Little Pancakes, Upper Thomson

Touted as a cafe that is completely devoted to pancakes, Little Pancake unveils of a number of pancake combinations that is categorised into Sweet, Savory and Asian on the menu. Located at Thomson Imperial Court, it is almost easy to miss out the cafe, given the new slew of lively eateries just opposite the road. 

Little Pancakes

Counter of Little Pancakes

Unless you have already decided on what you want, the best time to come is probably not at 12 noon when they open as you would probably have to wait for a long time if you happen to be the last few from the initial crowd to place your order. A 10-15 minutes of preparation time is required for each item, so we had to wait almost an hour as we were the 8th in the order queue.



Something Blue
$8.50

Something Blue comprises of a stack of mini pancakes served with blueberry compote and either your choice of vanilla ice cream or cream cheese. We opted for ice cream and our only gripe was that the ice cream was too small a portion. All items come with complimentary maple syrup and butter and you can add additional toppings such as Azuki Beans, Kaya, Raisins, Crushed Almonds, Jam, Maple syreup, butter at $0.80 per topping as well as an additional serving of ice cream ($3.20 for single scoop and $5 for double scoop).



Ham and Cheesy
$8.50

We were recommended the Ham and Cheesy dish instead of the Big Fan of  All Breakfast, as the dish was purportedly more interesting given it's burger-like presentation. You would find ham and cheese sandwiched between two miniature pancakes stacked like a burger, served with potato salad and greens. The savory profile of the ham and cheese complimented the two lightly buttered pancakes and I thought it was a good recommendation.



Cresmy potato Mash topped with bacon bits

Most patrons were seen having the Big Fan of All Breakfast ($10.90), which comprises of a set of pancakes, scrambled eggs, special glazed sausages, potato salad and greens. Another recommendation would be the Going Nutella for you ($8.20), with pancakes topped with chocolate chips, wafer cubes, almonds and a scoop of chocolate ice cream.

Novel concept but the portions are a little too small. I wouldn't come for a main meal but it would probably be ideal for high tea or desserts.

Little Pancakes

200 Upper Thomson Road, #01-04

Thomson Imperial Court, Singapore

Tel: +65 6258 8515 



Royal China, Raffles Hotel

Royal China has two seatings for lunch, 11.30am and 1.30pm. We were surprised to find the place still closed when we arrived at around 11.25am. Apparently, the restaurant opens at 11.30am sharp, so don't bother going too early if you have made reservations for the first seating.



Steamed Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus leaf
$5.50

The steamed glutinous rice was soft, moist and flavorful. It was gone before I could have a second look at it.




Steamed Bun with Salted Egg Yolk and Fresh Mango Juice
$4.80

The delicate buns explode with a burst of salty-sweet medley once you break open it's soft exterior, and it can get messy if you are not careful. This dish is a must have!



Pan-fried Beancurd Skin Roll stuffed with Minced Prawn
$5.60

Crisp beancurd skin with minced prawn that went well with the sauce at the side.



Deep-fried Mango Roll with Seaweed
$5.40

The deep-fried mango rolls were not spectacular and would probably resemble your typical fried spring rolls if not for the dollop of mango inside.


Barbecued Pork Cheung Fun
Royal China Special Cheung Fun
$5.60

The Cheung Fun at Royal China was stellar with its silky smooth rice sheets layered with savories like barbecued pork, scallops and prawns. Go for the Royal China Special Cheung Fun that gives you a mixture of ingredients. This dish was the first to be wiped out at the table.



Steamed Dumpling with Vegetable and Wild Mushroom
$5.40

I liked the unique texture of this dish, I thought the chestnut-like bits added a very good crunch to the wholesome dumplings.



Deep-fried Yam Puff with Scallop in Portuguese Sauce
$5.60

The deep-fried yam puffs proved to be interesting with its unique portuguese sauce. Definitely a must order if you love yam.


Steamed Minced Pork Dumpling with Wolfberry
$5.60

I liked their rendition of siew mai with hearty pieces of pork and shrimp and topped with a sweet wolfberry.


Steamed Prawn Dumpling
$5.60

Steamed prawn dumplings were decent, nothing too outstanding.



Sliced Fish and Conpoy Congee
$7.80

Nothing beats having a bowl of comfort food to go with your dim sum.

The desserts were mediocre and not memorable. Not worth the price if you ask me.



Chinese Herbal Jelly with Pearl Powder
$8



Chilled Japanese Pumpkin Puree with Black Glutinous Rice in Coconut Ice Cream
$9

Royal China is a good place for dim sum, but skip the desserts.

Royal China
1 Beach Road, #03-09 Raffles Hotel, Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 3363

Food for Thought, 8 Queen Street

It was no surprise to find Food For Thought completely full on a Friday night, and fortunately we made prior reservations for a big group of eight for dinner. The outlets at Queen Street and Singapore Botanic Gardens sport two slightly different menus and I was keen to visit the cafe for its dinner menu after having patronised the place for its breakfast and dessert menu a couple of times.

Food For Thought at Queen Street

 

Full house sign, waiting was approximately 40 minutes if you did not make a prior reservation

Food For Thought's Feature Menu

They featured a special menu with a starter and two main course choices, only available for a limited period of time.

Malt & Malteasers Milkshake
$8.50

 Decadent and rich, the milkshake was a delight at the table.



Crispy Curry-Spiced Chicken & Spicy Chilli Fries
$18

The Crispy Curry-Spiced Chicken was a surprise when it arrived as the portion was huge. The chicken was served with buttery corn and thyme tomato salad.

 The chicken was crisp and moist with an appropriate dash of curry powder.



Tempura Soft Shelled Crab and Spicy Cream Tomato Linguine with Egg Ribbons
$20

 The featured dish was very well received with three people in the group ordering it and I must say that it was a wise choice. The soft shelled crab was crisp and the linguine was done al dente, just the way we like it. Some of us had the spice level customised, but the original version really isn't too spicy to begin with.



Chai Spice Brûlée Salmon
$22

Served with Smoked Red Capsicum Risotto and Mango Ginger Chutney, I thought the rendition of this dish was lovely. The juicy slab of salmon was coated with an interesting top of slightly charred sweet bits which added an interesting twist fish dish. Coupled with the sweet mango chutney and savory risotto, this is one clever dish which I enjoyed thoroughly.



Pan-seared Salmon and Basil Almond Pesto Risotto
$22

 This is second featured dish on the special menu. I was contemplating between this dish and the Chai Spiced Brûlée Salmon and I opted for the latter after the staff's recommendation. I am glad I made the choice because this dish does seem rather ordinary in comparison to the Chai Spiced Brûlée Salmon.



Moist Carrot Cake
$6

A chunky cake with carrots, shredded coconut, pinapples, walnuts and cream cheese frosting topped with toasted walnuts. I am not a huge fan of coconut so the cake did not go very well on my palette.




Old Southern Red Velvet Cake
$6

The Old Southern Red Velvet Cake, on the other hand, was one of the best Red Velvet cakes that I have had to date. I loved the dense cherry vanilla pound cake beautifully layered with rich cream cheese frosting and drizzled with cherry sauce. I found myself stealing bits off my friend's plate after I abandoned my Carrot Cake.

Hazelnut Chocolate Crunch
$7

Three layers of chocolate sponge with thick hazelnut chocolate, toasted hazelnuts and crispy wafer flakes, coasted with a layer of dark chocolate. I can only imagine how chocolate lovers would scream in delight at this sinfully rich cake.

Profiterole with Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream
$15

We abandoned our cakes immediately when this arrived. It was huge (fork placed at the side for comparison). This was the highlight of the day with the wonderfully crisp pastry puff storing five luscious pearls of ice cream. Definitely a dish that I would return for.


Food for Thought
8 Queen Street
T: +65 6338 9887
Opening Hours:
Mon - Sat : 9am to 10pm (Last orders from kitchen 8.50pm)
Sun : 9am to 9pm (Last orders from kitchen 7.30pm)

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

J.Co Donuts & Coffee, Raffles City

Green Tea Donut
$1, with the purchase of any drink

Even for a non-donut person, I couldn't resist sinking my teeth into one of these perfectly glazed soft buns gleaming in creamy green tea goodness. Yes, and I washed it down with Green Tea Frappe ($6), which was pretty awesome too.