Usher In the Lunar New Year with PrimaDeli

This year we excited to be able to try out different types of Pineapple Tarts/Cakes from well-known bakeries in Singapore and Taiwan(read more HERE). Despite of their origin each product has it's own unique taste and packaging which are eye catching for consumers.

Here we have PrimaDeli which is a Singapore’s first home-grown bakery franchise and the longest-running Singapore food franchise since it was launched in 1992. They have many bakery outlets located in major business, shopping and residential areas serving a wide range of top quality pastries, buns, breads and cakes.

Fortune Pineapple Tarts are specially shaped like a pineapple to symbolise prosperity and good luck which you could purchase as gift sets or add on accessories for Chinese New Year decorations. These "Fortune Pineapples" are individually wrapped to retain its freshness before packed in auspicious gorgeous red organza bag priced at S$1.60 each.

And after consuming you could still recycle the organza bag by filling it with some dried scented flowers to act as decorative item or air refresher in the toilet or car.

Since Pineapple Tarts are the most auspicious gift due to it's name ("Ong Lai - 旺来" which mean luck come) and taste which is well received by most of the people. So for a more presentable gift set perhaps you could consider either this Divine Pineapple Tarts at S$14.80 per tin(16 pieces) or Pillow Pineapple Tarts with the same price.

Personally I preferred their Divine Pineapple Tart which has a melt in mouth buttery pastry plus generous amount of their sweet and sour pineapple fillings which are just to hard to resists from popping them one by one. And other than these pineapple tarts, PrimaDeli also have others Chinese New Year goodies available at their outlets which you could take a look at their on-line leaflet HERE.

Ya Kun Handmade Kaya Cookies

Ya Kun Kaya Toast(亚坤) is a well-known "kopitiam" style kind of chain cafes established island wide in Singapore and varies part of Asia such as Indonesia, Taiwan, South Korea, Japan and Philippines. And as the name suggests, Ya Kun sells kaya toast, bottled kaya, soft boiled eggs, local Singapore-style coffee/tea plus some other varieties of toasts and beverages too.

If you are regular customers who often patrons Ya Kun I am sure you would have notice their lovely "heart shaped" Kaya cookies which is available in most of their outlet selling at S$2.50/pack (80g each).

Ya Kun Handmade Kaya cookies are the new addition to the Ya Kun merchandise line where each cookie is made using Ya Kun’s authentic specially formulated kaya. And for your information both their Kaya and cookies recipes does not contain any preservatives, artificial coloring and artificial flavoring.

We love their Kaya Butter Cookies with is soft, buttery and munching with hint of kaya fragrance which makes it unique and great for tea time among family and friends.

This new year, Ya Kun has its Chinese New Year edition to encourage family sharing time and bonding over a heartwarming tin of their kaya cookies. Each tin is priced at S$16.80 (about 45 cookies per tin) or you could get 2 tins for S$30.20 at most of their selected outlets.

Although there are 3 different flavours (kaya, cereal and pistachio) of the kaya cookies available from their usual 80g packs which are selling at most of their outlets. But the Chinese New Year version is only available Kaya Butter or Kaya Pistachio flavours.

For our family who prefer butter cookies over nuts, we tends to prefer the above more than this Kaya Pistachio Cookies. But as you could see if you are loves, especially Pistachio which is well-liked by most of the people during Chinese New Year due to it's name in Mandarin - "开心果 - Pistachio Nuts"(translate as Happy Nuts). For this pistachio version, you could taste more on the nutty flavour rather than buttery taste and it tends to be a little bit harder when bite compared the Kaya Butter Cookies above.

In addition, with minimum spending of S$8.00 in a single receipt, customers will be entitled to a limited edition of their exclusively designed Ang Pow(red packets) set (10 pieces).

Lastly I would like to thank Grace from Ya Kun Kaya Toast for these wonderful Chinese New Year Kaya Cookies. For more latest connection on Ya Kun products and promotions you could also follow them on their facebook page HERE.

Chinese New Year Market @ Chinatown, Singapore

Every year in Singapore, the Chinese New Year celebration kicks off with Street Light-up, festive bazaar stalls, street performances and etc. And these activities usually takes place in the Key streets in Chinatown such as Eu Tong Sen Street, New Bridge Road, South Bridge Road, and Garden Bridge.

This Luna New Year would be the year of the Water Dragon and there would be with traditional Chinese lanterns and colorful street lights together with street performers and acrobats like lion dancers to buzz up the lanes in Chinatown.

Make your New Year wishes come true at the Chinatown Wishing Tree this Spring Festival! You can try your hand at tossing a mandarin orange wishing charm onto a lucky banyan tree at Chinatown.

The Lunar New Year bazaar stalls occupied the lanes from the Pagoda Street, Smith Street, Sago Street, Temple Street and Trengganu Street within Chinatown. Below are some of the photos showing the auspicious New Year goodies and the bazaar stalls at Chinatown.

Pussy willow or also known as Ying Liu has fluffy white blossoms which resemble silk with the color of green jade. And majority of the Chinese enjoy such signs of growth which represent the coming of prosperity.

Cakes such as "Sticky Rice Cake - 年糕" which symbolizes a rich, sweet life plus "Pomelo - 柚子" in mandarin word "柚子" sounds like the word for "to have" and "Red Radish" symbolizes auspicious beginning and etc.

All sorts of sweets, puddings, jellies, peanuts, preserved persimmons and etc which is must to purchase during New Year.

Stalls selling waxed meat products such as sausages, waxed meat, waxed duck and etc which most of the household used it to braised delicious dishes during Chinese New Year gatherings.

All sort of Chinese auspicious handicrafts, red packets and customary New Year decorations along the bazaars area.

In conjunction with the 2012 celebrations, the festive Bazaar runs from December 31 2011, opening from 6pm to 10:30pm daily till January 22 2012.(some stalls starts around NOON time during weekends too) And during Chinese New Year Eve, the Bazaar would extends its operating hours to 1.00am.

To avoid heavy traffic around the Chinatown area, you could take public transport as such the MRT and alight at Chinatown station.

KOHII - A Japanese Style Café in CBD Area

Located in Central Business District(CBD) which is less than 10 minutes walk from Raffles Place MRT, KOHII is a newly open Japanese cafe which serve busy executives, families and passer-by who is out looking for fresh and healthy meals other than those usual eateries available around Shento Way area.

At KOHII it offers a modern style Tokyo cafe and sandwich bar concept that is specialising in high quality coffees from imported from Japan as well as handmade sandwiches and soup to start of a healthy meal for the day.

While flipping through the menu, KOHII has a wide selections of beverages ranging from hot to cold drinks such as premium coffee from Japan, Tea, Soda, Smoothie and etc. Above show two of it's signature smoothies which named after the cafe owner's daughters; Ichigo Nana(front, S$6.30 each) which is a mixture of fresh strawberries with banana whereas Mango Momo(back, S$6.30 each) is a refreshing combination of Mango and Peach blended.

Compared the two smoothies that we had that day, ShiTing(author of Lobsterpaints) and me preferred Mango Momo more than Ichigo Nana as it has a very light and refreshing after taste fragrant which makes you crave for more.

KOHII has two types of home-made soup such as Pumpkin (S$7.50 per bowl) and Mixed Mushrooms (S$9.80 per bowl). Each order of soup is served with some freshly toasted bread and ours for that day is their Premium Mixed Mushrooms Soup which is popular among the ladies.

Indeed I was caught off with the taste of their soup which is quite different from the usual mushroom soup that I used to have. Kohii's mushroom soup which used 5 different types of mushrooms has a unique homecook taste which is light and flavorsome compared to those thick and creamy western mushroom soup. No wonder we saw most of the customers ordered mushrooms soup during our visit to the cafe last week.

The salad and sandwich bar where the customers could see how the food are prepared before being served or take-away.

Out of the 10 different fillings used for their Sandwich, we tried the Teriyaki Chicken Breast and Marinated Mushrooms. We love the Marinated Mushrooms which is something special and definitely worth trying. Each bite into the sandwich you could taste the assorted mushrooms bursting into flavour in your mouth together with the accompany vegetables and wholesome bun. And according to the serving staffs at the bar counter all their mushrooms used are imported from Japan and customer can also choose either plain or oatmeal bread for the sandwich too.

Teriyaki Chicken on the hand was a bit on the tough side perhaps due to the used of chicken breast meat but overall the marinated sauce and flavour of the chicken blends well with the sandwich.

As for Salad, Kohii has 6 different types of choices such as Plain(S$5.80), Teriyaki Chicken(S$8.50), Japanese Curry Chicken(S$8.50), Pesto Chicken(S$8.50), Assorted Mixed Mushrooms(S$9.80) and Assorted Seafood(S$10.50). Each is served with Kohii's homemade dressings (Soy Vinegrette, Goma and Miso) which would complement the light and fresh mix of salad greens.

For S$10.50 you would be able to enjoy a bowl of Assorted Seafood Salad which has very Fresh seafood that is air-flown from Japan. As you could see from the photo above, it consists of Alaska Snow Crab Meat, Octopus, Scallop and Prawn mixture together with Goma(Roasted Sesame Dressing) dressing.

And for those who wants some quick bite, KOHII also offer daily High Tea Specials from 2.00pm - 6.00pm @ S$7.90 nett. You could choose between, 1 sliced of cake/pie/muffin plus either coffee/tea to perk up your afternoon break or light dinner before heading for movie or meetup.

KOHII

1 Shenton Way
#01-06
Singapore 068803
Telephone: (65) 6509 9639
Website: Facebook Page

Operating Hours:
Mon - Fri: 8:30am - 8:30 pm;
Sat: 9:00am - 3:00pm

Closed on Sunday and PH