This small little cake shop was very well hidden in the lane of Jalan Kayu. I did not knew about the existence of the cake shop until one day when we are having lunch at the famous prata stall and one of my colleagues happened to mention about it. So me being curious, we decided to go. This shop is in between a prata shop and a mini mart if I am not wrong. From the exterior, the shop does not look like a cake shop anyway. It does reminds me of the 60s type of shop houses, and not much of a decoration as well.
Once inside, you only can see a display fridge, and boxes inside. There are two surprises down here. Firstly, this cake station ONLY sells cakes in full from 8” @ $30 onwards. So if you want to eat their cake, you have to buy the whole cake. Secondly, this cake station only sells chocolate fudge cake and durian cake. That all folks, if you want other cakes, please visit other cake shops ok! Therefore I was thinking, this cake station cake must be very good since it can survive by selling only full sized cakes and two types of cakes as well.
Since I don’t eat durian, I shall only review the chocolate fudge cake. The cake is a simple decorated chocolate fudge cake. I am not a big fan of chocolate but can tell you that looks can be deceiving. When a slice of cake is placed in front of me, I can see that there is very generous portion of chocolate fudge on the cake.
The cake itself is soft and fluffy, with small little holes in the cake. When I put the cake into my mouth, I can feel the chocolate fudge melting in my mouth, and mixed with the cake. Simply divine! I hate to eat chocolate because at times it seems that they will flow into my body, surrounds my heart and try to make it stop beating. However I don’t have this feeling when I am eating this cake. There is yet lots of chocolate taste in it. The chocolate also does not stick your teeth when eating it.
This has to be one of the best chocolate cakes that I have ever eaten. All my friends and family who had tasted this cake also said the same thing. Well if not for the ulu location I would have buy one cake once a week. Wahahahaha…..
So who wants to taste this chocolate fudge cake?
For those who had tried the durian cake, how was the cake? Care to share? Hee….
IT show was on over the past 4 days. Initially, I did not has any intention to step near the exhibition hall as I knew that tons and tons of people,from 8 months old to 80 years old, will be there! This time round there was nothing that I need to buy so in order for me not to have any temptation, I decided to stay clear of the area.
Maybe I spoke too soon! Hee....
Saturday, decided to pop in to see see look look. The crowd was really huge and there are a lot of choke points even before we stepped into the exhibition hall. This time round, the IT show occupied 4 floors, which means the whole area already!
Level 1: Canon Redemption Area.
Level 3: Starhub, Sony
Level 4: Major brands
Level 6: All other brands
This time round although the organisers said that they expanded the walkway to 4 m but I still think they could do better. The management of the place could be done better as well. There is a few bottlenecks especially the one at Food Republic, that one is a killer and with people moving carrying hot food etc. If any one want to do anything funny, they could do it there as there are large boxes lying around at any one time. It seems that they security guard are just minding their own business at the entrance.
I also notice a lot of people just go in and collect brochures. So what is the use of doing that when you dun intend to buy anything? Like to squeeze with the crowd? After collecting the brochure, I am 99% sure that they will land up in the dustbin, worse still on the floors of the exhibition area.
One last complaint, can we bar all the parents from bringing in their baby prams into the exhibition hall. It is already so packed and yet still push a pram along. Babies, young kids and pram should be left outside the hall and have someone to look after them. IT show is not the place for leisure shopping anyway. I gena a lot of time of prams pushed to my poor leg and feet. Not to mention if the kid or baby went missing. OMG!
To survive IT show, you need to decide what you going to buy even before you step into the hall. it is possible now as all the prices would be in the newspapers anyway. Then just stay focus, go in and buy what you want and get out of the place.
Looking at everyone leaving with LVD TVs, printer, laptops... Hmm.... who say Sporeans have no money?
Wanan to make a guess what I had bought on impulse? Wahahaha.....
Happen to know that they had a one for one BBQ Courtyard Buffet and decided to give it a try. The only thing about this promotion is that it is from Friday to Sunday only, you have to print out the coupon and per table only 1 free diner buffet is allowed. Hmm… a bit weird right? Well so decided to give it a try and to call and make a booking to find out that they are fully booked until 2 weeks later. Wahahaha... Totally crazy leh. A few days before the buffet, they would actually called to confirm the reservation, nice touch right and at the same time to remind you of the buffet as well.
So on the day of reservation, we went down to find out that my name was not on the reservation list. However they decided to let us have a table. Since it is a BBQ buffet, they sort of set up a temporary restaurant at the courtyard, and there is no air con, open air concept. Quite interesting. The set up is actually quite interesting as the promotion is only valid for 1 diner per table so it attracted a lot of couples as well. In the end, it turn out that it looked like a mass speed dating event. Wahahaha… Really funny.
The BBQ pit is set in one corner of the area and the buffet line is set next to it. From the line it seems that they are offering limit items as it does not seen very long at all. The buffet started when someone announced the start of buffet and people started to walk towards the line.
For starters, there is only a few dishes like prawns, mussels, potato salad, green salad. My favorite here has to be the prawns. Big, fresh and sweet. There is no fishy smell and the meat is not mushy at all. Just great! Other then that, the rest of the starters are actually average.
Next to the main dishes, since it is a BBQ buffet, they got all sorts of BBQ items, chicken, pork, beef, mutton, seafood like prawns, mini lobsters and stingray, satay, otah. For satay (there is both chicken and mutton) and otah, it is pretty normal stuff. They also provide the peanut sauce for the satay as well. Now the meat, for me the one that impress me the most was the steak, it was grilled until it is medium cook. It is not too tough on the meat yet able to retain its natural juices inside the meat. It is grilled plain with some salt on top of it only. Great! The one that did not impress me too much is the prawns cos it does not turn out too good and lost all its natural flavor after BBQed.
There are still some cooked food like fried rice, noodles but quite limited as well. Everyone is aiming at the mini lobster, not me though, Sigh….. Whenever the chef put some in the tray, it is sure to attract a lot of people to it. So first come first serve, so if you are slow too bad none for you. There are some people that even walked up to the BBQ pit and ask the chef directly. Wahahaha…… Very KS leh. From my partner, the lobster although small but very good, sweet , meaty and juicy.
Now to the desserts, well by the time we got to desserts, there wasn’t a lot of choice. Got mango pudding, durian cake, cheng tng, fruits and a few kweks. Too bad nothing here impressed us too much. Or simply we are just too full to carry on already.
Even though with the temporary set up and the no air con, the dining environment was actually quite good.The service is actually good as well less the cock up on the reservation list. The water was always filled up and the plates are always cleared promptly. So usually the buffet cost $38 per person however with the promotion it cost about $17 per person only. Can consider quite cheap already. Writing this review is making me all hungry again! Hmm… Should I go back for another buffet before the promotion is over? Maybe I should!
Lucardiasaid: Is this straits cafe or straits kitchen? 08 Apr 2008 at 12:52 pm
Polarbearsaid: Erhh... I not sure leh. I went on this promo one. http://www.rendezvous.com.sg/e-cards/janfeb08_newsletter/oneforonepromo.html 08 Apr 2008 at 1:00 pm
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My partner and I were invited for a Hi-Tea session on Valentine Day after a friend’s ROM ceremony. Well I have walked pass this place a few times but then it never left any impression for me that I have to feel this urge to go in and give it a try.
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
Lucardiasaid: That bad? I went close to Christmas and their log cakes were real good. I should have just skipped the mains and had all the log cakes actually. 17 Mar 2008 at 5:33 pm
Polarbearsaid: Well for me I jz find it normal, not impressive at all. 18 Mar 2008 at 8:34 am
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Finally after a very long wait, I happened to have the chance to try out the chicken which everyone is raving about, saying that it is much better than KFC. Well I don’t think KFC is that good to start off with. Since we need to send people off airport, I decided to make use of this chance to try it out.
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
1=SGD 0.0587
Once inside, you only can see a display fridge, and boxes inside. There are two surprises down here. Firstly, this cake station ONLY sells cakes in full from 8” @ $30 onwards. So if you want to eat their cake, you have to buy the whole cake. Secondly, this cake station only sells chocolate fudge cake and durian cake. That all folks, if you want other cakes, please visit other cake shops ok! Therefore I was thinking, this cake station cake must be very good since it can survive by selling only full sized cakes and two types of cakes as well.
Since I don’t eat durian, I shall only review the chocolate fudge cake. The cake is a simple decorated chocolate fudge cake. I am not a big fan of chocolate but can tell you that looks can be deceiving. When a slice of cake is placed in front of me, I can see that there is very generous portion of chocolate fudge on the cake.
The cake itself is soft and fluffy, with small little holes in the cake. When I put the cake into my mouth, I can feel the chocolate fudge melting in my mouth, and mixed with the cake. Simply divine! I hate to eat chocolate because at times it seems that they will flow into my body, surrounds my heart and try to make it stop beating. However I don’t have this feeling when I am eating this cake. There is yet lots of chocolate taste in it. The chocolate also does not stick your teeth when eating it.
This has to be one of the best chocolate cakes that I have ever eaten. All my friends and family who had tasted this cake also said the same thing. Well if not for the ulu location I would have buy one cake once a week. Wahahahaha…..
So who wants to taste this chocolate fudge cake?
For those who had tried the durian cake, how was the cake? Care to share? Hee….
- 3 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!HUH jalan kayu again... *sob*
13 Mar 2008 at 8:01 pm
So near!! OMG! Ok I'm going to buy one soon! Hee!
13 Mar 2008 at 10:23 pm
Claudia you try the durian one ok?
14 Mar 2008 at 1:40 pm
Maybe I spoke too soon! Hee....
Saturday, decided to pop in to see see look look. The crowd was really huge and there are a lot of choke points even before we stepped into the exhibition hall. This time round, the IT show occupied 4 floors, which means the whole area already!
Level 1: Canon Redemption Area.
Level 3: Starhub, Sony
Level 4: Major brands
Level 6: All other brands
This time round although the organisers said that they expanded the walkway to 4 m but I still think they could do better. The management of the place could be done better as well. There is a few bottlenecks especially the one at Food Republic, that one is a killer and with people moving carrying hot food etc. If any one want to do anything funny, they could do it there as there are large boxes lying around at any one time. It seems that they security guard are just minding their own business at the entrance.
I also notice a lot of people just go in and collect brochures. So what is the use of doing that when you dun intend to buy anything? Like to squeeze with the crowd? After collecting the brochure, I am 99% sure that they will land up in the dustbin, worse still on the floors of the exhibition area.
One last complaint, can we bar all the parents from bringing in their baby prams into the exhibition hall. It is already so packed and yet still push a pram along. Babies, young kids and pram should be left outside the hall and have someone to look after them. IT show is not the place for leisure shopping anyway. I gena a lot of time of prams pushed to my poor leg and feet. Not to mention if the kid or baby went missing. OMG!
To survive IT show, you need to decide what you going to buy even before you step into the hall. it is possible now as all the prices would be in the newspapers anyway. Then just stay focus, go in and buy what you want and get out of the place.
Looking at everyone leaving with LVD TVs, printer, laptops... Hmm.... who say Sporeans have no money?
Wanan to make a guess what I had bought on impulse? Wahahaha.....
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!You bought something?? Hmm... new camera??
13 Mar 2008 at 2:19 pm
something bigger! Wahahaha....
13 Mar 2008 at 2:32 pm
Read my blog. Ans is there. Wahahaha
13 Mar 2008 at 3:57 pm
So on the day of reservation, we went down to find out that my name was not on the reservation list. However they decided to let us have a table. Since it is a BBQ buffet, they sort of set up a temporary restaurant at the courtyard, and there is no air con, open air concept. Quite interesting. The set up is actually quite interesting as the promotion is only valid for 1 diner per table so it attracted a lot of couples as well. In the end, it turn out that it looked like a mass speed dating event. Wahahaha… Really funny.
The BBQ pit is set in one corner of the area and the buffet line is set next to it. From the line it seems that they are offering limit items as it does not seen very long at all. The buffet started when someone announced the start of buffet and people started to walk towards the line.
For starters, there is only a few dishes like prawns, mussels, potato salad, green salad. My favorite here has to be the prawns. Big, fresh and sweet. There is no fishy smell and the meat is not mushy at all. Just great! Other then that, the rest of the starters are actually average.
Next to the main dishes, since it is a BBQ buffet, they got all sorts of BBQ items, chicken, pork, beef, mutton, seafood like prawns, mini lobsters and stingray, satay, otah. For satay (there is both chicken and mutton) and otah, it is pretty normal stuff. They also provide the peanut sauce for the satay as well. Now the meat, for me the one that impress me the most was the steak, it was grilled until it is medium cook. It is not too tough on the meat yet able to retain its natural juices inside the meat. It is grilled plain with some salt on top of it only. Great! The one that did not impress me too much is the prawns cos it does not turn out too good and lost all its natural flavor after BBQed.
There are still some cooked food like fried rice, noodles but quite limited as well. Everyone is aiming at the mini lobster, not me though, Sigh….. Whenever the chef put some in the tray, it is sure to attract a lot of people to it. So first come first serve, so if you are slow too bad none for you. There are some people that even walked up to the BBQ pit and ask the chef directly. Wahahaha…… Very KS leh. From my partner, the lobster although small but very good, sweet , meaty and juicy.
Now to the desserts, well by the time we got to desserts, there wasn’t a lot of choice. Got mango pudding, durian cake, cheng tng, fruits and a few kweks. Too bad nothing here impressed us too much. Or simply we are just too full to carry on already.
Even though with the temporary set up and the no air con, the dining environment was actually quite good.The service is actually good as well less the cock up on the reservation list. The water was always filled up and the plates are always cleared promptly. So usually the buffet cost $38 per person however with the promotion it cost about $17 per person only. Can consider quite cheap already. Writing this review is making me all hungry again! Hmm… Should I go back for another buffet before the promotion is over? Maybe I should!
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!Is this straits cafe or straits kitchen?
08 Apr 2008 at 12:52 pm
Erhh... I not sure leh. I went on this promo one. http://www.rendezvous.com.sg/e-cards/janfeb08_newsletter/oneforonepromo.html
08 Apr 2008 at 1:00 pm
The location of the restaurant is just right next to the main door of the hotel, so it is kinds of hard to miss it. Once you step into it, you will see a mini bakery, where they are selling some cakes etc. The first impression of the place is quite big with seats all over. Have to say that one on a weekday, being Valentines Day, it is almost full. Seeing a crowd could mean that the food spread can be pretty good. So was I right? Hmm….
The buffet spread was spread over s few stations. First stop is the cold starters. So they got the usual stuff like prawns, mussels, sushi, sashimi, cold soba etc. Well. I tasted a bit of everything and concluded that nothing is special. To me, only the prawns sort of impressed me. They are cold, big and fresh, just the way I like it. For the rest of the items, hmm… forgettable. Interesting enough, next to the cold starters, is a mini toast your own bread counter, Ah Kun style, with the traditional brown and white bread and you can put them on a hot plate and roast it. Slices of butter, kaya and other jams are available. Good idea but does not taste that great.
Now to the main, nothing special, some of the usual stuff again. However they got a lot of small stations for popiah, laksa etc. Again none of the food impresses us again. Consider as normal food. Well at least they are hot. By now, I am already feeling very sian about the whole buffet alr. Sigh…. I think the only good thing is only the bread where there is a lot of variety and hot out from the oven. It is good enough to taste good.
Lastly Desserts. At first when I walked past the desserts sections, I was quite impressed with the variety that they are offering. When I walked over to the station, I was less impressed, as all the usual suspects are there, the cakes and pudding etc. There is also one big fountain of strawberry chocolate, have the say that the pink color does not make it appealing as it reminds me of cough syrup. At the other corner of the room hidden are two pots of hot desserts like dao suan etc. Hmm… How come they are not placed together in the first place?
Cost per person of Hi-Tea on weekdays is $25 and on weekends is $32 (if my memory has not failed me)
Overall the whole place and the food did not impress me at all. Therefore I think the crowd is there cost of the cheap price during weekends. The service there is quite bad, as we were sitting in a corner, my tea was only filled when I was first seated after which it remain empty throughout. The funny thing is when I was away; the plates will be cleared by them, then how come my tea is not refilled? Hmm…… So I dun think I will be back to this place for buffet unless someone can prove me otherwise.
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!That bad? I went close to Christmas and their log cakes were real good. I should have just skipped the mains and had all the log cakes actually.
17 Mar 2008 at 5:33 pm
Well for me I jz find it normal, not impressive at all.
18 Mar 2008 at 8:34 am
So excited when we reached there, as usual there is a long queue going on, well 4 people in front of me. There are 3 counters serving at the same time but only one queue. They worked in the way of how you queue at the bank. Not a bad thing but then some people might be put off by the very long one queue.
Seem that it is very popular among a lot of people as they all bought a lot of sets meals, and thus explains the long waiting time as well. Well three counters, so only three people serving at the same time. Since I am so keen on trying it, I wait! Wahahaha…..
I ordered a two piece meal that comes with a side dish and a drink. Their chicken got a choice of spicy and mild version as well. Well I ordered one of each, and got one big piece of big breast meat and one small little chicken wing. Ordered their Cajun fries as the side dish and got a cup of coke. Also added coleslaw as side dish as well. The set also comes with their famous biscuit as well. It comes with a small pack of strawberry jam.
May the tasting begin! I am not a big fan of breast meat but I like thie breast meat. It is crispy on the outside but soft and juicy on the inside. It is not dry at all. The flour covering the chicken is not very thick and it got a hint of herbs being used as well. Taste great! Definitely beats KFC hands down. The thing is both of us could not taste the different between mild and spicy version. Hmm…. Or we got both the same version. Their fries are good enough of their own. It is crispy on the outside but soft and moist on the inside. Seems like they seasoned it with herbs as well. Good! Their coleslaw tasted like the coleslaw that KFC used to produce in the 80s. It is good with big chucks of cabbage and enough mayo to taste. Finally the famous biscuit, it is hard on the outside but soft and fluffy inside. On its own, it tastes like a butter biscuit, but do find it a bit dry and hard to sallow. Together with the strawberry jam, it tastes better.
Overall, I think the fried chicken rocks here but hope that they do open other outlets soon! Hopefully in town! Then now I am officially a Popeyes Fried Chicken Fan!
- 4 more comments »
Login to add your comment. Or, Register for an account now. It's free!WHY DID I SWEAR OFF FAST FOOD? *sob*
05 Mar 2008 at 6:26 pm
You could still eat them every once in a blue moon, as a reward~ ~ ~
05 Mar 2008 at 7:49 pm
hehe... then i'm afraid i will reward myself too often :)
06 Mar 2008 at 10:26 am