A Visit to Immanuel French Kitchen

My dream of going to Europe is still lingering in the air... I use to love the French culture for a period of time after working with a French chef @ Equinox. French pastries are classic for all occasions and French food sets itself different from other cuisine...and Paris always sounds like a romantic city to go to when you see your friends posting pictures of themselves under the Eiffel Tower without hashtags of #bonjour #cityoflove #jetaime. Shall continue to work hard and save enough money to fly there in future! 

I was so happy to hear that an ex-colleague fulfilled his dreams and started a French stall in Bukit Merah. I almost got a little lost trying to find my way there via Public Transport. I took a direct bus from Chinatown and it took me about 30mins to get here. 

I was there during lunch and it was pretty crowded. This coffee shop has a different concept - the stalls serves restaurant equivalent quality food but at half the price. Isn't that so wonderful? I somehow felt I stepped into Marche with such a wide variety of stalls to choose from. Simply love the ambience here..such a pity I live so far north-east. Otherwise, I would love to drop by here regularly for my meals. 

 The Menu

The design of the menu is sleek and clean. Easy to read without much cursive handwriting..love it! :) Must try the Pork Belly and French Duck Leg Confit! 

 Digital display of the food menu - simply appealing to the eyes and make you feel like trying all the dishes

 Burgundy Escargots

Not really a big fan of escargots but was glad that it does not have a strong smell. I remembered eating escargots once several years back, and the smell was so musky that I decided never to eat it again. Ha! 

 Crisp and good bread to go with the escargots

 The signature dish - Pork Belly

It is just superb. I have not tasted such good French food for such a long time. 

 French Duck Leg Confit

I was delighted to tuck into my duck confit which is all my time favorite French dish. The skin is slightly crisp and goes very well with the mashed potatoes. So satisfied eating this. 

Braised Bourguigon

This is extremely good! The beef is so tender and the sautéed onions goes very well with it. It is braised in red wine with bacon and mushrooms. I remember braising some beef at home once and the beef was still tough... eating this make me so inspired to learn some how to braise such tender and moist beef. 

Overall, my rating here is 9/10 if not for the location. I love the food here and look forward to going back to try the rest of the dishes too with my family. Immanuel's fine french food far exceeded my expectations and I am pretty sure this place will be greatly raved in the weeks to come. What more, dining here is extremely affordable and worth a visit - Bonjour! 

Address: Blk 119 Bukit Merah #01-40 
Opened from Tuesday to Sunday
Opening Hours: 12:00 - 2.30PM, 6:00 - 9:30PM
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/immanuelfrenchkitchen

P.S. Look forward to my interview with him in the coming weeks! Stay tuned! 

Interview with Madame Patisserie

It is evident that Sherie Quek finds joy in running her business by making everything from scratch - the cakes, pastries and high-tea set. Despite hearing that she encountered a month's delay during the opening last July, she remained unperturbed by the change of plans. Not only does she have to face a $200,000 renovation bill, she was already paying rent and doling out staff wages 3 months before it opened its doors.

Through this, I realized that not only must one have the courage to take risks, one must also have "emotional" courage to cope with whatever challenges that come along the way… especially financial challenges. And not just that, in most F&B start-ups, paperwork is an issue - precious time might be spent just applying for permits for installations and licenses. And you have to be prepared that all these might not go well smoothly. 

Interview with Owner of Madame Patisserie, Sherie Quek….

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1. How did you get started with Madame Patisserie?

(This question is summarized by me as requested by Sherie after she provided me with her story dating back to Primary 5!)

When she was Primary 5, she failed and had to repeat the year. She played truant and hang out with friends till late into the night. In her words, she treated home like a "place to sleep only" and seldom was she found at home. Not forgetting the many crazy stuff that she did…from drinking to smoking. 

Upon graduation from O Levels, she found her having passion in pastry making and desserts. Also, she also began helping out in her mother's catering business. In 2003, she found her break when she joined Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Over 10 years, she worked her way up from a junior cook position to being the pastry sous chef and managing 18 staff. Truly, working in the hotel has given her wonderful opportunities to be exposed to the industry. 

What's her secret to success? "Do what you are supposed to do, and beyond that, take the initiative to help wherever needed." 

However, her bigger dream is to set up a dessert cafe at Boat Quay and to eventually make it a chain. And with that her goal is to strive for improvement daily. "Each day I am challenged with a new problem or a new request from a guest, it is an opportunity for me to become better." 

2. What do you love about your job? 

I just love to bake!! Love to recreate new pairing flavors, texture and love the smiles on customer faces!! Just like you...

3. What are the challenges you face and how did you overcome them? 

Too much challenges when I first started, because i have been hiding in hotel for so many years where it becomes my comfort zone. Things like PR, purchasing of stuff, promotion of food...everything is done by other department but over here, I have to do everything by myself. Things like renovation,equipments ingredients, menu planning, designing of menu, cafe concept.......so many things!!!

But I really learn alot and I am still learning everyday. Just never be scared of failure.. never be afraid to try new things as well..If you never try, you will never know..

4. How do you create a work-life balance for yourself? 

Luckily i have a group of staffs here that really help me out. They are able to work independently without me around. This is a small cafe where everyone of us help one another. Like me, I have to sweep, mop the floor, wash toilet, etc.. Everybody does the same thing.

Sometimes, I will just bring my kids here as well.. To be frank, my hours are more flexible than in the past..

5. What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone who is dreaming of starting out today?

Think carefully in every steps or decision that you made. (For me, I am a person who really thinks a lot that is why I started this cafe only after years of experience and I always have a back up plan just in case…)

After hearing from her, I found myself identifying some parts of her sharing. I, having started out at Swissotel Stamford and Fairmont Singapore as a junior pastry cook apprentice then working myself up to Commis Cook 1 position at Capella Singapore over the 3 years. During those years, it is true that pastry cooks do not just bake. Tasks included washing those big mixer bowls, carrying heavy trays of cakes, packing the inventory stocks in the cold freezer to cleaning the floor… yes, I did find myself going through all the laborious hard work too. And the most memorable event was to "clean out" a pastry shop that is now defunct - Twelve Plus One Cakeshop (which used to be at Rochester Park). Dismantling each and every shelves, packing all the equipments to be sold away.. the sadness still remains vividly in my mind. 

Nevertheless, experience is never wasted when we reflect on them. I am glad to have the chance to go through that path and know what it takes to go through a start-up. Not only that, making friends in the industry and still keeping in touch in these few years! And.. I am also excited to blog about my friend's Immanuel's new eatery at Bukit Merah in the coming weeks. Stay tuned! 

Working with fondant

Last week I tried experimenting with stencils and different colored dust on my fondant cake. Where can we get the edible dust? I usually get most of my bakery ingredients from Phoon Huat. For more extensive range of imported items, I will get them from Bake It Yourself, such as the petal dust. 

Wanting to create a English royal look cake, I colored the stencils silver and gold. Love how the colors turned out! Well, I realise, entering into the world of fondants is quite a costly investment. There are hundreds of stencils available and it all depends on what look one wants to create. Anyway, here's the first 2 stencils made with silver and gold dust.

Next, with the rose stencils, I imprinted a small portion of the fondant onto the stencil, followed by covering the entire stencil with fondant. It does takes a little while to experiment with stencils, especially using the right amount of fondant to get the desired effect. It's actually quite therapeutic after a while!! Time passes so fast that I don't even realise it's noon after working on my cake for 3.5hrs! For the roses, I chose to have a sweet English look.. How I wish back then I had more time to prepare such cakes for my own wedding.. ha.

This is the final look of the cake. For the edge of the cake, I use a crimper to crimp the waves all around the cake. You can get your crimper here. I used the PME closed curved serrated crimper to get the desired effect. This is a very good tool to have because you can create different looks to the cake by varying the degree of the thickness of the waves. And for the top, I made rolled roses in pink. As you can see, I still need lots of practice on my roses.. there are so much things to learn and I wish I can commit more time to pursuing this passion without financial burden. After all, making cakes isn't that profitable as many would think so. The amount of time invested, spending time baking and travelling different places getting the right ingredients, the correct tools and the essential knick-knack just to ensure that cake is made according to customer's desire. ..woah. sounds tiring right? But, then again, with passion, I believe one can overcome all odds and achieve her dreams. One step at a time. 

Currently, I am getting certified in the PME Diploma for Sugarpaste. This is a gradual move towards getting myself grounded in the right techniques for making assorted range of fondant cakes as well as being competent to teach in future. If you keen, do stay tuned to future classes in the coming last quarter of the year. In the past, it has always been a dream to be a pastry chef but in the local scene, being a profitable one is challenging and competitive. Working in the hotel or restaurants restricts me from doing something that I like as most of the time, we have to follow instructions. And don't be surprised that the pay hardly exceeds 2.5K and with that..it's a considerably high for a commis cook. And much more...crazy working hours, seldom weekend off, hectic rush and non-stop action. At the end of the day, it was too tough that I called it quits. I never regret walking that path... because, if I had stayed on, I wouldn't have met my wonderful soulmate and begin this new journey. And along the way, I found myself having greater interest in decorating cakes, more so with fondant cakes and customised cakes. Hence, with time and patience, I hope I can bake your desired cake one day! Updates more again!

This post is written by Linda, Co-Author of The Pastry Lab. 

Tiffany Blue 3 Tier Wedding Cake

Thank you Irwin & Yingjie for having faith in us and giving us the opportunity to bake your wedding cake. She requested for a ombre tiffany blue colored cake and we had so much fun doing it together. Congrats on your marriage and may God bless you abundantly :)

And this is a picture of us with our creation :)

Interview with Percolate

Personally for me, I am not a big fan of coffee although I won't reject one. Give me a mocha and I will fall in love with the good mix of espresso and chocolate. Interesting in the recent years, there is an increasing number of coffee joints sprouting up in our local scene.. not just mediocre ones but really good ones! Looks like we are really spoilt for choices...and to be honest, as working couples, we still have yet to find the time to go cafe-hopping and try them all! 

Having stayed in Bedok district for a good number of my growing up years, I have not come across any cosy coffee place. On one afternoon, I happened to chance upon one and this is one place worthy to be blogged! Percolate is nestled in the heartland of Bedok - yay that's great news for all the Easties (including me!!) It is a humble cosy cafe that is which offers coffee from Papa Palheta with cakes from the Cakestand. Having been here a couple of times, I do quite like the atmosphere and industrial interior design. 

I tried their iced mocha and love the slight nutty flavor. Wish it was a bigger cup and I could savor more... and I heard that the barista used to be working at Loysel's Toy too. Tried 2 different cakes - red velvet and salted caramel cakes. As a baker myself, I must say the texture and blend of flavors is pretty good. Worth trying! 

Now.. let's hear from the team behind Percolate what they have to share :) 

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1. How did you get started with Percolate?
We started Percolate out of our love and passion for coffee. Also, we find that there is a lack of presence of speciality coffee in the East of Singapore, thus the location in Bedok. We want to create a place which we bring together a selection of products and food which we ourselves love and is complementary to our coffee. On top of that, a space which is comfortable and relaxing. We believe what Percolate sells is more than just coffee but rather, an 'experience'.

2. What do you love about your job? 
There are lots of things we love about running Percolate. Other than enjoying crafting and serving our favourite beverage and food, we love interacting with customers, sharing knowledge and our love for coffee with simply anyone who walks through our doors.

3. What are the challenges you face and how did you overcome them? 

Starting a specialty coffee place is no easy task . What made it more challenging is that we decided to have it in the heartlands. Many had doubts if the idea is actually feasible and if there is a potential customer base in the heartlands for such concepts. True enough, we have many who walked through our doors not knowing or understanding what we do here. Fortunately, we are also getting customers who are familiar with these coffees and they are very glad that now, they can find what comforts them a lot nearer to home now. As for the customers who are relatively new to such concepts, we see this as an opportunity to educate and to introduce them to something different but equally enjoyable as compared to the coffees they are used to. We believe that being genuine and patient helps. 

4. How do you create a work-life balance for yourself? 

Work-life balance is very important. The last thing we want is for our passion to turn into a chore. We give ourselves a day off (Tuesday) to recharge, keep up with fitness and also an opportunity to hop around cafés. It helps to relax and also for us to get inspirations to improve ourselves. Of course, work will be off the table on day off.

5. What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone who is dreaming of starting out today?  

Do not be afraid to take the risk to realize your dreams, though let it be a calculated one. Have a well thought out plan, consult the professionals and people around you for advice and ideas. Lastly, stay true to what made you start this. 

Operating hours are as follows:
Mon, Wed - Fri 1030-2130

Sat & Sun 0900-2130

Their cafe is closed on Tuesday.

For more information and new updates, do check out their Facebook. 

Interview with Chronos Chan (Tom's Palette)

I have personally know the owners of Tom's Palette for a good number of years and am very impressed with the success of their ice-cream. Founded in September 2005, from a small little space with about 6 seatings, it has since expanded to be able to cater to the large crowds over the weekends. Tom's Palette also conducts ice-cream workshops and caters for events and functions. I was very pleased to engage them to cater homemade ice-cream for my wedding day! 

The reason me and hubby kept going back to them is not just because they are conveniently located in town at Shaw Towers, but it is an ice-cream palour that specializes in homemade ice-cream with very special flavors! Think of salted egg, longan red date and pear yuzu sorbet.. and much more! 

Chronos and his wife Eunice are an inspiration to me in many ways. Not only are they humble but they constantly strive to provide the best experience and service for their customers. Here's the short interview with Chronos Chan, owner of Tom's Palette.

1. How did you get started with Tom's Palette?

Tom’s Palette is a ice cream parlour opened in 2005 in Singapore, set up by Eunice Soon and myself. Before Tom’s Palette ever comes into the picture, i was a mechanical engineer, while Eunice was a media designer and had a strong interest in cooking and baking.

I was inspired to join the ice cream industry after working and researching with cold plates at Panasonic. I wanted to dive into the ice cream enterprise with cold plates but he later found out that it was not suitable for Singapore’s climate.  Eunice then approached her close friend, who was a pastry chef, and taught her the basic steps of making ice cream. After months of thorough research and trial done in their own home kitchen, they managed to craft the suitable recipe for wholesome ice cream that could withstand Singapore’s climate. We also aims include non trans-fat ingredients in our ice cream, in addition to our stand of not adding more stabilizers into their ice cream.

2. What do you love about your job? 

Both Eunice and myself enjoying eating as much as cooking. Creating and researching in ice cream become a hobby as more than a job or chores for us. We strives to be the most inventive ice cream parlour with the most unique wacky flavours and continue to change consumer’s perception of ice cream by churning non-traditional flavours made from the traditional way of making ice cream

3. What are the challenges you face and how did you overcome them? 

Firstly is hard getting passionate staff who enjoy food n knowledge of food as much as we do. Secondly, it is not an easy task to get customer to accept our wacky flavour and changing the perception of ice cream.

4. How do you create a work-life balance for yourself? 

It is tough for one who is in Food and Beverage business especially in Singapore. We try our best to spend personal time together: watching food program, cooking for each other, eating and discussing about the food we eat at restaurant.

5. What is one piece of advice you would offer to someone who is dreaming of starting out today?

• We must always not be afraid to hold on to any belief in times when met with unfavoured situations. This is because, these beliefs tend to see us through the tough times and bring us to the success.

•  Doing something that is different and no one has ever tried before may allow us to stand out in the crowd! Choosing to follow the norms will not bring out the best in us and we will not know what we are actually capable of.

• Do not lose hope in ourselves when others put us down. Instead, believe in ourselves that we can and go all out to achieve what we want. This is the spirit of an entrepreneur.

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Opening Hours:
Mon - Thur : 12pm - 9.30pm

Fri & Sat : 12pm - 10pm
Sun : 1pm - 7pm
Closed on last Sunday on every month.

Do check out their Facebook Page for more updates! 
And if you do Instagram, check out their Instagram.
Website: http://www.tomspalette.com.sg/

Thank you Chronos & Eunice for sharing your success story!

Interview with To-Gather Cafe (Part 1)

We had the opportunity to do a short interview with To-Gather Cafe last week which opened its doors last year. 

1. Can you tell us more about To-Gather Cafe? 

"The more we get together, the happier we'll be"

Created with Togetherness in mind, To-gather is a home away from home for the young and the young-at-heart (except the fridge is never empty here). Borne out of a family's love for food and a sudden brainwave over cups of kopi o siew-tai, we decided to take the dishes we love most and serve them to you. But it doesn’t stop there; featuring a carefully curated menu where comfort food meets artisanal coffee, we’re bringing you our favourites, without hurting your wallets. Now imagine a sinful plate of (insert most popular dish here) in front of you, followed by a beautiful chocolate lava cake and finished with a damn good cuppa coffee - we bet home never tasted so good. 

As they are in the midst of their expansion, the 2nd part of the interview is scheduled in mid-June. However, attached is the feature in 8 days in February if you have missed that issue.  

TO-GATHER CAFE (8 DAYS FEATURE) - 20 FEB 2014

"If youth entrepreneurship needs a poster girl, bubbly Hong Wei Ting, 21, fits the bill nicely. The Business Studies diploma holder from Ngee Ann Poly co-owns four-month-old To-Gather Cafe in Bedok, with sister Wei Ling, 24, (an architectural associate who designed the homey white brick-walled cafe) and cousin Crystal Yeo, 24, a recruitment consultant. They invested a six-figure sum with the help of their family. Despite their youth, the girls are hawker veterans. They grew up rolling popiah after school at their family's Fortune Food Popiah hawker stall before moving onto management roles when it expanded to a central kitchen with several outlets island-wide." 

"To-gather is their first western food concept." Their uncle, a chef who specialises in western nosh, created the cafe's recipes. They chose a Bedok address as that's where the three grew up and also 'cos "it's nice for eastsiders here to not have to go all the way to Siglap or Katong to visit a western-style cafe." Its moniker is inspired by their favourite childhood ditty, 'The More We Get Together (the happier we'll be). The line is also emblazoned on the wall and its spirit embodied in the mix of cosy tables for two, a long 'family' communal table, and booths for friends to eat together." 

"On the menu: Desserts come from a supplier, but the mod western savouries are all prepared in-house. The Japanese Seafood Salad ($6.90) features greens heaped with fleshy prawns, grilled salmon chunks, Japanese seaweed and fragrant homemade Sesame dressing. 

"Order this: The Grilled Pandan Chicken Chop ($8.90) sounds odd on paper, but it's a surprisingly enjoyable fusion dish. Tender meat is marinated in fragrant pandan and doused with a lightly creamy coconut sauce perked with pineapple salsa."

"Bottom Line: Simply but flavourful mod western dishes at reasonable prices." 

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One interesting feature in this cafe is the KID'S CORNER. Being a family oriented cafe, you can bring your kid along and dine together too! 

We love their interior design tremendously. Cosy to get together with our friends and family without bursting our pockets. It's one of our highly recommended place to-gather here. 

First Kitchen Order: 11:30AM 

Last Kitchen Order: 9:30PM

Operating Hours: 

SUN - THURS: 11AM to 10PM

FRI & SAT: 11AM to 11PM 

*Closed on Alternate Mondays & PHs (Check out FB for our off days notice) 

www.togathercafe.com.sg

facebook.com/togathercafesg

Instagram: @togathercafe