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Ever intrigued by new players on the market, I decided to give Ramen Play at 313 @ Sommerset a go one day during tea time when it was empty and there was a tea time special of a mini bowl of ramen for prices starting from $4.80. That was definitely enticing – I love ramen, but don’t like how it completely fills you up till there’s no space for other snacks/desserts, so a mini bowl is just right!

Ramen Play’s part of the Breadtalk group, and is a collaboration with Sanpou Co in Japan which is supposedly famous for its ramen. I’ve never tried Sanpou ramen, but I definitely hope it’s better than what I had at Ramen Play.

My partner ordered a full sized Sanpou Tonkotsu Ramen ($14.80), which seems to be the star of the menu. The soup base is apparently simmered with pork sinew, soft pork bones and a “secret recipe” of spices for 12 hours, which is supposed to result in a “full bodied broth (that) warms your soul”. Well I definitely don’t know about the soul warming part. The broth wasn’t thick and rich like I’d like it to be, but rather watery and just way too salty. Three different types of pork came in the bowl: toroniku (braised pork cheek), cha shu (braised pork belly in char siew sauce) and butakakuti (braised pork belly in special sauce), as well as half a stwed egg and bamboo shoots. Can’t really comment about the pork since I didn’t try them all but the char shu was paper thin and pretty lean, which I like.

My own mini bowl of mini Spicy Shoyu Ramen ($5.80) fared worse. Talk about salty broth. Seemed like lots of soya sauce was put into water, and then topped with tons of chilli oil to make it “spicy”. It was spicy, thanks to loads of chilli oil, but not enjoyable. The noodles for both bowls are the same type – yellow and curly which they claim to be “QQ” but was a little overcooked for me. Same char shu, egg and bamboo shoots as the other bowl.

Overall? I don’t think it’s worth coming back again for. The only ramen worth eating are those thick, milky, hearty, pork-goodness-filled broths that make the salt content worthwhile. And this one didn’t fit the bill.

Apologies everyone! I’ve been having such a hectic weekend (and I foresee another hectic week coming on!), that there doesn’t seem to be much time to post! Shall do a short one now on something that totally made my day!

Like sticky date pudding?

Let me start of by saying what a happy, happy and very satisfied girl I am after having this meal. I might have just come across a new favourite restaurant.

The French Kitchen, by Emmanuel Stroobant, is a cozy sized, simply decorated restaurant with its kitchen helmed by Jean-Charles Dubois. Upon stepping in, the simplicity of the restaurant design is evident – a predominantly white-coloured setting without much decoration or fancy lighting. The place is rather small, with tables placed closed to one another. Honestly nothing about the place will be able to give you the hint that you will be having (what, in my opinion) is one of the best French food around.

The French Kitchen serves up a three course set lunch priced at $36++, and even though I went during Restaurant Week, I noticed that the restaurant week menu is identical to their normal set lunch menu.

The complimentary amuse bouche was a breaded cod fish ball with parmasan crisp and toasted brioche. I honestly was surprised to be presented with such a decent amuse bouche considering how it’s a set lunch! A really good way to start the meal with that ball of cod goodness!

For the starter, both my partner and I chose the bisque de homard, or lobster bisque. I think I would really have kicked myself if I chose anything else! This is, without question (at the time of this review), the best lobster bique I have ever tasted, anywhere. Artfully presented too – the waiter poured the bisque from a little jug (infront of our eyes) into the bowl with two tiger prawn tempura and a green leek custard. Oh my oh my oh my. The bisque is of the smoothest consistency imaginable, so delicately pretty, but on the first sip the full power of the flavourful stock hits you immediately. An intense, intense soup with undescribable crustacean goodness, it’s like a little bowl of liquid gold I tell you. The tiger prawns were juicy and succulent, with a light and crispy batter. I love the whole play of textures in this dish – the silk smooth broth with the meaty and crunchy prawns and the wobbly, jelly-like like leek custard – simply delightful.

For the main course, I chose the confit de canard (which is, when done right, one of my favourite french dishes!). Nothing short of excellence, the duck was perfectly, shatteringly crispy on the outside, with superbly moist and tender meat throughout. The whole thing was perfectly cooked, the meat was so easy to pull off the bone and no inch of it was remotely dry. The truffled mash that accompanied it was oh-so-smooth and with little bits of black truffle speckled all over, absolutely pleasing with heady aroma!

My partner had the beef bourguinon, which I picked some of to try since it looked so irresistable! Meltingly tender braised beef short rib, literally. The piece is visibly laced with slivers of fats that give the whole melt in your mouth experience, though my partner who is fat-adverse had to eat it with her eyes closed! Beef is done wrong so often that it’s such a delight to find a perfectly cooked piece that does justice to beef!

For dessert, the sabayon au champagne with forest berry ice cream is a rich baked custard of whipped egg yolks. Do not let the portion deceive you, the richness of the custard will satisfy!

However, the sabayon (to me), lost out to the tarte au chocolat, a milk chocolate tart with sable and caramel ice cream. This is one small but mighty chocolate tart! A crispy cookie base with a dense, thick and rich chocolate filling that may prove to be too much if taken in large quantities, is nicely balnaced out with what I believe tasted like sea-salt caramel ice cream. Purrrr-fect.

Plus points for the affable chef who came out to greet each and every customer with that lovely disposition of his!

I am scheduling multiple revisits, no doubt about that. Overall best French meal I’ve had!

Jewels Artisan at Orchard Central really doesn’t sound nor look like what the place actually sells – all kinds of chocolates! I remember sitting at Tully’s right above a few months back and wondering what they were going to sell when they opened! In line with their name, all their chocolate seem to be little pieces of jewels, with big chocolate artworks displayed in glass cases all around.

Currently, they feature a teatime indulgence set where you basically get to sample an item from almost all of their categories at $14.80. In essence, you get to choose a macaron, a piece of chocolate praline or truffle, a scoop of ice cream/sorbet and a slice of chocolate cake, accompanied by a pot of tea or a choice of their chocolate beverages.

I decided to go for their Hazelnut Hot Chocolate with a topping of chocolate shavings. Made with Gianduja and Guanaja 70% Grand Cru, this was to me a good hot chocolate where you can actually taste the depths of real chocolate. Very nice to savour in this rainy weather! It wasn’t as thick as I’d normally like my hot chocolate, but considering how it’ll be going with a variety of chocolate desserts, I think it was good that it wasn’t too thick. Plus, those chocolate shavings on top are delicious! Please don’t go for the run-of-the-mill marshmallows!

For the ice cream, I chose the Gianduja Hazelnut ice cream. Yes I do love hazelnut chocolate! Tastes exactly the way you would expect it to (hazelnut chocolate!), with a good dense consistency. Too little ice cream for me!

The Cornelian - caramel ganache coated with dark chocolate topped with caramel nibs was the choice that I came to after some time of flipping the menu deciding which praline to take! And I loved the choice. Unlike the semi-molten, caramel “sauce” filled chocolates you usually get, this one is proper chocolate ganache that was a deep brown (chocolate colour, not caramel!), that seemed to be infused with a good note of caramel rather than the substance itself. Balance that off with the crisp shell and crunchy nibs and the whole thing was gone in a poof!

And now for the macaron! The Black Palm Island Salt was an amazing balance of sweet and salty flavours. Filled with salted egg and almond cream topped with black palm island salt – such an unusual macaron! A must try for lovers of sweet-salty foods like salted caramel ice creams, though this lies more on the salty than sweet end. The macaron itself was lovely, no hallow shell but rather with moist and chewy innards. The black salt is very distinct when you get a bit of it in your mouth, a totally different kind of salty from the egg yolk. I definitely love this macaron, but it’s subjective taste! My dera partner said it tasted like a mooncake!

The slice of 85% dark chocolate gateau may seem like a small slice, but the chocolate “frosting” is oh so dense and rich! Just the way I like them. And the way I like my boys. Oh wait. I don’t want them dense. Or do I? Hmm. :D And I hope it’s not my tastebuds playing with me but the cake didn’t seem sweet, but rather a little.. salty! Well even if it’s just my tastebuds, I like the flavour it gave to the cake overall when eaten with the sweet thick fudge.

I just simply had to try more of their macarons! Thus Butterfly Pea Bloom and Green Tea made their way to our table! Okay I’ll admit it, I was so eager to try them that I initally forgot to take a picture before beginning, but I shall excuse myself by justifying that it is good to have an innard shot as well!

The Green Tea definitely has a strong enough taste of the tea, though I don’t particularly find the dark chocolate crunchy pearls that are within it particularly complementary. I’ll shower much more love on the Butterfly Pea Bloom, with its pretty pastel blue shells that hide kaya and pandan almond cream within! Really so much like eating kaya toast or bread (without the boring bread to get in the way!). Talk about fusion! I think I could pop three of these into my mouth happily!

Best macarons in Singapore? I’m not too sure yet, but definitely most creative, fusion flavours. Definitely going to takeaway a box the next time I make a trip to Orchard Central again!

The erratic weather (what with all the very sunny days and now the rather cold and rainy days) hasn’t been great to my body, and I’ve been a little under the weather (no pun intended!). And oh, how I am longing for this cake now!

The Chocolate Praline Cake ($7.90) is my idea of a wonderful chocolate cake, with layers of creamy and oh-so-thick chocolate mousse and a crunchy layer of hazelnut praline feuilletine at the bottom. I absolutely adore hazelnut feuilletine in chocolate cakes! Plus, this piece is so pretty with the mirror-like chocolate glaze and the little hazelnut with gold foil just to top it all off like the cherry atop a sundae. And note the little bit of actual sponge cake there is? Perfect!

Have the ultra rich cake with some white green tea to wash it all down and the afternoon immediately gets better. I like their little shortbread cookie too – like and buttery and crumbly.

I like the looks and design of 1 Caramel, with chic interiors and a large glass case displaying all their cakes. A really nice place to rest, have afternoon tea, and catch up with friends (and feel chi-chi while at it!).

Oh why, why am I ill this week when it’s Restaurant Week! Please let me recover fast!