Selfish Gene Cafe

Date: 14 June 2012

Address: 40 Craig Road 

Opening hours: 10am - 6pm, Closed on Tuesdays

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar

Website: Selfish Gene Cafe

Met up with a food blogger, one who's more experienced. Do visit his site for more reviews! He puts in alot of hard work and his sincerity shows through his posts. 

Roast Beef Sandwich - S$12.80 

Sundried tomato bread with roast beef, onions and veg. I quite liked it though i think we took too long so the taste was compromised. The bread was already cold by the time i bit into it but oh well. Will just have to learn how to take a good shot in half the time. There was nothing special about this sandwich though. What I would suggest is maybe a side of fries to complete it? There just seemed to be something missing. 

I preferred the toast to my ciabatta cos it was softer (Then again i let mine get cold). Once again, i didn't think there wasn't anything to shout about regarding the Scrambled eggs and Brioche - S$10.80 

Banana cake with caramelized banana, crumble and peanut butter sauce. - S$5.80 

I don't like peanut butter so I didn't have much of this. But if you're a fan of peanut butter, I can imagine you'd devour this in a second. The banana cake was sweet and light, didn't taste too oily and I particularly thought the crumble was interesting. Didn't figure out what it was but it gave a nice texture to the cake. 

Perhaps i will try other desserts next time. 

We had a little chat with the conversational owner, Gene who explained why he chose "selfish gene" for the name. Apparently, "Selfish" should be taken more as "Self-ish" meaning that while he(as a self) delights in doing what he pleases (making food for us) and we (as individual selves) delight in spending time with our friends/family in his cafe. 

It took a while for my mind to grapple around that theory but i THINK i'm coming to terms with it. 

His other explanation made more sense. That in helping others, sometimes, we are more concerned with how it'll affect us. So perhaps, we should start thinking how to be more self-less and REALLY put others first without considering the consequences on ourselves. 

ALL THIS PHILOSOPHICAL TALK has made me extremely hungry so I will have some thai food for dinner haha. 

Though the food is not of any extraordinary standard, the warm service and the comfortable setting make a trip to this place worthy and pleasing. 

The Plain

Date: 12 June 2012

Address: 50 Craig Road

Opening Hours: 7:30am - 7:30pm

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar

Website: The Plain

I'm trying to visit as many places as I can in the tanjong pagar/duxton/ann siang area and I know "The Plain" is one not to be missed. 

After a short 7 minutes walk from the train station, my friend and I arrive at the cafe, sweaty and hungry. 

The rectangular sized space boasts of high ceilings and a cosy setting. 

The moment we stepped in, welcome greetings met us and a nice friendly waitress sat us down. 

I've heard this was a melbourne-based establishment so I wasn't surprised to see vegemite toast on the menu.  I can't stand vegemite so i limited myself to the items I could try. 

Salami Ciabatta - S$8.90 

This surprised me because there was sweet chilli in it. I'm not sure if i'm all for it, but it didn't taste too bad so i'm not complaining. 

The roma tomatoes were AMAZING. I think the roma tomatoes made what could have been an average ciabatta into a mouth watering one. I would have liked more rocket though. 

Having said that, the beef pastrami ciabatta ( also $8.90 ) paled in comparison.

For some reason, the bread wasn't as crispy and well toasted as the salami one. This one was too hard and almost impossible to bite through. The sundried tomatoes failed to impress after being outshined by the roma tomatoes. Netiher of us finished our half.

 Once again, the roma tomatoes made the Darling's eggs ( S$6.50 ) a tantalizing rendition of poached eggs on sourdough toast. 

Instead of using hollandaise, they use melted cheese. Instead of salmon like the one in Group therapy's poached eggs, they use ham. 

If given a choice, I would combine both cafes' poached eggs to create my idea of perfect poached eggs - a thick slice of sourdough toast with roma tomatoes, a small portion of hollandaise sauce with poached eggs on top, garnished with black pepper.

Our waitress recommended we try the Summer blue iced tea - S$5.50 so we did.

The recipe included Gryphon english breakfast tea with lychees and mint leaves. 

It was refreshing and something new, mixing fruits with tea. 

I've read about how messy the billing system is but we had no problem when we asked for the bill. 

The waitress who attended to us simply told the cashier what we ordered and we were politely told to pay at the counter. I do understand how it can get disorganized if it were a busy day and the waitresses aren't free to cater to each specific order. 

But if they say this is the way the people in Melbourne roll, who are we to criticize? 

All I need is reasonably priced good food, smiles from friendly staff and aircon (Singapore is too humid for me to enjoy my food in alfresco dining areas). 

Group Therapy

Date: 12 June 2012

Address: 49 Duxton Road 

Opening hours: Tues - Thurs: 11am - 6pm , Fri -Sat : 11am - 11pm , Sunday: 9am - 6pm

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar 

 Having a nice brunch at The Plain with my friend, the Topshopper, we chanced upon the famous Group Therapy. For a weekday, I was surprised at how packed it was, especially when it was already 2pm. 

 We got the dry apple cider to share. (S$12) 

I don't know if it was cos it's "Dry" but i didn't really like it. Tasted too much like beer. I prefer the pear cider I had at Heart of House.

We had planned to only have a drink, but on the table beside us sat an outrageously tempting plate of poached eggs. Having very weak resistance to good looking food, we caved in and ordered a plate. 

For S$15, it was a reasonable portion given it had a generous portion of salmon. 

I thoroughly enjoyed the crispiness of the thick toast. 

I'm still not sure if it was because I was already full from the earlier brunch, or if the sauce was just too much to handle. The thick layer of hollandaise over the surface of everything was overwhelming, i had to scrap scoops of it away before I could stomach a few more bites. 

I think if they gave less sauce it would have been perfect. 

I like the ambience here though, it has a non-pretentious atmosphere and amicable staff. I would definitely want to come back and try the other items on the menu. It's strange that they have paper menus cos it seems abit too damageable and hard to maintain. I hope they don't print tons of it to replace the dirty ones cos that would be highly un-environmentally friendly. 

A queer thing we encounter would be them charging a dollar for ice. 

Many places charge their patrons for water, but charging for ice? That's a first i've seen. 

I don't quite understand the rationale behind that (no ice machine?) but it can be quite a turn off for certain patrons. It almost was for me, if not for the apologetic look on the waitress's face. 

All in all, group therapy cafe is worth a try and i hope to be better impressed the next time I visit. 

Aroy Dee

Date: June 2012 

Address: 91 Bencoolen Street, Sunshine Plaza

Opening hours : 12pm-10pm (Closed on Sundays) 

Nearest MRT: Bugis / City Hall

I was meeting an Italian friend who lives in London and she wanted to have some thai food. 

Initially, i thought of going to Aloy Thai but the thought of having to queue put me off. Besides, I've eaten at Aloy Thai (haven't blogged about it) so i wanted to check out Aroy Dee.

My companion ordered the Phad thai and said it tasted just like the one in thailand, which probably means they did a good job. 

Sorry i dont have the price but it'll probably be like 5 bucks or something. 

My tom yum soup was awesome! S$6. It was everything tomyum should be, spicy and sour. It wasn't so spicy that i couldn't feel taste buds so that was good. 

Compared to being in thailand, 6 bucks for what would be 2 seems abit too much but to me, if paying 6 dollars gives me authentic tomyum soup that takes me back to thailand, i'm all for it! 

I LOVE Aroy Dee. Such a quaint a nice place for good thai food. Up next is to see if Aloy Thai keeps up to the impression i made of them 3 years ago. 

Chomp Chomp

Date: 7 June 2012

Address: 20 Kensington Park Road 

Nearest MRT: Serangoon 

Chomp Chomp has always been known to be the place for seafood, satay, large glasses of sugarcane juice to be enjoyed in an under-ventillated venue with inadequate number of seats. The sweating, standing around waiting for seats and getting choked up from smoke is all part of the "Chomp Chomp experience" and honestly, I wouldn't change a thing. 

We tried one of the many seafood stalls - Boon Tat Street BBQ food ( stall no. 8 ), ordered 2 plates of stingray, a plate of la la and kangkong.

Kang kong - S$6 for small 

Good plate of kangkong, not too spicy, kangkong was crunchy. 

La La - S$8 (small) 

The La La was a little too gooey for me but the sauce was nice. Too many empty shells in my opinion. 

Sambal Stingray - S$10 (small) 

This was rather disappointing. The meat was bland, perhaps it should have been grilled longer, i couldn't taste the tinge of saltiness that stingray usually has. 

The sambal looks like it was plastered on after it was grilled instead of while it was being grilled. I'm pretty sure that's not it but........it just doesn't look like it was grilled well enough. 

My standard of stingray is quite high so...maybe this just fails in comparison with all the better ones I've tried. 

Yummy Rainbow's milkcurd ( S$1.50 ) was pleasantly refreshing. It was sweeter than bean curd and smoother. There are quite a few stalls selling milk curd and I didn't try the rest but it should suffice to say this stall's milkcurd didn't disappoint 

Dessert Bowl

Date: 7 June 2012
Address: 80A Serangoon Garden Way
Opening Hours: Tue–Thu: 12pm – 10.30pm , Fri–Sun: 12pm – 12am, closed on Mondays 
Nearest MRT: Serangoon

A number of my friends have been gushing over this place and its highlight - the durian mousse. 

I'm a huge durian fan, i come from 3 generations of durian lovers so how could I not have a go at a bowl? 

The setting makes you feel comfortable, simple with bold colours and soft light. The place is decorated with these boxes of displays which are just so exquisitely filled with the minute details. There are quite a number of seats around the house as well so no need to worry about having to wait. 

Mango Pomelo dessert - S$4.20

A friend of mine who doesn't like durians ordered her usual mango pomelo dessert. It tasted ordinary, in fact i think i prefer Ah Chew's mango pomelo. 

Durian Mousse - S$5 

THIS was amazing. Forget about the large chunk of durian, the mousse itself was creamy and the taste of durian was strong. It was basically just durian in a creamier form. This chilled bowl of heaven is perfect for any night! It was a bit too much for me to finish so it might be nice to share it with someone. All things taste better when shared (at least to me) 

I hope they make more money so they can open island wide outlets. Its a hassle going to serangoon gardens but i would gladly go again for the durian mousse is WORTHHHHHHHHHH IT.

Flor Patisserie

Date: 3 June 2012

Address: 2 Duxton Hill 

Opening hours: Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, Sun 11am-5pm 

Nearest MRT: Tanjong Pagar 

'Flor' is 'flower' in portuguese. I never asked why they picked a portuguese name for a japanese cafe though. 

The decor is simple, the cafe is small, there are seats for 6 inside and 4 outside. 

There were so many cakes to pick from. I can't wait to go back and try the rest. 

I picked this to try because it sounded too irresistible. Waguri Millefeurille - S$7.30

Simple and good. 

The pastry part is a little hard to break through but once you've got a hold on all the layers, they harmonize together in A CAKE SONG. If you've ever heard a cake song, erase it from your memory because this is so much better. The "Flaky" part served as the chewy textured layer, the sponge cake was buoyant and fragrant and the chestnut cream worked its way as the binder. I detest cream but this chestnut cream worked its magic on me and i dizzyingly fell for its lightness. 

Cacao Royal - S$6.60

Dark chocolate cake with chocolate cream and assorted fruits. Predictable and unsurprising but nonetheless, a good version of a chocolate cake.

Strawberry Souffle - S$6.60 

Light and creamy. The middle portion is a little denser than sponge cake, as expected. So it's safe to say this cake was pleasant but didn't have a wow factor. Also, I wish they'd excluded the berries cos they were useless - bland and dry. 

 When i asked the chef which was his specialty, his face lit up,  his fingers pointed to the display and he exclaimed " berry berries! "with great pride and pleasure. He had been standing at the corner in the back of the cafe, watching people come in and out, greeting everyone with his hands by his side. 

I admire the japanese for keeping their politeness, bringing their culture along to touch us with their generosity and warmth. 

Cakes here are known to be light but there is no compromising on their flavor. The 2 cakes that i've tried have been of delicate work and are exquisitely tasty. Yet another cafe to make you feel you can fill your life with food, when everything else seems to be falling out of it. 

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Revisited : 12 June 2012

I'm becoming a huge fan of Chef Yamashita's cakes so i foresee myself going back to Flor again and again until I've tried all their cakes. Even after that, I'll probably still return regularly to be updated on their new creations. 

Today I ordered the Mont Blanc- S$6.95 to share with a friend.  

It reminded me of the Waguri cake except there wasn't the pastry. I still prefer the Waguri, out of the few cakes I've tried. Next up will be the Napoleon and Berry Berries. 

The Mont blanc cake was light and sweet, filled with chantily cream and topped with strands of french chestnut. I liked how un-oily the cream was. The regular under-the-block cake shops often have cakes with yucky cream that leave an oily layer on your lips. But this is different, the cream is light and sweet and doesn't feel oily. 

I don't know how that happens ( i don't bake for nuts ) but yay to non-oily cream cakes. 

 The lady working today asked if i was writing a review and offered to let us try their new creation. I'd seen it before - the Karai cookies but didn't bother since I wanted to focus on the cakes.

It was such a sensation!!!!!!! At first, you just taste the cheesey flavour and get reminded of Chinese new year cookies because of the texture but after a few more seconds, the spicy powdered flavour comes out and WOW was all I felt. 

I liked it so much i just had to get a packet for myself. I would have gotten 10 but then I wouldn't have any good excuse to return to Flor hahaha. 

Can't wait till my next visit to Flor!!!