Crossings cafe at Waterloo Street

Fat chub had a little gathering with her classmates from bread class today.  Our teacher came too! We chose to meet in Crossings cafe as one of our classmates works there. 

 

Crossings cafe is located near the Bras Basah MRT station. It is near Plaza By The Park, and just behind Singapore Art Museum. 

   
 

Our gathering focused on breads and muffins. Our teacher kindly shared pointers on what could be improved, based on the breads and muffins brought to the gathering. 

 

No knead focaccia

  

Goodies from the classmates

  

Country Bread

 
We ordered soup and coffee to go with the bread. 

 

Cream of asparagus

 
Soup was served piping hot, with small pieces of asparagus. The soup was thick and seasoned very lightly. 

 

Latte

The latte was robust, and thankfully not too strong. 

Some of us ordered mains

Beef rendang meatballs rice

The sauce was spicy and fragrant but not as thick or rich as the traditional type. One can call it the modern take on Rendang. 

 

Chilli crab pasta

The serving was generous! 4-5 pieces of fried soft shell crab, little mountain of pasta coated generously with the chili crab sauce. Classmate chub remarked that it was good. 
Another pasta dish ordered by another table: generous serving and looked very appetizing. 

  
Prices are pretty reasonable in this cafe and all profits go to charity. Discount is available for students and staff from SMU, NAFA, SOTA and SMI. Lovely place to chill out with friends. Wifi is available in the cafe. 

  
   
 

Boulangerie Asanoya (Asanoya Bakery) – 15 Queen Street

Fat Chub loves to read and the central library in bugis is one of her favourite haunts during lunch time. Today, the weather is clear, breezy and relatively cool, unlike the usual hot and humid lunch time. Hence, FC ventured out a little further into the neighbourhood of the central library.

Just a street away from the central library, Boulangerie Asanoya is located in Wilby Central, 15 Queen Street. This bakery is tastefully designed with clean lines and lots of natural daylight.

According to the shop’s flyer, Boulangerie Asanoya is the Singapore outlet of a famous chain from Karuizawa. It sounds very impressive to FC. Nonetheless, regardless of background, the ultimate test will be the bread itself.

The delicious looking buns and pasties are displayed in the glass cabinets and the shop assistants will pack your orders. FC likes this arrangement because it feels cleaner, without the worry that some pesky customers having touched the breads with their bare hands.

The bakery is famous for their green tea and white chocolate bread. The crust is wonderfully crisp. The green tea flavour is aromatic but not overwhelming. The white chocolate is subtle and provided a richer overall feel when combined with the green tea.
Rating: 4.5/5

The bakery also has a special creation for Spring. This bread contains swirls of sakura flowers and baby green peaches. The bread crust is crisp, the chew is soft and the finishing is refreshing.

Rating: 4.5/5

There are a lot of yummy looking breads. Here are some more pictures to whet the appetite. The bakery also serves set lunches. FC will definitely return to try!

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Coco Ichibanya

********** Our Say **********

Rating: 3/5
Recommended Order: chicken wings, any curry with spicy level of at least 3
General comments: Good service, plenty of seating on weekday afternoon
Location: Bugis Plus, walk from Bugis MRT station across Bugis Junction

********** ********** **********

It’s been a while since we last had Japanese curry, and today, as Bo Chub (me!) had a craving for Japanese curry, we decided to check out the curry specialist, Coco Ichibanya. They are a famous Japanese curry chain in Japan, and one of their main draws is that they offer varying levels of spiciness.

They are located prominently on the ground floor of Bugis Plus, and the setting is rather more posh and modern than their Japanese counterparts, which are usually more casual.

They have a helpful menu which has “Recommendation!” proudly displayed over the dishes they are most confident of. Of course, I had to pick from one of those.

The pork cutlet curry with cheese came looking a little different from what was presented in the menu but that was because the cheese was already melted into the curry. The pork cutlet was crispy, although nothing spectacular and they were generous in their serving of cheese. I went with Level 2 on their spiciness scale, and to be honest, this was still rather mild for the average Singaporean.

Fat Chub had the fried chicken with curry. She opted for Level 3, but being a spice lover, this did not offer quite the kick she was expecting. If she comes back, she will most certainly opt for Level 5.

Lion Chub went for the regular beef curry. We all had our curries with the addition of some sides.

They have a flexible side menu, where you can pay $3.50 to choose any 2 or $4.50 to choose all 3 sides.

We liked that the iced lemon tea was served with sugar syrup on the side, which means you can adjust the sweetness to your liking. Personally, I am fond of iced tea just as it is without the syrup, so I was quite happy with the drink.

 

Fat Chub had the ice cream, which was pretty regular tasting.

You can also choose from their snack menu if you are not the type to be full from just plate of rice (we certainly aren’t!).

We thought the fries and curry was an interesting concept but the chicken wings looked better so we went for it.

I felt the chicken wings were the best part of the meal – they were juicy and well marinated, and perfectly fried. The curry was good too, but it wasn’t spectacular like one would expect from a restaurant that serves only curry. One can easily pop into any regular Japanese restaurant and get a very similar selection and quality of curry.

If you are so inclined to try the curry, you can make your way to Bugis Plus at 201 Victoria St, 188067 or call 6341 9978.

Bonchon Chicken at Bugis

Today’s lunch decision was Chicken Bonchon at Bugis+. Aside from the fact that BO Chub had been craving it since she last had it about a year ago, it was also a rainy day, and Bugis+ being accessible without being exposed to the weather elements made for a very attractive choice of location.

Apparently “bonchon” means “my hometown” in Korean and the founder Jinduk Seh named it such because it was the familiar taste of home that he wanted to share with the world.

It started in Leonia, New Jersey and eventually spread to New York and beyond. According to their website, they have 100 stores worldwide.

To give a bit of a spoiler, we felt that the most attractive part of the meal experience was the location of the restaurant and the fact that it is conveniently accessible by 2 MRT lines (East-West and Downtown).

The general vibe of the restaurant was casual and about 4-5 tables were taken up when we were there on a Monday afternoon.

As we wanted to taste a variety of the options available on their menu, we selected from their lunch menu. It was affordable at below $10 per set.

We naturally went with their chicken. We took the set with 2 drumsticks and 4 wings. The “4 wings” really referred to 2 pieces of drumlets and 2 mid-joints which rather disappointed Little Chub and Lion Chub.

The marinade tasted good and the wings were crispy. However, the chicken seemed to not have been sufficiently marinaded because the tastiness came mainly from the skin of the chicken.

The drumsticks were tough and the meat had a yellowish tinge, not the colour we would have expected from fresh chicken meat. It might be that the drumsticks were not as popular an order as the wings and therefore left longer on the shelf. In any case, it wasn’t something we would order again.

The ramen below was served LUKEWARM. According to us, that is an absolute no-no. You can serve half non-tasty chicken, you can serve old and tough meat, but at least have the decency to cook it just before serving.

The taste of the ramen was nothing to rave about but it was likely the temperature of the soup already took the enjoyment out of eating it.

The bibibab was again, not hot.

It was served in a lukewarm bowl and the food was room temperature. The fried egg on top was also slightly charred at the bottom.

I never really could understand why some restaurants would bother to buy these fancy stone bowls when they don’t even bother to serve them hot.

In any case, the lunch was not satisfying to say the least and our final rating on it is 2/5. We probably would not step back there again for a while until we forget this experience.