Mochi Sweets (日本傳統的甜)

We decided to visit Bugis+ yesterday, and found the new tenant-mix so much better than the last. There's a huge Sephora store, Uniglo, and a dessert store called Mochi Sweets which caught my eye. When we first laid eyes on the display, the first thought that came to mind was Mochi Cream, a similar dessert we had encountered on one of our trips to Japan. Honestly, I think they just named it differently.

The boy decided on a black sesame mochi, and I chose the purple potato mochi. At $2.50 to $2.80 per mochi, it is on the expensive side, though still cheaper than in Japan. The mochis are frozen and you have to wait at least 20 minutes for it to thaw before the texture is perfect for consumption. 

They were really flavourful, though a tad too sweet. Thank goodness for the teaspoon of cream inside which helped to balance out the sweetness.

Fruity Puffy, Tea and Grapefruit Calpis @ Fruit Paradise

So we were walking past Fruit Paradise at Vivocity when a new creation, the Fruity Puffy, caught my eye. I never like cream puffs, especially when most have horrible hard shell, but somehow it brought to mind the cream puffs that Singapore Airlines offered to passengers as pacification when a flight in 2009 was being delayed for 2 hours, and anything related to travel and food is a happy memory for me. 

Well, the long weekend was also upon us and we weren't traveling out of the country and what better remedy for a sad thought than some sinful cake. 

Can't decide between a cake or a tart or a cream puff? Hey, have all 3! Why not have some peaches, some strawberries, blueberries, and jelly too?

Since there was only 1 cream puff, I divided it into 2, so that the boy and I could both have some. And I was sweet enough to make it more enticing for him.

He had a grapefruit calpis which was too milky for him and I had a pot of Fruit Paradise tea which was too bland for me. We'll just stick to their tarts the next time.

For some other varieties of tarts they serve, you may want to refer to my previous post.

Sweet Spring Dessert Place (Tang Shui Chun)

I had a headache one night and had not had my dinner, and since it was already past 9pm, a lot of restaurants were already closing. Except for Sweet Spring Dessert Place at NEX, which left us with the only viable choice.

The boy and I shared a wooden tub of steamed homemade beancurd ($4.90) and added a topping of yam paste ($2). Some other toppings you could add on to your order are pearl, gula melaka, red bean, lotus seed and gingko nut.

The size of the wooden tub is rather deceptive, as the dish which holds the beancurd is very shallow, and a hungry person could very well polish off the entire thing by himself.

The yam paste is served separately, and you may add it to your bowl of beancurd if you so prefer.



As I said, I hadn't had my dinner and I wasn't feeling too well, hence I was so happy to see that they serve fish porridge. I had to wait rather long for my porridge, but it was worth it. They were very generous with the fish and though the porridge looked bland, it was really tasty with pieces of salted fish, seaweed and pickled radish! The fish was fresh and devoid of any fishiness, which would have made my stomach churn.



Best part of the entire experience? Knowing I wasn't feeling well, the boy was sweet enough to search for a place where I could have dinner even though he had already eaten.

Tarts @ Fruit Paradise

A month or two ago, the boy and I went on a fruit tart craze, specifically the tarts from Fruit Paradise. Although I never liked tarts, I found the tarts at Fruit Paradise more of a cake then a tart, and I love cakes! The price for a slice is comparable to places like Bakerzin, although the tarts are not as filling despite their deceptively huge size. They owe their size to the layers of cream, and somehow this makes the tarts feel lighter and more 'empty' than it looks. It is also for this very reason that I find their tarts rather unhealthy. It kinda feels like eating fruits with cream.

Here are the tarts we've tried so far:

Mixed Berries Chocolate with a chocolate base - $7.80
Made with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries and rich chocolate cream.


Strawberry Tiramisu with a custard base - $6.80
Made from fresh strawberries and rich cheese cream. The taste of cheese is really subtle.

Mixed Fruit with a custard base - $7.80
Made with 9 different kinds of fruit.

Mango Strawberry with a custard base - $7.80
Made from thai honey mangoes and fresh strawberries.



Strawberry Montblanc with a custard base - $7.80
This is one of my favourites with chestnut cream from Switzerland and fresh strawberries, two of my great loves :)

Mango Banana with a cheese base - $6.80
Made from Thai honey mangoes and ripe bananas.

Nutty Caramel with custard base - $6.80
Salty caramel cream on sponge cake with caramelised mixed nuts and fresh fruits. Both the boy and I think that this tart tops the list :)

Fruit Paradise can be found at Vivocity, Plaza Singapura, Raffles City, Tampines 1, and Orchard Central where I had my first experience, not of their tarts, but their food.

After Dinner Greed @ Desserts First

There are a number of dessert stalls in the area just behind Bugis Junction, where the eateries and steamboat restaurants are. So one evening, after pigging out at a yummy and rare porridge steamboat place (which didn't allow me to take any photographs and which has closed down anyway), we popped over next door to complete our meal with dessert.


The boy almost always orders something with mango in it for dessert, and this time it is the Mango Snow Ice, which is basically shaved mango ice cream with mango pieces, topped with mango syrup and nata de coco. I stole a mouthful or two and it was delicious.


As usual, I had a Bobo Chacha, partly for the huge colorful sago chunks which are so difficult to find hese days. The quality of the desserts here is pretty good and this was no exception. It is a pity they have stopped serving it hot, which I much prefer over the usually diltued cold version.


Another of the boy's favourites is the cold mango sago with pomelo. The sweetness of the mango balances the bitterness of the pomelo, and there's a mountain of sago in there.


If you like glutinous rice balls but not the spicy ginger or sweet peanut soup they usually come in, you might want to try the Homemade Taro Skin Tang Yuan (Red Bean/Chocolate). Four balls in a sweet soup, two filled with chocolate sauce and two with the more common red bean paste. We both found the chocolate tang yuan rather weird, but the red bean paste was thick and pretty good.




As for the yam cake (they have pumpkin too), it wasn't bad. We still prefer the one from Dessert Story though.

Double-boiled Ling Yang (Antelope Horn)

Both the boy and I has been heaty for quite a while, even though we don't consume much meat. Perhaps it has more to do with the lack of water and the stiffling heat. It's so hot that the air is stagnant, the fan produces warm air, and I'm sweating while I'm typing this. I even get woken up in the middle of the night by an itchy throat demanding to be soothed, and wake up the next morning with a mouth as dry as parchment. I'm losing so much water through my skin that my lips have started to peel! Apparently other people are feeling sauna-ed in their rooms as well.

This isn't the best way to deal with the heat, but I wanted a quick fix. Ready packaged for just $5.



Ling yang, or antelope horn, is usually taken whenever I have a fever. Besides dispelling heat, it is also said to improve vision. It is conveniently packed with Ophiopogon japonicus and juncus effusus. Both serves to dissipate heat, the former also soothes irritability, and aids in alleviating dry mouth.

Boil the contents in 2 cups of water until reduced by half. Top up with more water and boil for a further 20 minutes or so. The liquid is medium yellowish in color. It doesn't have much of a taste by itself but a handful of wintermelon strips will make a wonderful drink. Even the boy likes it. Better when cold.

Ice Cream Creations @ Haagen Daz

One of the benefits of having a Tang's Citibank credit card is, I was offered a 1-for-1 Haagen Daz Ice Cream Creation during my birthday month. Although we were pretty full after our dinner at Shin Kushiya, the night was still young, and we were searching for a place to sit and relax.

Our guilty pleasures:

The Mango and Passionfruit Ice Cream. Although the fruity flavours were a little too sweet, I liked it. The waffle was lousy though. I found it too hard for my liking. Somehow the decorative drops remind me of salmon roe *0*.

Better than the mango and passionfruit ice cream was the warm and mellow chocolate creation. Yummy brownies!

And as could be expected, we were regretful after something like that.