PODI, Paragon Orchard

We ventured to the newly opened restaurant, Podi, at Paragon for high tea on a Saturday afternoon when we had some time to kill before dinner.  

 

Open concept restaurant

Cakes counter

The cakes selection was not extensive but decent with some interesting selections such as their whoopie pies and some of the cakes like the Rose Dragon lifht cheesecake.



Cinnamon Spiced Cake with Honey & Toasted Hazelnut Frosting

$12/slice or $15 with ice cream

We opted for Cinnamon Spiced Cake with Honey & Toasted Hazelnut Frosting and almond cappuccino ice cream because I wanted something more sponge-cake based than cream-based. The dessert was very rich with its strong flavours of spices and generous serving of nuts. The cake was topped with buttery biscuit crumbs instead of your usual cream frosting. The chef pulled it off well because the cake could have been very dry if the sponge cake was not moist enough. It was interesting but I found it a little too overwhelming as the flavors were very strong. Perhaps a lighter flavoured ice cream, like Vanilla bean, would have complemented the cake better.

Other items on the food menu include dishes such as Seared chilled grass-fed NZ rib eye steak ($32), Lean chicken fillets ($24), Tamarind chilli prawns with brown rice ($26), and Grilled sea bass with brown rice ($26). Breakfast dishes, available from 8am to 12pm, features a smaller selection with items such as Herb omelette wrap with grilled chicken ($20), Poached eggs with spinach on toast ($22), and Black forest pancakes ($17).


Podi, The Food Orchard

290 Orchard Road

#01-20A Paragon

Tel: 68875303

Lu Gang Xiao Zhen, Ion Orchard

An outlet by the familiar Asian Kitchen, we decided to give the place a go since it was considerably more crowded than the other restaurants on level B3 in the early evening.

 



 Taiwan Granny Meesua
$8.90

A specialty on the menu, the Taiwan Granny Meesua failed to meet expectations as the broth was salty yet it was not rich nor robust in flavours. I'd say, give this a miss.



Scallop Chicken soup
$9.80

I was once again disappointed when the Scallop Chicken soup arrived at our table. I had expected more ingredients and was dismayed at the small piece of chicken soaked in clear bland broth. The dish was supposed to be pressurecooked, sealing all the flavours of the ingredients, but the soup was awfully diluted.



Broccoli with Mushrooms
$9.20

The stir fried Broccoli with Mushrooms was decent, nothing spectacular.



Cereal Fried Rice
$9.90

The best dish of the night was the Cereal Fried Rice. The grainy rice was fragrant and the cereal added a delightful crunch to the dish.

Perhaps we ordered all the wrong dishes, but I still like the Asian Kitchen La Mian Xiao Long Bao best.

Lu Gang Xiao Zhen
2 Orchard Turn, #B3-22 ION Orchard, Singapore

Tel: +65 6509 1128

Paris Baguette Cafe, Wisma

The newly opened European style cafe, Paris Baguette, is no newcomer to many as it spans more than 3,000 outlets in Korea, China, and the United States. Its entry to the bakery scene was a welcoming move as bread lovers cheered with glee at the birth of another bakery located in town.  

 



Royal Mango Pudding
$4.50

We were greeted with adorable bottles of pudding upon entering the store. The bottles are prized at $4.50 per bottle and is also available in prepacked boxes of 6.



Sandwich counter

The sandwich counter was packed with various ready-to-go sandwiches such as the Ultra Club Sandiwch ($8.50), Double Ham & Egg Sandiwich ($8.00), Italian Ciabatta Sandwich ($7.00), and salads like Oriental Chicken Salad ($8.50) and Tuna Nicoise Salad ($8.50). 

 



Bread selection

As we were there at around 11am, most of the items were not out yet. The bread selection spans a range of bread selection like Milky Almond Cubic ($2.40), Choco half ring ($2.40), Flying UFO ($2.60), Pain Au Raisin ($2.90) and Springing Roll Cheese ($4.70).



Pastry selection

We couldn't resist the items on display and grabbed ourselves a salad and a sandwich.



Phat Thai Noodle Salad
$8.50

 The Phat Thai Noodle Salad is rice noodles with shrimps, grilled chicken and vegetables with chilli lime dressing. The chilli lime dressing was geared towards the sweet palette, but the salad was excellent. The dressing went well with the rice noodles and the prawns were wonderfully fresh with wild rocket leaves thrown in for enhanced flavour.



Drizzled with chilli lime dressing

Mini Croissant Family Sandwich
$7

The Mini croissant sandwich pack comprises of two ham and cheese croissants and an egg and bacon croissant. The croissant is more sweet than savory, and we thought it complimented the fillings well. The fact that they were bite-sized made them excellent for sharing.


The trio

Ham and cheese croissant

The ham and cheese croissant was simple and satisfying. The fillings were not overpowering and the vegetables were wonderfully fresh.


Egg and bacon croissant

The egg and bacon croissant had a good sweet and savory combination with varying textures and was a spot on.

The coffee was quite diluted so we would give it a miss. There are other items on the menu such as breakfast/brunch dishes like Scrambled egg brioche ($18), Ratatouille steak ($21) and Cheese Omelette with a Difference ($18). We also spotted a pretty selection of cakes at the counter. We loved what we had and we'd be back for more!


Paris Baguette Cafe
Wisma Atria, #02-02/03, Singapore

Dean & Deluca, Orchard Central

A well known America-based gourmey groccery and artisan bakery, Dean & Deluca opened end June this year to much fanfare and hype. Given its fairly limited seating, we put off visiting the place until two months later, hoping that the initial hype and interest has more or less died.

Entrance of Dean & Deluca at Orchard Central



Bread counter at the entrance



Grocceries

Upon entering the premises, we were greeted by rows of interesting groccery products including Dean & Deluca house brand products like jam, olive oil and coffee.


Food counter



Bread counter

Some of their bread selection is sourced from some of the popular bakeries like Bread Project, Bakers & Co., Maison Kyser.

It was fairly crowded when we arrived and understandably so, as it was noon on a Saturday afternoon. Fortunately, we manage to secure a seat almost immediately and proceded with our orders over at the counter.

Popular items on the menu are the Berries and Flap Jacks, oat and honey buttermilk pancakes with fresh berries ($18), Eggs Iberico, two poached eggs with sauteed mushrooms, iberico ham and hollandaise sauce on tomato bread ($25), and The Belgian Stack, comprising of home made waffles with berries and creme ($21).

We were in the mood for some non-breakfast items and we opted for the items over at the food counter.


Do take note of your table number as you would need it when you place your order.





The Pan-seared Salmon
 $12

The Pan-seared Salmon ($12) was accompanied with a small mesclun salad. The fish was nicely seared to a crisp and moist fish that was good on it's own without additional sauce. I thought the dish was rather value for money and we spotted a number of patrons ordering this dish as well.

Haricot Vert Almondine
$8.50/kg

We opted for the Haricot Vert Almondine ($8.50/kg) as a side. What you see in the picture was about 300g, which was sufficient for two people. The french beans were delish and we enjoyed it.



Prawn, Avocado and Mango salad
$22.50/whole, $11.25/half portion

The Prawn, Avocado and Mango salad ($22.50/whole, $11.25/half portion) was quite a visual feast with its wonderful composition of colours. Comprising of fresh Crystal bay prawns with mesclun salad leaves, sweet mango, avocado, zucchini ribbons, vine ripened cherry tomatoes, citrus cilantro vinaigrette, it was a light and refreshing salad. We found the mangoes delectably sweet, the prawns were fresh and the portion was quite substantial. The dressing of the salad could be improved though, it didn't seem to go very well with the greens.

 

Grilled Ancho Chicken Breast
$8

Grilled Ancho Chicken Breast ($8) was fairly large in portion. The chicken did not come across as being particularly fresh and the sides of the chicken were rather tough, probably through the re-heating process. Not the best grilled chicken, but it's pretty value for money, if you ask me.



Mango Yoghurt Drink

 The Mango drink had a strong Yakault taste, but I thought it was rather refreshing as the sweetness of the mango was subtle and not too overwhelming.



Coffee

No better way to end off the meal with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.

Not the best ambience with its budget looking tables and chairs that resembled a food court setting, but probably a good place for casual Brunch. We'd go for the breakfast items the next time round.

Dean & Deluca
181 Orchard Road, #04-23/24 Orchard Central, Singapore
Tel: +65 6509 7708 

Pique Nique, Takashimaya

We decided to stop by at Pique Nique for tea when we were at Takashimaya on a busy Saturday evening. There wa a queue forming at around 4pm, but we got ourselves a seat after about 10 minutes.

Pretty cake counter stacked with an assortment of cookies and marshmellows

The cake counter also doubles up as a cashier and payment has to be made at the counter

Spacious indoor seats

I remember Pique Nique serving really petite rectangular-sized cakes when they first opened some time in 2011, and I am glad they had re-sized their cakes to the standard version. 

Blueberry Cheese Cake
$8.35/slice

The Blueberry Cheese Cake is a vanilla baked cheese cake with blueberry compote on a very thin layer of biscuit crumbs. The vanilla flavour was not particularly distinct, but you can almost never go wrong with a blueberry cheesecake.

Red Velvet Cake
$8.35/slice

The Red Velvet cake looked ostentatiously bright with it's loud orange hue, but don't be daunted by its colour. Putting aside the copious amount of food colouring, the rendition of the Red Velvet Cake is unique and bore a strong semblence to old school cakes found at neighborhood bakeries. While it is not your typical dense and rich sponge cake with thick creamy cheese frosting, I found the minimalist approach rather interesting and it definitely tasted better than it looks.

The cakes at Pique Nique are not exactly value for money, but I would probably come for the Red Velvet Cake. The waffles with ice cream is pretty good too, and we spotted a number of people going for the breakfast dishes like the Norwegian Benedict ($14), Classic Croque Madame ($14) and sides like Whoopie Fries ($8.80)

They have recently opened another outlet at Jcube, Jurong East too.

Pique Nique

1A Orchard Road

#B1-01/02 Takashimaya Shopping Centre

Ngee Ann City Tower A, Singapore

Tel: +65 6238 6705

&Made by Bruno Menard, Scotts Road

Helmed the first and only 3 Michelin-starred chef, Bruno Menard, &Made stands as the next hip deli along Orchard Road. 

Purportedly a play in the word 'handmade', &Made prides itself for its gourmet burgers that are made from scratch, a concept that has gained its fair share of fame over the years in Singapore. The causual deli joint was rather empty when we came at around 11.30am on a Saturday morning and was bursting with people by the time it was noon.

Entrance of &Made

Decked in lego-mosaic like walls

The menu was not particularly extensive, but it was definitely interesting, with its Salads to drink, Toastoos and desserts, in addition to its famed burgers.

Menu

We asked for recommendations, only to hear from the waitor that every item is recommended as they are all Bruno's specialties, which was not particularly helpful to our decision making. We then headed for the 'B' Burger, a burger named after the chef hinself.

The 'B' Burger
$19

The 'B' burger is constructed with dry-aged beef, onion confit, caper/garlic sauce and comte cheese, neatly stacked between two mushroom-like buns.

The beef was hearty and went well with the delish onion confit and comte cheese that was not too overwhelming.

The sauce was served separately and it bore a strong semblence of barbeque sauce, which complimented the beef rather well. 

Caper/Garlic sauce

&Made Fries

The burger came with decent fries, although we wish they would use the salt sparingly. We heard someone from the other table asking for fries without salt - that could well be another option too.

Chili Crab Toastoo
$16

Having heard so much about the French's chef rendition of a Singaporean local favourite, I settled for the Chili Crab Toastoo without hestitation. The Toastoo is a buck wheat crepe that is shaped like a bread toast, an interesting dish which I have only seen at &Made. I loved the crispy edges of the toastoo and the thick slab of filling stuffed in the much loved triangular parcel.

I was surprised to find the filling yellow because I had imagine Chili crab to be red. The Chili crab was not exactly spicy, and was a lucious creamy blend of crab meat and prawns. The creamy mash tasted like mashed potato at times - definitely not the Chili crab that Singaporeans are accustomed to, but nonetheless interesting. I particularly like the buckwheat crepe, so I would be back to try the other Toastoos. There were a number of patrons who opted for the Toastoo Florentine, so perhaps that would be a good choice to go for.

Iced coffee with chocolate ice cream
$8

We ended the meal with iced mocha coffee with chocolate ice cream. The drink was not overly sweet, highlighting the richness of the chocolate ice cream. It is a pity that the chocolate masked all traces of the coffee though, it felt more like a chocolate drink than an iced coffee.

Outdoor seats are also available

Having opened its doors only recently, we could see that the joint is still feeling its way around its operations. We had to wait some time for our some of our orders (so did most people around us), and we spotted a couple receiving a wrong order, but we had no problems with that as the staff were all sincere and genuine. For that, we couldn't bring ourselves to fault them for anything. Chef Bruno Menard was also seen mingling around with guests and ensuring that everyone is enjoying their meals, when he is not in the open kitchen doing up the final touches to dishes. We liked the vibes of the place and we'd be back!


&Made
9 Scotts Road, #01-04/05/06 Pacific Plaza, Singapore
No reservations