PeraMakan

For lovers of Peranakan food, this is your paradise. Previously situated at Joo Chiat, this cosy homely restaurant, which serves to-die-for authentic and affordable nonya food, has since moved to Keppel Club.
But one thing remains unchanged - owner Kelvin Lee's dedication to serving only the best.
Some must-trys include the tender beef rendang - which melts in your mouth, the babi ponteh, and the Nangka curry with prawns.
And once you're done with the spicy, you have to save space for the apom berkuah (coconut pancakes served with banana sauce). The flawless combination of fluffy pancakes and smooth, luscious banana sauce makes for the perfect sweet end.

Sweeet factor: 4.5/5

PeraMakan
10 Bukit Chermin Road
Level 3, Keppel Club

The simple life

This restaurant has been at Wheelock Place for some time, but I've never been tempted to walk in cos the thought of paying more than $10 for hawker food just doesn't sound right to me.
Made an exception today (cos of a sudden craving for "teh") and my conclusion is - do NOT ever make another exception.
The hyper-diluted "teh" absolutely did not satisfy my craving.
And when the gula melaka ($3.90) arrived, my heart sank. The sago had a strange gooey consistency. The coconut didn't taste fresh, but powdered.
The saving grace was the prawn mee ($11.90) my friend ordered.
Huge prawns and generous slabs of pork were served on a bed of noodles, in fragrant broth.

Sweeet factor: 1.5/5

The Simple Life
501 Orchard Road
Wheelock Place
#02-18

Sun with Moon

photo courtesy of bpacker

Trust the Japanese to come up with the kookiest of presentations - a tofu cheesecake cooped in a cage. But aesthetics aside, this tiny slice of dessert packs a punch, and I highly recommend that you save some space after dinner for it.
It has a very smooth consistency that isn't too rich or cloying. There's also a hint of lime, which gives it a pleasant tangy aftertaste.

Sweeet factor: 4.5/5

Another dessert worthy of mention is the green tea tiramisu, which scores with its light and fluffy sponge and whipped cream combination. Light, and extremely pleasing.

Sweeet factor: 4/5

Sun with Moon Japanese Dining and Cafe
501 Orchard Road
Wheelock Place
#03-15/16/17

Il Piccolo

Panna cotta and tiramisu in a heartland kopitiam? That's right.
Il Piccolo, which sells restaurant-standard Italian food at hawker prices, has joined Botak Jones in this little corner of Toa Payoh North.
In fact, this heartland enclave - one of Singapore's best-kept secrets - has become a mini cosmopolitan food hub of sorts, with Japanese, Thai, American, Italian and local fare.
We tried Il Piccolo's sweeet offerings today, and were suitably impressed.
The panna cotta was extremely smooth and light, and not overly sweet.
A tiny complaint, though, was that we would have preferred just a hint of milk, not half a carton.

Sweeet factor: 3/5


Same complaint for the tiramisu - the taste of milk was just too strong. I would have opted for alcohol in place of milk!
But for kopitiam prices, who's complaining?

Sweeet factor: 2.5/5

Il Piccolo
970A Toa Payoh North

Double dose of goodness!

Half the fun in baking is exploring. The other half is opening the oven and being greeted by the scent of heaven.
We had double the dose of fun today.
When you combine sugar and spice, you really do get all things nice (corny! heh). Yup, our cinnamon walnut brownies were a real treat.

Our Baker's tip: Cinnamon in anything just smells heavenly. So go ahead and double the amount of ground cinammon needed. For an added twist, try ground ginger or ground all-spice.


And our brownie oat chewies turned out quite a wonderful surprise as well.
They may not be the prettiest of creations, but they were definitely big on taste.
Our cookies were drizzled with delicious chocolate, and the oats made them soft and chewy - just the way we like it.

Our Baker's tip: To add a little more crunch to these, you can vary the recipe by adding raisins, dried citron peel or chopped nuts.

Cookie monsters r us

It's a good day - Two successful yummy cookies emerging from our oven in a single day.
Our double peanut cookies turned out crunchy and not too crumbly. The added dash of chopped peanuts also gave them a bonus ooomph!
Bakers are definitely happy people, we're convinced of that!

Our Baker's Tip: When baking with peanut butter, always use creamy peanut butter. It's easier to cream and won't spatter all over you. For the crunchy nuttiness, add chopped peanuts.


We're back with our "green" recipes!
We bought way too many oranges for our zesty orange cake and orange marble cake last week that right now, the fridge is still overflowing with vitamin C.
Can't possibly let those fresh oranges go to waste, can we? So what do we do?
Bake some orange chocolate chip cookies, of course!

Our Baker's tip: I'm partial to a chocolate-orange combination but for a vanilla twist, you can substitute the dark chocolate chips with white chocolate chips instead.

Apple Cranberry Almond delight!

We were a bit apprehensive when we first saw this recipe.
Kinda ambitious trying to pack so much into one cake, don't you think? But we were mighty pleased with what emerged from the oven.
The fragrance of the apples and cranberries was heavenly, and the flavours blended and complemented each other really well.
Bonus - this cake is chock-a-block with antioxidants!

Our Baker's tip: Be generous with the dried cranberries here. These soury bites help to give a certain pizzazz and a lot of colour to the tart apples.