The Tiramisu Hero

A few years ago when I was nearby for dinner, I have passed by The Tiramisu Cafe and had always wanted to go there but have forgotten all about it until recently when I was back nearby for dinner.

The Tiramisu Hero

The Tiramisu Hero is known for their wide varieties of Tiramisu kept in jar form from Kaya to Baileys favour. Besides getting these jar directly from the store, you can order online via their website.

Signboard

With a whimsical interior, the place was cozy and fun. It gave an entire different dining environment. It looks as if the ladders are against gravity as they were seen hanging from the ceiling with small like light bulbs coiled around it.

The Tiramisu Hero

The drawings on the wall of Tiramisu Hero only comes in Black and white color. Even the menu is also painted on the wall.

On the Ceiling

Nearer to the entrance, enjoy a range of display that are up for sale. Grab items like maps, shirts, cups from the merchandise corners.

Merchandise Corner

Magnets, Tote Bags and plush toys are also available.

Stuck Shop

Come! Head over to the counter and have a photo with the Tiramisu Hero.

The Tiramisu Hero

Interior was simple with grey cement screed walls, however, made more funkier with Sir Antonio presence.

The Tiramisu Hero's Head (Side View)

The Tiramisu Hero let gave us the feeling of coziness and unpretentious environment.

The Tiramisu Hero's Head (Front View)

Interesting Coffee Machine

Their Signature Tiramisu is served in Jar, sealed at the opening to prevent moisture. The layered of lady's fingers was well soaked with cappuccino flavours and softened to the correct sponge cake liked texture, welled play with adequate amount of Mascarpone Cheese drizzled with semi sweet choco powder.

Tiramisu

It's been a while we have Holicks and kind of lost touch to its taste, thus we ordered the Ice Blended Holicks. Drink was rather diluted and nothing in special.

Ice Blended Ho! Ho! Holicks - $8.90

As we were only here after dinner, we decided to have some desserts and tested out their waffles. Waffles were not too bad, served in four quarters sprinkled with icing powder and coated with maple syrup. Vanilla soft serve was quite disappointing as it has traces of not 100% well formed thus its get melted quickly and texture was not as smooth as the usual soft serve.

Belgian Waffles with Vanilla Soft Serve $7 + $4

I find this place quite Instagram-worthy and the environment really amused me. Comparing food wise and ambiance, I will prefer the latter as food was quite standard besides their specialties of Tiramisu in Glass Jars. Perhaps having not tried the meals courses here, it will give be a good reason to be back here again!

Rating: 3 / 5

The Tiramisu Cafe
Location: 121 Tyrwhitt Road Singapore 207548

Tian Tian Porridge

Located at the same stretch with Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken, you get to see Tian Tian Noodle House and Tian Tian Porridge at the other end of the row. We was looking for some breakfast idea and decided to try out their porridge.

Tian Tian Porridge & Tian Tian Noodle House

I haven't been really eating porridge like this lately and with egg added, it gave a true taste of home. It's quite rare we still can find such quality and old school taste of porridge around nowadays. Porridge was stomach comforting with pork and intestine. Food was prepared well without any gamey smell or bitter taste from the innards.

Pork Porridge

For a morning and decent breakfast, Tian Tian porridge can be a good choice even though there are alot of breakfast options in Chinatown Complex Market and Food Centre.

Rating: 3 / 5

Tian Tian Porridge
Location: 335 Smith Street #02-185 Chinatown Complex Market & Food Centre
Singapore 050335

Ah Hua Kelong

We went all the way here to Pasarbella to fix my friend's craving of seafood when she saw some advertisement of fresh seafood that comes from the Kelong. Entering from the East entrance (from the carpark), these floor stickers lead diners to the stall. This indeed help us alot to reach Ah Hua Kelong.

Follow the guide on the floor

There are some big tanks by the side of the stall and you can see the chef using nets to catch those fresh seafood out of the tank in preparation for the food.

Signboard on seaffod

Once ordered, payment has to be made immediately and condiments can be self help from the counter itself.

Ah Hua Kelong

With an open concept kitchen, you get to hear the "clanging" noises from the kitchen and also a sudden heap of fragrance from the food for every dish cook.

Open Kitchen 

Just right beside the payment counter, there is one newpaper article mentioning their success stories of converting Kelong into online business.

On Newspaper article

Amazingly, Kai Lan was tasty and crunchy. Fried onions topped the vegetables with gravy being sweet and inviting. If you don't mind, add them to your rice and elevate the taste of the plain white rice.

Kai Lan - $8

Dining in pax of 5, we decided to go for the steamed seafood box that consist of Seabass, Lala, cockles, mussels and flower crabs. Adding on to the box with another 1 Kg of steamed prawns that cost us additional $45.

It was served in a big cupboard and wrapped in plastic bag which reminds me of "crab in the bag". Freshness of the seafood is never a question here and we enjoyed every bit of it with bowls of plain white rice.

Steamed Seafood Box 3-4 Pax - $80

I'm not very much into flower crabs but freshness of seafood was good, from the way where you see the chef caught these crabs up from the fish tank and served in front of us.

Flower Crab

Steamed Seabass can be served in Thai or Cantonese style in your preferred choice. Steamed to perfection with coriander and fried onions to elevate its taste, the natural sweetness blends in well with the use of soya soy.

Steamed Seabass

Overall, I am rather satisfied with the meal and had enjoyed such a feast with my group of friends. It was really wonderful gathering over tasty and yummy food like this! For those who enjoys the freshness of seafood with good service, you should be here for the price is nett and quality of food. This is a good time where you don't need to travel in boat for kelong seafood! It could save you lots of time too.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ah Hua Kelong 

Location: 200 turf club road #02-k2, PasarBella, Singapore 287994

Chin Mee Chin Coffee & Cafe Shop

Life is such an irony, when we have the same old breakfast daily in the past, we complain about how dull it was and began to search for something interesting.

Chin Mee Chin is perhaps one of the last standings old school coffee and cake shops in Singapore, she is located in East Coast Road and I bet that its quite popular among the tourists as well as the locals for it had a long reputable history.

Chin Mee Chin Confectionery

With Toast and Coffee coming along, most of us would prefer somewhere renovated with comfortable furnishing like our Chains Coffee places e.g Yakun, Toast Box or even Killiney as they give us a good picture of semi old school kind of breakfast. However I would say a visit to Chin Mee Chin would let you have a good reminiscent and a feel of going back into the 60s.

It puzzled me a little when the roller shutter was halfway opened and we saw some consistent crowds waiting outside the shop. As soon as the shop keeper fully open the shutter and welcome the crowd, all of them hastily rushed in and queued over the counter.

Interior 

Furnishings in Chin Mee Chin remains humble in their Mossiac tiles, marble round tables and wooden chairs. Space was rather limited and we have to shared table with others. While orders were taken and queues were clearing, I observed the kitchen.

They were just sweating all over in preparation of toasts, hard boil egg and beverages.

Coffee Lady

Pastries can be grabbed from the shelves by the sides of the shop. The ones with chocolates on top are filled with cream, that is not to my liking as I felt that it was a tad too sweet for me, moreover I got to bite on some sugar crystals. On the other hand, custard puffs were great but you have to be additional careful in handling as fillings tends to drip out easily.

Custard and Eclair - $1 Each

How can a visit to traditional coffeeshop be completed without having hard bowl eggs?  They might not have grabbed the best timing of preparing the egg and do it to the perfection like what is practised in Yakun but this is literally good enough.

Half Boiled Eggs in Shell - $0.90 each egg

In fact, I'm satisfied with my plate of half boiled eggs sprinkled in pepper and some soya sauce. Simply love the way where we can just gobbled it down using the saucer.

Half Boil Egg

You wont get your usual traditional toasts here, instead you gets some burgers that comes with their homemade kaya and a slab of butter in between. Buns were warm and slightly crisp with charred edges seen.

Butter & Kaya Burger - $1 each

The taste of Kaya was not too sweet and goes very well with the chill butter even though the bun might be a little dry. For those who enjoy their Kaya, it is available for sale in the shelves too.

Butter & Kaya Burger

Another way of completing the breakfast comes with beverages in the traditional coffee cups.

Teh C - $1.20 & Kopi O Ti Lo - $1.10

Chin Mee Chin is another good place to introduce or bring your overseas friends when they are here in Singapore as it give them a good feel how simple traditional breakfast in Singapore can be. For those who has not been here, you can make a trip to East Coast to enjoy your time back in the 60s.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Chin Mee Chin Coffee
Location: 240 East Coast Road, Singapore 428903

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe

I was not too sure about this Curry Puff Cafe until some one told me about it and I decided to give it a search around the neighborhood. Though its name as an cafe, it is not exactly one I would say. Its more like some kiosk for taking away snacks or finger food.

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe

I have bought 2 kinds of puff, one sardine and the other curry puff. The pastry is crispy and crispy in the exterior and look generous in size.

Curry Puff & Sardine Puff

The fillings of  the Curry Puff is rather typical with potatoes, egg, chicken cubes mixed amidst in the strong turmeric fragrance from the curry. Spiciness level is still alright.

Chicken Curry Puff - $1.30

Apart from the Chicken Curry Puff we had, let's take a look at their sardine puff. Stuffing was pretty usual with sardine and onion, nothing to rave about.

Sardine Puff - $1.30

Varieties of the Curry Puff are something quite out of the ordinary for me as they do have durian puff, lemon tuna puff, mutton curry puff etc whereby not many places have such. Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe is just a stone throw away for me and I will keep in mind to revisit them for another Curry Puff.

Rating: 3 / 5

Nyonya Curry Puff Cafe
Location: Blk 274 Bukit Batok East Ave 4 #01-106 Singapore 650274

Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken

So much of Liao Fan Soy Chicken that has stolen the limelight these while as they got featured in top 50 Michelin Recommended food. However, there is also another Chicken Rice Stall that is worth visiting in the vicinity! Upon seeing at the signboard, it will give me a good smile if you think of the translation.

Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken

Good Dept of Flavour with Soya Sauce infused into the meat and this is good enough to give a significant difference from the usual Soy Chicken we had from Chicken Rice Stall. Not only was the sauce fragrant, the skin of the chicken was excellently done.

Signature Soya Soy Chicken - $10 (Half)

Meat was juicy with skin tone uniformly coated in its glistering brown suit. Tender and springy in each bite. How heavenly!

Additional Shot on the Signature Dish

A healthier version of Chicken Rice with lesser oil thus not as glossy as one might have seen. However there is no noodle option found from their stall.

Rice

The taste as an overall is quite unique and I dont mind spending some calories on these yummy chicken.

Rating: 3.5 / 5

Ma Li Ya Virgin Chicken
Location: Chinatown Food Centre #02-189, Singapore 050335

Heap Seng Leong Coffeeshop

How many such coffee shops do we have in Singapore nowadays? With the advancement of technology, many coffee shop that look like in the 90s would have been revamped to its modern state, coping up with the trendy renovations in the market.

Heap Seng Leong

With words of mouth, I get to know we have Heap Seng Leong still standing in the old estate, run by an old man in its pyjamas. A question that has been pondering us, how many hour did the old man actually sleep?  If you are unware, the boss (old man) is always in his sleeveless white singlet and striped bottom pyjamas. The interior was rustic with the old signboard, clock and even cabinets. If you are from the 80s and before, I bet the settings did let you have a good reminisce of your childhood days.

In the coffee shop

Many come here for this, Kopi Gu You aka Kopi Butter. Perhaps this cup of Coffee with butter will take you back a couple of decades back and a sip on it is just like a paused by the time machine, there you enjoy your heavenly

Kopi Gu You - $1.10

Charcoal Toasted Bread with slab of butter and kaya sandwich in between them. It may not be as crispy like a biscuit as compared to the chains coffee cafe but they do have a charred fragrance.

Add caption

Appearance wise, you wont get to see something very presentable, flatten and well stack. However these toasts do carry a very traditional feel and taste on the plate.

Kaya Toast - $1.20

Hope that such kind of traditional coffee shop will still be around. If you want to take a step back in time and sip a cup of good traditional coffee without paying too much like what we spend in a hipster cafe, visit Heap Seng Leong for its simple flavours. They are accessible within 5 minutes walk from Lavendar MRT.

Rating: 3 / 5

Heap Seng Leong Coffeeshop
Location: Blk 10 North Bridge Road, #01-5109 Singapore 190010