Upgraded my brunch from Crystal Jade Kitchen to Crystal Jade Palace. Found new favourite dish roast duck truffle noodles which the noodles were springy and full of truffle flavour with the soya sauce base.

I didn’t choose the buffet. The buffet chose me. I don’t know how they did it but almost everything looks and tastes good on this Japanese buffet menu. Special love for the hotate mentaiyaki, donbinmushi (soup in teapot), mentai sushi, mentaiko truffle fries, the thick sashimi slices and the grilled menu. Nice ambience overlooking the Clarke Quay and Fort Canning hill. $45.90++ all you can eat

Meet their offspring Cruffin. I got the Lemon Curd Cruffin ($4.5) and also its dad aka the Croissant ($3). .
Shaped like a muffin using a special mould, the Cruffin was delicately baked with many layers folded with lemon curd within. Citrusy-sweet, buttery, flaky, fluffy, it was a delicious mess to devour. .
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The Croissant was crisp on the outside and airy on the inside. I bought this at 8am but only ate it in the afternoon and it still has the full rich buttery flavour, a hallmark of a good croissant. .
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Legend has it that the Cruffin babies get on the shelves in 2 batches at 745am and noon but are sold out by 10am and 2pm respectively on weekends. I happen to be in the neighbourhood on a weekend. Well, if you ask me, it seems like the perfect thing to wake up and get their freshly made artisan breads on Saturday 8am. .
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📍 Bakery Brera, Singapore #JourneyToTheWest

Can never get enough of the Lobster Otah and Durian Pengat. Pro-tip: There’s a 1 for 1 dinner promotion for HSBC Entertainer app.

But their Dark Chocolate Fondant ($12) is perfect too. The chocolate lava cake had a light airy texture which is perfect with the rich and warm chocolate lava. Its white counterpart, the cold vanilla ice-cream, is unadulterated goodness and I approve its quality. Can tell that real vanilla beans are used from the aplenty black specks. Not some artificial vanilla flavouring.
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📍 Saveur (Purvis St), Singapore

Go if you are feeling broke but want nice Indonesian buffet in Orchard area (read: endless Tauhu Telur / fried bean curd with fried egg drizzled with sticky sweet sauce). $19 nett charity price for lunch buffet. 📍The Rice Table, Singapore

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Buyer beware though: This KL-style smoky & sticky barbecued roast pork can be really fatty on some days. I love that they use chicken rice instead of the usual white rice. The chicken rice itself can be another feature item on its own. Don’t even get me started on the chilli. Totally bring the foodgasm to a different level. Queues are still manageable for now. Seems like not much people know abt its existence at LPS yet. *hopes nobody reads this*
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📍Roast Paradise, Lau Pa Sat (facing Robinson Rd)
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#WeekdayEatWhat

That’s what the menu said. These really challenged our bellies after a feast. Each is the size of a teacup. They weren’t joking. Although the egg custard was smooth, I found the taste one-dimensional, and the crust was a bit thick for my liking. Luckily there’s Yuzu sauce at the bottom of the tart which makes it easier to finish. Interesting twist to the egg tart. ($6 for 2)
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📍Forbidden Duck, Singapore

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Long review: According to Forbidden Duck, this “pre-order required” signature slow-cooked Peking duck is supposedly dry-aged to intensify the flavour, then gently cooked to medium rare, with the meat still pink and retaining all its natural juices. The duck is then roasted on high heat for a short time to sear and crisp the skin. But pls don’t expect the usual Peking style which the skin comes in a crispy thin wafer with layer of fat beneath. It’s a roast duck, not a Peking roast duck. .
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Personally I also think that the accompanying plum sauce which I believed contained a sour ingredient didn’t go well with the duck. The calamansi buns were a bit sourish and too thick for the duck. Give me my thin crepes anytime.
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$58 for 0.5 duck, $88 for 1 duck.
. 📍 Forbidden Duck, Singapore

If there’s only one thing you can order, go for this. It’s unreasonably good.. as if the soup broth was cooked for hours and extracted all the sweetness of the seafood and duck meat and this is the resulting essence. Very savoury and umami. There’s like duck meat, roast duck skin, scallops in this. And I like how they add the rice only before serving. The rice is crispy and they only add to the soup broth before serving, with the rice popping in the hot broth for dramatic effect.
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📍 Forbidden Duck, Singapore

Rich collagen broth ✔️ Fatty roast pork slices ✔️ Springy thin Hakata noodles ✔️ Savoury runny eggs ✔️✔️✔️ Best is we got 1-for-1 using Burpple Beyond. What a deal. This is not an advertisement.

The sorcery work of Olivia. .
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A cheese tart wanting to be a cheesecake, this is made with the best part of Spanish blue cheese minus the pungency, and cream cheese. It’s baked long enough for the top to be caramelised into a golden brown layer and bottom into an almond tart base, but short enough for the cheese to stay creamy and in a molten state. The crux lies in the taste of the cheese which left us speechless, literally. Where did they find such perfect cheese? It’s light enough for 2 to share but I think will be too heavy for 1 to finish. .
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Leaked recipe in link below. You’re welcome:
https://m.buro247.sg/lifestyle/food-and-drink/how-to-make-olivia-restaurant-lounge-s-creamy-homemade-cheesecake.html