Back to Sugarloaf~

We had our lesson at TCA again. And we just couldn't resist the temptation of the amazing desserts displayed in the sugarloaf display counters.

I really couldn't decide between the gourmet sandwiches and the sushi as they all looked delicious. In the end I went with sushi and I think I'm glad I did. They were generous with the salmon sashimi and there were relatively many ingredients. However, since it wasn't wrapped with nori, the sushi kinda broke up when I picked them up with my chopsticks.






For dessert, I chose the passionfruit chocolate mousse. The bottom later is the mouse, the middle layer is some while chocolate cream and its topped with passionfruit puree. The dessert is elegantly finished with a piece of white chocolate.

The first spoonful was amazing. The rich chocolate flavour of the mousse, the creamy and sweet white chocolate cream was balanced with the acidity of the passionfruit puree. However, the more I ate, it did start to get heavy and a little too sweet. Perhaps it would have been great with a warm cup of tea!

Sugarloaf @Temasek Culinary Academy

My classmates and I hopped of to Sugarloaf at the @TCA after food science and product knowledge class. For some of them, it is already their second time there but it was my first so I was a excited bouncing thing xD

Anyway, Sugarloaf is a casual dining cafe run by the CCM (my course!) year 2 students(me next year!). They bake and cook the food sold there under the guidance of the chefs. The front of the house is handled by the students doing service management module.





Now to the important part! -- The food!
I was spoiled for choice as we walked past the counters. The purchasing works in a way that you walk down a "series" of counters and display shelves and you are assigned a number. So as you walk you just choose the food you want and you get billed at the end. The counters are roughly divided into cakes and tarts, desserts and sandwiches, pastries and main course, then cashier and drinks.

In the end I went for the apple crumble and the thai grilled chicken. The thai grilled chicken was nice and tender and a little burnt on one side as you can see from the picture. Maybe its intentional? heh. The sauce that came with it was sweet and spicy and had a strong taste of coriander. Overall, pretty good! Though the portion was a little small.
The apple crumble was really good. The crust is crunchy yet light and not too sweet. The filling though, was a little sweet for me. The meringue (which I thought was whipped cream at first sight), was good too! Not too sweet and melts in the mouth.

Eugenia and Whitney also kindly let me sample their deserts. The lemon curd of the lemon meringue pie was a little too sour for me and there seems to be an overload of meringue. But I suppose that is serves to balance out the acidity of the lemon curd. Nicely browned peaks and sweet and simple presentation tho imo!

The creme brulee was awesome! I really liked it. The satisfying part is always tapping and breaking through the sugar surface. I think the colour of the "brulee" is really nice and I like how it is topped some fruits!

Definitely going to sugarloaf again and looking forward to making these myself next year!

First trip to Strictly Pancakes

 As you can see the title says "First trip". Cause Im definitely returning again. But probably not so soon since its a wee bit pricey.

I really couldnt decide what to get and was even stuck between sweet or savory so I ended up sharing a garlic buttered prawn and lemon curd for nerds with yings.

Sorry, didnt bring my camera so the picture quality isnt as great as the previous posts.

The garlic buttered prawn consists of, well, garlic butter, herbs and prawns over a medium stack of pancakes (3 pancakes) A light salad was included as a side and although at first I was a bit doubtful since there was no dressing on it, it actually sort of eases                                            the thick, buttery-ness of the garlic butter sauce. A choice of butter (herb, salted, rum and raisin, garlic) and syrup was also provided. (though the butter was a little redundant for this particular dish)
Overall really yummy and indulgent dish. The creamyness and saltiness and the aroma of the garlic butter sauce kinda leaves you fuzzy inside. heh


The lemon curd for nerds was quite the opposite.
It is a medium stack of chocolate pancakes covered with lemon curd and cream sauce, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a tiny dusting of powdered sugar.
It was lighter and very refreshing. Wish the ice cream would melt a little more slowly though!









Overall the pancakes were really good but a little filling and the best thing to do would be probably to share among your friends with one less portion. (ie 3 dishes for a group of 4 etc).
Service was nice but I think they could have smiled more :3
The restaurant was a little cramped but I suppose it was meant to be a cosy concept.

But all in all, I want to go back to try more pancakes!

Lunch@the Top Table TCA

Pre-appetiser focaccia and fruit and nut bread.
I personally preferred the onion and herb focaccia over the fruit and nut bread. But the fruit and nut bread was very fragrant and enjoyable too!

 Cream of mushroom soup.
Thick creamy mushroom soup really hit the spot!
The deep fried garnish is white mushroom I think! I think I would have liked it to be a leeeetle more salty but it was yummy all the same.

 Roasted Lamb rack with red onion confiture, potato au gratin, sautéed haricot verts and glazed carrots :)) Yummy, but a wee bit too rare for me. Apart from the lamb racks, I really especially liked the red onion confiture. It was sweet and aromatic and kinda eased the rare-ness of the lamb a little.

Salmon Gravlax with roasted pistachio, cottage cheese and cucumber salad on toast. This was the other available option for appetizer. I got to taste a spoonful and it was great! The portion may be small but it is definitely a great appetizer.

 raspberry brownie with vanilla ice cream and macerated mixed berries. The brownie was a little too chocolatey and sweet for me but I think its meant to be like that! Personal preference I suppose! However, the berries did help balance out the sweetness. The ice cream melted by the time I reached half the brownie :(








Today most of class 1J02 visited the top table for lunch having made a reservation one week in advance. It is a student run fine dining restaurant supervised by chefs and teachers. Each week the menu for the set lunch changes. Each set lunch costs a relatively affordable price of $13.80. Mocktail of the day will be offered at $2.50 as well. Other beverages are also available for order.

Overall, it was a great experience. The food was great for $13.80 and the service was sincere and friendly and the students really try their best to provide the best service. Im quite excited but apprehensive to be the one in the kitchen of Top Table next year. :)

Check out my post on the CIA(Culinary Institute of America) lunch service which was also held in the TCA!

Fruit Paradise Pie

 Heres a desert pie I tried during a friend's birthday.

This is a fruit tart from the Plaza Singapura outlet of fruit paradise.
Theres a lot of cream. A LOT. As you can see. If you’re not a fan of cream then this might be a bit hard to eat. But you can always scrape the excess cream off. Personally, I really liked the cream cause it went great with the vanilla ice cream(I think!)on top of the tart base.
The tart base was buttery and crusty and was the right thickness for me^^
Great dessert, but I personally don’t think I could have managed another size cause it can be a bit heavy.   

Cream Puffs

This is a picture of my first time making choux pastry, and well, assembling them into cream puffs. It was quite an experience. Firstly,  I messed up the first batter by trying to sub 2 large eggs with three small eggs. The batter turned out to be too liquid and just spread out when I spooned them onto the baking sheet. I redid the batter, kept to 2 small eggs and it turned out just fine!
Next, I bought some whipping cream and started to whip it with my hand mixer. I roughly reached a creamy texture but I thought it might not hold piping patterns so I just whipped it a wee bit longer. And it turned into cheese. Heh. just kidding. But yes, the whipped cream turned into curd that I could pick up with my fingers. I was quite horrified and had no choice but to store the choux pastry shells until I got more whipping cream.
Finally, I achieved somewhat creamy texture with my second carton of whipping cream and filled my choux pastry shells. And even made some swans :)
Overall, Im really satisfied with how the choux pastry turned out but the cream wasn’t quite sweet enough. The powdered sugar did help a bit with the sweetening tho. Definitely gonna try to whip up some eclairs or profiteroles next time round.

A 3-course lunch by the Culinary Institute of America Students

Quite a while back, say in February, my friends and I attended a banquet lunch service prepared by the CIA. The CIA occasionally organises such banquets and meals are at an affordable price of $10-$16 depending on the number of places booked and whether you opt to have wine as part of your meal.

While waiting for the appetizer to be served, baguette slices and brioche slices were provided. Breadsticks were offered to us as well. A refreshing drink was also served. I didn’t quite catch what the drink was but tasted like a sparkling mix of lime and guava.



Seasonal Mix Greens Salad

The appetiser was a seasonal mixed green salad with mushrooms and quail egg, topped with a guava dressing, if I remember correctly :p The endives made it quite bitter though. And if i'm not wrong there mizuna in there too. I liked the onions, which were really sweet and tasty and eased the bitterness of the salad. There is also some sort of citrus peel, which made it a little more refreshing.
                             

And heres the main course: Pesto crusted salmon on pumpkin mash with beans and beurre blanc and garnished with a sundried tomato.

Pesto crusted salmon on pumpkin mash with beans and beurre blanc and garnished with a sundried tomato

To put it simply, this was the best salmon I have eaten so far. (though I probably haven’t really tried that much salmon dishes apart from fruit salsa salmon, teriyaki, garlic-ginger, steamed, sashimi)
The pesto was tasty and aromatic and pumpkin mash smooth and sweet. was great and the beurre blanc was light.

                                        

Then heres the desert!
I was especially looking forward to this. This is a cheesecake with oreo crust served with raspberry coulis and raspberry cream. I think that’s a tuile on the side?
Surprise! As I dug into the cheesecake and had my first ‘forkfull’ of the treat, I realised that hidden within the cheesecake is tiny pieces of white chocolate! With the cream cheese and strawberry/raspberry flavours, its quite divine :) not too sweet, and just the right portion not to be too heavy.

Overall, it was a great meal and value for money if you don't mind eating food prepared by trainee students. Still, they are of high standard and quality. I apologize for the inconsistent placement of pictures, Im still struggling a little with the image insertion functions. :x



Oreo Cheesecake with Raspberry Coulis