Desserts

When I last asked y’all lovely folks for kueh kosui recommendations, Chalk Farm came up so many times I’m like yo I have to get my hands on summa that. And my friends, thank you. Y’all are godsent. Cause this kueh kosui is THE MFKIN BOMB. That kueh itself OOOOOF it’s an absolute dream come true. Melts in your mouth omg like literally, so smooth, so silky, sooo soft I mean see how bendy that is, and I can taste the mellow earthiness of the gula melaka. I would’ve loved a more punchy hit of gula melaka, but this was acceptable for me. Unfortunately what I didn’t quite like was the shredded coconut. They’re very generous with it which I appreciate; but instead of the usual soft steamed grated coconut, Chalk Farm uses really really thick shavings of (I’m guessing) freshly toasted coconut flesh so it tastes like yknow old coconut flesh that’s really hard and tough and basically impossible to scrape off the husks? It wasn’t crunchy in a good way, overpowering the delicate kueh instead of complementing it. It was also more salty than sweet in a way that was rather jarring. That kueh though was so amazing, I’d forgo the coconut just to have it.

Aesthetic game SO. ON. POINT. That perfectly caramelised and flaky puff pastry, the Tahitian vanilla pastry cream of Pantler’s I adore so much, topped with daintily layered slices of tender and sweet European La France pears, then finished off with delicate crème d’Isigny. If you read between the lines, you’d realise that all the other components in this dessert, while intricate, are rather mild and unassertive — all so the star ingredient, the La France pear, can shine. The La France pear here is a seasonal fruit hailing from Higashine City of the Yamagata prefecture, known for its very subtle, mellow sorta sweetness, super smooth, creamy and juicy flesh with a melt-in-your-mouth texture that’s reminiscent of an overripe fruit (in an utterly good way). Take it from me that you really do get to taste the fruit in all it’s glory here, complemented but not overshadowed by all the other delicious components 🥰 This seasonal dessert’s only gonna be around for 2 weeks, so if you’ve read this far and I’ve managed to pique your interest — head down QUICK.

I’ve wanted to try Beverly Hills Cheesecake since they first opened but never got the chance to, so imagine my utter joy when I was sent their 6” Salted Caramel Cheesecake. Here we’re looking at a caramel cheesecake and caramel mousse sitting on a blondie base, topped with a layer of salted caramel. To be completely honest (in true CEB fashion), I unfortunately didn’t exactly love this. Don’t get me wrong: the texture of the regular cheesecake layer was fabulous. Creamy, smooth, and rich. As a whole though I found the cheesecake way too sweet and cloying. I would’ve appreciated a stronger hint of salt to balance out all the sugar, considering the multiple caramel components + the blondie.

They’ve got their sanger buns, sourdough, doughnuts, and these beautiful cinnamon rolls. And I gotta tell ya, I like em buns and I cannot lie 🥰 How do you not like something that’s called Crackbuns man I mean, just the name itself begs to be loved. It’s soft, sticky, buttery, rich, aggressively sweet, but not achingly so — basically it’s everything good all rolled into a massive bun. It’s definitely a wee drier and tougher when you finally get it home and tuck in, but that’s nothing a quick blast in the microwave won’t solve. They’ve got raisins rolled right in which I’m not the biggest fan of, but I’m just nitpicking here you can easily pluck em out like I did. Now lemme just make some fresh cream cheese frosting to slather on these beauts 🤤

With my massive sweet tooth I honestly didn’t think Nasty Cookie’s utterly sinful cookies would be a problem; but unfortunately I gotta say it has completely bested me. I completely understand why they’d have fans out there. The texture of the cookie is amazing: great crisp crust on the edges, soft, cookie dough-like fudginess within, and strong assertive flavours — I have to admit it is exceedingly tasty. However it is also extremely sweet, too much for L and I, and we pretty much gave up on half the cookie. Which was really heart wrenching cause this little monster cost me $4.90 🙃 I’m glad I finally tried it, but I can’t say I’d go back for this.

W doesn’t even eat desserts aight, and he was licking the bowl clean (literally drinking the melted liquids from the bowl) — this was THAT good. For $11.80++ you get a massive bowl of shaved ice, topped with nata de coco, pandan jelly, jackfruit, and a big saucer of gula melaka syrup. Sounds rather standard, even if the toppings and all are really fresh and tasty; but the actual game-changer here’s really their shaved ‘ice’. Instead of plain old water that leaves you searching for more syrup as you dig down further, Rumours freezes coconut water and shaves it down for the cendol — which means every mouthful is bursting with the creamy, tropical sweetness of the fruit and you’d NEVER have a boring, diluted, tasteless bite. Now how ingenious is that?! It’s like the cendol I never knew I loved, but now that I’ve found it there’s just no going back to the original 🤤

Especially when you’ve got some crunchy hazelnut praline crumbled over, and decent enough vanilla bean ice cream to go with. Ainch gonna say it’s the best I’ve had or whatevs, as long as it’s oozy and gooey and flowy I’m good.

Rather than not-so-subtly hinting at him to get this for me, when I saw Matchaya promoting this box of handcrafted chokoretos for Valentine’s Day I was like “bitch please imma pamper myself.” And I’m glad I did, cause these were so so delicious. Very reasonably priced at $18.90, this box of 16 comes with 4 different flavours of chocolate: matcha, houjicha, kinako, and raw cacao. Did I mention it includes free delivery as well, even on vday itself? Idea boys.

Coffee’s meh at best, but oh those dainty pastries 💕 Gave their Tarte Tatin a shot that day and man gotta give it to them: one of the (if not THE) best tarte tatin I’ve had in Singapore. Crème Caramel’s pretty legit too with the generous layer of sticky chewy caramel. Not the biggest fan of their Madeleine and Financier which are a tad drier than I’d like (TWG still holds the reign on these ones), and the Pirus, though light and technically on point, has alcohol on it — did I mention I don’t like alcohol in my desserts? But otherwise, c’est parfait 👌🏻

A Bon Bon’s, what this huge tower of layered dessert’s called. A little off-kilter for me initially cause, ain’t a bon bon thumb-sizes sweets or a teeny chocolate treat? 🤔 Well one thing’s for sure: small, this dessert ain’t.
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In what looks like a cup larger than your typical Venti takeaway, they’ve jam-packed loads of fresh (and I mean really REALLY fresh) fruits sources from around the region, non-dairy cream straight from Korea, and fruit slushie freshly made to order.
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We tried the Blueberry and Grape ones, understanding these fruits are all seasonal and thus flavours will change according to what’s available at the mo; but whatever the fruit may be, I believe I’d still love it. It’s not often you see cafés being that generous with ingredients like fresh fruit (whose costing is way over the roof FYI), really straddling the thin line between attractive prices and securing quality produce. Cause of that this isn’t a cheap dessert I’ll be frank, but it’s worth every buck your paying. So if you’re around town this weekend, pop by to show them some love!

Major sore throat that's been going on for a week, but that's not gonna stop me from coming for their August special flavours — Syrup Limau and Horlicks Dinosaur. The first's basically a rose syrup and lime juice kopitiam drink now soft serve-ified. Just in case the colour's not enough of a persuasion to order it, it's actually really yummy with the rose fragrance hitting you strong while still staying pleasant. I'd say it's more akin to bandung than syrup limau, but hey no complaints there. Imma huge fan of malt though so not gonna deny that my favourite's the Horlicks Dinosaur. The familiar creaminess and maltiness of our childhood drink comes on strong enough to please hardcore fans like me, without being too intense and overpowering. And with that drizzle of milo sauce and crunch? C'est parfait.

While their dark chocolate ice cream on its own is pretty good, I'm guessing freezing it in this Frozen Smores could've been what caused it to turn out icy, way too hard, and not entirely as pleasant. The idea's pretty cool (which explains why I came back 4 times when they're always out of it!), but the chewy, dense torched marshmallows and stiff icy ice cream didn't gel that well with me. Perhaps a creamier and airier marshmallow fluff would've worked better, a crunch in this — say the traditional graham cracker crumbled inside — would have helped tons too.