Wimbly Lu ~ Chocolate.Cafe.Company : F&B

As continued from the previous post, here are the goodies that we had at Wimbly Lu.


Their embelm?

Sticky date pudding

This may not be my 1st sticky date pudding but this is the best I've had so far. The pudding was moist and the caramel sauce, though thick, wasn't too gooey. And not too sweet.

Bread & butter pudding

My colleague, Roza's choice of dessert. She's been aiming this ever since she saw it in the display chiller at the counter. 

Served warm, accompanied with custard sauce. Every bite was such a delight. Very 'homely' kind of dessert, if you ask me.

Chocolate lava cake

This will take around 15-20mins to prepare. Caution: Served right outta' oven. VERY hot.

Decadent dark chocolate flavour. Warm, soft, rich and gooey. Mmmmm...!

And I like that they serve these desserts inside an individual ramekin, to avoid any mess. Sure, plating desserts is a plus for presentations but it's such a waste to have bits of whatever dessert being shared to scatter all over the plate.

Can you imagine the precious chocolate 'lava' flowing out onto the plate? I bet you would lave licked the plate clean if you weren't in a public place! So the use of these ramekins was such a great idea.

Flourless orange cake

My colleague Sri and our boss similarly chose this cake. Maybe my 'weight-watching' boss was enticed by the term: flourless.

Honestly, I thought the cake looked a bit dry. Plus, I wasn't too impressed by the fact that it's 'flourless'. So my expectations was a tad low.

Looks can be deceiving, however. The cake was more moist than I expect it to be and the orange flavour and scent wasn't too overwhelming. Nice.

I would love to have this paired with someting 'chocolatey'. Like a scoop of dark chocolate ice-cream on the side or even include some chocolate chips into the batter. That would have been nice! I'm really a sucker for any orange-choc. combo.

Eton Mess

When it was my turn to choose a dessert, I was still contemplating between the many choices. Then, I got curious about this 'Eton Mess'. That name was just so, so familiar but I just can't put my finger to where I've heard it. So I enquired with the server.

She replied, "Oh, it's actually a mix of berries, meringue and cream put together..." I can see my lady boss's eyes widening with every ingredient mentioned.

When she got to the part, "Put together.." My lady boss blurted out, "Ok, I'm SOLD!"

Erm... I thought that was my dessert order…? LOL

And yeah, the reason why the name sound familiar was because this is Prince William's favourite dessert. It's as English as can be and he even chose this to be served during his wedding reception.

Chunky, sweet & sour berry sauce, cold fresh cream and sweet crunchy meringue put together? Needless to say, we WERE sold.

Rocky road bar

In fact, if there's a choice that I would have made, it would have been this. We simply agree to a random suggestion by the server and I sure am glad we did. I totally love it! Marshmallow and a mix of nuts (mostly almonds), coated with dark chocolate. I'm so gonna make some of my own!

The reason why there's a candle was because it was the eve of my male colleague's birthday. My ladyboss must have gone over and made this special request for her bro when he went to the restroom.

Latte

Post meal drinks. I always ordered the cappuccino but I thought that would have been an overkill, what with the foamy cream and all. Especially after these overwhelming desserts.

Mocha latte

My colleague Sri's order. The 2 males in out group ordered the very 'macho' Long Black (coffee).

Classic hot chocolate

My colleague Roza's order. She had expected something like CBTL's Hot Chocolate. A more runny consistency. But that had been chocolate powder.

From the look of this one, it appeared like pure chocolate was mixed into hot milk, hence the pretty thick consistency. They even top the drink with a couple of marshmallows and more choco bits.

You know what would have been great with this? Churros. Freshly fried, plain churros. Yummm!

They also have the Mayan Hot Chocolate where some Cajun or Cayenne pepper have been added for the extra 'kick' in the drink.

So there. We left the place feeling a little high. Sugar high, actually. As expected, it was a struggle to stay awake in the office after that. Pfft. 

Wimbly Lu ~ Chocolate.Cafe.Company

After a quick company lunch, we hopped over to this confectionery located a few doors down.You can drop by after lunch because this place only open its doors at 1pm.

Most patrons are usually those who dined at the neighbouring restaurants and came by here for desserts and coffee. And oh, there's this really cute, vintage Beetle parked outside. Totally add to the charm of this place.

Display area

This was what you'll see at the entrance. Didn't give me much of an idea as to how the interior looked like, inside.

If I were to judge this place from what I see here, I'd say that I expect to enter a warm kitchen with rustic, country-like interiors; with traditional English food being served. Maybe even a grandma-like lady manning the kitchen. Very Jane Austen-esque.

Fridge display

This was at the counter. Already looked tempting!

Top shelf was éclairs and something else. Second shelf from right were: Rocky Road bars, Hazelnut Butterscotch bars and Brownies.

Bottom shelf from right were: Bread & Butter pudding, Tiramisu and Chocolate Crème Brûlée.

Right beside this fridge was a display area showcasing the various chocolate truffles available. Yes, I know! Sorry I forgot to snap a pic. :(

Preparation cum display area
(pic courtesy of my colleague Sri)

At this point, I was already enthralled by the refreshment area towards the back and totally forgot about this corner.

On the far right was the Blackout cake. Next to it was the Flourless Orange cake and the 3 slices of dark cakes in the martini glass was the Root Beer Float cake.

And yes, those are éclairs, ready to be stuffed with cream.

Cozy corner

The stained glass partition meant to shied this cosy area from a view of the restroom entrance at the back.

These antique rattan chairs with that ornate wrought-iron coffee table gives a nostalgic feel to this little corner. The rattan armchair with the floral cushions at the end were exactly what my grandma had last time. Really miss them. They're really comfy!

Suddenly think that if only I can get my hands back on the whole sofa set (already discarded), I'll refurbish them by painting them white and use them for my new abode. Sigh.

Sweet little 'garden' corner

My colleague jokingly suggest that I take off my shoes and feel the (carpet) grass under my feet. I love it actually. Don't mind sitting in this corner and take off my shoes as I sip on my coffee and have a little gossip with my gal friend.

Bright, sunlit refreshment area towards the back

Can get a bit warm here around mid-day, though.

Totally digg the rustic, exposed brick walls. Really adds to the vintage appeal of this space. And the black 'iron-like' clock-face? Awesome.

Too many eateries are using this quirky concept of having different chairs at every table. Won't be long before everyone tires of it. But hey, they still manage to spice up the interiors here. So why not?

The cozy corner where we're seated at

This seat reminds me a lot like the 'kerusi Pak Awang' that we used to have. Back then, the covers for the individual square cushions were easily available. I remember just how I dislike changing every individual covers come Hari Raya.

Just changing the material to a more chic fabric like faux leather (PVC) totally change the image of this 'old-skool' furniture.

This lady posted a lot of pics of the interior in her BLOG.

Next entry will be dedicated to the decadent stuff we had that afternoon…

Their WEBSITE

Wimbly Lu ~ Chocolate.Cafe.Company
15-2 Jalan Riang
(located within the landed housing area off 
Braddel Road/ Upper Srangoon Road/ Serangoon Ave 3 
- Near Nanyang Junior College)

Olivye Cafe menu

After our dinner at 89.7 Supper Club, we walked to the far end to the block, to appease my mum, who was worried that Olivye Cafe might have closed down.

I know that she had been really curious about the food offering but I need to find a suitable occasion that will warrant us to dine there.

I spotted their menu light-box display near the bus stop outside. If you're curious about their food (like my mum) you can check the list out:

Chicken & Seafood

Pastas & red meats

Set Meals

Gelato

One of the gelato fridges

My Peppermint Choc. Chip gelato (small)

The mint flavour was just right. Not too strong that you feel like you're drinking the Axe Oil. And the substantial chocolate chunks almost remind me of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.

My parents shared the tangy Wild Berries flavour while my bro made a great choice of Chempedak (jackfruit). It really tasted like frozen chempedak being churned out!

I can't resist trying out my favourite candy flavour- Honey lemon. In all honesty, it taste like the HACKS cough drops with the white wrappers.

Another thing, while I was suveying the various flavours, my bro was placing order and making payment at the counter. Suddenly I heard a little kid with a hacking cough beside me. It was my own son, who kinda' followed us in. Next thing I knew, my bro came over to tell me that the kiddo had puked. Right in front of the cashier!

…In all its green glory (remember the 'Wheatgrass Bandung'?).

First thing I did was to rush him out to my parents and wipe his mouth. My mum then asked, 'Did you clean up after him?" Goodness! I rushed back into the shop (thankfully, my bro was still in there) and apologised profusely. The staff there were kind enough to say, "It's ok. We'll clean up later." Phew!

Luckily, I bought 3 cups of gelato that evening. Imagine all the ruckus caused and I had no intention to buy any…?

89.7 Supper Club at Changi

My poor hubby. He never told me where he wanted to eat but he told my indecisive brother instead. My bro told me he wanted Charcos, initially.

Next I heard, he wanted Botak Favourites. So I suggested Changi. Then again, Changi on a weekend night? Good luck on the parking! All the lots at the large open carparks were taken up so I suggested the carparks behind Blk 5, which we were heading to, anyway.

Instead of driving all the way in, my bro parked at an available lot located near the entrance for fear that there may not be any more lots inside. That also meant that we had to walk allll the way down. It's almost 100metres to where we're headed.

We came upon the packed 89.7 Supper Club first and the noise plus crowd kinda' made us muddled, especially after the long walk. Botak's Favourites was located next door but my hubby was taken aback to see that almost everyone had bottles of beer on the table (it's a Chinese coffee shop).

We eventually settled at a table at 89.7 SC, anyway (they have many staff who were more then willing to usher you in). My mum then ask me, "That gelato shop close down already? And Teh Tarik also?"

My poor mum must have been so exhausted after the long walk that she got confused. I told her that despite walking THAT far, we still have yet to reach that area, which is at the far end. Believe me, Blk 5 Changi Village is really long.

Menu Board

The following food pictures are arranged according to the sequence at which they were served to us.

The servers here use the 'palm' device to send the orders straight to the kitchen, meaning that they might have started preparing our food even before we finish making our full order (wonder what will happen when a previous order got cancelled, huh?).

Barely 5 mins after we were done ordering, the food start to arrive. I-kid-you-not! I even thought that they've sent to the wrong table. Good for the really ravenous folks.

My kiddo hogging the 'Wheatgrass Bandung' for himself

Yes, you read right. When I first heard my bro ordering it, I was like, "What's that?" he just shrugged, so my crazy imagination had me thinking that it's a Bandung drink with wheatgrass syrup added to it. Can you imagine the colour??

Pink + green = some brownish hue. Maybe akin to ice Milo?? *shudders*
As it turn out, the term 'bandung' in this aspect, refers to a drink with evaporated milk added to it. So 'Wheatgrass Bandung' is the milky version, la!

Anyway, my bro barely had a sip of his drink before the tall, icy, green glass caught the kiddo's attention and insisted to have a try. After a sip, he decide that the drink was a keeper. So my poor bro was left hanging.

Fried Calamari

Fried squid is more like it. Can't help thinking that the ones we had previously actually tasted and also looked better.

This one looked very hurriedly prepared (no surprised, there). Thankfully it's cooked just right so no instances of 'rubberband' squid rings here.

Beef fried rice

When I heard that my bro want to order fried rice, I asked if he's willing to give a small portion to my kiddo (so that I can choose my own order). But he remarked that he was too hungry and that he want his rice to be spicy.

When he placed his order, he told the server that he wanted his fried rice to be spicy: meaning that he want the rice to be red and cooked with sambal. When the dish arrived, he was aghast to see that the server had totally misinterpreted him. To make it spicy, all they did was to add some cut-up 'chili padi'. He ended up digging the 'chili padi' out. Pfft!

And look at how bare the plate of fried rice was. Rice, slices of beef and egg. THAT'S ALL.

Chicken Doner kebab

My dad's order. Took me 3 tries just to get this shot taken. He totally don't get it; why I love to take pictures of food on my table.

He wanted the red meat version which would have been mutton but only chicken was available. He chose this because he wanted something 'light'. I doubt this was any 'lighter' than the rice and noodles that the rest of us had.

Seafood Hor Fun

My mum's order. My hubby had the beef version. One look and I can't help remarking that the gravy was too runny for a Hor Fun (typical gravy is slightly thick/starchy).

And from the way they looked as they eat, I can tell that the don't enjoy it. I even asked my mum, "How was it?" She pouted and shook her head. So there.

Cereal Prawns

Thankfully, they didn't screw this dish up. Cos' I ordered a chicken fried rice (very similar to my bro, sans chili padi) to share with my kiddo and this was to be the saving grace that'll help me finish my plate of bland fried rice.

Prawns were firm and fresh, they cut-off the tip of the head which is a plus and the cereal bits taste great. 

Cheese fries

My bro can't resist ordering this.

Later on, when he realised how dismal his fried rice was, he had wanted to order some chicken wings but those will come with more fries and we already had a plate of this. He skipped the chicken wings, eventually.

Spicy steamed chicken feet

What most surprised us was that the order that came from the dimsum list actually came last. I thought that this might arrive first as it had been sitting in the steamer all the while but I guess not. Maybe they popped this in only upon our order.

We totally expect the soy-sauce version as what we always get elsewhere. But the chicken feet here turned out to be red so we expect something like the sweet taste of 'char siew'. Never did my parents expect it to be spicy! Despite the initial shock, my parents braved through the heat and continued to nibble on these savoury claws anyway.

I can only watch. I don't know when it happened but I actually find chicken feet to be pretty disgusting as I grew up. Even though I totally enjoyed them as a kid. When I instagram-ed this pic, some Scandinavian guy remarked that they looked like human hands! Yeach!

Overall, we were pretty let down by the food here, in all honesty. Such overwhelming variety but the preparation and taste were kinda lacking. Might be a case of quantity over quality?

PS: I spot the one-time famous Sri Bistari Ayam Penyet stall at the coffee shop next door (same as Botak's Favourites).

Hubby's Birthday weekend

His birthday actually fell on a weekday and both of us were working so I pushed any celebration for the weekend.

That Saturday morning coincidentally, his mum set off for for a short holiday in Vietnam and his grandma stayed over at his aunt's so then I'll be able to helm the kitchen!

"What's the big deal?" you may ask.

Well, I'm very, VERY shy about any cooking skill that I may possess. Even with my OWN MUM! I'll only cook when the matriarchs aren't around. And only selective folks get to eat what I cook. Even when I'm married, I refused to cook actual meals; nevermind that I appear like some horrible daughter-in-law or what.

I never baked at my in-law's place. Even at my parent's place last time, I baked in the middle of the night, when everyone slept. :P

Crazy, I know. But I just feel apprehensive in the presence of these awesome women. Very, very intimidated, indeed.

Couple of days prior to that weekend, I already planned what I wanna prepare.

Breakfast fry-up

When still residing with my parents during my single days, I totally adore the chaotic Sunday mornings when my parents prepared breakfast fry-ups. And the spread was majestic!

There'll be hotdogs or sausages, fish fingers and sometimes, chicken nuggets. For carbs, there's potato wedges or crinkle-cut fries with toasted french loaf or regular bread slices but they MUST BE TOASTED! Only when I feel not-do-lazy, do I prepare my own garlic spread; grinding the onion, garlic, herbs with butter. Then there's the sunny-side-up eggs, with extras for second helpings. And finally there's the baked beans; always with onion, garlic and chillies sauteed in olive oil before poring the beans in. NEVER straight out-of-the-can.

And breakfast can last at least an hour. We'll talk about everything and anything and when we struggle to finish our food, we'll start pushing the remnants to one another.

AND SO - I wanna replicate that. But it just wasn't easy! My nephew and niece that my helper babysat, they were taken aback by such an elaborate fry-up. They took either the potato ONLY or the cheese sausage only. My hubby don't mind but his stomach space only limit his intake to a little bit of everything or a lot of something. Only my kiddo eats my cooking with gusto. If only he eat the beans... So much for worrying if the single can of beans would suffice. We even have leftovers…

Le Sigh.

Baked penne in cream sauce

This was supposed to be my 'speciality'. When I shopped for the ingredients the day before, I made sure that everything was checked. I was a tad nervous, seeing that the last time I laboriously cooked this from scratch was when I was preggers and that was more than 2 years ago!

But Murphy's Law chose to take place that day. All because of 1 ingredient.

Plain flour.

A traditional kitchen that doesn't have plain flour? What blasphemy! I didn't bother to check on it because I need only a scoop or two and I dun think that'll warrant me to buy a whole kg of it.

Because of that, my penne in mushroom cream SAUCE became penne in mushroom cream SOUP. Bleargh! 

This is why I can't help but look forward to my new abode. My own kitchen. My own stove. My own oven. My own utensils.

I wanna get back my cooking/baking mojo! Practice makes perfect and I wanna be like the mums in my life. Cooking up a storm for the family to enjoy. Huhu...

After the disastrous outcome for breakfast & lunch, well, I naturally planned to eat out for dinner. Ok, so dinner was planned wayyy beforehand. :P

Seoul Garden - ala carte buffet

I know my hubby loves Seoul Garden. He love his meats so Seoul Garden appear like some unlimited meat supply to him, I guess.

Whenever my large group of cousins ask for suggestions on places to eat, he'll always come up with 'Seoul Garden'. And the whole bunch of us did have that one time (we booked half the restaurant during off-peak hours). He loved every moment of it.

So for his birthday meal, I simply suggest this place. And knowing just how 'un-adventurous' he is with travelling to town or anything, I'm just glad that there's a branch located a stone's throw away from our place, at EHub.

And the fact that it's an ala carte buffet makes it all the more better, seeing that we don't need to get up every now and then to get our food.

Order away!

I love this concept because our raw (and even cooked food) are some mouse clicks away! Ok, so this is nothing new. Zingrill Holdings, the parent company decide to close down Fresh Bulgogi and replace it with the Seoul Garden brand instead. But the concept remained.

This also allow them to offer premium foods like scallops, wagyu beef etc. (charges apply) on top of the others that are part of the regular ala-carte buffet. So be careful when you select.

Truth to be told, I've always been apprehensive about dining here because of my kiddo. He's at THAT age where he simply can't sit still. And to come to a place with open fire, hot pan and boiling soup? I actually brought my helper along, just in case. That's why I'm glad that I don't have to get up for my food cos' he'll just follow me around.

Aside from his fascination with the long tongs meant for the bbq, he was ok most of the time. He's much more taken in by the computer actually. I even let him click the mouse around while all of us watched over what he clicked on and made sure he didn't select any premium items and most importantly, SEND the order. Whenever he looked away, I quickly cancelled his random selections. Pfft.

Awesome Korean Fried Chicken Wings

Totally adore these über crispy drumlets coated in sweet & spicy sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Some may find it to be a tad sweet but my Javanese taste buds totally digg it!

Almost similar to the Hot Hot Drums from BBQ Chicken, save that these were more sweet than they were spicy and the taste of 'Gochujang' was more apparent here.

Actually these were more like drumlets than the actual wings and with the crispy bits plus all that sauce, this can be a pretty messy eat. My helper may be Indonesian but she actually find this to be too sweet. But these were so popular that people flocked over whenever the dish was topped up. Finger-lickin'-good (literally)!

The regular fried chicken is still available (also delish!). Just click on a picture of them on the computer screen. 2 drumlets per serving.

Saucy!!

Best part? We were sitting right beside the counter where they put these!!! There's also fried fishballs and chicken wantans.

I seriously contemplate coming back here just to get these.

Note: These are available only on weeknights and whole day on weekends and public holiday.