I attended my first Malay wedding a couple of weekends ago. It was an interesting experience. I was at first rather hesitant to go, because I didn't know anyone else who was going (I got the invite from an ex colleague and she the rest of the ex-colleagues whom she invited either weren't going or she lost contact with them. But, surprisingly, we still drop each other smses once in a while). Still I decided to be thick skin to go and see what a Malay wedding was like. It was a very pretty set up. I hadn't seen such a nice Malay wedding set up before. With all the draping it looked almost like a banquet hall in itself. The red and gold theme came off beautifully. I was quite lost when I first got there. I didn't know what to do, how to give the gift and just decided to do what I could occupy my time with - taking photos. After all, I had just arrived in time when the groom had arrived and the drum beating and all had started.

So after tonnes of snapping and asking around a bit, I got acquainted with my friend's cousin. Her hospitality helped me to settle into the wedding well and I even managed to get a photo with my friend and her groom. Sadly, it wasn't on my camera. The Nasi Padang/Bryani lunch with all the curries and rendang was spicy, but I loved it and so were the homemade loveletters. Their homemade loveletters was slightly heavier than the chinese version, but was just as fragrant. Overall, it was a good first time experience, but for sure the next Malay wedding I go for, I'm definitely going to go as a group or pull a date along.

I was out with a couple of friends for a movie marathon. My third one this year. I love movie marathons, the more the merrier, but stamina is highly recommended as Gavin can attest to the last movie marathon we had. So, we decided no to be too adventurous today and watched 2 movies - 2 enjoyable movies. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was amusing and it brought back fond childhood memories. I was also impressed by the fighting style of the Spartans in 300. Overall, I had a good time with these 2 buddies. In between the movies, we managed to snoop off to Dome Cafe for lunch. Over our pastas, Andrew commented that my blog was turning into a food blog. Well, I have no intention of turning this into a food blog, but food is indeed a big portion of my life so, somehow along the way there will be many posts dedicated to food.

That said, today's post shall be dedicated to a very special group of friends. A special group of churchies who have finished a chapter of their life and are proceeding on to their mission to save lives. To all the doctors who had been busy studying for their MBBS exams, it's time to play and let loose!!! Have a restful holiday and make full use of this one month!!

I was along Market Street the other day wondering what I should buy for my ex-colleagues when I met up with them that weekend. Then, I remembered a certain write up about some patisserie around Market Street complex and so begin my hunt for the store. After circling the outside of Market Street carpark complex twice, I finally found it inside the complex tucked in a little corner near the exit to the carpark. I had read about the desserts in exquisite wine glasses which I saw, but after seeing the packaging and considering my trip back home, I decided against it (since I would have to carry at least 6 glasses back). But, don't get me wrong, the packaging is really sweet and would be a perfect present for the dessert fanatic. Anyway, since I was there I decided to try out their cookies. There were chocolates too, but it didn't look as appetizing to me, so I ended up buying a couple of cookies. Selling at $1.30 per piece, it definitely wasn't cheap. I bought 2 flavours, one chocolate and the other cinamon as recommended by the boss.

I started with the cinnamon and wasn't impressed. Firstly, the packaging was way too difficult to tear open and I spent more time trying to tear open the packaging than eating the cookie. Not the best thing to happen especially when cookies are in my opinion "impulse food" or even "happy food". Food which should be easily opened and eaten. It should be available at ease to soothe the craving. So a tough packaging didn't come off friendly and it seemed as if the maker didn't want us to enjoy the cookie easily. Next, the cookie wasn't all that fantastic. It wasn't too sweet which was good, but considering that I paid $1.30 for that little piece, I had expected much better. The flavour of the cookie was rather bland and the cinnamon taste didn't stand out. Also it didn't have the "homemade" taste and tasted rather commercialized. Let's say it wasn't great and in fact some of those prepacked biscuits on supermarket shelves tasted many times better than those cookies and they're much cheaper. But, I decided to give the benefit of the doubt that I was having a flu and that might have masked my taste buds, so I decided to give the chocolate cookie one more try.

I waited about 5 days (on the presumption that such a powerful packaging would keep the air out) for the flu to fully subside and till I got back my sense of taste fully and I decided to eat it while I was hungry (you know how they say that when you are hungry almost anything tastes good). And my verdict? Similar to my 1st experience. I was utterly disappointed at the taste. The chocolate wasn't rich, it just tastes cheap and rather bland in terms of taste. It didn't live up to my expectation of $1.30 per piece. It just tasted like one of those normal standard cookies they sell at supermarkets for a fraction of the price. Nothing great and definitely not worth the price. For that amount I paid, I expected an experience with the cookie, but it was far from it. So, whatever it is, don't waste your money on buying the cookies at the store. Desserts wise, I have yet to try. It looks much better than the cookie, so maybe it might taste better. But, i shall leave that for another day. But, I'm definitely boycotting their cookies. Expensive and not nice at all.

Andrew & Anderson Patisserie
Market Street Car Park #01-15
146 Market Street (S)048945
Tel: 6438-6998

I shall return from my blog entry hiatus with a post on my all time favourite... Food. As I have posted in my previous entries about my furtile attempts to find decent TexMex food which tastes somewhat like those in Austin, I finally found one which might come close. Really close. Thanks to a very sweet JJ who knew my craving for TexMex and accompanied me on the hunt to find TexMex tasting food in Singapore.

Presenting... Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant at Holland Village (Lorong Mambong). Firstly, they serve a small basket of fresh tortilla chips and freshly made salsa when you are seated. This is something that many Mexican restaurants here do not do while it is the norm at the texmex and mexican places back in US. The chips were fresh and crisp and the salsa was just what I needed after all that substandard tomato ketchup that many places here try to pass off as salsa. I was so impressed my the chips that I promptly forgot to take a photo of it when it came and the salsa was so addictive that I almost finished up the whole thing without taking a photo of it.


We ordered a chicken quesadillas which tasted like decent quesadillas (the ones I had at Brewerkz and North Border were terrible) although lacking in a hearty cheese filling. But still, it worked and the guacamole and sour cream enhanced the taste. Fajitas came with the tortilla warmer although I think 3 pieces of flour tortillas are way too little for the amount of meat on the hot plate. Sadly, the dish didn't come with cheese and refried beans as it usually does in Austin. Meat tasted great, but somehow the taste was a little different from back there, but close enough for that kick that you need when you are so far away from the US. The crab meat enchiladas weren't great neither was the mexican rice. It lacked the correct spices and for the heck of it... They used sweet crepes for the enchiladas. And, the taste was way too Singaporean. But, it was a fulfilling mexican dinner considering the lack of decent texmex food here. I had my fill of decent salsa and some of that mexican spices at least for the time being. Oh... How I miss Chuy's...

Dessert was at the Chocolate Factory at Riverwalk (near Robertson quay). Nice ambience, soothing music and with the great company it was definitely a wonderful place to chill out and hang out and just savour a cuppa and a delightfully sinful piece of cake. The french vanilla tea which I had came together with the teapot which stood on a tea light warmer and was served with a lone madeleine. Really pretty sight. JJ had this Iced Black Forest drink which had little cherries at the bottom of the glass and it was one of those layered drinks so, imagine the pretty colours when it arrived. We also had a couple of desserts to share. A wonderfully done creme brulee. I have been having a craving for a good creme brulee for a long while and this one was really smooth, rich without being excessively sweet and fragrant (you can even see the spots of the vanilla pods in there). One thing though, I though that the crust was a little too thick for the creme brulee, but my friend kinda liked it, so he had the task of finishing the crust. Haha... The other was some dark chocolate cake which is an art of its own. I can't really remember the name of the cake, but the lady recommended the cake and I really liked it. It has quite a number of tastes infused into each bite. First you feel a tinge of bittersweetness (cos it's dark chocolate based), and then you taste a little bit of saltiness and afterwhich you taste a bitter-sweet-sour complex which proceeds to be a sourish-sweet complex. And when you bite on it, you get the sourness of the preserved berries mixing with the bitter sweet chocolate. After this proceeds a layer of bittersweet chocolate which tastes so rich whilst the sourness from the berries just linger in your mouth. Finally you reach the dark chocolate ganach layer which gives you just the right sweetness to end of the experience of the cake. Gosh... you have to try it to understand what I'm saying. Haha... You bet I'll be back here to try the hot chocolate and other choco delights soon. =)

A wonderful evening of good food, great company and beautiful or maybe not so beautiful Singapore skylines, what more can I ask for?


Cha Cha Cha Mexican Restaurant
32 Lorong Mambong
Singapore 277690
Tel: 6462 1650

The Chocolate Factory
80 Mohamed Sultan
The Pier on Robertson Quay
#01-11
Tel: 6235-9007

I am hoping to get this blog back online. So, pardon the lack of updates and the messy template. But, I hope to get things up and running soon. =)