Ollie Cafe

It's time for gathering again! Thanks pal for inviting me to somewhere new at the basement of Orchard Gateway and the treat to a belated birthday meal.

Ollie Cafe was located in a hidden corner in the basement of Orchard Gateway linking to Orchard Central. It came to me as a surprise as I did not even know that basement is pack with number of eateries.

Ollie Cafe

Cafe theme was between rustic & industrial theme with cement screed on its floor. Following the vibes of cafe hopping, cafe are all beautifully design and decorated along such style, giving patrons a laid back yet trendy lifestyle.

Sofa

And around the restaurant you will find some old school stuff like the old kind of phones, heavy metal table and chairs.

Furniture

While waiting for another friend to arrive, I suggested that we have some Salad as bites and went ahead ordering their Signature Salad which is classified as their Best Seller. Presentation was rather impressive on the first impression with 4 triangular toasts sticking out of the pot. Salad was an interesting mix of grilled chicken chunks, Avocado, pickle capsicum, beetroom, tomato confit, 63 degree celsius egg and toast. Everything went well together even with poking of the yolk with the fork letting the yellow lava flowed. It was such a satisfying creation for us.

Ollie Signature Salad - $11.90

Without too much hesitation we hit the burgers on the menu and ordered their "Must Try' & "Best Seller" - it was just right that there were 4 sets of them as we were dining as 4 in a group. All the burgers patty come in a choice of either beef or chicken and can be upgraded to Wagyu Patties for $8.

Menu

The dish is definitely prepare for cheese lover. Presentation came to me as a surprise with burger served on an Epicurean board and I can barely see anything in between the burger buns as the cheese melts down like a yellow volcano covering the entire burger except the top bun. When curiosity in me arisen, I dug my fork and knife to reveal its caramelized onion, quattro cheese, monteray jack cheese & mix salad. Though the portion of the fat cut truffle fries may seems a little, wait till you order the set, its really a heavy meal!

Vintage Cheese (Must Try) - $17.90

Vintage Cheese

While presentation of the Woody Wood Piper  looked almost similar to the former with black sesame buns and its subsequent layer on top of the patties smeared with luscious melting cheese. Uncovering the bottom of the yellow melting quattro cheese, tucked a piece of grilled portobello with mushroom ragout, 63 degree Celsius egg, Monteray Jack Cheese, mix salad and fries came with a light aroma from truffle oil without being too greasy.

Woody Wood Piper (Best Seller) - $18.90

Beef Patty

Muddy Burger has a slightly different style when compared to the previous too. My friend called it the "Messy Burger" as besides having the melting cheese all over the dinner, the saucy minced beef was part of the creation. Since part of the juicy minced beef was on top of the fries, its best to have them before they turned soggy. Besides, Monteray Jack Cheese, Mix Sald & truffle fries that was commonly placed in their burger meals, Chili's, Jalapeno, onion, corn chips and avocado was used. Thus the taste from Muddy's was a vast different from the rest.

Muddy (Best Seller) - $19.90

Muddy or Messy?

And finally, our friend came in and he ordered the Turkey Burger. Turkey Patty was thick and juicy with charred grilled lines on it, topped with some delicious cranberry sauce which left me withdrawal symptoms like I should have ordered this earlier on. Beautiful swirls of Honey Mustard was decorated on the plate with order ingredients like, spice apple, Spice apple chutney, capsicum, caramelised onion, monteray jack cheese, cranberry sauce, mix sald and truffle fries.

Turkey Burger (Must Try) - $18.90

Exposing the Patty

Service was quick with 7-10 minutes for a burger order and through our conversation with the chef, Hisham, he was actually quite friendly and share his experience as well as thoughts for Ollie Cafe. Since Sham is a Muslim, I went on asking him if Ollie Cafe was Halal Certified and he brought out the concerns and processes in getting a eatery Certified was rather tedious as it all boiled down to money and cents. He further elaborate that every single staff on duty has to undergo strict training in order to get certified. Not only that, the use of butcher is rather selective and niche. In terms of cost efficiency, Ollie Cafe has not go the certification yet but he emphasized that his food are all halal.

Coffee Machine

For Cafe Hoppers, if you are not going for something heavy, do try out their cheese cake or coffee / tea. They have state of the art coffee machine and interesting tea range which aids in detoxing. Flavours of the tea were unique and you can have a smell from their samples on the counter.

Tea Range

Tea and Tea Cups

Moving on to their cheesecake, Chef Sham was so nice to add in a complimentary rainbow cake once he heard that they were celebrating my belated birthday. Rainbow cheesecake was beautifully made with 7 kinds of flavours, in their colours respectively with Strawberry, vanilla, Lemon, Orange, Yam and Pandan.

Rainbow Cheesecake

Chef Sham also emphasized that there is a hidden flavour if you enjoy all flavour at a go. Thus the rainbow cheesecake will give you the 8th flavor. Interesting isn't it? For those who enjoyed having cheesecake, Chef Sham also revealed that for every new month, there will be additional flavour in the range of cheese cake.Stay Tune!

Rating: 3.25 / 5

Ollie Cafe
Location: Orchard Gateway, 277 Orchard Rd #B2-10 Singapore

Ubin Cooked Food [Closed]

With over 20 dishes on the Menu, having meals at Ubin Cooked Food will never go bored. Ubin Cooked Food offers mostly common dishes that you can find from a Cze Char Stall but at an attractive and pocket saving pricing with a generous portion.

Ubin Cooked Food

Generous portion of rice and ingredients all over the top of the rice. The gluey transparent starch made of corn flour is substantially of right amount. Portion is big and value worth the money. Seafood consists of 2 prawns and 2 slices of fish. Prawns given were de-shelled and most probably from frozen packaging. Overall the taste is mild and I felt not much of MSG added as compared to most Cze Char stall.

Mui Fan - $3.50

 Bittergourd Soup with slice fishes were rather tasty in egg soup. A simple meal when paired with a bowl of white rice.

Bittergourd Soup with Rice - $3

Bittergourd & Sliced Fish

Wok Hei smell from the Bee Hoon was exceptionally tempting and with a tad refreshing squeeze from the lime over them. The soft texture from the Bee Hoon and the crunchiness from the bean sprouts gave the dining experience a thumbs up.

Hong Kong Mee - $3

Yummy Sambal fried rice at $3.00 was stomach filling with shredded eggs, prawns and Char Siew bits included.  one do not have to worry on its level of spiciness due to the Sambal paste as it isn't that spicy as you think!

Sambal Fried Rice - $3

And if you feel that having Sambal fried rice may be a little plain, why not add some chicken with additional $1 to have a satisfiable meal.

Sambal Fried Rice with Chicken - $4

Sweet & Sour Pork was tasty but is on a salty side if they goes without plain rice. Since egg is already prepared in advance, the preparation time is considerably fast.

Sweet & Sour Pork - $3.50

Rating: 3 / 5

Ubin Cooked Food
Location: 726 Clementi West Street 2 #01-159 Singapore 120726

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan Cake has a unique fragrant that captures my appetite since young. I have been trying Pandan Cake through many baking sessions and they were either too dense or having the taste way out of expectation.

Having tried so many Pandan Chiffon Cake Recipes, I have finally altered one to suit my taste buds. I altered the original recipe with less sugar, oil with more coconut milk, and Pandan Juice.

Recipe is suppose for 25cm tin but I spilt them into two tins, 15cm and 25cm tin, taking into consideration that it won't overflow.

Portion: Serving 12 - 16 persons.

Ingredients:  Divided into 4 Groups


A:

• 200ml coconut milk
• 2 tbsp Pandan juice
• 1 tsp green colouring 

Ayam Brand Trim Coconut Milk

 B:

• 9 egg whites
• 1 tsp cream of tartar

9 Egg Whites

C:

• 8 egg yolks
• 200g sugar
• 150ml corn oil / vegetable oil

200g of Sugar

D: 

• 140g cake flour
• 2 heaped tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

140g Cake Flour

 ===================================================================================

Directions:
- Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.

A:

1. Heat coconut milk on low heat & stir constantly until it thickens (like cream)
2. Leave coconut milk aside to cool down
3. Use blender to blend Pandan leaves to get Pandan juice (3 - 5 leaves)

Cut Pandan Leaves

Filtering Pandan Juice from its residue

B:

1. Whip egg whites in stand-mixer until frothy
2. Sieve in cream of tartar
3. Whip till egg whites are stiff, but not dry
4. Put aside

C:

1. Whisk yolks, sugar and oil until well combined

D:

1. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Put aside

 ====================================================================================

1. Create a well in the flour.

2. Put C mixture into the centre and fold flour from sides until well combined

Egg Mixture

3. Add in coconut milk, pandan juice and colouring, mix till well combined but do not overmix.

Coconut Milk, Pandan Juice & Coloring Added

After Mixing

4. Take 1/3 of the meringue and fold into the mixture. Do it gently.

5. Take remaining meringue and fold it in. Ensure that you do not deflate the meringue but make sure that there are no lumps left after folding in.

After Folding all In

 6. Put batter into ungreased chiffon tin. I fill up the bigger tin (25cm) to close to 3/4 of the size and the rest into the 15cm tin.

25cm Tin

15cm Tin

7. Place them into the preheated oven and bake for about 1 hour. (I'm using inbuilt oven)

Watching the Pandan Chiffon Cakes Rise

8. When time is up, overturn them and left them to cool on the tray - which is about half an hour.

Cooling

 9. After that, take a knife and loosen its sides on its outer and inner circumference, remember to cut across the base too.

15cm Tin

From the 25cm Tin

10. Turn it over again and "ta-da"!

From the 15cm Tin

11. Cut them into your desired portions.

Into Smaller Pieces

12. And here's your pillowy Pandan Chiffon Cake!

Yummy!

Aashiq Restaurant

Aashiq Restaurant is one of the hot spot among the cluster of HDB buildings be it early in the morning or in the night time. Housed under Blk 326 and somewhere in the border of Jurong East and West with a constant stream of vehicles passing by them, I would say the location is rather strategic.

Teh Tarik was served while we continued to wait for the rest of our orders - the Pratas. Tea taste was dominant with bubbles floating at its surface and best of all was that they were not sweet.

Teh Tarik - $1.00

Due to its crowd, we waited quite a while for the pratas to be served. They were freshly made by order basis and was rather crispy without having signs of being any doughy. Best still, there were hardly any oily traces left on the plate when we finished the prata which was remarkable.

Curry was fragrant enough and not too dilute. Overall standards best explains their business crowds and I dont mind having them for meals whenever I passes them.

Plain Prata - $0.80 / Piece

Crispy Prata

Curry

Rating: 3 / 5

Aashiq Restaurant
Location: Blk 326 Jurong East St 31 Singapore 600326