Dessert Ministry (甜品部)

These two years Singapore is surrounded by all kinds of dessert shops from either Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan or local home brand. Last month, “Dessert Ministry(甜品部)” which opens by Edmund Koh(the founder of Singapore 1st Homegrown fast-food restaurant, Super Dog) has set its foot at level 1 of Cathay Orchard Cineleisure. From a glance on their menu you could find wide varieties of mouth-watering desserts and drinks which inspired by concocted recipes from both East and West.

While waiting for the desserts to arrive, we started with a scoop of this Homemade Mango Ice Cream that is freshly made from mango that are imported from Thailand. Each spoonful leaves you with the lovely mango scent scattering around in your mouth with bits of fresh mango in it. And for those who loves ice cream, you could also try their “Ice Cream Series” on Matcha, Black Sesame or Strawberry too.

For Mango Lovers who always ordered Mango dessert, this "Mango Supreme - 芒果至尊" is a not-to-be-missed item when you visit Dessert Ministry. As the name suggests, “Supreme” consists of all kinds of “mango” items such as their homemade premium mango ice cream, mango pudding, fresh mango cubes, scoops of watermelon and honeydrew as well as pomelo in a sea of mango puree. So how can you resist all these wonderful ingredients in one combination?
Price: S$8.80 per plate

On the other hand, this “Mixed Fruits Sago in Papaya with Lemon Jelly - 爱玉西米三瓜盅” was not really towards our liking compared to the Supreme Mango above. We find this mixed fruit combo seems to be a bit too complicated in taste with all the mixture of items. Perhaps by removing either the sago or lemon jelly would be a better choice.
Price: S$6.50 per plate

What is your preference in ordering cream paste dessert? Do you like almond paste, black sesame paste, peanut paste or? For me, almond and black sesame paste is always one of my favourite choices compared to the rest. In Dessert Ministry you can either order “Individual” or “Combo” flavour with extra sticky rice balls as sides to go with the paste. According to Chef Meis, all these paste are freshly made from roasted and grind ingredients that sieved through once in order to achieve an extra smooth and creamy texture. And each day he would also sample all the ready cooked paste in order to make sure that they are all of good quality before serving to the customers. Too bad Chef Meis shared that the black sesame paste is not up to his standard for that day so he could not serve it to us. But he recommend this "Almond and Peanut Cream - 花生杏仁糊" combo which I really love it's smooth and creamy texture.
Price: S$5.50 per set (serves with 3 sticky rice balls and crushed peanuts)

For a Durian craze like me, this "D24 Durian Sago - 榴莲西米露" would definitely be something new to challenge our taste buds. Imagine having a mouthful of pure D24 durian together with some fresh coconut juice and runny bits of sago tingling around in your mouth. You would have to try this at least once in order to experience the combo of these two fruits together.
Price: S$5.50 per bowl

When comes to the drinks menu, Dessert Ministry also have their special range of cold and hot drinks that can either quench your thirst or nourish your body. While flipping through the menu I was fascinated to this “Red Date with Longan Tea - 红枣桂圆奶茶” because the usual longan tea that we used to drink is without milk and it is normal boiled with some ginger. So when Chef Meis brings out this pot of freshly brews tea, I was totally amazed by it’s lovely fragrant and milk infused taste with the Longan tea.
Price: S$5.50 per pot (serves 2)

With the recent Bubble Tea trend current bursting among the KOI and Gong Cha lovers; here we have some healthier choices from either pure fruity base or adding of fresh milk or coconut milk to go along with their toppings such as pearls, jelly, aloe vera or sago. This cup is one of their popular choices known as “Papaya Milk and Honey Jelly - 木瓜奶昔爱玉爽”. You can see it is divided into 3 different layers of colour where the white at the bottom is “fresh milk”, follow by honey jelly and orangey red for the fresh papaya juice. This is a very refreshing drink that is good for digestion and provides extra dose of calcium for your bones.
Price: S$3.80 per cup

This is the Daifuku (大福) counter which is located beside the cashier. According to Chef Meis he could made around 80 Daifuku per day with array of fillings such as Durian, Strawberry, Mango and Matcha. And the most pouplar choice from patrons would be the "D24 Durian Daifuku" @ S$4.20 for 2 pieces.

You definitely won’t missed out this shop with it bright and glaring furnishing of Yellow Wall, Red and White Chairs with a huge wall poster on their signature “Supreme Mango Sago with Pomelo” in the m. And for your information, Dessert Ministry is just next to Burger Bench & Bar (read more HERE) so after your movie you can either grab some burger or dessert for supper.

Lastly, I would like to thank Mr Jansen Siak from Word of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd and Dessert Ministry for hosting this tasting event.

Dessert Ministry
8 Grange Road
#01-03 Cathay Cineleisure Orchard
Singapore 239695
Telephone: 6887 5347

Opening hours:
Sunday - Thursday: 11.00am – 11.00pm
Friday, Satursday & PH: 11.00am – 2.00am

Sugar Fix @ Ah Chew Desserts

Look at these!!! I am sure there is something that you can pick up to quench your thirst during these hot days. From the icy cool “Mango Sago And Pomelo” to the all time favourite such as “Gingko, Barley with Beancurd Skin” or the smooth and silky “Ginger Fresh Milk Steam Egg”. Either one of these or other choices from their menu will definitely attract you into their shop.

Last Saturday after our lunch gathering at Porn’s (click HERE), we decided to drop-by “Ah Chew Desserts” to get our sugar fix from their wide varieties of home cook desserts. Below are the items that we have ordered and tried:-

They have a very special ordering menu placed beneath the glass top table in order for customers to have a clear view of their items before making orders at the counter.

My Choice of "Black Glutinous Rice with Vanilla Ice Cream(黑糯米湖加香草雪糕)". Ever since I read up the good review on I-weekly about this special dessert I have always wanted to try it. And finally today I get to eat what I have being craving for. The combination of cold and creamy vanilla ice-cream with traditional Black Glutinous Rice and a bit of toasted almond flakes was really a good hit. At least the ice-cream is not as greasy as the coconut milk/cream. and the crunchy almond flakes add extra flavour to the taste too. Worth trying like what is recommended or you can even make this dessert at home by adding a scoop of vanilla ice-cream to your homemade Black Glutinous Rice(Pulot Hitam).
Price: SS$3.00 per bowl

Susan (blog link) choice was her favourite "Mango Sago And Pomelo(杨枝甘露)" but while making order at the counter she was tempted by the toppings menu showing "Durian". Without hesitate she immediately ask for the extra durian topping into her Mango Sago and Pomelo. But while tasting the yummy combination, we find that the durian paste was rather a bit sour which caused some stir among us. Overall we find it is not really worth to pay S$5.10 for this combination as the taste was rather odd compare to the usual Mango Sago with Pomelo.
Price: S$4 per bowl + S$1.10 for durian topping

Audrey (Lobster) and Alvin shared this amazing "Black Glutinous Rice(黑糯米湖)" which we are all fascinated with it's "spider web" like design. This is definitely something unusual compared to the normal black glutinous rice that we used to eat at the food centre where the stall owner just drizzle a spoonful of coconut milk/cream on it. Audrey finds the texture of their black glutinous rice was rather grainy to her liking compared to those sticky and creamy type. For a chance, they also ordered extra glutinous rice balls to go with the black glutinous rice paste.
Price: S$2.10 per bowl + S$1.00 for extra 3 rice balls topping

Rae is the only person who prefers this slightly bitter and spicy "Ginger Fresh Milk Steam Egg(姜汁鲜奶炖蛋)". According to her, the texture is very smooth and silky that can just wobble down your throat. But for me I would rather go for something light which is their "Fresh Milk Steam Egg White(鲜奶炖蛋白) as I don't really prefer the ginger taste.
Price: S$3.20 per pot

Maureen (Miss Tam Chiak) settles for a bowl of her favourite "Red Bean Paste with Lily Bulb(百合红豆沙)" which she prefer the lightly infuse tangerine taste. But if for me, I would prefer this to be slightly sweeter and perhaps with more tangerine taste in it.
Price: S$2.10 per bowl

Yan Cai pick this "Water Chestnut with Egg(蛋花妈蹄露)" which comes with crunchy slices of fresh water chestnut that enhance the dessert with a extra refreshing fragrant. This is a simple and yet delicious sweet treat for hot weathers.
Price: S$2.10 per bowl

Kai's choice of "Gingko Barley & Bean Curd Skin(白果薏米腐竹)" which consists of generous amount of Gingko nuts. Taste wise was quiet alright which is not very sweet too. Friendly speaking I won't order this dessert from any stalls outside as I find they can't produce the taste that my mum's always prepared for us. I preferred those texture and taste that is similar to soya bean milk type.
Price: S$2.10 per bowl

Ah Chew Dessert is located in the middle stretch of Liang Seah Street where you can find all kind of yummy food along that street such as the famous Yu Kee Braised Duck Rice, Madam Saigon Vietnamese Cuisine, Around De World Café, Porn’s Thai Food, Crystal Jade and etc. With Ah Chew’s unique traditional furnishing of using brick and pairs of eye catching red couplet(春联) outside their shop. When you get into the shop you will be amaze by the Chinese traditional wooden chairs and tables that we can hardly seen in the modern household these days.

Ah Chew Desserts Pte Ltd
1 Liang Seah Street
#01-10/11
Liang Seah Place
Singapore 189022
Telephone: 6339 8198

Operating Hours:
Monday - Thursday: 12.30pm - 11.30pm
Friday: 12.30pm - 12.30am
Saturday: 1.30pm - 12.30am
Sunday: 1.30pm - 11.30pm

Smooth & Silky Beancurd @ Rochor Beancurd House

Sometime, rather or how I would get mixed up by all those names of the beancurd store such as “Rochor Beancurd House - 梧槽豆花水“, “Rochor Original Beancurd You Tiao - 梧槽豆花油条.” or “Beancurd City - 豆花城”. But no matter which stall you prefer, I am sure there is always one that captures your heart and makes you go back for more. Out of three beancurd stalls mentioned above, I have only tried the two, which are Rochor Beancurd House and Rochor Original Beancurd You Tiao.

Through the recommendation of my best friend Joyce, who always frequent their stall I decided to drop by their one of their outlet at Upper Thomson area. Despite of the normal beancurd with sugar syrup, I added some chewy pearls topping for my beancurd and surprisingly the pearl are so soft and chewy. Personally I would prefer Rochor Beancurd House’s beancurd which I feel is much tastier and silky smooth that it can just glides down through your throat.

After trying we also bought some extra beancurd with lotus seeds and a few other toppings to share with other family members at home.

You can easily spot their shop along Upper Thomson Road with its ‘huge” blue signboard that is at the opposite road near famous LongHouse food center. Other than their signature beancurd and soya bean milk, you might also want to try some of their local snacks and kueh such as You Tiao, Portuguese egg tarts, Crystal bun and etc.

Rochor Beancurd House
232 Upper Thomson Road
Singapore 574363
Delivery: 8288 7020
Facebook site: Rochor Beancurd House

Operating hours: 11.00am – 3.00am daily.

Mr Bean Soy Beancurd

Mr Bean is a leading chain soya bean food & beverage retailer in Singapore with more than 30 outlets located island wide. They offers a variety of soya bean drinks, beancurd, ice cream and snacks. This is a new outlet located at block 1G of Pinnacle @ Duxton which is beside the 7-11 and in front of the bus-stop.

From the usual silky soft texture soya beancurd with soy milk to a hint of Ginger or Almond flavour. This is Original Soya Beancurd which served with soy milk is always a good choice to start with if you prefer something mild in taste.

No matter which is your choice, if you love the combination of Beancurd and Tang Yuan, you must try this assorted tang yuan (comes in peanut and black sesame seeds) with beancurd combi. I always love to have a bowl of this for breakfast or light dinner if I have a full or late lunch.

Out of all the 7 different types of pancake they have on their menu list, the one with Cheese filling is always my first choice follow by peanut or kaya. And certain outlet also comes with "tuna" filling for those who prefer savory pancake over the usual sweet type.

Sometimes if I am in a hurry to have a quick lunch or bite, I will get a cup of their healthy less sugar soya milk with chewy pearls to go with a choice of my favourite pancake.

Other than their pancakes, this is also one of my favourite snack to go with their soya milk or beancurd set. It can be consider as a non-greasy and healthy snack that comes in few types of filling such as pineapple, salted green bean, green tea and etc which makes it a perfect snack for anytime, anywhere.

So if you are interested, you can always drop by any of their outlet which is near your work place or home area to pick up any of your choice. Click HERE for more outlets location.


Mr Bean
Pinnacle @ Duxton
Block 1G Cantonment Road
#01-06
Singapore 080001
Website: http://www.mrbean.com.sg/

Open Daily: 07.00am - 22.00pm

Four Seasons Durians Pancake @ AMK Hub

Four Seasons Durians is guided by Professional Chef Victor Chan and Business Woman Joyce Lee where the brand has changed their image from a traditional fresh fruit stall into a modern and innovative durian confectionery. Within a few years, Four Seasons Durians has a few branches in Singapore such as in Takashimaya, AMK Hub, Tiong Bahru Plaza and etc. Sometime you can also spot them in food fair pushcart stall in some local shopping malls.

This is one of the branch that is located at Basement 2 of AMK Hub which is near the main entrance of NTUC express.

Four Seasons Durians has a wide range of products that are made from fresh Durian pulp such as Pancakes, Mooncakes, Puffs, Tarts, Cakes, Ice-Cream and etc. And they also participate in this year Singapore Food Festival @ Clarke Quay Food Street too.

There are always people queuing up to grab apiece or two or their freshly made durian pancake especially during weekends or lunch hours. And one good point of the stall is the speed of making the pancake is rather fast with two helpers to ease the waiting queue. But some of the feedbacks from friends who frequent the stalls, the durian fillings that they used sometime might be differ in taste such as more bitter or sweet throughout the different branches due to the type of durian used. Each piece of pancake cost S$1.50 with a spoonful of fresh durian pulp wrapped in it.

Four Seasons Durians
53 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3
#B2-28 Ang Mo Kio Hub
Singapore 569933
Telephone: 6484 2285
Operating Hours: 10.00am - 10.00pm daily

Sweet Spring ~ 糖水春 @ AMK Hub

Does this reminds you on one of the Taiwan Tourism Board advertisement where Jolin Tsai is eating her Mango Shaved Ice - 芒果刨冰 outside a shop? Recently I have found a special dessert shop in central area that served unique “Dim Sum - 点心”, “Tong Shui - 糖水” and as well as some cold dessert like Mango Shaved Ice - 芒果刨冰. I am sure by looking at this Mango shaved Ice photo, you will be keen to know where is this restaurant located at and as well some of their signature food and desserts available.

The restaurant which is known as “Sweet Spring - 糖水春” is located at a cosy area, level 2 of AMK Hub. The design and decoration of the cafe look similar to a modern tea house whereby they have both “indoor” and “outdoor” sitting area. (don’t worry both the area are within the shop itself so it is within in-door with air-conditioning) And from what you can see bold "Red" is used as one of the main colour to contract with the white table top as well as the brown lacquered wood to add texture to the ambience.

Two weeks ago I am very honour to be invited for a food tasting session together with the two hosts, Sharon and Julynn from Sweet Spring and Fish & Co. Through the conversation, I was suprised to hear that Sweet Spring is actually owed by the same owner of “Fish & Co” which is a western restuarnt that is well-known with their Fish & Chips in Singapore.

On that day, our host’s Sharon has prepared about 10 items for the food tasting session and here are the items:- 4 Dim Sum dishes, 1 finger food, 3 hot plus 1 cold dessert, lastly follow by beverage. Now let us sit back (prepared some tissue :p) and let the photos be the evidences of this food review……

First on the list is this “Durian Pastry - 榴莲酥” which is one of their signatures Dim Sum that is in demand on their ordering list. The outer layer of the crust is flaky and crisp while the filling in it is made from pure D24 Durian pulps which gives this pastry a wonderful fragrance and taste. If you are a Durian lover, you will sure love this sweet treat.
[ Durian Pastry - 榴莲酥 : S$4.20]

Next, “Pan-fried Radish Cake - 香煎箩卜糕” which is a new dish on their menu list. According to Sharon this is a “Teochew” style Radish Cake where the chef will pan-fried the cake till the outer layer became slightly golden in colour. Overall, we quite like the soft texture of this radish cake and it goes pretty well with their self-made chilli sauce too.
[Pan-fried Radish Cake - 香煎箩卜糕 : S$4.20]

This is their self-made chilli sauce that is used to serve together with their savory dim sum, as they know most of the Singaporean love to have some spicy dipping sauce to go with their food. To me, this chilli sauce look similar to those “chicken rice’s chilli” but when you taste it the taste is rather different. For those who can take spicy sauce, this will definitely goes well with any of their savory dim sum.

“Steamed Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf - 荷叶饭” is one of the items that attracts me from their menu, especially that day is a few days before the Dumpling Festival. The steamed glutinous rice is nicely wrapped with lotus leaf and served warm in the traditional dim sum bamboo steamer, which actually add extra fragrance and appealing points to this dish.

The moment when you open up the lotus leaf from the parcel, you will smell a great scent of the steamed rice with some light lotus leaf fragrance. Each parcel consists chunk of meat, mushroom and a salted egg yoke. It all depends on how you prefer your steamed glutinous rice to be, for me this might be too over-cooked as I find the rice rather too sticky. But this can be a light flavour for those who do not like the traditional dumpling taste whereby five-spice powder, dried shrimp or etc are used.
[Steamed Glutinous Rice wrapped in Lotus Leaf - 荷叶饭 : S$4.50]

"Steamed Spicy Wantons - 京都云吞" is a like steamed meat dumping with some spicy chili sauce. Personally I don't really like wanton to be served in this way so I can't actually comments much on this dish but Joyce seems to love it with it's spicy sauce.
[Steamed Spicy Wantons - 京都云吞 : S$3.90]

Here comes our favourite "Crispy Chicken Bites - 盐酥鸡" that is perfectly deep-fried till crispy out the outer skin and yet still retain the juicy flavour of the meat. According to the hosts, the chef used chicken thigh meat instead of breast meat for these "bites" in order to achieve tender and juicy texture. Overall these "bites" are full of flavour either eating it plain or with dipping sauce and most importantly these "bites" are not salty compare with those sold in some other snack stalls.
[Crispy Chicken Bites - 盐酥鸡 : S$3.90]

After the savory dim sum shown above, we have some sweet treats here which one of these might interest you. First on the list is my top favourite dessert "Yam Paste With Gingko Nut & Pumpkin - 福果芋泥". Although we nowadays we are able to find this similar dessert being sold in some of the dessert stall at Food Court but it's rather difficult to find some real good one.

Today, at least I managed to find a decent one at “Sweet Spring”. Their Yam Paste with Gingko Nut & Pumpkin really taste great with it’s smooth texture and not so sweet taste. The combination of some chestnut bites in the yam paste brings out extra texture and natural sweetness to this dessert. So I recommend this to be a must try dessert if you really love that cream texture of Teochew Style Yam Paste without going through the hassle of making it at home.
[Yam Paste With Gingko Nut & Pumpkin - 福果芋泥 : S$4.90]

If you prefer something light compare to the above Yam Paste, perhaps you can try this “Steamed Milk Egg White - 双皮奶” which is something similar to egg custard but it is using Egg White and Milk as the main ingredients. Most of us love this dessert, as it is very good to the complexion as well as more health conscious due to the ingredients used. So lady, if you are looking for low-fat dessert or something good for your complexion, try this! :)
[Steamed Milk Egg White -双皮奶 : S$2.80]

Before stepping into this restaurant I have saw the poster and menu about their signature “Homemade Soya Beancurd - 桶仔豆腐花” which is served in a wooden bucket in order to served it warm to the customer. The hosts told us that as each day as early as 8am, the chef will starts to boil the soya bean milk in order to get ready to set the beancurd in each bucket before the restaurant opens at 11:00am during weekdays. This beancurd comes in two sizes which served either 2 or 4 persons and this Homemade Soya Beancurd is not sweeten and each customer gets to add in their desire amount of honey to suit their taste buds.
[Homemade Soya Beancurd - 桶仔豆腐花 : 2 Pax S$4.50, 4 Pax S$7.00]

Other than eating your beancurd with honey, you can also select any topping from their list to go with it starting from $1.00 - S$1.50 depending on your choice. They have Lotus seeds, Longan, Mango, Pearl and etc which all goes well with the beancurd.

Finally here comes our long waiting “Mango Snow Ice - 非常芒果” which is both Joyce and my favourite. Unfortunately I have missed out this important dessert during my Taiwan trip in April, so at least today I can try this out which is very similar to the authentic Taiwan Mango Ice.

From the photo, you can see that the ice is shave layer by layer and it is very smooth and full of mango flavour either on the shaved ice, sauce or mango itself. Overall it is a very good summer dessert that will cool you down from that hot weather. The mango itself is very sweet and juicy and according to Sharon(the host) they actually used mango from Philippines. And each day, the workers will cut and taste each mango in order to standardised the taste and quality of the mango used. So Mango lover what are you waiting for..... :) Come!
[Mango Snow Ice - 非常芒果 : S$5.50]

Before ending our wonderful dim sum and desserts food tasting by Sweet Spring, the hosts also let us have a “big” glass of their Homemade Soya Milk that taste warm and fragrant and as similarly you can either sweeten it with honey or drink it plain. For me I find without adding any honey it taste more natural with it original flavour.

Lastly thanks Sharon & Julynn from Fish & Co for inviting me on this food tasting session. Don't worry for those who stay far away from Ang Mo Kio area, Sweet Spring has new branch coming up at Serangoon area soon too. And other than the above, you can also find a lot of interesting desserts and dim sum such as Mocha Tiramisu, Rainbow Milk Tea with Pearl, Pomelo Sago, Double-boiled Hashima and etc. I am sure there will be one that suits you :)

SWEET SPRING ~ 糖水春
53 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 3
AMK Hub, #02-19/20/21
Singapore 569933
Telephone: 6753 9856 Fax: 6753 0962
Email: sweetspring@chaozhouinn.com

Operating Hours:
11:00am to 10:00pm, Weekdays
10:00am to 10:00pm, Weekdends