I Am Cafe - Cakes

As we've mentioned previously, we have every intention to dine here.

Alas, it was wayyy too crowded. And unlike other folks that day, we weren't on 1/2 day. So we can't afford to wait. Given the long queue outside and the cramped interiors, I doubt it will be soon before we get seated; not to mentioned get served. huhuhu

That's why we ended up having lunch at Which? Sandwich, that afternoon. To think that we've day-dreamed about checking out their Coney Dog, Fish & Chips (a lot of good reviews!), Beef Burgers etc... That's what happened when you eagerly check out the food pics on their Instagram account.

Anyway, we weren't too satiated with simply a 1/2 footer of a sub and our minds wandered towards tantalising desserts to try out.

Went across the road from Which? Sandwich to check out La Marelle Cafe but we backed out after seeing a queue already forming at the staircase. We want to check out Vintage Delicafe but it wasn't even open yet.

That's when I suggest that we just check out I Am Cafe and 'tapao' (take-away) their cakes (if any). I believe we shouldn't have to queue for that… right??

So on our way there, we kept hoping and hoping that there're still some cakes left, especially their famous Rainbow Mille Crêpe. Undeterred by the queue outside, we marched straight to the counter, where the desserts display is.

Imagine our excitement to be greeted by this:

Cake display fridge

3 heaped layers of Rainbow Mille Crêpe on the top shelf. A lonely chocolate cake on the middle shelf and a lone slice of the (famous) rainbow cake below, alongside 2 pies.

The middle pie looked a lot like some berry/cherry cheese tart and the one on the right is very much the S'mores tart.

While waiting for our cakes to be packed, we saw them preparing to bring out the hey-uuge Red Velvet cake. Okay, so it's the same height as the Rainbow and the chocolate cake in the display but seeing the whole cake, it does appear huge. Almost intimidating.

We resist all temptations to add another cake order to our chosen 3. Thankfully…

So… what cakes did we choose?


Labeled box

This particular box was labelled because 2 different items were placed into these cardbox boxes and the crepes, into a clear plastic container.


Chocolate Salted Caramel cake

Did anyone say, 'Salted Caramel?!' OF COURSE I have to get it! My Achilles heel…

This was the lone cake on the middle shelf. Didn't plan on getting it, initially because I mistook it for the Russian Black & White cake, which has coffee in it. One of my colleague don't take coffee so I thought of giving it a miss.

But when I heard what cake it really is… well, as they say, the rest is history.

When eaten straight out of the fridge, the sweetness of the icing did hit me. But let it rest for a wee bit and it gets better. However the cake portion does seem a little dense. Wish it was fluffier.

Taste-wise, I'd say it's a good pairing. The cake is chocolatey enough to not be overwhelmed by the salted caramel icing, and vice versa.




S'mores pie

S'more is a popular campfire snack in the West. It consist of a roasted marshmallow and a layer of chocolate sandwiched between two pieces of graham cracker.

So this tart is a rendition of that popular snack. With the tart base replacing the graham cracker pieces.This one here was filled with a generous layer of chocolate fudge with marshmallows fully covering on top. The marshmallows were then torched on the surface for that 'burnt' appearance.

I had geared myself for a 'too-sweet' kind of taste to hit my tongue but it never came. Despite all that marshmallows and that thick chocolate layer. Maybe it's because of the semi-sweet/dark chocolate?

But it does get cloying after a while…


Rainbow Mille Crêpe

There's at least 20 layers, if you're wondering. Highly suspected to be 24.

…You're most welcome. : )

Anyway, this humble yet vibrant dessert turns out to be to be our most favourite of the lot. The taste is clean and simple. Something that you'll appreciate having after a heavy meal. Even the chocolate sauce seem unnecessary.

I don't mind  having this again, if I ever get to dine there, that is.
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Oh, each slice of the above cost $8.90 each, btw. Yes, many have balked at that steep price. So was it overrated?

To each his own, really. It depends on how one prefers their cakes. In my opinion, the cake seem a little more dense/less fluffy that I expect (read many similar remarks on the other cakes; in the blogosphere too). But the taste is definitely there.

The meticulously-layered Mille Crêpe seemed worth the price if it is really painstaking to make, that is. Unlike Paris Baguette's version, which to me seemed like they 'cheated' a bit by adding some sponge cake layers; here, it's all crepes.

And the tart was a generous wedge.

However, if they can bring down the price a little if they reduce the portions/sizes, it would have been better. People can try out more varieties and couples won't struggle to finish their slice of cake (esp. after a meal). We saw for ourselves, tables leaving behind as much as 1/2 a slice. What a waste!

Anyway, I'm really enticed by their food menu and how the menu is evolving to incorporate as much Dutch influence, where possible. After all, 'I Am' is short for, 'I Am-sterdam'??

Paris Baguette

Ahhh… it's been a while since my lady boss gave in to her sweet-tooth impulses and splurge on pastries and cakes for tea time.

She came back one afternoon, gleefully lugging a large bag with 'PARIS BAGUETTE' on it. She excitedly remarked that Paris Baguette is as common in South Korea as Delifrance or BreadTalk is, over here.

I guess that's why she got curious and decide to give the ones here a try. She grumbled about them being expensive though, for she remembered the ones in Korea were much reasonably priced.



The cake on the left is a mound of vanilla mousse & covered with fluffy sponge cake cubes. It has these 2 interesting-looking small liquid droppers containing really tart berry sauces. To squirt into the mousse before consumption.

On the right is Mille Feuille.  Layers of crispy, flaky pastry with slightly sweet cream (or custard??) in between. Nicer than Flor Patisserie's version, actually.


Tiramisu mille crêpe

I'm somewhat disappointed that this isn't a 100% mille crêpe. Some layers actually use sponge cake to easily add up to the height.


Oh~my baby Crepe~

This is one of their best sellers. I guess that's why it got itself that special (albeit mushy) name? Otherwise, this can easily be called, 'Raspberry mille crêpe'.

Reminds me a lot like a strawberry shortcake, in mille crêpe form.


'Sunny Breezy' lemon tart

My favourite of the lot. I love citrus-sy desserts. It helps that this wasn't too sweet, too.


Royal Pudding

She also bought something that's kept in this insulated foil pouch. Took it out and out came these two:


Milk puddings

2 cute milk jars filled with mil-based pudding and flavoured with what looks like coffee/chocolate and mango, maybe?

I don't know yet because I haven't try. Sugar overdose on the cakes already.

Spatula Bakery

For some time now, I've been following Spatula Bakery on Instagram, after my cousin told me to check out their 'Rosette' cakes, which she contemplate ordering for her bro's wedding.

Then I later saw that they also make these gorgeous cupcakes. Further on, these young Muslim ladies also open their own little shop along Joo Chiat Road. How can I not get excited, tell me?

The varieties of cupcakes were pretty interesting. Luscious flavours with quirky names. Got me really keen.

They have this 'cake in a jar' that's similar to the one I had in KL and also those from Wondermilk. I think those are available only on weekends. They also do custom cakes. You can check out their Instagram page.

One afternoon, during lunch, we happen to have our meal in that area so my colleagues and I cajoled our other colleague (the driver), who is the type of male who's doesn't give much care for desserts; to drive us there.

Almost missed their black & white signage with cute & whimsical 'bric a brac' at their display window. Mostly decorative cakes display & tiers.

Cupcakes display

Tempting you much…?

The flavours available that day was: 'Jazzy' Jaffa, 'Rockin' Red Velvet, 'Saucy' Salted Caramel, Cookie Crunch, Strawberry Sundae, 'Pure' PB, 'Mischievous' Milo Dino, 'Bouncy' Butterscotch & 'Charismatic' Caramel Macchiato.

…Don't say that I didn't warn you about their quirky names!

We got all agog when seeing all these varieties and decided to get 1/2 dozen, meaning each of us will choose 2 flavours.

The packaging

Inside the box

'Saucy' Salted Caramel -  'Rockin' Red Velvet -  'Jazzy' Jaffa

Cookie Crunch - 'Bouncy' Butterscotch - 'Charismatic' Caramel Macchiato

Closer look

My colleague Sri had the 'Jazzy' Jaffa, which is actually Chocolate-Orange cupcake. 'Jaffa' refers to a variant of orange. She also chose the 'Rockin' Red Velvet.

Another colleague, Roza chose the Cookie Crunch - 'Bouncy' Butterscotch.

I chose 'Charismatic' Caramel Macchiato - which must have been like a tribute to that popular coffee flavour… coincidentally a favourite of mine (esp. from Starbucks!). And 'Saucy' Salted Caramel. Argh, what do I do about my penchant for anything Salted Caramel??!

Ready to attack

Yes, we had our tea break amongst rolls of paper and paper cutter…

In the foreground is my Caramel Macchiato, then it's Sri's Red Velvet and lastly, it's Roza's Butterscotch cupcakes. 

'Charismatic' Caramel Macchiato

My personal take on these cupcakes?

Well… It's best that you try them out yourself. Everyone have their preferred type when it comes to cakes and my opinion doesn't really go for all. 

All I can say is that the cake seem a bit denser that what I'm used to. Or maybe we got them on a bad day. I guess this warrant another visit? Maybe to also check out their 'cake-in-a-jar'? 

Spatula Bakery

216 Joo Chiat Road

#01-06
12pm-7pm, closed on Wed & Thu
Tel: 64447243
Website: http://www.spatulabakery.com

Abalone Salad

Our company must have gotten on the good side of some clients, somehow. During the days leading to Lunar New Year, we got a total of 3 different hampers. In the big one filled with goodies, there's a can of abalone. Another hamper came in the form of a box and inside it were THREE cans of abalones!

As everyone knows, this canned seafood is really not cheap. One can easily costs $30 at least, so it was a big deal to us. Not to my boss though. Her dad has a business dealing with grocery suppliers and these cans of abalones are just too common in her household. So she gave us a can each.

A can of abalone - New Moon

As we know, this abalone is SOOO not the norm in a Malay kitchen. The 1st time I ate abalone was because we accidentally bought it when we thought we've chosen a can of oyster mushrooms. My dad and bro refused to come near it so my mum and I wondered what to do with it (we paid $33 for that!).

We eventually sliced it thinly and put it in… instant noodles. -____-

A can of abalone - Skylight

I didn't even bring my can home. My in-law's household is very much the traditional Malay type and they're not so into Chinese foodstuff. So everyday, I'll stare at the can on my work desk and wonder what to do with it.

On one sleepy afternoon, I somehow had a 'lightbulb' moment.

Since my bosses will be away during the Lunar New Year week, we can cook-up a storm in the office or something! We can make something out of that abalone. And the best thing that came to mind was, SALAD. Easy, fuss-free and should be delicious!

I started googling for recipes for abalone salad and decide that we'll use some Asian-style dressing, which I believe, would complement the abalone meat nicely.

After our decadent cupcakes breakfast, we head down to Cold Storage at the nearby Parkway Parade to buy stuff for our 'grand plan'.

THE Abalone

There one and only abalone in the can. Yes, for that price, this piece is truly expensive.

This abalone was swimming in some sort of seasoned 'water' which we stupidly poured down the sink because we thought that we won't have any use for it… BIG MISTAKE!

Our boss chided us and told us that the stock is actually VERY precious. They use it to cook various things because it is VERY delicious… Oops…!

We sliced the abalone meat thinly, cross-wise- just like how you slice meat. The trimmings felt a bit gelatinous (quite gross, actually) so we discard some parts of that, too. :P

Stir fried mushrooms & bell pepper

One of my colleagues, Roza was the sort who got up early (unlike us 2, the tired mommies), so we asked her for the favour to stir-fry the fresh button mushrooms and yellow bell-pepper with garlic and butter; before heading to work.

3-berries mix

This pack has just the right amount of dried fruits mix for the portion we're preparing.

Salad dressing

And this small sachet of to-go dressing is just the right amount, too. So glad we found this Japanese-style vinaigrette that is just very apt for what I had in mind.

Mesclun salad & baby roma tomatoes

We chose the mesclun salad, which has a good mix of our favourite greens: Wild rocket, red oak lettuce, endive & chard. And these luscious and juicy baby Roma tomatoes which are just da bomb! Tomatoes are just never the same after you've had these sweet things, seriously!

Salad bowl

After we've dumped everything in. Add a dash or two of black pepper and dried herbs mix and we're done!

Bread

Thinking that the salad on its own won't suffice for lunch, we sweep up this loaf of bread from Swissbake. We gotta' admit that those wholegrain bits studding the surface of the bread were out calling to us.

Cheese cocktail

Dug out this cheese cocktail (mini sausages) from the freezer. Bought it months back yet can't find the right time to have it (supposed to fill us up when we do OT, but we're always too busy) so we might as well cook it then.

My plate

After everything is ready, we scooped a bit of everything into our plate. Yeah, I'm the sort who enjoy eating the top and bottom part of the bread (where the 'skin' is). More so with those wholegrain bits.

The abalone slices were just heavenly. Those who have yet to have abalone, its taste and texture is something like chicken-flavoured mushroom with a briny seafood after taste. I hope that makes sense. The nutty taste from the wild rocket complement that nicely.

Sandwich

Got some cheese slices from the office fridge and I stuffed a bit of everything into the toasted bread, fold it over and take a bite…

That. was. awesome (and wholesome too)!

A very satisfying lunch indeed. Glad to finally make good use of that precious abalone. My colleague eventually went on to prepare something similar for her family, at home.

Obolo again

Been in my photostream for sometime now (my photos got stored in my Flickr whenever I send them on Instagram; current mode of choice to share my food pics).

These. are. too. gorgeous. to. not. share!

My female boss and her dessert spending spree. Luckily this time, she's wise enough to buy petit four portions from Obolo. Only that we cant really share and simply choose which one to savour…

Mousses & Creams

Comes in single-portion sized plastic cups, known as 'dessert shooters'. The names of these shooters could be any of these. I have no idea which is which. I only had one of them.

Summer Berries, Caprice, Desire, Mango Mascarpone, Rouge and Amore.

Go to their website to see more.

Teeny-tiny cakes

(top, from left) New York Cheese, Noisette, Lemon Meringue Tart

(bottom, from left) Salted-Caramel Chocolate Tart, Le Cassis, Mango Passion Cheese

A box of 6 petit-fours costs $15.90 (there's a discount on their website now).

Amore??

I think this could be the name of the dessert shooter I chose. I remember the taste of dark chocolate + bits of sour berries.

...And those teeny-tiny gold nuggets are sugary bits; perhaps to offset the sourness from the raspberries?

(extracted from the Obolo website):

Amore – 68% dark chocolate mousse encased fresh raspberry jewels

Salted-Caramel Chocolate Tart

Initially thought this to be the Noisette, their most popular cake. Then I realised that this is actually a tart (love the crunchy, buttery base!).

There's actually salted caramel cream sandwiched between heavenly dark chocolate ganache. The sweetish-salty caramel + dark chocolate? What an explosion of flavours! Eversince my encounter with the salt caramel, I've always been so fond of this flavour!

Mango Passion Cheesecake

The name says it all. Tangy tones, courtesy of the passion fruit. Other than that, I can't differentiate between the flavours of the 2 fruits. But really, really nice!

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Entry on my 1st visit to their previous location HERE (warning: poor quality handphone pics!).

Pepes - Flavour of Indonesia

**I would like to apologise beforehand, for the poor picture quality. The lighting in the restaurant was pretty dim.**

My bosses brought us to Ngee Ann City Shopping Centre for a 'mission'. However, right before that, we'll be having lunch first.

We were pondering about where to lunch, before eventually settling on Sanur Indonesian Restaurant. My boss remarked about how she's not been been dining there for a long while. Myself meanwhile, wondered just how much the restaurant chain have changed; since my stint there as a waitress, during the period between post O-levels and pre-poly.

After all those conversations about the food there and all, imagine how crestfallen I was; to discover another restaurant occupying that space. Incidentally, it's also an Indonesian restaurant. Hmmm…

Then I recalled a jingle being played on local radio sometime back, advertising this very restaurant and how my boss was keen to try it out but never really got down to it.

We duly informed her of the change and she told us to go ahead anyway and place the orders. Here's where the fun starts…

There are only 2 pages on the menu. Less than 30 items. Some say- it's limited choices. I say- it makes choosing easier!

Nasi Kuning

Taste and texture-wise, it's very similar to Nasi Lemak, just that they added tumeric for colour. Sanur serve this too.

Sup Buntut

My colleague just can't resist ordering this favourite of his. Since 1 bowl is a single portion, we ordered 3 bowls to be shared amongst us 6.

Very light-tasting soup, with bite-sized carrots & potatoes plus similar-sized oxtail pieces for added consistency.

Gado-gado

When we ordered this, we were informed beforehand by the server, that the gado-gado here is prepared differently than the norm. We ordered it anyway. I mean, how differently can one prepare gado-gado, right?

Wrong. The gado-gado here remind me more of Chinese fruit rojak. Sweet, spicy and TANGY. I recall the server mentioning, "...pineapples are also added.." I guess that's why.

It's not that this dish isn't nice. Just that we were so looking forward to a particular taste and when served differently, we were kinda' deterred. Just too bad. I like those crispy lotus chips served on the side, though.

Tahu Telur

The ubiquitous tahu telur. I had thought that this reminded me a lot like the ones from Sanur, save for the fact that this egg-tofu tower is slightly smaller and is squarish instead of cylindrical.

They were a tad stingy with the sauce, though. I expect there to be more of it served on the side but there was none. Pfft.

The tahu telur does feel and taste somewhat like the ones from Sanur. Hmmm…

Pepes Udang

Since we were dining at a restaurant called 'pepes', we can't help feeling obliged to order their namesake.

Generally 'pepes' is a type of food where stuff like veggie or meat (most commonly, fish) are covered with spicy sauce and wrapped in banana leaf. There are various methods of cooking- like steaming, grillling or even boiling.

We ordered the prawn version, since one of my boss is a slight Ichthoyophobic.

I don't know if the pepes here is grilled or what. The banana leaf that it's served on seemed too... clean. And there was hardly any of that smoky aroma that usually accompany a grilled dish. Could be that they prepare the food separately and simply serve on the banana leaf. And then topped with boiled tapioca shoots (this part is pretty authentic) and fresh lemon basil leaves .

I like the sauce. Slightly spicy and I can easily detect the various spices used to prepare it, like lemongrass, garlic etc.

I remember the only 'pepes' available at Sanur is made of fish and reminded me a lot like bigger, chunkier and pretty spicy 'otah'. Just who can forget the whole cili padi embedded inside?!

Ayam Goreng

My colleague chose this.

There were like 3-4 types of chicken dishes and he picked this, basically because it's fried. I'm curious about another chicken dish on the menu, 'Ayam Pop', supposedly chicken that's simmered in something nicely-spiced and topped with with cut chillies and chopped onions.

This fried chicken however, is so… meh. Not comparable to those crispy ayam penyet one can get right across the road at Lucky Plaza and also not as delish as the Ayam Goreng Istimewa from Desa Kartika. But it's decent.

Cumi Bakar

A perennial favourite with the folks at our company, somehow. We always order this whenever we detect it on the restaurant's menu.

I remember that the first time we had this grilled squid together was at Jimbaran, Bali. That famed, touristy stretch of seafood restaurants by the beach.

The cumi bakar here is prepared simply. Somewhat slathered with sweet soy sauce when grilled. And cooked just nice, with the meat staying tender to the bite.

We also ordered both their beef & chicken satay. While the beef one was so-so, the chicken satay were delicious! The peanut sauce however, seemed a little too thick and chunky for my liking.

Es Avocado

Now this tastes A LOT like the ones from Sanur. Seriously.

Chilled, thick avocado puree topped with mocha syrup. Not chocolate, not gula melaka but the bittersweet mocha syrup. Taste as mind-blowing as ever. Love it!

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My colleague did suggest, that this restaurant could be under the same management as Sanur but I was apprehensive about the idea.

Despite the same concept, the food here is slightly different. Seems a lil' on the healthier side, if you ask me. Plus, the casual attire worn by the staff wasn't even reminiscent of the kebaya-clad waitress of Sanur's heydays.

As it turns out, yeah, this restaurant is owned by the wife of one of the brothers behind Sanur; so I heard. The brother who interviewed my good pal and me during our job interview that time; without us knowing that he's THE boss. We even had a pretty casual chat with him during that question & answer session. Imagine our horror when the ACTUAL manager told us, who he really is. *gulp*

The 'Mission'

Anyway, remember the 'mission' that brought our company down to Takashimaya? It's got to do with the above picture…

That was last week's news, of course. This week, well… lets just say that the mission has been 'accomplished'. :)

Fried Fish Noodles.. :(

Can you believe that the lady at the stall actually screw up my order? Then again, I don’t blame her - at first.

She was handling 2 stalls and 3 of us made our order with different specifications for each bowl. She muddled up all the specifications, which goes like this:

"2 bee hoon, 1 yee mee. 1 bee hoon with bitter gourd, egg and milk. 1 bee hoon no bittergourd, no egg, with milk. Yee mee, no bittergourd, with egg and no milk."

But upon after carrying the bowl of piping hot soup to the table, I noticed that she missed out the milk. I’m fine with that.

When I carefully tried to dig out some fish (I don’t want to break the poached egg yolk inside) before snapping some pics, I found out that there’s NONE. Fried fish noodles with NO fish. Definitely short-changed, there. Grrr….!

So I brought the bowl back to her and informed her of the error. She took a pair of tongs and ROUGHLY dug around for the NON-EXISTENT fish pieces, thus breaking my dear egg and making a mess of my soup! My poor egg yolk!!!!

It’s bad enough that I missed out on eating my half-cooked poached egg because it got cooked thouroughly when sitting in the hot soup for too long. To have it broken?!

The messed up bowl

I’m miffed. -___-'

ps: I loved to have my egg partially-cooked, whichever way it’s done.

A great cuppa in the office

Such'a cute little machine!

It's the real deal ok?

Drip, drip....

Oooh, look at that dark, dark pool!

Ok, last few drips... Almost done!

My colleague brought his birthday gift to work.
Birthday gift that comes in the form of a “La Sorrentina” ™ ® Atomic Type Coffee Machine.

That machine is just so gorgeous. And expensive to boot (US$450).

Pair that with good coffee beans from Papa Palheta and you get yourself a mean cuppa to start the day right.

Not to mention that it makes the whole office smell like a high-end coffee joint. Heavenly!