Marché® Natural Bakery, Discovery Walk at 313 Somerset

Swiss bakery concept..

Being a “bread” person, I look forward to the opening of Marché® Natural Bakery at Somerset313. And yes, it finally opens today. At about 8am, few customers (should be working in the nearby construction areas based on their hard hats and vest) were patronizing the Marche bakery.



Their breads & buns are freshly made at the “see-thru” kitchen daily and they are available for takeaway. At the glass panel, you can see their process of making the breads. Marche Restaurants is connected to the bakery and it is just one level below at level B1. The bakery opens at 8am daily whereas its restaurant opens at 11am daily.

There was an opening promotion - buy 4 mini selections and get 1 for free. Therefore, I picked 3 mini chocolate banana rolls, 1 mini raisin stick and 1 mini herbs roll for $2.40 ($2.55 with GST).

Mini chocolate banana roll – 8/10
The bread texture was sort of “chewy” and not as soft as Asian bakery such as Breadtalk or Swee Heng. I could not taste the “banana” as it was named. But, the generous chocolate chips make this chocolate roll tastes very nice.

Mini raisin roll – 7/10
The difference between this raisin roll and the chocolate roll is merely the fillings, I supposed. I still prefer chocolate chips to raisins.

Mini herbs roll – 8/10
My colleague ate this and commented that this was very nice. The texture was sort of a hard roll and it had a strong aroma flavor. She likes it so much.


Overall Verdict: 8/10


Address:
Marché® Natural Bakery, Level 1
Discovery Walk at 313 at Somerset

Marché® Restaurants
313 at Somerset
313 Orchard Road
#B1-39-46
Singapore 238895
http://www.marche-restaurants.com/

Operating Hours:
Daily:
Bakery - 8am
Restaurants - 11am

Cold Rock Ice Creamery, Holland Village

Creative? Create your own Ice Cream..

We came here for dessert after our dinner at El Patio. Cold Rock Ice Creamery allows customers choosing their ice cream flavours and mix ins and watch their staff blending and smashing them.






Each of us chose our own flavour and shared later.

SP’s – Large Ferrero Indulgence $11.50 – 5/10
Ferrero Ice Cream with Ferrero Rocher, Nutella and Crushed Nuts. It was so-so only.


Mine – Rum and Raisin – 3/10
No Mix ins. It was simply sweet and I could not taste the alcohol.


MH’s – Chocolate – 3/10
Also no Mix ins. The appearance was as dark as charcoal which we thought that it could be bitter sweet chocolate which was our favourite. The verdict was that it was simply sweet again and we cannot feel the chocolate flavour.


LS’s – Chocolate Banana – 5/10
Mixed in with banana and chocolate. It was also so-so only.



Overall Verdict: 4/10

With such steep prices, we expect high quality of their ice creams. However, it did not meet up to our expectations. So disappointed.

Address:
Cold Rock Ice Creamery
24A Lorong Mambong
Holland Village
Singapore 277683
http://www.coldrock.com.sg/

Tel: 6763 1323

Operating Hours:
Mon-Thurs : 11am - 10.30pm
Friday-Sat : 10.30am - 1am
Sun : 10.30am - 12mn

Traditional Scottish Fish Pie, Self-Made

Recipe Book from Scotland..

I have been wanted to make my own Fish Pie, especially after trying the Ocean Pie from Marks and Spencer last week. I bought the recipe book from Scotland last year and now I am finally using the recipe for the first time.

Ingredients Used:
Cod Fillets
Prawns
Eggs
Potatoes
Full Cream Milk
Butter
Parsley
Black Pepper
Salt

This recipe is very good. Next time, I will add more salt and pepper and also more milk for a creamier flavour.

PastaMania, Cathay Cineleisure

PastaMania is Halal..

I held a farewell lunch for my temp staff with my team at PastaMania at Cathay Cineleisure. I chose this place as one of us is a Muslim and I already ran out of ideas where to bring my team for Halal lunch next time. Sigh..

This was their menu. They were 3 types of Combos to choose. Their full Combo Set A comes with Soup of the day, Garlic Bread and a drink.

The Toasted Garlic Bread was not bad and crispy but slightly oily. It could be due to the generous garlic butter spread. – 7/10.


Since there were six of us, I ordered additional BBQ Chicken Wings for all of us. The Chicken wings were disappointing. The texture was tough and lack of flavor. Worst, they had a strong frozen smell. – 2/10.


My main is Spicy Crayfish Spaghetti. – 5/10.
It was sweet and not spicy enough. The crayfish was mushy.



Total bill came to $99.20. I don’t find it value for money.



Overall Verdict: 4/10

I will still give this place a chance if I have craving for pasta and am looking for a cheaper version.


Address:
PastaMania - Cathay Cineleisure Branch
8 Grange Road
#02-23
Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
Singapore 239695

Tel: 6737 1379

Operating Hours:
Sun-Thu: 10.30am - 10.30pm
Fri-Sat: 10.30am - 3.00am

Marks & Spencer, Great World City

Ocean Pie and Breaded Haddock made in UK..

I have been searching for UK version’s Fish Pie and Fish & Chips in many high-end supermarkets ever since I came back from UK last year March. It seems that they can be found only at the Marks & Spencer.

I bought the Ocean Pie and Chunky Breaded Haddock from the Marks & Spencer at Great World Outlet. The prices were slightly steep but still worth the buy since I craved for them for quite some times already. It costs me a total of about $49.80 for these two items.

I toasted both items using my bread toaster since I am too lazy to fry the breaded fish which I believe it would taste nicer that way.



1. Ocean Pie – Atlantic Haddock in a Parsley Sauce
The sauce was creamy but the flavour was still not there. I still prefer the “Young’s” brand which I had in UK. This is their website http://www.youngsseafood.co.uk/default.asp. Their products can be easily found in UK supermarkets.



2. Chunky Breaded Haddock
By toasting it, the crust was not too oily and it was healthier but the crispiness was not there. The Haddock was however still very fresh.




The above food inspired me to make my own Fish Pie from the recipe books which I bought in Scotland. I shall make myself one of these days.

Address:
Marks & Spencer
Food Section
Great World City

Manchester United Café Bar, Boat Quay

Chu’s Birthday Celebration at Boat Quay..

Last night, the seven of us celebrated Chu’s Birthday at Manchester United Café Bar at Boat Quay. This café bar was newly opened last December 2008.

This is the outlook of the Manchester United Café Bar.

It was a Thursday night and there wasn’t much crowd compared to The Penny Black Bar and Harry’s Bar, which were merely few doors away.

We started off with 6 full-time Hoegaarden beers and 2 of us don’t drink.


Look at Bee the gulper below.


Most of my friends were already very hungry when we reached there around 7pm as they either skipped their lunch or had a very light lunch. Therefore, we ordered quite a lot considering we are all females.

Look at our orders below:

1. Devils' Wings $13 x 2 – 7/10
The chicken wings were crispy and well marinated. Some of us prefer these Devils’ wings to Timbre’s Buffalo wings.


2. Manchester Combo Platter $28 x 2 – 6/10
It consisted of veal sausages wrapped with chicken bacon (also known as horseback), devil’s wing, beef short rib and onion rings. It can serve 2 to 4 persons. The veal sausage was not that fantastic. I prefer Scottish sausage instead. The devils’ wing as shared earlier was very good. The beef short rib was tender but lack of flavour.


3. Old English Mixed Grill $28 x 2 – 6/10
It consisted of grilled chicken, beef short rib and sausage with homemade BBQ sauce. The grilled chicken was ordinary. The beef short rib tasted the same as the one in Manchester Combo Platter. The sausage tasted like chicken. There’s no pork in their menu?


4. Fish N Chips $17.90 x 2 – 3/10
I was so disappointed with their Fish N Chips. Since it was stated as Traditional English Battered fillet of fish , I expect their fried fish was crispy and chunky. However, it turned out to be so soggy and soft.


Look at the flesh of the fish. The batter was thicker than the fish fillet inside the batter. OMG! Also, their chips (fries) were so ordinary.


5. Champions Burger $16.90 x 1 – 6/10
The beef patty (burger) was a little too dry, not juicy enough but the caramelized onion was good. Chicken bacon and the melted cheddar cheese were not too bad.


6. Miniature Chocolate Amer Cake from Bakerzin $19.15 – 8/10
We bought Chu a miniature Chocolate Amer Cake from Bakerzin. It was a flourless chocolate sponge layered with bitter chocolate mousse. Luckily, the cake was very small. Else we might not be able to finish the cake after a hearty meal. This cake was very delicious and appetizing.


Chu was making her wishes..


Is she Chu or Goldfish? Hmmm..


The total bill for last night’s dinner amounted to $208.65. Thanks to Chu for giving us this treat.


Considering the 20% discounts given, the café bar’s good service and the happy moments we had, it still worth the money spent.

Overall verdict: 5.6/10


Address:
Manchester United Café Bar
32 Boat Quay
Singapore 049821
Website: http://www.manutd-cafe.com/

Tel: 6533 5880

Operating Hours:
Sun to Thu 11am to 1am
Fri, Sat & eve of public holiday 11am to 2am