chocolates, Boston

After spending a grand total of ten minutes on Harvard grounds, we headed over to Harvard Sqaure because I felt most comfortable in the company of cash registers and price tags. However most of the shops could be found in New York and somehow we landed up at LA Burdick Chocolates, home of gourmet artisan chocolates and pastries.







Edward was in the mood for macarons and we had one of each. Rose, coffee, lavender, passionfruit and ginger. Thicker than usual, Burdick’s macarons were baby mushroom caps filled with buttercream. I’m also not the hugest fan of macarons but the look of delight on Edward’s face was worth every penny.

In a bid to see how far we could stretch our sugar quota, we also had their signature Burdick, layers of almond wafers and rum ganache, topped with white chocolate and pistachio; and apple tart, with cored apple rings nestled comfortably within the flaky crust, accompanied by rich cream on the side.


Apple Tart







It seemed only right to order hot chocolate at a chocolatier. It was s0-so... ok... I've had better.

Edward was telling me the last time he visited Havard, a graduation ceremony and the guest speaker was William Gates III. I told him he could have taken a peek at The World's Richest Man by pretending to be attending his sibling's ceremony.

Edward, "Wouldn't have worked because I was in jeans..."

Me, "Well you could have said the invitation indicated 'Dress code: Smart Casual' and since
Havard students are Smart, I figured I was 'Casual'..."












I wasn't quite expecting to see this in Boston. But at least, it was a peaceful protest.