PARK

Yet another "Finally I've tried this place!!" eatery that I fell in love with ^^ So glad that it's just steps away from where I work. Haha I suppose you can guess where I work now, and I'm super happy to be working in such a foodie area. It's exactly suited for me! Sam tried out this place even before I did, and he seemed pretty satisfied with the food! Glad that I had the chance to try it out one of the days after work, and I was really impressed! 

Sam ordered the same dish he had the previous time - shows how much he like it :P That was good for me because I was really curious to find out what the draw of this place was! He had the Linguine pesto alls Genovese with sundried tomato and mushrooms ($15.90). I really liked how the generous shreds of cheese atop the pasta gave it a sharpness that pulled the creamy flavours of the pesto together. Alone, the pesto was a tad mild in my opinion (would have liked it to be stronger!!), but the addition of the cheese gave it sufficient punch. 

I thoroughly enjoyed my Thai Thigh Burger ($16.50). Actually had quite a hard time deciding what to order because quite a number of dishes sounded really awesome!! But I'm really glad that I chose this ^^ The honeyoat bun was a surprise with its really crisp texture - very different from fluffy burger patties that I typically prefer, but it was good in another way! I really liked how it added a crunchiness to the dish, which complemented the tender and juicy chicken thigh. With a tomato salsa and sweet thai chilli dressing, the burger was super flavourful! It comes with a choice of two sides and I decided to go for the healthier choice of mesclun salad and pesto tomato salad. The tomato salad was refreshing and had a rather interesting taste! 

Definitely would like to come back sometime since it's so convenient :) It was surprisingly crowded early on a Friday evening! Guess everyone was there because....TGIF ;) 

PARK

281 Holland Avenue 

Tel.: +65 9721 3815

Next Door Deli

Aptly named since this cafe was set up right next to its parent company, Pine Garden Bakery, I can't believe I took such a long time to check out this hidden gem. I actually wondered whether it'd closed down because I couldn't believe that a cafe could survive for such a long time in the heartlands. I was proved wrong. Next Door Deli serves up a mix of local nosh at wallet-friendly prices, and the food is really quite decent! The menu isn't extensive, but there were a number of items that caught my attention.

I was wavering between the Wok-fried Mee Siam and Wok-fried Laksa ($6.50) and opted for the latter in the end, since it's something I've never heard of before. For the price, the portion was really generous (I couldn't finish the noodles!!) with a bunch of prawns, a whole fishcake and a fried chicken wing on the side. The laksa had a spicy kick to it, but could have been more flavourful. It's a pity that the cafe didn't have green chilli! But the samba chilli did the trick for me as well, adding the final touch to this dish.

Sam ordered the healthiest item on the menu. I feel so ashamed when I eat with him now :P Haha. The Tomato Basil Fish Fillet ($7.90) was really tasty though!! The sauce was lightly tangy, which made the fish appetising, and together with the potatoes and vegetables on the side, made for a rather filling combination. 

The great thing about being located next to the bakery is that you can just get desserts from next door! (: We were greedy after dinner and popped over to get a couple of slices of the highly raved-about alcoholic cakes. We tried the Lychee Martini and Moscato Soursop. Pine Garden is really the place to go for affordable, yummy cakes. While they weren't the decadent, dense cakes that we're used to, but they're delicious in their simplicity. Much lighter, and wonderfully fluffy, the flavour is more like a wisp, rather than in-your-face-tasty. I wished the alcohol aroma could have been stronger, but while it was barely perceptible in the cake, I was pleasantly surprised to find the flavour lingering long after I'd finished the cake. 

Decent food, and very reasonable prices :) Now that I've discovered this place, I'm definitely coming back.

Next Door Deli

Blk 529 Ang Mo Kio Ave 10 #01-2369

Tel.: +65 6458 6180

Mon-Sun 11am-10pm

N.O.M. No Other Meaning

Rainbows make me happy, when skies are grey ~

Haha wheeee I finally tried an awesome rainbow cake! This craze has been going on in Singapore for the longest time but I'm really quite deprived of these pretty eye-candies! The only other rainbow cake I've bought so far is the one from The Coffee Daily, which really didn't bring out the rainbow-ness with its colours more geared towards pastel tones. I was so happy with the Rainbow Cake ($7.90) at NOM though!! :) It was gorgeous ^^ Just look at that!!! It comes in three flavours for the "cream" (or whatever you call it) - salted caramel, oreo and chocolate. Perfect excuse to go back for more, because I want to try the other flavours! We tried the oreo, and it was soooo yummy! The cake was perfectly moist, with just the right amount of cream, and it was so so tasty. We also had the Peanut Chocolate Cake ($5.90) which was really decadent. Loved this as well.

To balance out the sweetness, we ordered a serving of Sweet Potato Fries ($5.90). Hmm okay, maybe "balancing" is not really the right word to use xP hahaha. But it was still a savoury dish! Really liked it!!! The fries came piping hot, nice and crisp on the outside, and soft inside. They were addictive. And knowing how I actually like savoury food more than sweets, I couldn't help reaching for this in between mouths of rainbow cake. Hehe.

So far we were really satisfied with everything we'd ordered. And I've heard that the mains at NOM are pretty good too! Tried a bit of Linwei's NOM Orange Duck Salad ($7.90), and I'm so inspired to come up with something like this for my own salads too! It was a scrumptious salad with mixed greens, smoked duck, orange slices and a really tasty goma sauce. No idea what that means but it was delicious! (: 

This cafe is situated in MacPherson Community Centre, which is a really random place to have a cafe. Lucky easties!! It was really hard to get to though - a zig-zag 15min walk from the train station through an HDB estate. But I'm already thinking of my second visit for my fill of rainbow cake... ;) Oh yes, and prices are nett!!! Which makes this cafe really affordable :) 

N.O.M. Cafe

MacPherson Community Club Level 1 

400 Paya Lebar Way

Tel.: +65 6747 3839

Mon-Sun 11am-11pm