Review: FatCat Ice Cream Bar

Every cafehopper dream includes paying FatCat Ice Cream Bar for their plated desserts, ice cream with unique flavors and their signature waffles with Salted Egg sauce, and I wasn’t an exception.  We got really excited at the prospect of visiting them. Besides we’ve heard about how packed the place can get and how their waffles were selling out like hello kitties on a daily basis then (I believe the waffle situation is way better now), so we reached half an hour before their opening. Truly embracing our Singaporean roots, and unleashing the genetically predisposed attitude of kiasu-ness.  The Place Located  together with the row of shop houses under a HDB flat in Bedok, even though their shop front may stand out from the rest of their counterparts, I believe I wouldn’t have expected this place to serve up such affordable and well-plated desserts if I were just a random person visiting the estate.

Despite the relatively small seating space, I thought they did a good job attempting to house as many patrons as possible in their constraints. I loved the rustic vibes this place gives off, and especially the off-white/greyish walls because they make such good background for my photos!

The Food
I wish I had the stomach space to try their butter beer because it sounds way too interesting! Next time, next time! This is their range of ice creams flavors, with some classic flavors while others, having a unique twist to them such as that of the butterbeer which I loved. The subtle taste of alcohol within the smooth, creamy ice cream.  These are the menu for their plated desserts and waffles. I thought that the prices for the plated desserts were really affordable, taking into account the quality of ingredients used, the effort needed, and to upscale an otherwise normal dessert, like the banana nutella, definitely requires some skill and sophistication to achieve that kind of refinement. Very impressive!

1. Banana Nutella ($9) Oh, that luscious slices of banana, with nutella truffle (I suppose that’s what the powder is), nutella drizzle and topped with a perfect scoop of vanilla ice cream.   I thought this dish was BEAUTIFULLY plated. The combination of banana and nutella never fails but then, there wasn’t a wow factor in these, unfortunately. They tasted good, but not something I would want to go for if I want to taste something with more umph!

2. Lime Mojito Spheres – $4 each
 Even though you see these come in pairs on your social media, no, they do not come in pairs, like what many of my friends assumed. And each sphere is $4. Before you go, WA SO EXPENSIVE, trust me this is a gastronomic experience you can get at a wayyyyyy lower price than anywhere else. Remember to snap your pictures quickly and pop these babies into your mouth. Feel the spheres burst within your mouths, with your tongue indulging in the taste of lime mojito while your palates still recovering from the pleasant surprise from the popping of flavors and juices in your mouth. So good, and so, very refreshing!

3. Charcoal Waffle with Salted Egg Yolk Sauce, Butterbeer Ice Cream ($6 + $4.50) Probably one of the cheapest waffle I’ve had, because ice cream parlors love to jack up their prices for waffles and ice cream these days, it pisses me off. It’s like don’t think I don’t know the batter very cheap only please. Hahaha!
Here’s a tip, get a milder flavored ice cream to best test the essence of the salted egg yolk sauce. Deliciously creamy, taste subtle, but I thought it could be a little stronger. Then again, it’s me, I love the taste of salted egg yolk! The waffle was also crisp and fluffy, together with the hint of lavender and caramel sauce surrounding the waffle for the finishing touches, I thought this was a pretty good dish because of how well everything came together.

After all, this is still a waffle and ice cream dish, so don’t go with the expectations that it would be WA DAMN GOOD, WA the liu sha can squirt out from the waffle, because you will only leave in disappointment! A good dish to try in my opinion though!

4. Iced Mocha – $6
 I wasn’t expecting much from their coffee since they specialize in desserts and ice cream, but hey, I was pleasantly surprised by this cup of mocha. I loved the acidity of the coffee, and the chocolate was pretty rich. Looks like they’ve got all corners covered!

Closing Remarks

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at FatCat, and would have enjoyed it more, if there weren’t so many younglings hanging out there at 12pm. They were as noisy as crying babies, I nearly died. FatCat deserves all the praises because of the innovation they put on their plates, (I mean really, tom yum granita?! WISH I COULD TRY THAT!) and the affordable price tag that comes along with it. Although many have commented that they are overrated, well… I would think that it must be due to the elevation of the expectations everyone has based on the looks of their desserts and comments on social media.

Otherwise, I thought they fared WAY BETTER than any other ice cream shops. Thank you for setting the bar high and paving the way for the future of desserts and ice cream we can get in cafes!

How to get there?

416 Bedok North Avenue 2
#01-25

Singapore 460416

Opening Hours
Mon: 1:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Wed – Thu: 1:00 pm – 9:30 pm
Fri: 1:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Sat: 12:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Sun: 12:00 pm – 9:30 pm

Contact:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatcatsg/
Instagram: @fatcatsg

Review: Montana Brew Bar @ POMO

Aren’t we all sick of cafes serving only waffles in Singapore? Yeah me too. Waffles with ice cream, that is. But I guess the sound of Truffle Mac and Cheese Waffle would get just anyone a little excited right?

Montana Brew Bar, is the newest kid on the waffle block. POMO may not be heard by many in town, it is sure gaining popularity fast with them housing Montana Brew Bar, and the new yogurt store (opened by the folks behind Montana as well) Nookie.

The Place

Located on the first storey of POMO, Montana set its roots right beside Yakun. Occupying only a single unit, the space can get pretty crowded and cramped during its peak.  The seats are not the most comfortable ones you can get, and it is a normal occurrence to be bumping elbows and butts with the other patrons here. Not the best dining experience I would rate, especially on Valentine’s Day.

The Menu

 Everything on the menu is amazingly affordable, as compared the the usual cafe fare we can get in the local scene. A great lunch option for people working nearby, as well as the schools in the vicinity! How I wish I were studying in SOTA!

The Food 
 Iced Mocha ($6.50): Montana has one of the best iced mocha I’ve had. A good balance of acidity and sweetness from the chocolate. It perked me up immediately from the long day visiting the River Safari.
Truffle Jalapeno Mac & Cheese 2.0 ($11.50): The 2.0 version is apparently much cheesier than the first, but I thought it was still a little lacking in the cheesy flavor. What made this waffle different from the rest is that they have their Mac and Cheese stuffed in between the waffle.
Just like this! The aroma of the truffle whiffed into our noses once it was served to our table, and it took me a lot of control to get pictures of this dish before stuffing them in my belly. In my opinion, this dish is definitely great for sharing, as it can get quite gelat towards the end. By pairing it with the jalapeno sauce served on the side, it makes this dish a lot more interesting with the added spice and tanginess!
 Southern Fried Chicken Sandwich with wasabi slaw ($9.90): My eyes lit up when I took a bite of the chicken. It was well-marinated and moist, I couldn’t help but to compare it to the one I had at Sin Lee Foods. Just for half the price, I preferred this chicken because of how moist and tender it is. The waffle itself fared better as well, as it was made with a lighter batter and crispy exterior, which I thought was a much better complement to the chicken. You wouldn’t feel too overwhelmed at the end of this dish!

Closing Remarks

Besides savory waffles, Montana also serves up various items on their menu, such as burgers, and sweet waffles, like that of the Red Velvet waffle, which I intend to try in the near future. I thought that the location can be a little inconvenient, and parking was pretty expensive as well.

Montana has certainly impressed me with the quality of their waffles and their innovation with their waffle dishes. I left the place feeling very satisfied. The boy and I thought that these were the best savory waffles we’ve had. If you haven’t visited Montana, please make time to visit them soon, because they are definitely worth your time and money! It’s really rare to find some where that serves quality and affordable grub in Singapore, what’s more in the town area!

How to get there?
1 Selegie Road
#01-04
POMO

Opening Hours:
Daily 8am-930pm.
Coffee tea beverages only 8-10am
Full food menu 10am-930pm

Review: Sin Lee Foods

Sin Lee foods, is one place that pops up on my Instagram feed almost on a daily basis. I’ve first been drawn to this place when I saw a post on their signature Salted Egg Sweet Potato Fries. A marriage of 2 of my favorite foods, and that just looks and sounds like heaven to me. Another plus point was that, they have one of the most photogenic foods amongst the cafes in Singapore. It was DEFINITELY my calling to pay this place a visit, so much so that I visited them THRICE.

It’s quite funny how the first visit was linked to the second. The boy intended to surprise me for dinner by bringing me to Sin Lee on a Sunday night, but as usual, his surprise failed. Apparently he was being cheated about the opening hours online, and Sin Lee was actually closed by 6pm on Sundays, much to our dismay. The second visit happened when I randomly helped the boy to rant about our wasted trip to Sin Lee, and we accidentally won the signature One and Only Waffle with Fried Chicken from Shaun (@shauniee) and the owner of Sin Lee, Sean (@battermaker). We immediately marked our calendars, and decided to head down for our Christmas Lunchner! Well.. The third, was the most interesting one of all. Sin Lee was where a group of friends and I decided to hold our Instameet at, because we thought the new menu was coming out!

The Place
 Just like many of the hipster cafes these days, Sin Lee rocked the retro look with their old school signboard right at their entrance. Apparently, Sin Lee used to be a coffee shop here in the void deck of Bukit Ho Swee (7-10 mins walk away from Tiong Bahru MRT) that used to sell Prawn noodles and such. The current cafe retained the charm left over by this now defunct kopitiam, by keeping its name and signboard, which I thought was pretty cool.

The seating capacity of the cafe is sufficient on any regular day, but definitely not enough for a weekend lunch crowd. They have limited dine-in tables, an “al fresco” dining area, and on a crazy day, they even have to expand their premises to the chess tables nearby.

To cater the bustling weekend crowd, reservations can be made through Chope SG. Be warned that you might not be able to get the indoor seating even if you make a reservation though!

In my opinion, I think the ratio of their seating capacity to efficiency and kitchen size may be a little skewed to their disfavor. The semi open kitchen concept seemed too small to be able to have more hands to help before the law of diminishing returns set in. As a result, this has caused a number of patrons to complain about the waiting time for their food during their weekend peak.
 By the way, I took a picture of this as soon as I reached to make sure that I conveyed the right opening hours to you guys.

The Food

Alright enough talk about the place, let’s look at what they have to offer!

 “At Sin Lee Foods, we don’t and we won’t serve Egg Benedict but we sure do serve awesome food and beverages. Take a leap of faith and be a convert.”

Indeed. I am so sick of all the brunch menus in cafes, with their ultimate breakfasts and eggs benedict and what not. Sin Lee’s menu was definitely refreshing and exciting to look at, only if you covered up the prices.

On our first visit, we got ourselves The One and Only (waffles with fried chicken), Aburi Broccoli Salad and of course, the Salted Egg Sweet Potato Fries. We also tried out their Malted Pie Crust Shake. Malted Pie Crust Shake ($9): this is made up of pie crust and malted milk. We didn’t quite enjoy this rendition of the shake, probably because we weren’t too huge of a fan of malted drinks like horlicks. I guess I got too excited when I saw that the shake has pie crust, and forgot to take the malted aspect of the shake into consideration. I definitely wouldn’t recommend this to anyone who don’t really like malted drinks, because it was pretty difficult to finish!  The One and Only: Sin Lee Fried Chicken and Waffles ($21.90): I guess what they meant when they said “The One and Only” was the fact that they are the one and only $22 waffle in Singapore. When you decide to brand a particular dish as your signature dish, I guess it should either be 1) unique or 2) damn finger lickin’ good. Yet this dish fell short in both aspects. I even thought the mini waffle and fried chicken bites from The Boiler tasted better than this.  The serving of the chicken was huge. However, taste wise, it was just average, perhaps a little lacking of flavors in my opinion. I thought the dish was made better by drizzling the melted maple butter over the waffles and chicken. The sweet and savory combination saved this dish a little, because having both of which individually was not too impressive. Then again, I’ve seen people commenting about how they did not like the maple butter, so please do it with discretion.   Salted Egg Sweet Potato Fries ($12): Twice fried sweet potato fries, house made salted duck’s egg sauce, with crispy curry leaves. Like I said, this dish sounded just like a dish made in heaven. What perfect combination of both of my favorite ingredients. As the salted egg yolk fries from Leban left such a deep impression on my palate, I had relatively high expectations for this dish, because I prefer sweet potato fries to normal fries any day!
During my first visit, I was rather disappointed with how this dish turned out. The dissonance from reality and expectations was so great that I did not dare to pass any comment on this dish. I expected a lot more. The bowl of fries was surprisingly boring. The salted egg sauce was present in texture but not any where in its flavor. The sweet potato fries were not able to take up the sauce well, that it just felt like I was having a sweet potato fries dish on its own. Hence I vowed to try it on my second visit because I believe such a heavenly combination deserves a second chance. Alas, it once again, failed to impress me, as well as my dining buddies.
 Aburi Broccoli Salad ($12): Smoky thorched broccoli florets, white balsamic, papadum, and red sugar. What. What kind of combination is that? Honestly, if I hadn’t seen the raving reviews on this dish on instagram, it would definitely be something that I would overlook. This particular dish, was mind-blowingly excellent. I don’t know how Sean does it, but it somehow had a different flavor in every mouthful, teasing my palate. A definite MUST-ORDER if you decide to head to Sin Lee. The downside to this, is its hefty price tag of $12. Well… this is indeed an amazing rendition of broccoli, $12… I’ll let it slip.

On my third visit, it was an apprehensive one, since it was my first instameet. I am just glad that it turned out WAYYYYY better than expected, and these guys are pretty cool and FUNNY.
 Food instagrammers/bloggers/up and coming super stars at work. Look at everyone in the background just judging them.. If you guys are interested in following more foodies in Singapore, here are their instagram accounts: @benjamintheun, @huilingishungry, @lancetaey and @stormscape.

Since Lance and I are HUGE fans of bananas, we managed to convince the rest to order some Banana Beignets. We also got the sweet potato fries, ABURI BROCCOLI SALAD, Truffle Pops, and Rice and Grains  to share amongst us.  Benene Beignets ($9.50): Cake battered bananas served with condensed milk and freshly grated parmesan. I thought these tasted pretty good, because I loved how the warm banana filling within the cake batter just oozed into my mouth. Having fried banana is definitely a refreshing experience for me. However, my counterparts were not too impressed with this dish, as it was rather average to them, and they thought that this was just an overpriced version of goring pisang, which I have unfortunately not tried it in my entire life. Hence I was in no position to judge at all. But $9.50 for bananas… I think I’m going bananas paying off that bill.  Truffle Pops ($12): Creamy mushroom and truffle duxelle balls fried to glory, served with house made basil dressing and parmesan. This dish sounded really good to us, because mushrooms and truffle.
Sadly this dish was overly salty, and there was almost an absence of the taste of truffle. It definitely did not make an impact on me, because right now… I do not have any impression of having this dish, or even, remember how it actually taste like.   Beef and Grains ($24): Seared marbled stripling, wet orzo “rice”, fried and runny free range hen egg, sweet sour ginger and I don’t know what are the rest of the ingredients. This dish, to me, is yet another MUST ORDER! The wet orzo “rice” was so, very addictive. Being someone who doesn’t take much rice, I couldn’t stop myself from going mouthfuls after mouthfuls of this orzo rice. Besides, this is a perfect example of East meets West, as Sean explained to us that he used black bean sauce, which is usually used for Chinese dishes on this plate of steak and orzo, a generally Western dish. What a fusion, and what a culinary genius this man is.

Closing Remarks

Frankly, I am still very impressed with what Sin Lee has to offer. They definitely do stand out from the rest of the cafes with their dishes, together with the ingenious play in the ingredients used in each dish. Every combination is evidently well thought out, even though not as well-executed in some. Despite the misses and disappointment, I believe the efforts of Sean and Co. should be applauded, and the courage to stray away from the norm deserves a standing ovation.

However, like any food establishments, there bound to be hits and misses, and I think with such solid foundation, Sin Lee just has to be more receptive towards the feedback from its patrons and put some work into improving the subtle blemishes. I am confident of the improvement in the standards and taste of their food, however, price-wise, definitely needs some revision; a common sentiment amongst every patron. Despite the no GST and service charge claim, it is quite evident that the additional charges have been taken into account in its pricing.

Sin Lee would be worth the visit for you if you’re looking for something different from the usual brunch and cafe fare. Be warned that you may have to starve yourself for the week to save up for this sumptuous meal though. Or get a tailor because you may burn a hole in your pocket. 

How to get there? 

4 Jalan Bukit Ho Swee
Singapore 162004

Opening Hours 

Review: Shrove Tuesday @ Toa Payoh

Shrove Tuesday, I’ve always been hearing good reviews about its waffles, but have never actually gotten down to visiting it because it’s at Toa Payoh, and besides, I don’t always crave for waffles. I’m more of a pancake person, who ironically have eaten ALOT MORE WAFFLES than pancakes.

I’ve been to Shrove Tuesday twice before deciding to do a review on them. The first was with my friends cum colleagues on the last week of my internship, when we were given a 3 hour lunch break. No, more like when we gave ourselves a 3 hour lunch break.The second visit, was due to the fact that I bought a voucher fro Sugar App for the first visit, but didn’t get to use it because we got a 20% staff discount then!

If you haven’t already known, Shrove Tuesday is also known as PANCAKE DAY (okay justifies why I’m here), and it’s a day marked with feasting and celebration.

The Place

Shrove Tuesday is located about a 10 minutes walk from Toa Payoh Central, provided if you don’t lose your way. I would say it’s located at a relatively inconvenient location, unless you stay around the neighborhood. It’s situated along a row of shops, under a HDB block. The interior is rather cosy from the warm lights with the off white and orange paint work on the walls.  The cafe might seem a little small, however, it’s able to house about 4-6 tables of 2 seater, a comfortable 4-seater and a huge brown table for large groups of people, which is behind the counter! The thing I loved about Shrove, is the pretty tiles on the tables.  This was my favorite thing in the entire cafe! Hahaha!   And here’s a very good reminder for all of us when we are starting to feel guilty about our diet. Eat abs for abs! 

The Food

On both visits, I’ve only had their waffles. However, they do serve up a relatively wide range of sweets (desserts) and drinks. Besides waffles with ice cream, they do offer macarons and home-made cakes and desserts as well. They do also serve up 2 savory dishes, which are new on their menu, shown below! On my first visit, I ordered a waffle and a scoop of Rocher (flavor of the day) ice cream for my lunch. Rocher is a flavor that is derived from the well-known ferrero rocher, with bits of nuts in the scoop of chocolate rocher-flavored ice cream. It’s easily a crowd pleaser. However, being a chocolate person, and one who likes ice cream with “things in it”, for the crunch, I find that Shrove is unable to cater to my needs well enough. HAHAHA! They mainly serve up flavors that tend more to the fruity ones like raspberry, durian, or the more common ones such as Vanilla or chocolate. If you’re a fan of Pistachio, you’ll be glad to hear that they do have that flavor. Unfortunately, I’m not much of a fan.

Here’s our waffle party: The Madagascar Vanilla, which is basically just vanilla.  I ordered a peanut butter fudge cake ($3), because it’s PEANUT BUTTER! It’s a really really small serving, which i didn’t mind at all, however, the cake was way too dry.

On my first visit, I was not able to tell how good Shrove’s waffles really are, because it’s been a long while since I had waffles, and that, I’m really not a huge fan of waffles. However, I visited Shrove again a week later, after my trip to Les Patisseries. We had their signature Horffles, which we thought were not too good, and this time round, the waffles here stood out in stark contrast. The waffles from Shrove are really good, the right amounts of fluffy, and soft.

Just like the first time, I had some difficulties trying to choose the flavor that entices me. We got the Mao Shan Wang ice cream after the staff’s recommendations. I thought the ice cream was great, really flavorful, however, as we know that the taste of durian can get overpowering, this scoop of ice cream kinda masked the taste of the waffle as well. So if you’re looking to taste the waffle as well as the ice cream itself, I would not recommend this! 

Closing Remarks

It’s been a while since I’ve had waffles, and Shrove’s waffles definitely did not disappoint. However, I wouldn’t say it’s a must try, especially since there are so many places serving up waffles right now, and these did not exactly wow me. Maybe I need a few more bad experiences before I learn to appreciate these waffles from Shrove Tuesday.

It’s worth a visit if you are around the area, but not so much that you have to make a special trip down to try them!

How to get there?

Blk 94 Toa Payoh Lor 4 #01-32 Singapore 310094

10 Minutes walk from Toa Payoh Central

Opening hours

Sun – Thu: 10:00am – 10:00pm

Fri – Sat: 10:00am – 11:00pm