rabbit carrot gun, katong

to follow on the brunch theme (does one post a theme make?), I’ve finally made my way to rabbit carrot gun – which is as strange and awkward (and can I say, unuseful) a name as an eatery could have – doesn’t really tell you anything apart from the fact that their owners are are probably modern types having an inside joke.

it’s a corner cafe in katong serving up fancified british, at prices the people of that fair isle would likely balk at – dominated by katong-type yuppies and expatriates all sitting al fresco in the heat (no one else but the too-cool and foreign would brave it – generalisation, yes, but stereotypes exist for a reason).

my bowl of homemade muesli served with yogurt and berry compote was decent, if small and unfilling. it was the french toast that really surprised us – thick bread that held its structure despite soaking enough egg-and-milk for a custardy inside, served with proper maple syrup and berry compote – it was delicious, and well-worth an order.

if you’re in the area for brunch, the food is pretty decent. which is to say I might come back again (although not travel specifically for) – but the prices are somewhat prohibitive (even for what is supposed to be an overpriced meal), and I like air-conditioning with my food.

Rabbit Carrot Gun
47 – 49 East Coast Road
Singapore 428768
tel +65 6348 8568
$$.5: 30 per person

ps.cafe, orchard paragon

it’s my birthday today! so while I can’t show you (yet) what I’ll be eating later today to celebrate – let’s talk cake! I’ve done this place a couple times, and usually only for cake and dessert – brunch is expensive here (as are the cakes, actually) – especially since they do a mean steamed pudding.

the pantry at shop wonderland, haji lane

this cafe is beautiful. it’s almost perfect in my estimation – large window with lovely decals, a quaint almost britishy sort of interior complete with cake display (AND OH MY GOD, THOSE CLEAR GLASS DOMES) and baristarinas, and an upstairs parlor all laid out in houseware and decor for the buying. a parlor for shopping, and a downstairs for cake-ing, and a window for the looking – such a balm to (my/) the soul.

so it’s very lucky that the single slice of cake we had was acceptable for the eating. we had the gula melaka cake (upon recommendation from one of the ladies behind the counter) – a dense, moist sponge layered with buttercream and that dark palm sugar and dusted with coconut – it would be good with a cup of tea; while not revelatory, it was certainly enough for enjoying the afternoon and the space.

these photos were hidden in my archive for quite a while – but they’re too beautiful not to share. I love places that have great light, and its especially lovely when it’s natural light streaming in from a large window, and I have cake to go with.

I’m not sure about the other cakes, and I’ve certainly had better (the sponge could have afforded quite a bit less heft and more fluffiness), but the place is worth coming to.

p.s. I accept gifts from the upstairs, if anyone’s offering :p

Shop Wonderland
37 Haji Lane
Singapore 189230
tel +65 6299 5848
$.5: six-sevenish for a slice of cake

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now instagrammin’ at _andmorefood!

oxwell and co, chinatown

could-be-fantastic but falls-short-of-the-mark british cooking at this small restaurant in the club street stretch of eateries. I know there are people scoffing at the whole “british cooking” idea, but I think that’s a rather antiquated idea – it is possibly beyond doubt that it used to mean rather plain boiled meat alongside overboiled greens, but these days I would more readily associate it with a polished-up version of rustic comfort food.

which – I suspect – is where this place was heading for, but I’m not sure it succeeded.

quadruple chocolate cake

utterly phenomenal. if you ever take anything away from this ol’ blog, take this recipe and make it. I baked it (almost) wholesale with instruction from my favorite domestic spinmeister-o’-words, nigella lawson, and it is the stuff of my chocolate-craving dreams.

deep and dark, and the most satisfying chocolate cake I’ve had – a tightly-bound fine crumb, the lightness of a good butter cake, the rich darkness of good bittersweet chocolate, and it keeps like a dream. and with a name like that, how can you resist? I certainly couldn’t.

department of caffeine, chinatown

surprisingly good food at this hipster coffee joint in chinatown. I do the following tick-the-box for these new joints: industrial wood-chic, check; coiffed baristas, check; obscure (maybe not quite obscure any longer) locale, check. but what this place has, besides hipster ambitions, is good food and reasonable prices.

and for those latter reasons, this place is made disarmingly charming – well worth repeat visits – and an anomaly in its class.

dense chocolate cake

I’m sorry for the hiatus in recipe-provisioning – but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped baking! no, no – there is butter in the fridge, and so there must be cake.

but this one, well. I’m a little undecided about it – it’s a much-lauded nigella recipe, and I’m a huge fan, but the very quality she designed to be in the cake is precisely what I don’t really like about it: squidginess. and to call it a chocolate loaf feels a little like a stretch, because it seems rather incidental that that dark gold resides in this cake – it’s more a dense molassesy loaf. nothing wrong with that though – it could be well up your alley.

(nutella!) swiss roll

I have a jar of expiring nutella – so be prepared for a deluge of yummy-chocolate-hazelnut-containing recipes! I’ve shared a swiss roll recipe with you guys before, and this one is a little better. less cracks, a finer-and-more-tightly-bound crumb – one step closer to the swiss roll recipe of my dreams.

and I promise, it’s not just better because it’s rolled up tightly with as much nutella as I could pack into it – I admit to a certain amount of sense-numbing induced by nutella consumption. everything else nievitably fades into the background.

1-caramel at one rochester, buona vista

average brunch food at rochestor park. if you’re looking for brunch options in this area – I’m going to have to point you to graze. this place was really rather meh, with uninspiring food and an ambience that made nothing of its gorgeous surroundings. if the other places around here are packed up, then perhaps you could come here – but otherwise I’m not sure there’s any point.

on hindsight (which this is, of course), there was nothing really wrong with the place so much as it was pretty boring. it isn’t very expensive, the food wasn’t bad – serviceable, really – and the place wasn’t run down. it just felt like it had so much more potential to be fantastic! but alas.

bircher muesli (an experiment with kiwi)

I’ve already shown you guys two techniques I use for my daily breakfast: a hot cereal of grains, and a cold bircher variation – I’ve eaten either of these two nearly everyday for the last few years, and it truly makes my morning. I may enjoy going out for breakfasts and brunch, but it’s these comforting bowls of oats that I wake hungry for – also why I sometimes pay exorbitantly for a bowl of muesli outside.

this is an update on the cold bircher recipe – and really, a result of indulging myself to a spot of photography in the brilliant night-light on the back porch. I almost prefer this to sunlight – it gives me brilliant white balance and great colour. on to the recipe!