Paris Brest avec le eau noire shake at TWG

Mid day escape to TWG at Swissôtel The Stamford.

We had an eclair shaped Paris Brest previously. Here's another in a more common form. Nice. Loved the praline crème and salted caramel amidst the textures and toasted hazelnuts. 👍🏼👍🏼

No, I did not escape the Dulcet Rose today. But we ventured out and also got us their eau noire shake. Eau noire according to the menu is black tea with lavender, flowers and chocolate. I tasted chocolate and spices. Bugged me that I couldn't tell specifically which ones. The shake's a little dry - meaning that it left little aftertaste which I liked. I wanted to say that it's pretty good but in a flash of lucidity, I realized that's kinda vague-ish and subjective so I'll go with I enjoyed it.

Some stuff from Hoshino Pancake

Stopped by Hoshino Coffee at ION (#B3-22 ION Orchard, 2 Orchard Turn, tel : +65 6509 8638). Mango pancake's nice. Odd thing was, it was the smell that caught my attention. It smelled like bananas.

There's a "Paris Brest" on menu. Did not taste anything like one. There's barely any hazelnut flavour. Instead of praline, there's just real nuts stuck on top of the pastry. This was merely a cream puff that may or may not have looked like a Paris Brest.

Re-visiting Alice Boulangerie @ Icon Village

Quick one from Alice Boulangerie.

Basque bleu cheese tart. 😬

Not as melty as I imagined but the blue cheese flavour was a superb blend with the creamy sweetness and the buttery pastry without being overpowering. 👍🏼 

Nicely done Paris Brest. Choux pastry was a little denser than I imagined though.

Not bad hōjicha cream latte.

Couldn't get past the orange Americano. 😬 While there are probably a few renditions of this drink around, this one was I suppose, a bit more......indulgent. That coming from the orangey sweet creaminess. 

Frog legs, veal sweetbread and lamb at Gaston

Been a while since we were last at Gaston.

This was our first time doing lunch here.

Sautéed frog legs with watercress coulis and garlic. That watercress coulis was buttery, earthy and delicious. We mopped the plate clean with bread. Frog legs here were pretty small comparatively with those from Le Bistrot du Sommelier or Atout but that watercress coulis.......

Pan seared veal sweetbread wrapped in veal farce and filo pastry with Cancoillotte mash & mushroom sauce. Crispy buttery filo pastry wrapped around meaty veal farce enveloping delicious chunks of sweetbread. Pretty obvious we loved it. That mushroom sauce was also moreish. Tasted like it had wine in it. Mopped the plate clean of the sauce.

Pretty good grilled lamb leg with spring vegetables and lamb jus. Meat was relatively tender with a good bite and a little bit of fat for that lamb-y flavour. That harissa on the side was spicy and bitter. Also made sure none of the sauce was wasted by getting extra bread.

The sourdough mop.

Finished with a Paris Brest and a bitter black coffee. A satisfying lunch.

More drinks from TWG

This was the TWG at Takashimaya. We broke out of the Dulcet Rose routine and tried a Hawaiian Breeze. The menu described it as a mocktail of fresh pineapple juice, creamy coconut milk and Number 12 Tea. Definitely getting the pineapple juice and the coconut milk wasn't as creamy as I imagined - which was a good thing. I don't know what's the Number 12 Tea but it tasted suspiciously like rooibois. Anyways, we liked this.

This was Indian Night Tea shake. Menu described it as black tea with spices, vanilla & caramel. Personally, it reminded me of payasam. Or any of the numerous Indian desserts made from rice/cottage cheese, milk and sugar. Milky, sweet and gently spiced for this one but I'm not sure if I'm getting cardamom here. Will come back for it again.

Tea break at TWG

This one at MBS (B1-122/125 The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, 2 Bayfront Avenue, tel : +65 6535 1837). The cosier one closer to the MRT station which is bathed in warmer hues than the other sunny space.

Still haven't gotten past their Dulcet Rose.

There's a crab and prawn club sandwich which we haven't seen before on the menu. Kinda "juicy" from the dressing if you know what I mean. Not bad tasting but don't expect to be blown away by the quantity of the crustacean fillings. I also don't remember them having fries as an option.

Buttery toasted bread on their Croque Salmon which featured smoked salmon and Comté. There was supposedly some black tea infused béchamel but I couldn't taste it. The butter, smoked salmon and Comté were enough to keep me silent. 😬 

Don't know what this is called but they were kinda like the eclair shaped versions of Paris-Brest. Choux pastry filled with praline mousse/cream and surprise butterscotch thingy inside. I liked this.