Foodie Paradise

The Cheesecake Cafe
Frankel Estate
685 East Coast Road, S(459054)
Tel: 64487725

Operating hours:  Sun/Wed/Thu: 3.30pm-12am, Fri/PH: 4.30pm-1230am,Sat: 3.30pm - 1230am

Ratings: 6.0/10 

New York Cheesecake or was it American Cheescake?
Sorry, I’ve forgotten the name of the cheesecake 

 
Peach and Jelly Cheesecake 

The Cheesecake Cafe was recommended to me by Bal.  When I first heard the name "The Cheesecake Cafe", the first image that comes to my mind was a very happy image: a bright and cheery cafe selling lots of delicious-looking cheesecake.  

I was so wrong.

The only thing that I was right about was the delicious-looking cheesecakes that you can see the moment you stepped into The Cheesecake Cafe, but it was definitely not a bright and cheery cafe.

The Cheesecake Cafe is a cool chill-out spot in the Siglap area.  With comfortable sofa seats, dim lightings with candles dotted around the cafe, chill out music in the background, and a lovely angel fountain, The Cheesecake Cafe has the perfect laid-back ambience where you can sip some wine and enjoy some cheesecake with a group of your friends as you chat the night away.

With such an ambience, you might be thinking along the line of a hotel lounge or a cool spot in town.  But no, located in the Siglap neighbourhood, you’re warmly welcomed even if you are clad in just your berms.  There’s absolutely no pretence at The Cheesecake Cafe.   

The moment you step into the cafe, the service staff will warmly welcome you.  They’ll also never hesitate in making their recommendations to you.  I can only nit-pick on the fact that they seem to clear the plates really quickly the moment you finish the food, which makes the service a tat intrusive to some, but I was okay with it. 

Too bad I didn’t take any photos of the drinks that I had when I was at the Cheesecake Cafe.  I love the drinks best at The Cheesecake Cafe.  I love the tinge of bitterness in the ice milo that I was having that night.  I also took a sip of the Cafe Latte.  It was great coffee and definitely not the sweet and mild Lattes I usually get at the coffee joints such as Starbucks and Coffeebean.

As for the cheesecakes, which is the focus of the cafe, I was actually slightly disappointed by them.  At $6.90, I thought the price for the cake was expensive, especially since the slices were small.  The peach with jelly cheesecake was delicate with a nice peachy flavour and a soft jelly layer in the middle of the cake.   Similarly, the New York Cheesecake was delicate and pleasant.  Maybe it was the delicate taste of the cake; somehow, the cakes just didn’t leave any impression in me or cause me to develop any cravings for it.  Maybe it’s because I prefer my cake to be more strongly-flavoured, so that there’ll be a oomph factor when I taste the cake.

However, I do like the variety of cakes that they offer at The Cheesecake Cafe.  They have plenty of unique flavours for the cheesecake (unique because I have never seen most of these flavours before).  Besides the all-time favourites such as the New York Cheesecake and Oreo Cheesecake, they also have Blueberry Cheesecake and Peanut Butter Cheesecake, which I’ll have loved to try if I have additional stomach space.   

I will definitely visit The Cheesecake Cafe again if I’m in the Siglap area because I love the ambience there so much.  However, should you want to grab some of those sofa seats in the cafe, I suppose you’ll have to make reservations in advance, because those seats are really popular.

Häagen-Dazs Café
Various locations around Singapore 

Ratings: 6.0/10

I was in the Siglap area over the weekend hoping to try the cheesecakes at The Cheesecake Cafe.  Unfortunately, the cafe was closed since 14 Feb til sometime this week.  In my search for a suitable location to satisfy my "slight" hunger pangs, I ended up in Häagen-Dazs Café having the chocolate fondue that I had been hoping to try for quite some time. 

The chocolate fondue at Häagen-Dazs Café comes with a wide selection of food for you to dip into the fondue, including green apples, banana, strawberries, ice-cream balls and biscuits.

 

The Belgium chocolate used in the fondue was thick and sinful!  And guess what’s the ultimate sin…

 

 

Coating the already-sinful ice-cream with thick Belgium chocolate!  

The ice-cream fondue tastes extremely delicious!  Imagine combining two favourite desserts! 

 

 

 

Although ice-cream balls being coated with Belgium chocolate tastes absolutely delicious and sinful, my favourite food to go with chocolate fondue is banana.  It doesn’t taste as sweet as coating strawberries or ice cream with chocolate, or having the slightly sour taste of the chocolate-coated green apples.  It has the just-right sweetness and texture for dessert.  Of course, that’s my personal preference.

However, I felt that the fondue, which cost about $34, is slightly on the steep side, despite the wide selection of food it comes with.  Furthermore, I felt a little overdose with sugar after the dessert feast.  

Nonetheless, it’s definitely a great occasional indulgence to pamper yourself in! 

The Fullerton Hotel (Singapore)
The Courtyard
1 Fullerton Square
Reservation: (+65) 6877 8129.
8pm-11pm (only on Fridays and Saturdays)

Ratings: 4.0/5.0

After three months of hard work (alright, not as "hard work" as I had hoped), burning midnight oil for the past three weeks (with an average of less than 6 hours of sleep), I had finished my thesis finally. Though I seriously think that my thesis is pretty crappily done, I had passed it up and there’s nothing more that I can do about it.

Thus, sorry for not updating for so long as I’ve been really busy.  However, do check back often recently, as there’re quite a few entries saved as drafts, waiting for me to complete them as soon as I have the time and inspiration to do some blogging.

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What is the best way to wind down after being hard at work for so long?

One way is definitely at the absolutely decadent and sinful chocolate buffet at the Fullerton Hotel.

There are over 20 different chocolate desserts that are featured at the buffet table, the definitely unforgettable Chocolate Fountain, where you get to dip marshmellows and fresh fruit into the chocolate fondue, and a drink station where chocolate-blended drinks are made right before you.

What I love most about this buffet is that the sweetness of the desserts is all perfectly just right. I was so afraid that after eating so many different chocolate desserts in one night, I’ll be absolutely sick of chocolate for the next few days. That definitely didn’t happen to me. Every dessert was perfectly crafted and absolutely delectable. My favourite that night was this green tea flavoured chocolate dessert, which had left me with such an unforgettable taste that I would have eaten a few more of it, if not for the fact that there were many other tasty desserts for me to try that night. The drink station where chocolate drinks are blended right before you is also a delightful addition to the buffet. Greedy me decided to indulge in this really concentrated chocolate drink (I think it was 70 %?). The drink was the ultimate indulgence for me, though some might feel that the chocolate is way too thick for them.

I also love the atmosphere at the Courtyard. It’s definitely a great place to chill out and unwind for the weekend while enjoying sinful desserts, and a place to have a great chat.

There is also a choice for the diners to complement the chocolate delights with Michele Chiarlo Nivole, a sublime and delicate dessert wine. I’m no wine connoisseur especially since I seldom drink, but I love that wine lots. It gives me this really sparkly and bubbly feel to it. Thus to me, it’s definitely a great addition to the table that night.

Edited: The buffet costs $32++ w/o the wine and $40++ with the wine.

Sun and Moon Japanese Dining Cafe
Wheelock Place Level Three

Rating: 3.5/5.0

I guess I do have a penchant for shopping near Wheelock Place somehow. Probably it’s that big Zara boutique, Borders, Marks and Spencer, and many other shops that are drawing me so often to the place. After blowing my bank account on some books at Borders and on two pairs of pink shoes (I’m shock personally by my recent taste for things in pink), I had my desert fix at the newly opened Sun and Moon Japanese Dining Cafe.

Fujiyama - Fuji Mountain Shaved Ice

I was shocked to see the size of desert. I wasn’t expecting it to be so huge in size. It’s something like the local Ice Kachang, except this time round, the ingredients in it is dumpling, red bean and mango. What I love most about this desert the lovely green tea taste it had, which gave a refreshing feel to it.

Kurogoma Shiruko - Hot Dumpling in Red Bean and Sesame Soup

Another lovely desert, with dumpling, sweet potato and red bean. I like the sesame paste, which is thick in texture and not too sweet.

Tofu Cheese Cake

I was mildly captivated by the lovely presentation of the tofu cheese cake and it tasted as delicious as it looks. My only grouse about it is that the portion is really small for $5.

On the whole, I love the decour of the restaurant, except the air-conditioning was really freezing. The menu is very limited, serving mainly only deserts. I suppose I might stop over the place again if I’m thinking of having my desert fix, but I suppose at Wheelock place, there are better restaurants serving delicious deserts like NYDC. Nevertheless, it’s nice to have a change from the usual ice-creams and cakes occasionally.