7 Local Desserts So Good, They’ll Remind You Of Your Childhood Sweetheart
Topped with tropical fruits and a side of condensed milk for a Snapchat worthy sweet treat, Bingsus are the go-to dessert on a hot summer’s day. Not forgetting a warm and freshly baked Belgian waffle, topped with a scoop of creamy gelato and almond sprinkles. Mmm.
Local Dessert – Comfort Food That Never Disappoints
But when it comes to hitting that sweet spot for dessert, nothing does it better than local dessert. Affordable, nostalgic and ultimately delicious, local dessert is not only part and parcel of our culture, but also a quick and delicious way to seek respite from the blistering heat. Be it a cooling snack, a mid-day treat or a post-meal dessert, here’s a list of where you can go to get your local dessert fix!
1. Mei Hong Yuen Dessert
Image credit: www.burpple.com/@sharonista
A name familiar to most, this local dessert chain serves traditional hot and cold dessert. It is one of the “Singapore Chinatown Heritage Brands”. These brands are the ones that have been operating in Chinatown for at least 30 years. Through the years, Having eaten at this dessert stall for years, we heavily recommend the Almond with Egg White, Red Bean Lotus, and Chee Cheong Fun. They have also recently opened more stalls, so you don’t have to travel to Chinatown just to savour one of the best local dessert stalls.
From its smooth and comforting bowl of peanut paste to the classic and juicy bowl of mango with pomelo and sago, you’ll never be disappointed.
Outlets: Image credit: With a wordy menu filled with a huge variety of local dessert options, being spoilt for choice is an understatement. Ah Chew Desserts often sees large crowds of both locals and foreigners alike. It has even received media spotlight from NHK Broadcasting Corporation. Other must-try dishes include Hawaiian Papaya boiled with Fresh Milk, Black Glutinous Rice with Vanilla Ice-cream, Mango Sago & Pomelo, Watermelon Honeydew with Sago, and Durian Hong Kong Red Bean Ice. Ah Chew Desserts Image credit: www.burpple.com/@Kirschwarm
Chinatown: No. 63 – 67 Temple Street, #B2-32 Chinatown Point
Orchard: #B4-34, ION
Novena: #02-03 Velocity@Novena Square
Clementi: #03-02 321 Clementi Ave 3
Opening Hours:
Click 2. Ah Chew Desserts
Address: 1 Liang Seah Street, #01-10/11; 181 Thomson Road, Goldhill Shopping Centre
Opening Hours: Mon – Thu: 12:30pm – 11.30pm; Fri: 12.30pm – 12.30am; Sat: 1.30pm – 12.30am; Sun: 1.30pm – 11.30pm3. Ji De Chi
Traditional flavours still have a place in today’s age. Ji De Chi’s dish of sweet mangoes and black glutinous rice wrapped in green tea mochi is the perfect example. This eatery serves up a good selection of traditional and modern desserts.
Image credit: www.burpple.com/@rachellelinggg
Their rendition of the Taiwanese shaved ice dessert is a cheaper alternative to the pricier bingsu, but it definitely does not lack in terms of sweetness and flavour.
Ji De Chi
Address: 8 Liang Seah Street, #01-03
Opening Hours: Mon – Sun: 11am – 11pm
4. Annie’s Peanut Ice Kachang
With numerous modern spins on the old ice kachang dish, perhaps the best combination is still some roasted peanut and red bean, doused with a colourful blend of syrup.
Annie’s Peanut Ice Kachang
Address: 3 Yung Sheng Road, #01-01
5. Ye Lai Xiang Cheng Tng
Image credit: Sticking to a traditional recipe passed down since 1939, Ye Lai Xiang has been churning out bowls of cheng tng.
Their bowl of cheng tng comes loaded with 10 different ingredients, a class above the rest (the usual cheng tng contains only a handful of ingredients). The painstaking preparation process of double boiling the sago and sunning the dried longans is evident in the end result – a clear sweet broth that’s almost addictive.
Address: Bedok Food Centre, 1 Bedok Road, Stall 31
6. Jin Jin Hot/ Cold Dessert
Image credit: www.burpple.com/@iceblossom
The owners weren’t kidding when they named their dish ‘Power Cendol’. Using premium gula-melaka to give it that distinctive palm sugar richness, this is one decadent dessert. It packs all the punches at only a fraction of the price. Coupled with sweet coconut milk and red beans, you’ll find yourself polishing the bowl in jiffy.
Image credit: If you love Mango and Durian, this one’s for you! Tangy Mango cubes are topped with condensed milk and a scoop of Durian puree! There’s also a version without the durian topping. From our visits to Jin Jin Dessert, we also learn that the mango cubes are soaked in a secret sauce for that tangy and refreshing bite. Their hard work pays off, as there’s nothing like this bowl of mango goodness elsewhere!
Jin Jin Hot/ Cold Dessert
Address: ABC Brickworks Market & Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah, #01-20
Opening Hours: Mon, Tues, Thurs, Sun: 12:30PM – 10PM; Fri, Sat: 12:30PM – 10:30PM
Closed every Wednesday
7. 75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup
Image credit: www.burpple.com/@jiaknonstop
We are all accustomed to the usual glutinous rice balls with peanut and black sesame filling. But at 75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup, they even have red bean, yam, and green tea fillings to up their ball antics. Best of all, those special flavours are hand-made!
As their name suggests, they are famous for their peanut soup. The soup is simmered for hours for soft and tender peanuts. They also offer options like almond milk and ginger soup. No matter what you choose, you can be sure you’re digging into a bowl of comforting goodness.
75 Ah Balling Peanut Soup
Address: #01-75, Golden Mile Food Centre, 505 Beach Road; #01-25 Blk 85 Bedok North Street 4
Certainly, there are numerous other dessert stalls out there that serve up that familiar bowl of traditional dessert. When the queues of artisanal desserts grow too long, know that you can always fall back on stalls like these to satisfy your sweet tooth.
(Header image: www.burpple.com/@sharonista)
Also, read Wisma Atria Brings Japan To S’pore – Tsukiji Sushi To Wagyu Beef!
Decadent Yet Light Cakes You’ll Love – Waku Ghin @ Marina Bay Sands
In September last year, renowned chef, Tetsuya Wakuda, launched Waku Ghin Patisserie Platine at RISE Lounge, offering 18 types of intricate pastries and petit cakes from the award-winning restaurant Waku Ghin.
The exclusive selection, which changes seasonally, is beautifully handcrafted and lovingly created by Waku Ghin’s pastry team. The cakes are available for takeaway or dine in at RISE lounge, located in the lobby of Marina Bay Sands Hotel, Tower 1.
Each cake is made in-house, using premium ingredients and fresh seasonal fruits from Japan and Europe. The picture-perfect creations are not only easy on the eyes but also on the palate, hitting the right notes for texture and flavour.
Dining at Waku Ghin’s Patisserie Platine is, of course, an experience by itself. Enjoy the stream of natural light from all directions while you sip tea at the lounge – a place where businessmen and tourists frequent any time of the day – and feel like a total tai tai.
Chocolate mousse with raspberry and pistachio
The chocolate mousse with raspberry and pistachio ($12) is a decadent dessert – though there’s a rich cocoa taste, the texture remains light. The cakes here are not at all dense, in fact, it is so light, that it is dangerously easy to polish off an entire cake by yourself without realising it. The ingredients are fresh, as promised, and this rings true in every bite.
Ghin’s cheesecake
Ghin’s cheesecake ($12), a house speciality, is feathery light and it is almost like eating a cloud. For a cheesecake, it goes against the grain of what a typical cheesecake would be like. Waku Ghin’s team pushes boundaries with the cake, making it refreshing and almost airy. It is the type of cake you would eat for a good pick-me-up after a long work day.
Matcha Opera cake
The matcha opera cake ($10) also offers the same fluffy texture as the cheesecake and is very reminiscent of a tiramisu cake. We noted a hint of alcohol in this cake and for each bite, the tastes hit the taste buds quite strongly, but there are so many layers to the taste that the alcoholic tinge is soon forgotten.
Coconut mousse with passionfruit and mango
This bright coconut mousse with passionfruit and mango ($10) also carries the same lightness in texture as the other cakes despite being so dense in the fruit department. The coconut is so subtle in the mousse that it is almost undetectable. This was one of my favourites out of the lot we tried. All the desserts were surprisingly not too sweet either.
Waku Ghin has certainly pushed boundaries to create decadent, yet light desserts. You’ll never feel jelak polishing off an entire cake yourself! Every bite and calorie is worth it, satisfaction guaranteed.
Waku Ghin Patisserie Platine
Address: Rise Lounge, first floor, Marina Bay Sands Tower 1
Opening hours: From 11am daily
Tel: 6688 5568
Brought to you by Discover SG x Foodie Vs The World
This was an invited food tasting session.
Also, read Popular Nightspots – Unwind To Recommended Izakayas in Singapore
Japan’s BAKE CHEESE TART Opens This Week – All You Need To Know!
The wait is almost over. Japan’s famous BAKE CHEESE TART will finally be serving freshly baked cheese tarts in ION Orchard starting from 29 April 2016 (Friday)!
Hailing from the land of the best and yummiest dairy products – Hokkaido, BAKE’s signature cheese tart is created by blending three different types of cream cheese together – two from Hokkaido, and one more from France. The three cheeses go so well together that they form a flavour that is unique to BAKE.
But what makes these cheese tarts so delicious (#queuedfortwohours type of delicious) is the two-step baking method which gives it a distinct crunchy yet fluffy texture. The process starts in Hokkaido. Cheese mousse is piped into freshly baked tart crusts. They are then flown to Singapore and freshly baked in the store to complete the process of creating perfect, delectable cheese tarts.
Since the inception of their first store in Hokkaido back in July 2011, BAKE has sold over 20 million tarts in Japan and its overseas stores including Hong Kong, Seoul, and Bangkok. The Singapore store will be their fifth store outside Japan, and their flagship store for Southeast Asia. They are counting on Singaporeans and the power of social media to spread the word to the rest of the world.
BAKE is certainly committed to making the best cheese tarts in the world. This is their only product and they pour their heart and soul into perfecting this dessert treat.
BAKE Cheese Tart’s freshly baked cheese tart will be available at ION Orchard starting 29 April 2016.
Each cheese tart will sell for $3.50, and a box of six is priced at $19.50.
BAKE Cheese Tart
Address: ION Orchard, #B4-33, 2 Orchard Turn
Opening hours: 10AM – 10PM
We’re certainly joining the queue on the 29th of April! Will you be joining us? Drop us a comment and let us know!
(Header image credit: Bake Cheese Tart, words by editor)
Also read: Forget Salted Egg Croissant, Cheese Tart Coming Through!
Delivering The Best Pastries From Cafes To You – CafeHopping In A Box
Let’s be honest, the issue with cafe hopping is that we get disappointed most of the time. You see these edited pictures and think to yourself that the cafe is worth visiting. You live deep in Woodlands and hop on a one-hour bus ride to Pasir Ris.
Alas, the food is horrible. You don’t know what’s worse — the fact that you wasted a huge chunk of time, or the thought that you were misled by a dishonest review. And the cycle repeats itself every weekend.
What’s a cafe hopper to do? Easy, you turn to CafeHopping In A Box.
[caption id="attachment_5393" align="alignnone" width="700"]Pastries from the best cafes
CafeHopping In A Box is the trouble-free solution for dessert fanatics who detest travelling all over Singapore just to grab a quick bite of an oven-fresh pastry. With this new bakery, you can easily buy different types of baked goods curated from four or six different cafes in a box.
[caption id="attachment_5766" align="aligncenter" width="700"]Now you get to try the pastries first before deciding if you want to head down.
Notice the S$37.20 Classic Box of 6 below? (Caution: this might cause excessive drooling. You’ve been warned.)
[caption id="attachment_5396" align="alignnone" width="700"]It features The Bakery Chef’s rainbow cake; Grin Affair’s lychee passion fruit cake jar; Karafuru’s yuzu eclair, gianduja eclair, and ichigo cheesecake eclair; and Doi Chaang Coffee’s matcha and azuki crepe cake.
They all look too beautiful to eat, don’t they?
[caption id="attachment_5765" align="aligncenter" width="700"]A quick peek at the website shows that there’s a wide assortment of pastry masterpieces for you to choose from. You can also mix and match! And the best part? There’s never a dull moment, because the menu changes biweekly.
[caption id="attachment_5835" align="aligncenter" width="1382"]
Credit: CafeHopping In A Box[/caption]
Each pastry costs between S$5.80 to S$6.90, while the Classic Box of 4 and 6 can set you back at S$24 to S$28 and S$34 to S$38 respectively. The store requires a 3 day advanced order for their Classic Boxes, so see to it that you remember this bit to avoid disappointment.
You can either choose to collect the pastries at Bukit Timah Plaza, or pay an additional $30 for delivery (excluding Jurong Island).
[caption id="attachment_5836" align="aligncenter" width="960"]
Credit: CafeHopping In A Box[/caption]
How to get there
Ready to dive into the sugary world? Here are the deets:
Walk in purchase or self-collection available at:
Address: Bukit Timah Plaza #B1-52B, 1 Jalan Anak Bukit, S(588996)
Opening hours: Mon – Sun: 11:30AM – 7:30PM
Tel: 6463 2529
(Header image credit: CafeHopping In A Box, words by author & editor)
Also read: The Tiramisu Hero Strikes Back With A Brand New Menu!
The Tiramisu Hero Strikes Back With A Brand New Menu!
What do you think of when you hear someone say “Sir Antonio”? If you’re anything like me, you’d probably picture a tall, armour-donning knight with a curly moustache.
Sir Antonio
However, for the patrons of The Tiramisu Hero, what comes to mind is a cat wearing a zorro mask and a flowing cape. Now, that’s majestic.
[caption id="attachment_5526" align="aligncenter" width="612"]Sir Antonio is actually the mascot of The Tiramisu Hero, a cosy little cafe located at 121 Tyrwhitt Road. They even made an animated clip of his back story!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fh6cdSZ1lTc ]Oh, did I mention? Once you step into the cafe, you will be greeted with a really adorable sculpture of Sir Antonio.
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BDnlKaLrw_Z/[/embed]13 Tiramisu Flavours
The Tiramisu Hero is known for their selection of delicious tiramisu served in a jar, with flavours ranging from baileys (alcoholic) to speculoos (spiced cinnamon) to durian. You can either order these from their
The Tiramisu Hero’s New Menu!
You’d probably think that they are exclusively a dessert joint. Contrary to its name, The Tiramisu Hero also serves a respectable variety of food and drinks.
In fact, they’ve been working hard at it and have just launched a new menu. (Click on image for clearer view.)
Check out the extensive menu. The food and drinks are to die for!
As much as I wanted to, trying every single thing on the menu is just not possible. I ended up trying two of the dishes that seemed really appealing to me. Here’s how it went!
Truffle Salmon Cold Pasta
The strong flavours of salmon, truffle oil and ebiko, coupled with the neutrality of the cold pasta created a balanced and refreshing taste. It was a pleasant surprise as I did not expect the flavours to mesh so well together.
Furthermore, in our hot and humid Singapore, cold pasta is definitely the perfect dish whenever you need to beat the heat. Go ahead and get some!
Salted Egg Pasta
One of the dishes that we couldn’t resist ordering was their salted egg pasta. Well, that is to be expected since the salted egg craze has been going out of control these days.
When the pasta was served, it was generously coated with a layer of salted egg sauce. They certainly don’t skimp on the good stuff! The rich flavour of salted egg yolks, combined with a slight tinge of spice was so addictive that it kept me going for more. This dish is highly recommended for all salted egg fans because I’m sure you will love it as much as I did!
The quality and variety of their food menu is comparable and better than many other cafes out there. If you ever fancy a place to have a meal AND a dessert, give this place a try! As a bonus, you can even take a photo with the irresistibly cute Sir Antonio as a keepsake! How cool is that?
[embed]https://www.instagram.com/p/BC15ku1ARgt/[/embed]PS: I have heard rumors that Sir Antonio aspires to be as successful as Hello Kitty. Give him a hand, will ya!
The Tiramisu Hero Cafe
Address: 121 Tyrwhitt Road, Singapore 207548
Telephone: +65 6292 5271
Opening Hours: 11AM-10PM daily
Buses | 13, 23, 64, 65, 66, 67, 130, 133, 139, 141, 147, 857
MRT | Lavender (6-8 mins walk), Farrer Park (8-10 mins walk)
Ample parking space at multi storey carpark facing the cafe.
Free parking available between 7pm to 7am, Sundays and public holidays.
(Featured image credit: The Tiramisu Hero)
Also Read: Forget Salted Egg Croissant, Cheese Tart Coming Through!
