Bamboo Charcoal Bread @ Lavender Cake

Have you seen this "BLACK" colour bread before in Singapore? If you have being to any “Lavender Cake Shop” in Malaysia, or even other bakery shops Japan or Taiwan. I am sure you will not be shock like most reader, because this bread are made of "Bamboo Charcoal Powder" which is one the common ingredients found in their countries.

So upon entering the Lavender Cake Shop in City Square I was immediately captured by all their Bamboo Charcoal bread. I have read about it from baking books and etc but I have not seen the actual product till today. So without hesitate, we grab 3 of their bamboo charcoal bread products. First on the photo is this “Bamboo Charcoal Bread - 竹炭健康包” which consists of nut, sesame seeds, cranberries and most important ingredient, the “bamboo charcoal powder” which makes the natural black colour of this bread.

According to write-up Bamboo Charcoal has high mineral contents such as potassium, calcuim, iron and sodium. And for many years, people from Japan used bamboo charcoal in many area such as household items, kitchen tools and etc.

The second photo above is "Charcoal Mochi Bread - 竹炭麻薯面包". It has a very chewy and fragrance texture.

Sugar Donut is one of my dear son's favourite. But when he saw this "Charcoal Donut - 竹炭甜甜圈" he was kind of back off due to it’s colour. Although the colour might not look attractive compared to those “fancy donut shops”, I must admit this taste great compare to the other two above. The texture is kind of elastic when bite and it has a very light and sweet taste when you chewy it, which I can say it, taste rather different from those usual donut that we have.

Another interesting item that I found in Lavender Cake Shop is this "Tau Hu Sau - 豆腐沙" which mean the cake is soft and smooth like "Beancurd - 豆腐" and sandwich with "Red bean paste - 红豆沙". We all agreed that this is a very nice sweet pastry, which I think the white portion might be some steam sponge cake. Most important of all, it is healthy and not too sweet to our taste. A recommend item when you visit their shop.

Avocado Delights @ J. Co

During our shopping trip at City Square, Johor Bahru. We saw one of this J.Co Donuts & Coffee outlet located at level 1 of the shopping mall. The 1st thing that comes across my mind was not those attractive donuts but rather on their new promotion item which is on the "Avocado" products.

1st time when I saw this Avocado drink, it was at the outlet in Tampines 1 shopping mall a few weeks back. Tracy and I was still wondering how it taste like to have the combination of Avocado with Coffee. So today, I decided to try their "Caffe Avocado" and "Avocado Dicaprio".

Caffe Avocado was served together with a "Glazzy" donut (sweet honey glazed donut which is so soft and fluffy), which is a complimentary item for every beverage ordered. To us this "Caffe Avocado" is not as fragrance as what we thought of as it contain very little Avocado taste compare to the overpower of coffee in it. But this might be great for those who does not fancy the buttery taste of Avocado, because you cannot really tell the taste of Avocado used in this beverage.

Avocado is always one of my favourite fruit to get whenever I spot it in the fruit stalls or supermarkets. So I also grab one of this "Avocado Dicaprio" when I saw it appears on their Donut Menu. This donut is glaze with avocado cream and coated with some chocolate bits. Personally I don't really fancy the avocado whipped cream filling which I think it makes the donut too greasy and messy when consumed.




P/s: You can also get to try these Avocado Delights at any of the J.Co outlets in Singapore too.....

Lunch @ Johor Bahru

Jin Yun Yong Tau Foo - 金运釀豆腐 is a must try stall which is located at level 2 of another shopping complex which is joining to City Square, Johor Bahru though the bridge walkway. (you can get there on second level entrance near the washroom and telephone booth which at a corner opposite Waston & McDonald) During lunch hour, the stall is always packed with customers whom love their handmade yong tau foo.

You can pick any items from spread, which cost between RM0.50 to RM0.90 to go with either noodle/rice in dried or soup version. The soup broth is very light and refreshing leaving a sweet scent in your mouth that makes you craves for more. And all these sweetness does not come from adding of MSG or sugar because it does not leave you with thirst after consuming their food.

The Tofu taste soft and smooth with a generous amount of filling that consists of fish paste, minced mince, salted fish and seasoning which makes it so delicious. So if you are planning to shop at City Square during this school holiday, perhaps you can give this a try.

At the food corner, we also spot this "Zhen's Malaysia Pontian Wanton Noodles - 珍 . 云吞面" which is also commonly found in most of Singapore food centers or coffee shop. Since I am a Wanton Mee lover, I decided to order a bowl to try out their version compare to ours in Singapore.

So far, I have tried a few "Zhen's Wanton Noodles" stalls from different parts of Singapore and I find that this one that located in Johor taste rather different from what we have over here. The texture of the noodles is indeed better with their chilli sauce and the wanton also taste different. We all agreed that the Singapore version of "Zhen's Wanton Noodles" is rather salty and not as good as the one over in Malaysia.

Other than the above, we also ordered another plate of "Thai-style Char Kway Teow" from another stall at the end corner. Although the taste of this Kway Teow dish is very fragrance and delicious, but we find it rather oily for our preference. But if you don't mind those "oil" you can actually tried this out which you might like it because the Kway Teow is very nicely fried with that special "wok fragrant" that we can hardly find in Singapore these days.

To visit City Square, Johor Bahru, you can take SBS Bus 170 outside Kranji MRT which will bring you all the way to Woodlands Checkpoint and after verifying the passport, you can board the same bus to Malaysia Custom. From there it will takes about 10 -15 minutes walking distance to the City Square shopping mall.

Matcha Madeleines with Azuki Bean

Madeleines are very small traditional sponge cakes with a distinctive shell-like shape which traditional recipes always include ground almonds and lemon zest. But for the Madeleines in this post, I did not included the the two ingredients mentioned by rather I add in some Matcha - 抹茶(Green Tea) powder and cooked Azuki Bean - 紅豆 for a Japanese snack fusion.