354. Kki

Souffle, Mona, Antoinette

I am not at any suburbs of Japan. The new Kki (pronunced as cake in Japanese) at Ann Siang Hill has drawn much attention to their cakes. The little drom store which is sharing the same space as Kki made the whole place looked so retro with the vintage toys and so many kinds of polariod cameras. And probably because of the cemented floor, the clean and neat furnishing gave the gush of relaxation the moment I walked in.

The baker is a guy. The Husband who was previously from the manufacturing line turns to baking and the wife collects money from the bakes AND the other couple aka good friends working together under the same roof. What a nice environment!

The cakes didn't look like the die-die must try kind but you would not say so once you have tried it. There were only 3 choices left to choose from when I reached there. Antoinette was the best among the three I have tasted. Wife said it was named after their best friend, Antoinette. White chocolate with mango puree embalmed in the middle of the cake. The exterior white chocolate had a texture akin to mousse that melts in your mouth. Mona with the banana infusion, tasted bitter. Souffle, on the other hand, lost to her two counterparts with strong identities.

Kki Sweets

7 Ann Siang Hill

353. Truffs

Dark chocolates. Sometimes, I think taking dark chocolates do curb hunger pangs and stops me from having sweet cravings and sometimes helped to de-stress, not sure if it works for others.

Truffs, with handmade chocolate truffles, made her way into the CBD area 6 months ago, just across the Amoy Food Market. The boss is a guy who gives up a stable job for his passion for chocolates. To be exact, dark chocolates. He gives loyalty to just dark chocolates, there is no other kinds of chocolates in his shop.

I had the 66% antilles dark chocolate and 70% honduras dark chocolate. The 66% antilles had a tinge of sweetness. The other, the honduras, was more to my liking. I personally felt that it was bittersweet. The ganache in the truffles was delicately flavoured with mild richness in butter. Dark chocolates can be very alluring too, not to mention handmade ones.

I ate a piece of the chocolate fudge cake. The sponge was moist and soft. The finished ganache was nicely spread over the sponge. It was smooth and not any bit like the jello kind.

9 pralines @$24

They have a double-decker box which could contain double the amount of pralines if you find that 9 is not enough.

Thanks to Ei Liang, Hui Ling and Indra for hosting.

Truffs
179A Telok Ayer Street
S068627

Opens:
Mon-Fri : 12pm-7pm
Sat: 12pm-4pm
Closed on Sundays and Public Holidays

http://www.truffs.com.sg

352. Shutters

Truffle Butter. Ask for more. The black truffle was so fragrant and you simply forgot that the slab you were eating was butter as you popped it with the bread into your mouth. One serving is definitely not enough!

A shooter glass of a-char and lotus root (renkon) chips. The asian snack.

The olive that burst in your mouth. Not my kind.

Yusheng......always a healthy choice.

Satay Wagyu Beef Skewer. Ask for more. Yummilicioussss~

Shark Cartilage Soup.....with bursting flavour of the mushrooms.

Laska pasta. A fusion of east and west recipes.

Hokkien-'pasta'. The strong flavoured basil leaves is not very much to my liking, a tad overpowering.

Otah with Cod fish. A nice combination.

Yuzu sorbet to cleanse your palate.

Lamb Shank....with herbal infusion. Nice!

Cheek Confit that simply melts in your mouth!

Soya pudding.

This was a special occasion. All the food we had was at an extended price.

Shutters

Amara Sanctuary Sentosa

351. Chang Korean Restaurant II

Serve the pan-chan (side-dishes). We digged into the pan-chan as we waited for our lead to appear. This dinner served as a farewell gathering for our nana-san who will be leaving for Japan in mid-Apr and probably won't return to Singapore in another two years. Always thought that pan-chan is free-flow until we were told that there will be a charge of $1 when we wanted a refill for the third round.

Mocca Sweet Potato Shake @$6

The mysterious purple sweet potato combined well with mocca. I naturally picked it over the other common drinks such as watermelon shake. No doubt, my choice was right when I had the first sip. It was very nice. Mocca, or rather, mocha, was not overpowering.

Teok-bokki @$9.80

Not very spicy. I wondered why koreans made their rice cakes so hard. Instead of being chewy, I felt the rice cakes would be a tad too hard for the fragile gastrics which would suffer from indigestion. If more kim chi was added, it would have been better.

Fried Dumpling with spicy noodles @$12.90

Probably sweet potato noodles, the texture was tangy, chewier and definitely thicker than our tang hoon (glass vermicelli). The gyoza were fried till crispy, mixed together with the korean spicy sauce, the plate of noodles was the noodle version of bibimbap.

Johnson's Soup with Rice (Large) @$42.50

The large portion comes with 4 bowls of rice. It's simply the comfort food for winter food-goers. Ingredients were pretty simple. Tofu, ra-myeon, ham, luncheon meat, sausages, spring onions and guess what? I discovered soy beans (the kind in tomato sauce, sold in cans) underneath the floating items. Of course, lots of kim chi. The soup was great...everyone of us kept scooping for more until we see the pit.

Marinated Pork Ribs @$22

The outlet at Illuma does not have BBQ stoves. Customers simply order and the kitchen staff BBQ-ed the food, ready to be served. Not much fun, we all thought and the food got chilled easily.

Overall bill worked out to be about $127 for 5 pax. If you wanted to experience a Korean kind of dining ambience, I would suggest going to their outlet at Dempsey Road.

Chang Korean Restaurant
Illuma Bugis
#04-04

350. Chennai Arya Restaurant

Vegetarian Set Meal @$4

It's interesting. I joined 2 of my Indian classmates for lunch the other day and one of them brought me to this small eatery located just in one of the shophouses behind The Verge at Little India. First of all, being vegetarian, I wouldn't expect much from my meal. True indeed. I chose the set meal and what was presented made me more curious. First of all, our food was served in a big serving tray with the 5 small containers in it. Secondly, I'm surprised by the portion of rice served. It could jolly well serve two persons.

What's in the small dish? Left to right: The first was a yogurt drink. Next was the greenish sago dessert which I thought was one of the condiments to go with rice. Luckily, my classmate stopped me in time. Next came the soup which I would say taste more like the very diluted and made a tad more sour curry. Then, it was the curry which had a thicker base and with a tinge of sourness. The last was sambal which was thinner and could be mixed with rice to make it look like you are eating risotto.

For side dish, in orange, you have the curry potato and in yellow, the mixture was a kind of vegetable akin to melon cooked in curry. I would say it was tasty but just not so satisfied with 2 side dishes. The shocking news came was the side dishes could be refilled. Gosh! for just $4, you can really eat your fill with the scoops of vegetables. But, I could only finish half of it and I raised the white flag.

Coffee @$1

Coffee served in an interesting way. Two layers. Metal saucer and cup containing the coffee. Why such a design, I asked. Similar to us, for cooling purposes. Pour your coffee to the saucer and your coffee chills fast.

I would say Chennai serves the economic kind of food for our Indian vegetarians. Cheap and good.


Chennai Arya Restaurant

Behind The Verge

Opens: 8.30am - 10pm daily