Mille Crepe Cakes for Dessert Lovers!

As dessert lovers, my husband and I are always looking out for new sweet treats, be it in Singapore or other countries. We first came across a unique type of cake, the mille crepes, when we attended our friend's wedding in Malacca a few months ago. The fabulous taste of the mille crepes in Malacca has piqued my interest and prompted me to research where I can find similar cakes in Singapore. To my delight, I was able to find a local bakery specializing in the mille crepes in Clementi. 



Classic Cakes Bakery was quite crowded on the Saturday night that we visited

The owner of Classic Caker bakery was featured on a number of media including The Business Times



The sweet caramelise tops gave the millie crepes a beautiful golden yellow glow

 

The original taste millie crepe with layers held together by delicious vanilla



The chocolate chip millie crepe great for chocolate lovers!

Can you see the thin but distinct layers of the cake?

A variety of cakes to choose from

The mille crepes were smooth, rich and savory as expected. What I didn't expect was that I could actually taste the distinct layers of the cakes! This created an exceptional texture to the cake which was quite special in my opinion. From just one bite of the millie crepe, it was obvious that the baker had put in considerable amount of effort, work and patience to stack each and every layer of crepe so that the customers can really experience the multilayer taste of the cake. Admirable dedication! If there was anything to complain about, I would prefer the cake to be a little less sweet :).

Apart from the signature millie crepes which cost $7 each regardless of flavor, the bakery also offers other cakes such as Cheesecakes and Black Forest cakes. So if you have room for some dessert after a meal, you may want to consider trying out the cakes at Classic Cakes.

Note: Most customers prefer to take-away their orders as the bakery is very small with only two tables and a few chairs. Expect the bakery to be somewhat crowded on weekends around dinner time.

Classic Cakes

41 Sunset Way

#01-06 Clementi Arcade

Tel: 67628019

Sumptuous Pork Knuckle at Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

German style pork knuckle fried and roasted to perfection

Although I try to cut down on oily food, there are certain dishes that I still take once in a while as I find them really hard to resist! For instance, one of my favorite dishes is the really fatty Chinese style braised pork knuckle. For me, this is a comfort dish that I go for every now and then when I am in a particularly greedy mood.

So imagine my delight when I was introduced to the German style pork knuckle just a couple of days ago! We waited a good 15 to 20 minutes for the dish to be brought to our table although the restaurant was not busy. Having had some experience in cooking recently, I can confidently said that the pork knuckle at Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant was not an easy dish to prepare. The dish probably needs to be both roasted and fried, in order to make sure the hugh chunks of meat on the pork knuckle are fully cooked. Here are some pictures of the dish:

The dish comes with several sides including sauerkraut, mash potatoes, lettuce and pickles

Pouring sauce over the pork knuckle

The meat tasted really good when ate together with the sides

Yummy! All ready to tuck in!

At first bite, the crunchy skin of the pork knuckle reminded me of the Chinese style roast pork. The difference is, the skin is MUCH more crispy and we can hear every bite we took! I also liked the fact that unlike the Chinese style roast pork, the meat is less salty. Given the humongous size of the pork knuckle in its full glory, we think that it is quite an achievement on the part of the chef to cook the meat so that it is still quite soft and tender. According to the waitress, the dish is for a maximum of 2 people, but we believe that the pork knuckle is big enough for at least 3, unless we are talking about really big eaters! Bernard and I managed to finish the whole pork knuckle, with some leftovers of the side dishes. Personally, I find that the pork tasted better when matched with the sauerkraut (i.e. finely cut fermented cabbage), as the sourness in the sauerkraut helps to neutralize the strong aftertaste of the meat. All in all, the pork knuckle is very tasty although we are unlikely to have another one in the near future!

And here were some pictures of the restaurant and my outfit of the day:

Bar area at Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

A photo of me at the bar counter

Main entrance to Brotzeit German Bier Bar and Restaurant

Wearing  Monochrome Stripe Dress (a gift from my sister), sunglasses from Japan and Studded Bucket Bag coming to Lace And Buttons soon!

The Studded Bucket Bag comes with a gold chain strap as well!

The Star Vista, Singapore

1 Vista Exchange Green

The Star Vista, #02-11,

Singapore 138617

t : (65) 66943652
e : info@brotzeit.co
w : http://brotzeit.co/TheStarVista

SIMPLY STYLISH PART I Preview, 17 April 2013, Wednesday

Hi ladies,

The first installment to our "Simply Stylish" collection will be launched tomorrow at 9pm. If you love vibrant floral prints, don't miss out on our pretty Kaelyn Floral Dress in Black or Grey! This number can be worn as a tube or with transparent straps which come with the dress. Other designs include a classy romper with houndstooth prints, flattering bandage dresses as well as gorgeous pieces with cute heart shape prints!

With that, we wish you a great week ahead and see you at the launch!

Houndstooth Romper

Electra Bandage Dress in White

Electra Bandage Dress in Black

Kaelyn Floral Dress in Black

Kaelyn Floral Dress in Grey

Sweetheart Prints Dress

Embellished Collar Dress

Heart Prints Shirt Dress

If you want to win one of these apparels, why not join our monthly Facebook Giveaway? Giveaway ends tomorrow at 9pm, when this collection is launched! 

Superb Fish and Chips - Boston Seafood Shack

Before I became a business owner, I used to work at one of the offices in Buona Vista. At that time, my options for lunch and after-work hours dining are limited to a few nearby hawker centers and Holland Village, which were only accessible by the free shuttle bus service provided in the area. In recent times, a new mall in Buona Vista, The Star Vista, was opened, providing another location for the working crowd to dine. The location of the mall was perfect as it is strategically positioned just next to the Buona Vista MRT station. Although I was no longer working at Buona Vista, I was pretty curious about it and therefore visited this mall for the first time a few months ago. I was pleasantly surprised by the unique architecture of the The Star Vista which integrates a natural alfresco ambiance within a retail environment, focusing mainly on F&B outlets.

As I have never tried the food of quite a number of restaurants in The Star Vista, I thought it will be a good idea to write up a few reviews of my experiences in some of these eateries! Hence, the very first restaurant I am going to introduce is none other than the Boston Seafood Shack:

A photo of the main entrance to the Boston Seafood Shack

Really interesting decor with a fishermen's wharf theme!

The restaurant adheres to a self-service concept in order to keep prices affordable

Store promotion information, ordering instructions for first timers and menu

An assortment of condiments including chilli and tomato sauce, malt vinegar and pepper

We decided to go for a soup and a seafood basket for two. And here comes the food:

Seafood chowder

Seafood basket with fishes, scallops, prawns, calamari and fries at $19.50 nett

We were really enjoying our food!

We thought the seafood basket and clam chowder were pretty good! The seafood and fries were really crispy and not too oily. I particularly like the fish and the calamari which I thought were marinated quite well with just the right amount of flavor. The prawns and scallops were more bland but as the outer crusts were very tasty, the overall taste was not bad :). If you like your food to be a little sour, do not forget to dip them in malt vinegar! I really love how the vinegar made the seafood even more appetizing! The clam chowder tasted better than it looked....in fact, we thought it was really delicious! There was quite a lot of clams in what looked like a very small bowl of soup so it was worth a try for soup lovers.

And here was my outfit for the day:

Lace Panel Dress and Ashley Clutch coming to Lace And Buttons soon! Simply love the specially hand-sewn lace details on the sides of the dress :)

The stylish clutch came with a strap so it can be sling on as well!

So if you are in the mood for some fish and chips or fried seafood at a affordable price in a themed restaurant, Boston Seafood Shack may be an ideal restaurant for you!

Boston Seafood Shack
The Star Vista
#01-46

Final Post On The Wonderful Trip To Japan!

There are so much to do and see in Japan that I am honestly quite reluctant to end it off with this post. Nevertheless, all good things must come to the end so I will try to cover as many interesting stuff and fond memories as I can in this final piece on my Japan trip saga! 

If you are a hardcore fan of electronic gadgets and all things anime, one place you would not want to miss is Akihabara, a district in central Tokyo famous for its numerous electronic stores. 

Anime or manga with beautiful female characters form a very big part of the Japanese "Zai Nan" culture

Akihabara is thronged by blocks and blocks of buildings selling mainly electronic products

According to my Japanese girlfriend, Akihabara is very popular with "Zai Nan" (i.e. young man who usually stays at home). I suppose it is because this particular group normally prefers to stay home to play computer games and watch television rather then socialize with others. The usual interpretation of  why "Zai Nan" behave the way they do is due to their innate inability to communicate with others effectively. Interestingly, despite how shy or socially inadequate the "Zai Nan" may be, they are still young men who wish to seek the solace of female companionship, which likely explains the presence of a very famous French Maid Cafe in the area. 

Famous French Maid Cafe, @Home. Photo is taken outside the cafe as there is a strict policy of no photo taking inside

Needless to say, all the waitresses in this cafe are all young ladies dressed like French maids. Apart from serving food and drinks, these young ladies also make small talk with the customers (90% male) as well as take polaroid photos or/and play games with them (for a fee). The concept of such a cafe is really quite amusing and interesting to me, although I have to say we were all quite puzzled over the popularity of this place! As like most well known restaurants in Japan, we had to queue for about 45 minutes before we got our seats. Although the charges (i.e. entrance fee and cost of food/drinks) were pretty expensive, I guessed the novelty of the whole experience is worth the wait and visit :)....at least this once!  

Just a couple more pictures of young ladies in cosplay costumes which we spotted:

It was freezing so we actually felt quite sorry for this young lady! Despite the cold, she was professionally posing for photoshoots by a huge crowd of spectators.

Much warmer here! Kai and I taking a picture with a pretty waitress in a French Maid style uniform

Not only are the people and culture in Japan really interesting, the taste of the food is also truly incredible! Hence, I would like to end this post with one of my favorite topics of all time, FOOD!

Group picture taken outside the Ramen eatery where we had lunch. Near Chibaminato station.

Ramen with Japanese style char siew

Ramen with shoyu based soup

lightly pan fried gyoza as a side dish

Ramen eateries are very common in Japan and may be considered one of the more budget option compared to other restaurants. The essence of a tasty bowl of ramen lies in the soup, which is usually brewed for many hours to capture the full flavor of the ingredients that goes into making it. Needless to say, the standard of the ramen in Japan is very high. However, as you can see from the pictures above, the soup base of a standard bowl of ramen is usually rather oily and tends to be quite salty. So depending on your personal food preference, you may or may not appreciate ramen as much as some others. Personally, I love eating ramen but I prefer not to drink too much of the soup for health reasons!

While some of the Japanese ramen joints take orders through their servers like what we are accustomed to, some others required the customers to purchase tickets for the food item they wish to order from a vending machine and pass the tickets to the server in charge of processing the order (for a bigger size eatery) or to the chef directly (for a small eatery). I am not too sure why the system is as such but perhaps this method is used so that the servers or chefs do not need to handle money and make their hands dirty in the process? Whatever the case is, we were more than happy to follow the system in order to enjoy a fabulous bowl of ramen!

We bought our tickets through this machine at one of the ramen eateries we visited

Last but not least, let me share some of my fashion buys on this trip!

Nothing more than 1990 Yen (approximately SGD$26) ! The cheapest item is only 900 Yen :)

Wearing the H&M top I bought in Japan and floral shorts (from Odaiba). Photo taken in Singapore!

The time we visited (early March) was great for summer clothes shopping in Japan as there were many big sales around!

And time to say goodbye to Japan!

I was pilot for a day! Just kidding....our flight back to Singapore was delayed by 2 hours and the pilots kindly allowed interested passengers to visit the cockpit for a photo while we were waiting!

As mentioned right at the beginning, there were simply too much to see and do in Japan! Although I have done up a total of seven posts, what I have posted merely covered a fraction of what we experienced! Special thanks to all the people who made this trip unforgettable (you know who you are!) and hope to visit Japan again sometime soon!