Posts Tagged ‘coffee’

Pet friendly Sun Ray Cafe

If you’re living in the Serangoon area, you may be delighted to know that Sun Ray Cafe there welcomes furry guests. Although I presently do not own a dog or a cat, I can well sympathise with pet owners who find it really difficult to travel around with their pets in Singapore, much less find a place to dine with them. While I was in France last week, I was amazed to know that dogs are pretty much allowed anywhere! In the TGV train ride from Lyon to Paris, a dog was snoozing on the train table diagonally from me! No need to leash your dog or hide it in a doggie carrier! I don’t think we’ll be seeing that fairly soon in Singapore, but at least the pet-cafe scene seems to be hotting up.

Sunray Cafe - (27)

Sunray Cafe - (33)

A doggie perusing the daily specials while propping up the owner’s iPad.

Dave Lim (1)

At first glance, Sun Ray Cafe may not look like the typical place to get good 3rd wave coffee. After all, when the place was furnished a few years ago, Sun Ray’s focus was more on food. Now that they’ve gotten the food aspect on cruise control, their next goal is to get the word out that great coffee can be synonymous with Sun Ray Cafe.

In terms of certifications, they have it all as you can see from the picture above. That’s Dave Lim, the owner of Sun Ray Cafe.

Sunray Cafe - Cafe Latte $4

Sunray Cafe - Latte Art (2)

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The Orange Thimble

The Orange Thimble - (22)

Over the Chinese New Year period, my parents, the Partner and I decided to stop off at a cafe to have a cuppa. We aren’t coffee addicts, but somehow, the idea of having a cuppa just puts a smile on our faces. The only thing is, where on earth to find a cafe that’s open during Chinese New Year? I was stubbornly hopeful and drove past the Everton and Tanjong Pagar/Bukit Pasoh area hoping to spy some welcoming light from the otherwise darkened shophouses. No such luck.

Of course I wasn’t so stupid as to drive around aimlessly, because I already knew that The Orange Thimble in Tiong Bahru was open on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. It’s just that I couldn’t believe that The Orange Thimble would be the ONLY 3rd Wave cafe that would prove to be open on the 2nd day of Chinese New Year. After also scouring Tiong Bahru, we finally settled for The Orange Thimble. Don’t get me wrong though, the only reason why I didn’t head straight for it is because I’ve already tried The Orange Thimble once, on the 3rd day of Chinese New Year 2012 in fact! Now I’m beginning to wonder if Orange has anything to do with it…

The Orange Thimble - Hot Chocolate

Although I always set off thinking that I will have a coffee, very often, I suddenly switch to hot chocolate instead. I’m not a coffee addict, but I AM a hot chocolate/ice chocolate addict. It’s what I really want to drink, even if I think a hot chocolate is easily replicatable at home. Complicating huh.

The hot chocolate from The Orange Thimble is FANTASTIC! It’s one of the best hot chocolates I’ve had in a very long time! The hot chocolate is extremely rich, thick and yet not overly sweet. There a bit of a fluffy texture, like little chocolate clouds floating in the drink. I really love this hot chocolate. If anything, it’s a bit on the pricey side at $7.

The Orange Thimble - Chocolate Dacquoise (4)

I don’t think I’ve ever had a chocolate dacquoise before. It looks like a huge wad of chocolate sandwiched between two thin slices of biscuit. A dacquoise is traditionally a cake with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue but in this case, the dacquoise refers to the baked crispy nut meringue that now looks like a biscuit.

Obviously, the chocolate just drew me to this cake. But I was a little disappointed that it didn’t taste as nice as I expected. I suppose I was expecting a sort of Nutella flavour, but it wasn’t Nutella-like at all. And it isn’t as chocolately as it looks either, although it is rather chocolatey. I mean it’s definitely not like eating chocolate out of a jar. Interestingly, my mother liked it very much. As it was not so sweet, my mother enjoyed it a lot. I do wonder if a more bready or cakey base and top would have been a better match. There was just too little biscuit to go with the huge amount of chocolate.

The Orange Thimble - Kaya Butter Toast (3)

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Coffee Area Coffee House 珈琲院 (Taiwan –Taichung)

On the 3rd day of our sponsored Whirlwind 5D4N trip to Taiwan, we arose bright and early to make the best of a beautiful day. Seriously, a blue sky day with cold crisp air just makes my heart sing! I was all raring to venture out, but we had to pack our tummies with a little something first because the 1st stop of the day was to go coffee tasting!

Coffee Area Coffee House (15)

Actually, we didn’t just get the opportunity to sample freshly brewed coffee, we got to witness the ENTIRE coffee roasting process from bean to brew!

Coffee Area Coffee House (6)

This is the boss of Coffee Area. He is an extremely jovial character, with a rather humorous streak. The shop is only open from Wednesday to Sunday. We visited on a Tuesday and we heard that he’d specially opened his shop just for our visit. This is a rare treat because we were told that Taichung people are laid back, many of whom work for fun and not for a living. You will find that when you are in Taichung, shops may not open all hours of the day just to cater to customers or to generate the most amount of profit. On the contrary, people are friendlier than in Taipei.

Don’t mind the camera man at the back. He filmed us the whole of our third day in Taiwan. Felt a little like a celebrity! Smile

Coffee Area Coffee House - Portable mini coffee roasting machine (4)

This is the portable roaster. I used to think that coffee roasting was a very complicated process best left to the experts, but after viewing this contraption work its magic, I feel compelled to purchase one of these babies.

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Agnès b Cafe (Taiwan –Taipei)

Agnes B Cafe

I had a bit of time to spare on the second day of our Whirlwind Taiwan Trip so when I chanced upon the agnès b cafe, I took the opportunity to have a cuppa there. This is directly outside the Zhong Shan MRT station so it won’t be missed. It was the most blustery yet, and I happened to just be wearing a short-sleeve Tshirt and a sweater because I wanted to be a hero. Still, despite that, I went ahead to have my cuppa at this al-fresco cafe. They have heaters, which you can’t see too clearly in the photo, but I had to have a table slightly away from the line of heat because the tables directly under the heaters were all occupied!

Agnes B Cafe (4)

Check out all the eye-watering cakes!

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Christmas Sweets

More Yuletide goodies for you to consider giving your Christmas party the extra oomph! Here are some sweet treats from Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie.

Enchanted - Copy

This is the Enchanted, the towering Christmas tree constructed out of layers of roasted almonds and hazelnuts generously coated with milk, white, or dark chocolate. Wouldn’t this be such a statement when you whip this out for dessert, or as a decorative yet edible piece for your buffet table?

Bauble

This is Bauble, the eye‐catching giant chocolate orb filled with a variety of tasty surprises such as an assortment of fruit jellies, chocolate truffles, and gingerbread man.

Bundle of Joy

Bundle of Hope

Bringing all the yummy treats together are the fancy Canelé Christmas hampers ranging from $60 nett to $160 nett with option of wine pairing.

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hi res Cafedirect - FD Medium Roast (lifestyle)

CafeDirect Instant Coffee, from UK’s hot beverage company. Don’t forget to provide some coffee or tea for those non-alcoholics amongst us. Or you might need this in case you need to stay up the night before to plan your party. This coffee can be enjoyed black, and also complemented with  milk. Cafédirect Freeze-dried Medium Roast instant coffee is priced at $10.90 for a 100g tin. It is available at Cold Storage, FairPrice Finest, Giant, Jasons, Market Place, ThreeSixty.

FD Xmas hamper edit

http://www.cafedirect.co.uk/

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