SWEET TREATS

Couldn't resist this Fried Bun with Condensed Milk ($5) even though I was soooo full but it was so worth the additional calories!

The fried mantou have a really crisp exterior and are soft and fluffy on the inside, nothing too sinful until you take a dip into the condensed milk, resulting in a simple yet sinful treat for a sweet conclusion to the hotpot meal.

The Mont Blanc ($9) might appear to be really simple and unassuming, but beneath the chestnut cream is fresh cream blanketed over a vanilla sponge and blueberry compote while the frangipane tart contains fresh blueberries.

Perhaps considered to be the crowd favourite, the chestnut is no doubt prominent, with the blueberry elements providing the dessert with some sourness for an overall balanced and pleasing taste. 😋

The Soufflé Pancakes with Strawberry Preserve ($6) definitely do not appear to be of the biggest portions, but visually they look rather promising!

While the exterior was slightly dry, I love the fluffy, soft interior that has a sweet yet light sort of taste, kind of like a toasted marshmallow, without any trace of egginess, making it already rather enjoyable on its own. 😋 The strawberry preserve is mostly sour in flavour but in a non-artificial way, matching nicely with the pancakes.

If you want a drink to go with your pancakes, I'd recommend the Earl Grey Chocolate ($7) which has prominent notes of earl grey that somehow does not get overpowered by the decadent bitter chocolate. 👍🏻

Fall for autumn vibes with Mad About Sucre's current seasonal desserts; the Chataigne ($24.80+ with tea pairing) is a French chestnut mousse with elements of rum and blood orange infused within the dessert.

Notes of alcoholic and citrus carry through the rich chestnut body prominently yet proportionately, thus enriching the overall taste and experience of the cake rather than overwhelming the chestnut. Frankly speaking, I might have possibly overlooked this at first glance, but with just one taste, I fell head over heels for this simplistic and stellar piece of work. ❤️

I opted for the Twister ($5.90) which allows you to mix two (or stick with one) bases, be it froyo, softserves or even smoothies - yes indeed, they don't just do yoghurt here - and settled for the Ivory Ice Cream, followed by Dutch cookie crumbs, and Matcha Froyo topped with blueberry and acai berry sauce as well as white chocolate sauce. Sounds like diabetes in a cup but the I found the matcha to be the perfect balancing factor to the dessert, thus matching well with sweet toppings and preventing my Twister from getting too cloying. While I LOVE white chocolate and am pretty much confident that it pairs well with matcha, the blueberry and acai berry sauce was what suited the matcha froyo more, and for that, I've never been happier about a spontaneous froyo topping choice. 😂 Addituonally, I really like the Ivory ice-cream which is supposedly vanilla but has a bit of a milky taste to it.

The Matcha Froyo is currently only available at Smöoy JEM and OUE.

Thank you @smooy.sg for the dessert and @mysweetlittletooth for the invite! 🙏🏻

If you love your avocado, then you're gonna loooove this Chilled Avocado Puree with Tiramisu Ice-cream ($10++).

The puree is really smooth and thick, pairing well with the tiramisu ice-cream that has a delectable coffee flavour which seamlessly infuses into the rich puree. So good I downed this simple yet visual treat in a matter of minutes. 😍

Tried the Lemon Tart and Peanut Butter ($4/7/9, 1~3 scoops respectively) with no further add-on's. The former comes with white chocolate chips, while the latter comes with salted pretzels. The texture of the cookie dough is pretty thick and somewhat 'sticky' - for that reason you'll notice that it's not easy to put a pretty scoop into the cup - while the former flavour has a sourish taste that's contrasted with the inclusion of white chocolate chips for sweetness. The latter feels a lot richer and heavier in taste, and comes with salted pretzels. Personally preferred the lemon tart because it had a lighter flavour in comparison and took a little longer to reach that unwanted state of 'jelat-ness'; word of caution: do not be deceived by the seemingly underwhelming serving and bring a friend down to share (or more if you wanna try more flavours), or perhaps consider adding on a dollop of softserve ($2.50) to allow for some textural contrast.

Ultimately, I felt like I needed lots of water after I finished my share of the cookie dough, but that said, I did enjoy this while it lasted! Being such a unique concept in Singapore, I definitely believe that it is worth checking out, especially for the sweet tooths.

Been a while since I've had something and thought, "Wow, this is genius!"

The Pear and Cheese ($8++) is the only dessert dumpling that will be available at @dumpling.darlings for a long while but given its uniqueness - at least in Singapore's food scene - I don't see that as an issue, but rather this might be one to be craved for and remembered by return visitors, or at least I would. 😂

Encased in each dumpling (total of 5) are poached pears, cream cheese, vanilla bean and Amaratto (an Italian liquer). The sweet pears are the clear standout here with the alcohol and vanilla bean coming through to add more depth in flavours to the crisp, piping hot dumplings. Cream cheese could be given more prominence, given the name of it, but even without it, these are still pretty bomb dumplings. The dumplings are served with a side of Tasmanian honey ice-cream; super unique and has a very interesting palate that strongly works well with the flavour of the dunplings. It has that unmistakably pure sweetness of honey but it doesn't overwhelm, and I am able to have it on its own as well. Really loved the ice-cream more and more with every spoonful. 😍

Overall, I'll say that your meal here really would not be fulfilled without having this to conclude it proper. Not only is it a well-executed, literally hot-and-cold dessert, but it is a well-executed, kickass dumpling as well. 😋

This Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake ($8) has a rather strange texture as the tad dry batter breaks apart in lumps with the frosting.

The saving grace? Its slight nutty fragrance and mild sweetness from the frosting, which resulted in me actually finishing this. With refinements, this would be a pretty spot on slice of cake. 👌🏻

Can't go wrong with the TMT which is not too sweet while still distinguishable that the flavour is as what our beloved orange-coloured drink tastes like. Have it on its own or pair it with the signature Seasalt softserve for a beautiful contrast of colours. If you like ice-cream on cones, go for their black waffle cone for $6.40. 🍦

On that note, I certainly am looking forward to the new rotation of flavours! 😁

Having had their croquembouche some seasons back, I had complete faith and confidence as to what I was plunging into as I gave the Five Stones - light yuzu, mango, sage, pineapple - a taste, with the 'five stones' elegantly glazed croquembouche towering above a thin white chocolate base sitting atop the flawless mousse.

The way to eat this is to have the pastry and cake altogether in one mouth, but I decided to try the components separately anyway and my, oh my, what a treat. You get the sourness of the light yuzu within the pastry together with the natural sweetness of the mousse and cake base, resulting in that perfect balance of flavour that can only be achieved with the meticulius care and love which had won me over since my very first visit. I promise I'm not exaggerating. ❤️ The tea pairing, by the way, is amazingly on point as to how it contrasts with the cake's sweet and sour flavours. You might say it's 'just tea' butnIf anything, it truly does complete the dessert experience here, and I ain't even the greatest tea appreciator, whatnot. 🤩

Having had the set lunch here, I could not possibly forgo the option of having dessert, and starting from $20.90++ for a two-course, I think it is very worth the price and standards!

Of course, the dessert I was most excited to try was the Houjicha White Chocolate and Cream Cheese Tart ($13.90++) and it was really interesting how the rich and thick cream cheese flavour matched the robust and bitterness of the houjicha powder from none other than @matchayasg; cream cheese tends to get 'jelat' very quickly but I didn't feel so for this. White chocolate was a pretty much overshadowed or missing but with such strong flavours, I could easily overlook that. Breaking into the tart will reveal a luscious flow of that cream cheese as the houjicha slowly breaks itself around. ❤️ The dessert comes with chewy dango and kuromitsu, as well as a dollop of shao xing ice-cream, a very strange but somehow fitting ice-cream with a strong kick of saltiness that manages to pair well with the dessert but might be a little too much on its own if you are not a savoury dessert person.