Looks Better Than It Tastes

Ah Chew, just a few doors down, was already spilling over, so we settled at this dessert place instead – a mistake I'll never make again. Three out of four of the things we ordered were absolutely horrid, especially the sesame paste, which had such an off-putting bitter, acrid taste that I'm certain it'd been burnt.

I can describe all three of these with one word: Disappointing.

Let's start with Joséphine, which I characterise as the pastry equivalent of a human bimbo – all looks and no substance. The choux had evidently been frozen, as the pastry was terribly tough and stiff, while its stuffing of raspberry compote was quite gummy and more like a gelée.

The Mont-Blanc Praliné, I also disliked for its unappealingly sticky texture that reminded me of a mooncake's lotus paste filling. Hidden layers of hazelnut cream, whipped cream and crumbly meringue did nothing to alleviate the already saccharine weave of chestnut cream on top.

Finally, the Cheesecake Mangue-Passion – an unexciting specimen of mango and passionfruit cheesecake that tasted very pedestrian. Even the assembly of the cake's layers – toasted coconut and almond biscuit base, mango and passionfruit jelly, and cream cheese mousse – was shoddy and did not reflect the high-end image that Angelina projects of itself.

At an average of $13 per confection, this is exactly the type of food I would pay for once and never again.

Today's rather disappointing take-out. 😞 It seemed so promising – a Taiwanese-style bento of rice plied with pickled vegetables, cabbage, pork done three ways (roasted, breaded, fried), half a braised egg, a slice of Taiwanese sausage, and braised tofu – but everything was cold, as if it'd been prepared hours before and left sitting out at room temperature.

The char siew was possibly the worst of the lot, with a dry, leathery texture that I gave up trying to swallow.

Last night's not-so-great burger – my medium-done beef patty was pretty tough and dry (too much flipping, maybe?), and lacked seasoning.

I wish they'd used cream cheese icing or cheesecake ice cream to really drive home the "red velvet" angle. If I hadn't known, I'd have thought I was just eating a chocolate waffle with vanilla ice cream – oh wait, that is what I was eating... Red velvet whut????

I don't want to sound mean cos I'm all for enterprising F&B enthusiasts with eager young staff, but there is only one way to break this down: this was terrible. The chicken was neither soggy nor crispy, more like a weird airy cross between the two, the meat itself bland and uninteresting. Meanwhile, the moisture from the salad seeps into the lacklustre waffle, which was notably undercooked – there is a difference between "soft and fluffy" and "soft and mushy", and this was unfortunately the latter. I'm really sorry, but there was absolutely nothing redeeming about this dish.

Which turned out looking a little scant, though, with overcooked eggs and limp bacon languishing over a bland waffle. 😕

I hardly leave a pasta dish unfinished even if it's bad because I like pasta that much. But this, I left half untouched.

Poached eggs on toast, accompanied by back bacon, smoked salmon, smoked duck and salad – a whole lot of food but not a lot of substance. The eggs hadn't been drained properly so it leaked streams of water when cut into, soaking their bed of bread in an instant; the too-sour hollandaise was runny and needed more butter and egg yolk. The smoked duck was overcooked and had an unattractive powdery texture, while the bacon was too dry. The only thing that was acceptable was the smoked salmon, which probably came from a pack in the supermarket.

Looked so fresh and full of promise, but I was sorely disappointed by the butter-poached lobster, so undercooked that chunks of it were translucent in the middle. The mushy, sashimi-like texture with butterhead lettuce and bread was just off-putting.

Fried chicken that delivered little else besides crispy skin. Meh.

Not sure how traditional this really is, seeing as how the sauce was really watery and more lemony than eggy/cheesy. The homemade fettucine was also sadly too thick and clumsy, and I wouldn't recommend this dish at all.