Marmalade Toast

A testament to my weakness for cakes, 3 days later on Thursday, 8 december, I went with my lovely classmates for tea (a break from all that shopping) at Marmalade Toast.

Having heard all the rave reviews, I had pretty high expectations of the cakes available and thankfully, they didn't disappoint!
There is a tea time promotion going on, where one can order any cake (except the meringue cake and chocolate fudge cake) and tea or coffee for $6.90. An extremely affordable price :)

Being extremely pragmatic( the typical Singaporean behavior), I chose the most expensive cake available, which was the carrot cake.

The carrot cake was moist and sweet, with ample walnuts to provide the needed crunch to the cake. The cream cheese frosting was lovely as well, although a tad too sweet for my liking.

My friends chose the chocolate truffle cake (which i also tried). This extremely sinful cake was worth the amount of calories that it contained. The "truffle" layer of the cake(2 thick layers) was smooth and velvety, and of course, rightfully chocolatety.

I have a personal preference for more cake-y chocolate cakes, so this truffle cake didn't resonate with me much.

The tea and coffee were of a decent standard and definitely a good companion with the cakes.

Overall, Marmalade Toast does live up to its reputation :) I would come back to try the chocolate fudge cake, or even maybe the cupcakes available. However, the obscure location means that some searching around needs to be done before locating the shop in Takashimaya.

A 8/10 :) (the great company made everything even better (: )

3 Inch Sin

Ah it's been some time since I last updated the food blog so there will be a simultaneous posting of 3 blog posts :)
Also look out for the high tea buffet at Barrack House at Dempsey road post :) can't wait to have high tea there!
3 inch sin, as the name suggests, offers cakes (literally 3 inch tall) that ooze of chocolate and other calorie laden goodness ( think caramel and crunchy bases)
I visited 3 inch sin at Cluny Court on 5th dec with Joey and Benji. However disappointingly there were only 3 types of desert on offer because it was a Monday.

Thus, we got a death by chocolate (chocolate cupcake with a generou

s serving of chocolate ganache, sprinkled with crunchy chocolate balls) and a 3 inch sin( something similiar to a lava cake, with an oozy centre that you can customize)

-death by chocolate

Contrary to the rather pompous name, the chocolate cupcake was slightly disappointing. The ganache was average, thick, creamy, chocolate-ty but lacking in complexity in flavour. Every bite of the chocolate ganache tasted the same and after a while it became a little gelat (Malay word to represent that something is over cloying )
The cake base was even more disappointing, tasting like an average cake that you can get at any bakery.

My friend(benji) tried the molten cake and commented that it was gelat after a while as well. It was also too sweet for him, although it may be due to him picking white chocolate as the molten centre.

Perhaps the catchy name gave me high expectations of the cakes available at 3 inch sin, eventually leading to disappointment when they are not as delightfully sinful as purported.

But I'm willing to give it another try, in believe that the other cakes available will be 3 inch sin's saving grace.

6/10

Strictly Pancakes-Room for improvement (review)

The menu on the first story--I love how the chalkboard menu invokes a sense nostalgia

I love this quote <3

My dad and I came across a programme advertisement featuring Strictly Pancakes and he decided to bring my mum and myself(my sis woke up at 2pm so she wasn't with us) to Strictly Pancakes before the crowds flock to it when the actual programme shows.

Reviews from my friends (Vanesse and Joey) were generally positive so I had pretty high expectations of the food at Strictly Pancakes.

Thankfully they didn't disappoint(for most part)!

Apple and Cinnamon Pancakes-ordered by the table beside mine. The cinnamon aroma was extremely strong, but I am sceptical of how drenched(maybe even soggy) pancakes will taste.

Tiramisu Pancakes--Comes with Chocolate Pancakes, a scoop of vanila ice cream and mascarpone cream--$12

Chicken A-la-King--$14

Pancakes are like instant cakes. They only require 5-10 mins of cooking and you'll get a cooked pancake. If done well, the pancakes will be thick, fluffy and flavourful.

The pancakes at Strictly Pancakes certainly met the minimum requirement of a thick and fluffy pancake. However, I have one gripe against it--that it was flavourless on its own.(for the plain ones that accompanied the grilled chicken) I would have hoped that it was a little tastier(maybe saltier or sweeter). However, with the butter (my dad picked the salted one), the pancakes tasted lovely :)

The chocolate pancakes that accompanied the tiramisu pancakes were slightly better. The chocolate flavour was strong and it tasted like eating a real chocolate cake. However, the vanilla ice cream , although spotting vanilla beans, lacked the fragrance of vanilla and tasted merely creamy. The mascarpone cream was slightly better, though I would have hoped for a more generous serving of it instead of the mediocre vanilla icecream.

For drinks, I ordered the iced vanilla latte, which unfortunately, was too sweet and left a bad aftertaste.

In conclusion, the pancakes at the pancakes Strictly Pancakes nailed the texture but still requires certain refinement on the taste. Given that pancakes are the main focus at this eatery, it would be in the best interest of them to improve on their pancakes.

For those comparing Strictly Pancakes with the pancakes available at Hatched, those at Strictly Pancakes are definitely nicer and more consistent.

A 6/10. I probably would return in a month's time and hope that further improvements are made.

Cheers!

Michelle

Barcook Bakery-The king of cream cheese buns

(I'm sorry this is unsightly but I just had to highlight how creamy the cream cheese was!-and I was also too absorbed in gobbling the bun :/)

Good food often takes you by surprise and of course, leaving you unprepared and at mercy of your cravings. Walking around aimlessly today at one raffles place, I came across barcook bakery. Instantly my stomach demanded the raisin cream cheese bun which impressed me thoroughly when I first ate it in the beginning of the year. Forgoing my diet before prom (ah well, theres always a reason why the dietingstartstomorrow ), I bought a cream cheese bun for myself and devoured it in less than 5 minutes

9 months has past since I last ate it and I'm very glad to say that the quality of the cream cheese bun remains extremely good. The velvety cream cheese with plump raisins inside the soft bun simply melts in your mouth(I mean literally--and was also because of it that I finished the bun in 5 minutes) After one bite it is impossible to stop(unless you don't like cream cheese in the first place) : D

In the monopolistic competitive market for cream cheese buns, Barcook's generous cream cheese filling and extremely soft buns differentiates its buns from the other bakeries where the cream cheese tends to be a pathetic layer of curd like substance. The high turnover of buns also means that you can be guaranteed of freshness and if you are lucky, buns fresh from the oven!

A clear front runner in the race of cream cheese buns(and of other variety of buns that I'll try after prom ;) ),I firmly believe barcook bakery is here to stay

4.5/5

(0.5 was subtracted because it was so sinful I have no choice but to hit the pool and swim 20 laps today :( )

Che *burps* ers

Michelle

11 months on, New Year Buffet at Spices Cafe, Concorde Hotel

Post A levels, I've been rummaging around my old photos and I came across this yummy buffet that my family and I ate at for the New Year's celebration! Thought it would be good to share them with everyone so that at least if spices cafe introduces the New Year Buffet again, at least you might know what to expect

(and of course, what better time to publish this 1 month before the new year comes along again..heh)

Disclaimer: The quality of the dishes at Spices Cafe, Concorde Hotel may have changed (11 months have past) but the following was what we had..

A wide variety of cold salads that weren't memorable enough.

Smoked duck(it was lovely although the even pink-ish coloured duck meat suggested that it might not have been prepared in-house)

Cold and fresh prawns

One of the many savoury dishes, sweet and sour fish

Other fresh seafood that were available--The fresh crabs were exceptionally sweet

1 baked lobster with cheese per person--They were the highlight of the buffet but pity we were limited to one per person
And the array of deserts available. The black-ish looking thing in the foreground is wine jelly, which I vividly remember it tasting like the real McCoy.

It's been 11 months and regrettably the memory of exactly how the food tasted is a tad sketchy. The baked lobster certainly did strike a chord though. I wouldnt offer any rating because it wouldnt be fair.

For those considering a good evening out with friends and loved ones to welcome the new year, going for a New Year buffet is quite an interesting choice! I recall plenty of different choices for New Year Dinners(with different price ranges of course) and it was lovely to bask in the joyous mood of the New Year.

Do check before hand if there would be any activities organized by the restaurant/hotel to keep you entertained as you await the countdown! Concorde hotel had various stage games which restaurant guests were able to participate in.

It's 30 days to the new year :D!

Post A Levels Dinner-at The Square

The A levels have finally ended(hooray) and what better way to celebrate it than with good food and of course, good company?

UOB had a 1 for 1 offer at the Square Restaurant at Furama Rivefront Hotel, and since 30th November was the last day of the promotion and it coincided with my last paper, my family decided to head down to the Square for their buffet dinner.

I always start with the deserts for buffets :)

Fruit cheesecake-It was ordinary

Strawberry Tart-I would advise against it. The pink coloured cone tasted artificial

Green Tea Opera-The green tea layer didnt blend well with the other layers of the cake,

although the chocolate ganache was good

Bailey and Oreo moose -I could only taste the chocolate and oreo in the moose cake, but it was yummy though

A limited variety of savoury food, ranging from braised duck to eefu noodles, braised fish and grilled lamb

to garlic crabs and the awesome ratatouille!

Pardon the poor focusing of the pictures, I was too hungry to take pictures of them

Pancakes that never fail to make my day. I ate them with lurpak butter(which were plentiful at the bread corner) Alternatively you could eat them with maple syrup,kaya (!?!) or jam. Or you could try designing your unique pancakes with the chocolate fondue.

Now doesnt the display makes the food look much more palatable :)

The variety available during the buffet was pretty limited, with only about 10 dishes for savoury food, few deserts, the cold dishes(salmon, tuna and some sushi and salad), soup(which were bad--the sharkfins soup tasted salty and the vegetable chowder tasted too sweet) bread, cheese. I loved the fact that they had a free flow of coffee and tea. That went well with the deserts.

All in all I pretty much enjoyed the buffet. The limited variety, (unlike those at The Line which I'm more used to for a buffet) meant that I could try every dish during the buffet and still have stomach space to go for seconds.

I loved the ratatouille (no pictures, sorry) which had the right blend of crunchiness of the vegetables and the tomato based sauce. The grilled lamp was also extremely well done. The savouries in general were good, although the garlic crab could have been tastier.

Some hits and misses(especially the soup and the deserts) but definitely worth your money at the 1 for 1 promotional price. We paid about $28 per person.

A 7/10 :)

The first blog post

I've always wanted to start a food blog after being inspired by the other bloggers and also to record in memory the wide range of food that I've eaten. However procrastination and academic commitments stalled me from starting this blog. Now that the A levels are finally over, the blog finally comes into reality.

Why is the blog named dietingstartstomorrow?

Because that's what I've incessantly been telling myself whenever I come across good food ;) Calories from good food are always worth it

So what can we expect from your blog?

Many pictures of course and reviews (the good, the bad and the plain ugly) about the notable meals that I've eaten. At 18, I've acquired a pretty discerning palate (probably due to the influence of my dad) and I would love to share my thoughts with everyone.

Hope that coming across this blog and reading my posts made you happier, and of course, hungrier ;)