ABC - Antoinette, Birthday & Cedele

The day started off well with brunch with my cousin, Celia at Cedele (http://www.cedeledepot.com/home/home.asp), Wheelock Place. Although I had a 'hairy' encounter at Cedele Ngee Ann City the weekend before, my craving for their Beetroot Burger outweighed any paranoia and hesitation.

I love the cumin-riddled beetroot patty, which makes hard to look past the Beetroot Burger when I'm at Cedele. Although this burger/ sandwich pairs well with either pumpkin bread or ciabatta, I like Cedele's dark stodgy rye bread. Funny enough, I don't even fancy avocado or beetroot on their own but I downed this stack without any complaints or bribery.

For an eatery that doesn't have an Italian chef who bears his soul for his Nonna in every press interview he takes, Cedele offers a pretty good seafood risotto. I can't vouch for the standard across all their outlets but if you are lucly, the risotto comes with al dente, toothsome rice, and chunks of seared fish, prawns and mussels.

Though I was treating Yang to a birthday tea later on, I figured there was enough time and space to fit in some desserts at Cedele. Their Chocolate Truffle Cake is a hunk of rich, intense ganache that always delivers. I hate it when people order chocolate desserts and complain, "It's too rich."

Hun, you can be too skinny but you can never be too rich.

The Lemon Jewel looked rather insipid at the display counter but it surprisingly charming. It was everything the Chocolate Truffle Cake wasn't - light, spongy, airy and after being warmed up, there was a thin toasted bottom that contributed to a crusty-contrast effect.

Yang picked Antoinette (http://www.antoinette.com.sg/) at Mandarin Gallery for her birthday tea treat. I must admit I'm not crazy about the pastries at Antoinette and I'm glad Yang must have thought similarly as she chose the very dependable and always satisfying Nougatine crepe over the array of delicate pretty pastries at the counter. 

Nutella? Check. Salted caramel? Check. Brittle, caramelised filo shards? Check. Nougatine ice cream? Check. Insanely indulgent? Check, check and check.


If we had a checklist for desserts, this would be quite the contender for Most Gratifying Dessert I Would Like to Spend My Life With.

I was secretly delighted when Mum picked a savoury dish as the amount of sugar and cream I had for the day (and we are talking mid afternoon) left me craving for salt.

The Club Antoinette was a sumptous triple decker of yuzu crab mimosa, omelette, tomato and fresh lettuce sandwiched between pain de mie toast (essentially white toast but everything just sounds better in French, don't it?). It was refreshing and light, yet somewhat reminiscent of those cheapo crab mayo mix I loved as a kid :)