Archive for 2015

Xmas Project #4: Lebkuchen Biscuit Box

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I've been wanting to try making a biscuit box ever since that episode on The Great British Bake Off (where 99% of my inspiration comes from), and I've finally done it! Granted, execution leaves much to be desired, but I'm pretty happy with one or two things, like how the holly leaves came out. The box is made out of Lebkuchen, which simply put, is kind of like the German version of gingerbread, but the dark colour is achieved with rye flour instead of molasses, and honey gives it it's chewy, sticky consistency. 
I tried to keep this simple-ish by limiting it to two types of piping tips, a leaf tip and a small round tip, but who are we kidding, this was a pretty monumental task, especially since we all know how bad I am at piping in general. I won't go into too much detail on how to pipe the decorations because I'm a terrible teacher, so here are some videos instead. 

Border Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPX1YlHuU-4 (I used two types of borders from the 8 given here, a ripple border for the top of the box, and a combination of a ripple border and swag border) 

For the Christmas Wreaths, I didn't find a good tutorial, so I just kind of winged it by piping individual layers of leaves in a circle, then layering it with more leaves to make it look more like a wreath, and then I just topped it with some holly berries. 
I wanted to make things more organised, so I piped the holly leaves and Christmas wreaths on baking paper before hand and let them dry completely (at least overnight), and then stored them in plastic containers. When the Lebkuchen was done, I just piped some royal icing behind them and stuck them on the sides. It worked perfectly for the holly leaves, but the wreaths were extremely fragile and some of them broke along the way, so if you don't want them to crack (like the one below), maybe practice piping them on baking paper first, and then pipe them directly on the Lebkuchen box. 
I also didn't want to use fresh royal icing since it wasn't going to be eaten immediately, and I'm a bit paranoid about uncooked egg whites, so I just got some pre-made royal icing at Cakeville. Quick shout out to Cakeville for having like, literally all your baking needs. Seriously, if you're ever missing something you need for baking, you need to check this place out. Plus prices are quite reasonable. It's not cheap, but for stuff that's practically impossible to find in regular German supermarkets, it's not exorbitant either. If you want to check this place out, it's on Wörther Str. 23, in the Prenzlauer Allee region.
 Also got some edible glitter there to make things even more festive. 

So on to the actual recipe! 

Ingredients


  • 300 g rye flour (Roggenmehl, or type 1150. Don't get Roggenmehl Vollkorn, that's for bread and contains little bits of grain in them, but get Dunkles Roggenmehl)
  • 180 g brown sugar (or Rohzucker)
  • 10 g cinnamon
  • 10 g baking soda
  • 20 g Lebkuchen spice (or, if you don't have it like I did, improvise with ground ginger, nutmeg and plenty of cinammon. Cloves and ground coriander would be ideal, but how many of us have that well-stocked of a spice pantry hmm?) 
  • 2 eggs
  • 80 g honey 

Method

  1. Mix eggs, sugar and honey in one bowl, and flour, baking soda and spices in another. 
  2. Slowly mix the dry ingredients into the wet, until they come together to form a dough. 
  3. Knead a little more to ensure ingredients are evenly distributed, then wrap in cling wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours, or overnight. 
  4. Take out of fridge and roll into thickness you desire. I personally think I could have gone thinner, but these were such a bitch to roll out because the honey made the dough incredibly sticky. 
  5. Cut into 6 pieces: the top, which should be slight bigger than the bottom, and two of the sides should be longer than the bottom, to allow for overlapping. Unfortunately, I wasn't neat enough with my measurements and they came out a bit wonky, which explains the messiness of the box overall 
  6. (Optional since I didn't do this step, but I think it would help) My pieces turned out a little too puffy for my liking, so I think ideally, one should make a few shallow holes with a fork evenly throughout the dough after you've rolled it out to let some air escape. 
  7. Bake for 15 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius. I opted to make mine a little more crispy to ensure the dough would hold up during construction. 
  8. Leave to cool completely. 
  9. Pipe ripple and swag borders on each side, then leave to dry completely. 
  10. Pipe a thin line of royal icing on each side, and join the pieces together (except for the top).
  11. Leave to dry completely
  12. (optional) To hide the icing that you used as a glue, pipe a simple border on the corners to cover it. I just piped little round mounds. 
  13. Fill with cookies from Xmas Projects #1, #2 and #3!


That's it for my epic Christmas baking journey! Happy holidays everyone!❆❅❉ *<]:{)❆❅❉

Xmas Project #3: Gluten-free Snowball Macaroons

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This one is for the gluten-sensitive out there, or if you just love coconut like I do. These are super easy to make, and perfect for this time of the year because they look like little snowballs! Well, if you didn't toast them as much as I did anyway.

 Ingredients


  • 1.5 cups shredded coconut
  • 2 egg whites
  • 0.25 cups caster sugar (Alternatively, replace with honey or agave nectar if you want to go sugar free) 
  • pinch of salt 
  • Bittersweet chocolate 
  • splash of milk

Method

  1. Whip egg whites and salt with an electric mixer, adding sugar slowly until mixture becomes frothy. If you want more of a meringue consistency to the macaroons, whip until stiff peaks form. If not, leave it frothy. 
  2. Add coconut to mixture.
  3. Take walnut sized pieces and roll into balls. 
  4. Bake for 12 minutes on 180 degrees Celsius (fan assisted)
  5. Leave to cool for at least half an hour.
  6. Melt chocolate on very low heat with a splash of milk . 
  7. Dip macaroons in chocolate and leave on baking paper for chocolate to harden. Alternatively, you can drizzle chocolate over the macaroons in a zig-zag motion. 
And that's it! One of the easier recipes in this bunch, and very yummy, although fair warning, it will be extremely sweet if your coconut shreds are already sweetened, so try to get unsweetened coconut if you can. 


Xmas Project #2: Tea Bag Shortbread Biscuits

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I made these a while back ago, but they seemed to pretty well-received so I thought they'd make good Christmas presents too. You can jazz it up and use strings in festive colours to tie the cookies up with, so they really look like tea bags. I made these with Earl Grey Tea leaves, but these would work well with any type of strongly flavoured, loose tea (I recommend black teas over any others because the smokiness really goes well with the shortbread) 
Nothing goes better with tea biscuits than actual tea. 

Ingredients

  • 3 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves (either get loose ones, or just open up an actual tea bag!)
  • 2.5 cups all-purpose flour (Weizenmehl)
  • 1 cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 0.5 cup caster sugar (finely milled white sugar)
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1 pack vanilla sugar (or 1-2 tsp vanilla extract)
  • Bittersweet chocolate, 100g (optional)
  • Some sort of string 

Method

  1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy, then mix in tea leaves
  2. Mix egg yolk into wet batter.
  3. Add rest of the dry ingredients (flour, salt) into the wet batter and mix until it comes together to form a smooth biscuit dough (I recommend using your hands for this)
  4. Wrap in cling film and leave in fridge to rest for at least an hour (or overnight) 
  5. Roll out dough into approximately the thickness you want for the biscuits (maybe 0.5 cm? )
  6. If you have a square or triangular cookie cutter, this will be really easy. Just use the cookie cutter and then cut the edges to form a tea bag shape as seen above. If not, you can do what I did and make a template yourself, and cut the biscuits out by hand one by one. (This takes forever, so have patience!) 
  7. Poke a hole in the top of the triangular peak with a chopstick, a toothpick, or whatever you have on hand. 
  8. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan assisted, if not then 200)
  9. Bake cookies for 15 minutes, then once done, leave to cool.
  10. This part is optional, but if you want to dip it in chocolate , then melt the chocolate over low heat with a splash of milk or a tiny dollop of butter, then dip the cookies into the chocolate and leave to cool until it hardens. (I put mine in the fridge to speed things up)
  11. Tie the string through the hole you made in the biscuits. 
And that's it! These are so addictive to munch on, you might be tempted to just keep them all for yourself and enjoy them with a cuppa and a view. ʕ•ᴥ•ʔ




Xmas Project #1: Candy Cane Cookies

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It's almost Christmas time, and this year I've got an idea. I have a four (maybe five) part special planned on biscuit recipes to make for that someone in your life with a sweet tooth! Why biscuits? Well, they're the perfect bakes to give as presents, they're relatively easy to make, you don't have to worry about getting a perfect rise, you can make them ahead of time and they won't go bad (or you can freeze the dough and bake the cookies when the day comes) and they're fuss-free to package. 
The first part of this Christmas special involves a recipe that's maybe a little bit kitsch, but hey, what's Christmas if not kitsch-y, eh? 


These are chocolate and vanilla candy-cane cookies. You can of course, replace the chocolate bit with peppermint flavouring and red food gel colouring to get a traditional candy cane colour, but I personally am not a fan of peppermint in cookies, so I went with chocolate instead. The only problem with incorporating cocoa into a biscuit recipe is that it changes the consistency of the dough quite a bit. I was going for an intense cocoa flavour, so I put half a cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to 1 cup of all purpose flour, which was a big mistake. The chocolate cookie dough came out a bit too crumbly without the extra gluten in the flour to hold it together, so I've revised the ratio to about 1:5 cocoa powder to flour. That should work better in keeping the dough from crumbling when you're twisting it around. 

Ingredients

  • 1 egg
  • 1.5 cups all purpose flour (or type 405 Weizenmehl in Germany) (for the white parts)
  • 1.25 cups all purpose flour (for the chocolate parts)
  • 0.25 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 0.5 tsp salt 
  • 1 pack vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp vanilla extract/flavouring)
  • 1 cup butter, softened 
  • 1 cup powdered sugar

Method

  1. Cream powdered sugar and butter together until pale and fluffy. 
  2. Add egg, vanilla sugar and salt and mix until incorporated.
  3. Divide batter into two. 
  4. Add flour to one batter, and flour/cocoa powder mix to the other batter.
  5. Mix both until smooth cookie dough is formed. (I recommend using your hands for this bit)
  6. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or more. 
  7. Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
  8. Take walnut sized amount of both white and chocolate parts, roll each into a long strings, pinch ends together and then twist together to form pattern of the candy cane. 
  9. Continue until all batter is used up. 
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes, then leave to cool completely. 


Et voila! After you're done with the cookies, you can package them in little plastic bags and tie them up with a nice ribbon, as seen below, and give them to friends, relatives, hey, maybe even make amends this holiday and give them to your enemies. This package below is for a friend, but I've kept a few extras for an extra special present that will be featured at the end of this Christmas series, so stay tuned for updates! 

Berlin Bites: Udon Kobo Ishin

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THE SEMESTER IS OVER AND SOMEHOW I SURVIVED??! This post is long overdue because these photos were taken MONTHS ago but it's probably perfect for now because it's starting to get cold again (although it's uncharacteristically warm for December, no? Global warming anyone? )
So I finally found a great udon place. It's not that cheap, but if you have a plain udon without too many toppings you could get a bowl for about 6.80 euros.  I don't think there's too much to say about it, this photo pretty much sums everything up. LOOK AT THE SIZE OF THAT BOWL! It's bigger than my head!I definitely recommend the Niku Udon over the plain udon broth, the plain one was for me too watery and flavourless, but the Niku was great. Full of umami, steaming hot, great , chewy udon, can't ask for more. 
Side note, this place serves Calpico! For the uninitiated, it's a probiotic drink similar to Yakult, but I personally like the taste better. Also, there are a couple of really innovative udons featuring carbonara sauce  on the menu that I haven't tried yet, but definitely intrigued me. 

You can find Udon Kobo Ishin in the region around Hackescher Markt, so it's great if you're going to the Museum Insel for a visit! Don't confuse it with another Japanese restaurant also called Ishin though, because you're not going to find udon at the other place (as far as I know).

Address: Litfaß-Platz 1, nearest S-bahn Hackescher Markt. 
Opening Hours: 12:30 - 9:30 pm every day except Sunday, 5:30 - 9:30 pm








Mandy Bakes: Chapalang Quiche

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It's deadline time again, and we all know what that means! More writing on the blog to procrastinate from the ever growing pile of work I have to do, and then having a mental breakdown as I struggle to finish everything on time! Yay! On today's procrastination post, we have a recipe for 'chapalang' quiche. For the uninitiated, 'chapalang' is Singlish for 'a mix of everything' (see synonym: rojak). Basically, this is me trying to use up a random mix of items in my pantry before they go bad by throwing them into a quiche. The recipe is relatively straight forward, especially if you use store bought pastry dough, but me being me, I like to waste precious time I could be using to write my policy paper on pastry dough. So, on with the recipe! ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Ingredients (Serves about 4-5)

(Disclaimer: I'm using US measurements here because I have yet to buy a kitchen scale and can only base things off of my measuring cups)

For the Pastry Dough: 


  • 1.5 cups of plain flour (or type 405 Weizenmehl in Germany) 
  • 4 tbsps of chilled butter (DO NOT melt)
  • 0.5 tsp of salt
  • approx 3-4 tbsps of cold water 

For the Filling:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1.5 cups of milk
  • 0.5 tsp of salt 
  • 0.5 tsp of pepper 
  • 0.25 cups of parmigiano reggiano
  • 1 cup of any other cheese, e.g. chedder or swiss cheese. I used swiss cheese here. 
  • Any filling you want! I used here dried tomatoes, smoked salmon and chicken breast ham

Method: 

  1. Prepare the pastry dough first. Sift flour and salt together.
  2. Rub chilled butter and flour together using your fingertips, until the flour has the consistency of wet sand. 
  3. Add a tablespoon of water to the dough and continue mixing, adding in more water until the dough comes together. 
  4. Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour. In the meantime, prepare the filling. 
  5. Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper together. (that's pretty much it for fillings. I told you it was straightforward)
  6. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius. 
  7. Once dough has been in the fridge for 30 minutes, take it out, roll it out thinly and cover your tart tin with it, pressing dough into edges. (Due to my appalling lack of proper baking equipment, I had to resort to using a loaf tin)
  8. Put baking paper over the tin and pour some baking beans (or rice, or regular dried beans) over the baking paper and blind bake your crust for 20 minutes. Then, remove the baking paper and baking beans and bake for another 5 minutes. 
  9. Turn down oven to 160 degrees Celsius, place cheese, salmon, tomatoes etc., in the bottom of the quiche shell and then pour egg mixture over it. Bake for 50 minutes (depending on what tin you use really), then leave to cool for another 10-15 minutes before serving. 

 You can always trim the edges to make it look fancier if you're serving guests! If not, devour on sight. 
I was a little too eager and did not wait for the quiche to cool before I served, resulting in this gooey mess here but oh well. Really easy to make, and great for those cold winter days when you want something hearty to fill you up!

Berlin Bites: Pacifico

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DISCLAIMER: You may get eye cancer from the following photos because they are pretty bad quality. Apologies for the shitty quality, but the restaurant/bar had this typical 'ambient' lighting (read: dark) so...deal with it. ¯\(°_o)/¯

Anyway, on to the important bit. Pacifico is a Korean-Californian fusion restaurant located in the region of Moritzplatz (it's actually right near the exit of the U-bahn so, pretty convenient). I came here with my family when they were visiting, so there was the opportunity to try out more things on the menu. The menu isn't super extensive and is limited to burgers, 'taco' buns and bibimbap (Korean rice bowls), but my god, do they do them well. Their burgers are by far the most BOMB-DIGGITY creations I've ever had. The buns are extremely butter and soft, and the patty cooked to a perfect medium/ medium rare. My brother had the OC burger, not complicated, no extra kimchi or any other ingredients. Just a good ol' regular burger. 
We also ordered the Kimchi fries to share, which was insanely delicious. I love the combination of sweet potato fries, regular fries and kimchi mayo. My only complaint? Too little sweet potato fries! I love those little suckers. 
 My pick for the night was their 'Chinese Cheater'. For the Singaporeans/ Malaysians out there, you might be familiar with the concept of a Kong Ba Pau. The bun here is very similar to that, but larger and stuffed with crispy duck, coriander, cucumber and hoisin sauce. Love x infinity the combination of crispy duck and coriander. Mmmm. Might need to consider cooking this as a dish at home. 
My parents went for a traditional bibimbap bowl (because they are boring lulz sorry mom) which was also pretty good. Never been a big bibimbap fan so I can't comment on whether it's delicious or not, but it definitely wasn't bad. 
All in all, Pacifico gets five stars from me. Great food, at a great value! The buns and burgers cost around 5-7 euros, which in my opinion is a steal. Take note that they only accept cash here!

UPDATE: Came here again for Lunch today, the Kimcheezy burger is DABOMB. My new favourite burger in Berlin. Also, new tip, if you top up your buger by 2.50 you can get Angus beef!

Address: Oranienstr. 147, Berlin, nearest U-bahn Moritzplatz
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat, 12:00 to 24:00, closed on Sundays

Berlin Bites: Lao Xiang

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Now that exams are over (for the time being), it's time for the food adventures to begin once more! My quest for good dimsum in Berlin brings me to Lao Xiang in Prenzlauer Berg. Now, chinese food is a bit of a touchy subject for me here in Berlin, because very few places that I've tried have tasted authentic enough (despite the fact that some of them were run by Chinese people as well, strangely). Even fewer of these places actually serve dimsum, which is a big difference from London where the dimsum tastes, arguably, even better than the restaurants back home. One of the things that makes it really hard to find good, authentic Chinese food is the lack of a Chinatown in Berlin. In New York and London, it wasn't much of an uphill task. You just had to head to the nearest Chinatown and like a child in a candy store, you had your pick of restaurants, most of them serving pretty damn delicious food. Well, imagine my delight at finding Lao Xiang. Translated into English, Lao Xiang basically means 'hometown', and the food here really brings back memories of home. 
 First off, this lovely, hot, steaming, delicious bowl of prawn congee. Perfectly done, just like how I would have it at Crystal Jade, or even one of the fancier kopitiams. Simple, but well done. Also, very good value for money. This was a 'small' bowl and it was enough for two people to comfortably eat.
 The pièce de résistance of our trip, the dimsum. It's not a very big selection, admittedly, but I was just happy to actually find Xiao Long Baos that I didn't care. The broth in the XLBs was amazing, piping hot and full of flavour. My only gripe is that the skins on both were far too thick, and a bit clumsily done. Nevertheless, very enjoyable.
 Pop some ginger and vinegar on top and Bob's your uncle! Deliciousness in a bite.

I was feeling a bit decadent and ordered the Shanghai duck, which was a big mistake because the serving is HUGE. AND it comes with rice (which I didn't touch at all because of all the congee I had).
Overall, very pleased to find a place that serves pretty good XLB. Not the best I've had, of course, but my standards have been considerably lowered since being in Berlin, and I'm ecstatic just to find any that actually has that delicious, porky broth inside. Everything else also tastes great, most authentic place I've been to so far and great service. This one gets the Tummyadventures stamp of approval!

Address: Wichertstraße 43, 10439 (nearest S-bahn, Prenzlauer Allee)
Opening Hours: Open Monday to Sunday, 12:00 to 23:30

Berlin Bites: "Krautwende" at Probier Mahl

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I am probably wasting a bit too much time writing this instead of studying for mid-terms like a good, diligent student, but I figured I needed to put this up soon before next year's Berlin Food Week rolls around again. This year's theme for Food Week was "Krautwende", or cabbage reversal, and the challenge to plan the menu around this theme was taken up by 50 restaurants all over Berlin, offering three to four course meals from 29, 49 and 78 euros. Being the poor student that I am, I naturally went for the cheapest deal at 29 euros at Probier Mahl. Forgive the crappy photos because I had forgotten to bring my camera with me that day and had to resort to my infinitely inferior phone camera to take these pictures (Also I was a bit stressed because there were so many old people there judging me as I took countless photos of each course. Any other foodies out there also experiencing this type of social anxiety or is it just me??)

 For our appetiser, we had a  Sauerkrautsüppchen mit Blutwurstlolli, or a sauerkraut soup with a blood sausage lolly on a stick on top of it. Definitely a very interesting concept, I don't think I've ever had sauerkraut as a soup before, but I enjoyed it. The intense sourness of it reminded me very much of soljanka. I am, unfortunately, not a big fan of blood sausage, and this Blutwurstlolli did not do much to change my mind. My stance on blood sausages remains as anti as ever.
 The main course was definitely my favourite, and is described as "Eisbein auf zweierlei Art
Carpaccio und Krokette vom Eisbein mit Wirzkohl-Senf-Chiffonade und Kartoffel-Taler an Kerbelschaum", which basically means (pickled) pork knuckles made into carpaccio and croquettes, with a chiffonade of savoy cabbage tossed in mustard and lastly potato Thalers (not sure how to translate this, maybe medallions?) on top of a chervil foam. While the previous course was very German (you can't get more German than sauerkraut, come on), this reminded me of a meal I had before at Barnyard in London, so quite English in a sense, with the mustard and the savoy cabbage. Small as it looks, it's actually surprisingly filling! I was pretty full by the time I had finished my plate and almost didn't have room for dessert in my burgeoning stomach.
But of course, this is me we're talking about, so naturally I shouldered on to dessert. This was a bit different from the menu online, but if I identified the components right, this was a Rotkraut-Portwein-Eis mit Apfel Minz Kompott und Erdbeeren, or red cabbage-port wine ice cream with an apple mint compotte, and some random fruits here and there like strawberries and raspberries. I have no idea what the seaweed-like thing on top was, but according to the menu it is a "Wirzing-segel" which literally translated is a savoy cabbage "sail", but who cares what it's called? It basically just tasted like slightly caramelised seaweed, but good nonetheless. My only complaint is that the ice cream melted WAY too fast, and also not a big fan of compotes in general (fruits should be eaten fresh!), so the dessert was only a hit for me in the taste of the ice cream but not the rest of the components. I also felt that maybe the chef ran out of ingredients and threw this together at the last minute, because the components don't seem to come together to form a cohesive end note to the meal.

All in all, I would say I definitely enjoyed myself, Probier Mahl really rose up to the challenge to think of innovative and new ways to to incorporate cabbage into the mix. While some things were a hit, and some were a miss, the creativity that went into the menu really impressed me. Lastly, the service was phenomenal. They were a tiny bit slow with the food since they were pretty crowded, but other that that, the food severs were incredibly responsive and very friendly, so five stars just for that! Would like to go again to check out their regular menu though.

Fun fact: "Probier mal" means to have a go at something, while "Mahl" means something along the lines of "meal", put them together and you get "Probier Mahl"! Pretty nifty name for a restaurant, in my opinion.

Address: Dortmunder Str. 9, 10555 Berlin
Opening Hours: Mon - Fri 16:00 to 01:00, Sun 10:00 to 00:00

Berlin Bites: Bikini Bites Berlin

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It's officially Berlin Food Week aka the most highly anticipated week EVER (well in my books anyway). The boyfriend and I decided to get a head start on Food Week by going for one of the food markets advertised on their website, Bikini Bites Berlin! We got there pretty late as Bikini Berlin is a little far from our apartment, but there were still a couple of food trucks open so naturally we had to try them out. 
Okay, usually sweets after savoury, right? I'm way too excited about my find though so I had to put this first. I FOUND MATCHA ICE CREAM. Like, really, really good matcha ice cream. In Germany. Can you believe it? Jones Ice Cream is an ice cream truck that makes their ice cream flavours with no egg, fresh milk and cream, no preservatives, no food colours, no artifical flavourings, 100% organic...basically it's the modern man's conscience in the form of ice cream. The best part is, it's actually really, really good. I'm not being biased here just because I love matcha. I had another flavour hidden in my cup, which was the chocolate brownie and it was just, perfect. Super dark, rich, fudge-y, not too sweet.... it even surpasses my all time favourite chocolate ice cream flavour, Ben and Jerry's Chocolate Fudge Brownie.
Since it is a food truck, I know it can be quite a task to track it down, but you can always check their Facebook Page (link attached) to keep track of their whereabouts!
I know, this is a really bad picture, but trust me, the food at Pic Nic 34 is phenomenal! Pic Nic 34 is a food truck that serves up serious, high quality Italian food. We had the fried seafood set because, well, we love our seafood, but their sandwiches made with traditional Italian bread are the reigning superstars here. Do yourself a favour, and ask for the Petersilie sauce, you won't regret it. Once again, you can follow their whereabouts in the link.
I probably shouldn't be blogging about this because it is making me SERIOUSLY HANGRY. I can barely eat anything with my TMJ right now, but hey, here's to hoping it recovers before my next Berlin Food Week adventure, where I'll be trying out one of the Stadtmenus (city menus) that are available in several restaurants all around the city for Food Week! Some of these are pretty good value, about 3-4 courses ranging from 29 to 79 euros for the fancier restaurants. You can check out all the menus here, on their official website.

London Lobang: Japanese style Cafés

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It's that time of the year again when everyone's heading back to uni. Actually, I started lessons three weeks ago already haha, but I know all my friends back in London should be starting pretty soon, so I thought I'd procrastinate on doing my readings by sharing some lobangs I have! There's a huge selection of Japanese restaurants in London, some better than others, but not a huge selection of Japanese style desserts. Here, I'm mostly referring to a more contemporary style of desserts, for example, cakes with matcha and anpan (japanese sweet red bean) and that generally have a much lighter, fluffier texture with reduced sweetness, as opposed to traditional Japanese sweets and desserts like dorayaki. There are definitely some gems around though, and here I present to you my two favourites.

1. Lanka
This one is an absolute gem. It has to be one of my favourites  and I've been here more times than I can count. It's not just that the desserts are great, but the general atmosphere is just so...cozy. How do I even describe it? I guess the best description I can give is that it resembles a Japanese perspective on French cafés, so, very charming in an Amélie sort of way. The service is impeccable. Every single time I've been there, the service has been top notch. The servers are incredibly friendly and warm, and occasionally, if you're lucky, the chef serves up some free samples of things like macarons, or some seasonal treats (I've had this about two or three times). 
The menu tends to rotate everyday, depending on the chefs whimsy, with occasional seasonal treats (e.g. pumpkin cupcakes around fall, strawberry millefeuilles around spring, and so on). I'll try to make some recommendations, but there's no guarantee that they might be on the menu on the particular day you turn up. My top picks would be the strawberry green tea shortcake (best. shortcake.ever. Plus, I'm a big sucker for shortcake so this would always be on my favourites list), the Earl Grey Creme Brulee (although this one might be hard to find since I haven't seen it on the menu for awhile, but if it ever pops up DEAR LORD get it, it is by far the best creme brulee I have ever had) and the chocolate fondant (basically a fancy lava cake, but so good).  
The famous but elusive Earl Grey Creme Brulee
Swiss roll wasn't bad, but wasn't spectacular either
Hazelnut tart. Wasn't a big fan of this, it wasn't bad but not my favourite

Pretty simple, green tea gateau cake but I love green tea so I love this
The tea here is equally heavenly. My personal favourites are the rose green tea and Queen's Choice (a slightly citrusy black tea).  If you had to go anywhere on this list, make it Lanka, you won't regret it I swear! The only downside is that there are only two or three tables since it's a pretty small place, but if you go on weekdays it's generally not very crowded!
Address: 9 Goldhurst Terrace, London NW6 3HX, United Kingdom
Opening Hours: 10.30 am - 6.30 pm Mon-Sat, 10.30 am - 5.30 pm Sun


2. WA Cafe
Not to be confused with the one in Singapore, WA Cafe is a little bit further out in Ealing, but worth the trip out of Central London. What I like about WA Cafe is that there's a large variety available, because it sells not only desserts but also japanese style breads in both sweet and savoury form. Their menu is a little more static (read: permanent) than Lanka's, but availability also depends on the time you arrive, and whether it's been sold out or not. WA Cafe is considerably more crowded than Lanka, although they have a few more tables available, so avoid this place like the plague on the weekends! Or, if you can't make it on any other day, at least arrive early in the morning because by the time it gets to around 10.30-11, this place is PACKED.  

Raspberry tart, and white bean (and green tea?) bread. Recommend the bread over the tart.
These two guys are some of my top picks, the mini choux trio (top) which consists of black sesame, green tea and white bean filling and the chicken kaarage(fried chicken) roll (bottom).


 The strawberry shortcake was pretty good, but I'm spoiled by Lanka, so nothing else really compares anymore


Two other top picks: The Sakura Mousse Cake (it tastes as good as it looks) and the Sesame Cheesecake. LOVE the cheesecake, but it's not for those with an aversion to sesame because the flavour here is pretty intense. The base is made of a black sesame crust, and topped with a glazed sesame biscuit as a decorative topper. The cheesecake is soft, smooth, creamy and the base to filling ratio is just perfect.
Address: 32 Haven Green, Ealing, Greater London W5 2NX, United Kingdom
Opening Hours: Mon-Sat 8.30 am to 6 pm, Sun 9.30 am to 6 pm, closed on Tuesdays

Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed the lobang and have fun before the routine of uni kicks in! xx







Listicle: Best local flavour desserts in Singapore

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Hello all! I am finally in Berlin, but amidst all the hustle and bustle of settling in, I'm really missing home, so I decided to put together this listicle as a form of reminiscence on the experiences the past few months in Singapore. I'm a huge fan of incorporating local flavours (e.g. Kueh kuehs) into bakes, and these are a few of the bakeries/ cafes in Singapore that I think have done a fantastic job of fusing these flavours with western style bakes! So let's get started. 


1. Orh Nee Cake and Pulut Hitam Tart at Bloomsbury Bakers
Definitely my favourite of all, because these were just SO well done and delicious The Orh Nee Cake is made of a very light sponge with orh nee stuffed in between, and a light orh nee buttercream to top it off. Very light, yet extremely taro-ish somehow. Very well-balanced cake indeed and cannot recommend it enough.
The Pulut Hitam (black glutinous rice) tart was just PHENOMENAL. My mother, who doesn't even like pulut hitam much, loved these. I've come across a lot of bakeries in Singapore that just don't get how important the crust is to a tart, but here at Bloomsbury Bakers they do. The crust is thin and crispy, without being burnt. The pulut hitam lies at the bottom of the tart and a delicious, coconut cream layer drapes over it. 
Also, how cute is the decor here? Totally reminds me of my time studying in London. It's is a little out of the way, under some HDB blocks in the Bendemeer region, but it's absolutely worth the trip. 
Address: 30 Bendemeer Rd #01-889, 330030
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Friday 11am to 7pm, Saturday 10am to 7pm, Sunday 10am to 6pm, Closed on Mondays

 2. Ondeh Ondeh Cupcakes at Fluff Bakery 
I've been obsessed with Fluff Bakery's cupcakes for the longest time and started following their Instagram page long before I was even back in Singapore to try their cupcakes. The star of their cupcakes, in my opinion, is the Ondeh-ondeh flavour. The pandan cupcake is ethereally light and fluffy, and the gula melaka filling is orgasm worthy. They also have plenty of other local flavour bakes, such as teh tarik and goreng pisang cupcakes, although I have yet to try them. 
Address: 4 Jalan Pisang Singapore
Opening Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 12pm-7pm 

3. Taro Waffles at Froth Cafe
Technically, not really a flavour profile that's exclusive to Southeast Asia I suppose, although I feel it features quite predominantly (re: Orh Nee, etc) and I can't help but put this in because I'm obsessed with taro, and this is one of the better waffles I've had. Be warned, the waffles are more dense than fluffy, which I personally like but others may not. What makes this a winner is the intenseness of the taro flavour throughout the waffle, and the generous dollops of taro puree. Tip: Don't go on a weekend, you'll never get served in time! 
Address: Big Hotel Lobby, 200 Middle Rd, 188980
Opening Hours: Monday to Sunday 7-10am then 11.30 am - 10pm

4. Milo Ice cream with Waffle at iScream
Not a bake, as with the previous ones, but had to give a shoutout to iScream because it's located in my neighbourhood, Bedok! One of their fan favourites is the milo ice cream, but they also have some other local ice cream flavours! Another big plus is that students get 20% off on weekdays! If you're ever heading here for some ice cream, I can definitely recommend the crispy waffles. They are, true to their name, crispy but also very fluffy on the inside.
Address: Blk 89, Bedok North Ave 4, #01-109
Opening Hours: Monday to Thursday and Sunday 3pm to 12am, Friday to Saturday 3pm to 1am