Dessert Delights

A majestic meal is incomplete without a divine dessert to end it, and that’s where @langelus.sg Clafoutis ($24++) steps in. Clafoutis is a rare dessert in Singapore, and I think L’Angelus is the only French restaurant I’ve seen that serves this old school French dessert. Clafoutis is essentially a crustless tart, as the eggy custard is studded with cherries and baked till gloriously golden brown. Every order of clafoutis is baked to order and it does take fifteen minutes to bake, so you gotta order it along with your entrées.⠀
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Clafoutis has the texture of an extra fluffy pancake crossed with flan, and I enjoyed every bite of the eggy & sweet custard. Topped with vanilla ice cream, this could’ve gotten way too sweet way too fast, but the bitter & sour cherries that have been soaked in brandy injected that sharp contrast to the uniform sweetness of the clafoutis & ice cream. The cherries, besides releasing some of the brandy that was absorbed into it, also injected fruitiness into the dessert in bursts. ⠀
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Even though L’Angelus’ clafoutis is only comprised of three elements, all three elements are excellent and it was assembled by highly skilled hands. L’Angelus is definitely the place to be if you’re looking for some fantabulous French fare, and you bet I’ll be back sometime in the future.

I thought jelly donuts were an American thing, but apparently it’s also a German thing at @berlin65_ig. The Berliner ($8++) is a fairly hefty donut that’s stuffed with your filling of choice. Choose from apricot jam, strawberry jam or a vanilla banana custard that oozes out of the hol-I prefer not to speak. If I speak I will be in big trouble. And I don’t want to be in big trouble.⠀
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Anyway, the Berliner may look laughably simple, but there’s more to it than meets the eye. The insides are doughy yet airy, with a charming chewiness & fabulous fluffiness, but the exterior is the most peculiar of all. It’s a layer of crispiness that shatters to give way to the fluffiness of the donut, and it’s almost like Berlin65 took a donut and tanghulu’d it. It’s incredibly satisfying texturally, and combined with the sweet & sour apricot jam that’s been pumped in, this is a deliciously fructose filled dessert that will absolutely sate any sweet tooth.⠀
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If Berlin65 started selling these Berliners in boxes of half dozens to the plentitude of surrounding offices, they’d be rolling in the dough. Thank you for inviting us, @berlin65_ig & @scalecollab.sg!

It’s my first time having the Vivocity outlet exclusive Concrete, playfully named the Viva La Vivo. The addition of strawberry syrup, frozen strawberry bits, waffle cone bits & rainbow sprinkles add a little whimsy to the thick but plain vanilla custard. The thick frozen dairy treat tastes & has an ultra thick & creamy consistency that reminds me of how good Ben & Jerrys used to be fifteen years ago before they threw their standards off a cliff. I’ve slept on The Shack’s custards for far too long, and it’s about time to get woke.

Perhaps it’s a side effect of turning thirty, but I find myself enjoying traditional Asian desserts a lot more now. From Pulut Hitam to Tau Suan and to Chendol, I love ‘em all. So when I saw that @enjoyeatinghouse offers Teochew Orh Ni with Butternut Squash ($8++), I ordered it without a second thought.⠀
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Orh Ni is a traditional Teochew dessert that’s yam that’s processed into a paste, sweetened and doused in coconut milk. Over here at Enjoy Eating House, they have added butternut squash and ginkgo nuts for a little textural variety. The yam paste was silky smooth and slightly sticky, and each swallow goes down easy thanks to the lubrication provided by the coconut milk. The yam paste was sufficiently sweet and earns the ultimate Asian praise of ‘not too sweet’. The butternut squash and gingko nuts did add extra resistance to the otherwise soft & smooth texture for a little variety.⠀
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If you ever decide to patronise @enjoyeatinghouse , don’t forget to order this delightful dessert so you can truly enjoy eating at this house.

If you thought that @fura.sg small plates were intriguing, wait till you finish your drinking session with some of their desserts. Just like the tapas portions, Fura uses mundane & easily available vegetarian ingredients & reconstructs them into something unique & wonderful.⠀
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For the more peculiar dessert, Fura has a King Belote ($15++) that’s built from zucchini turned into an upsized financier, mushroom ice cream, and lemon yogurt meringue. The zucchini cake is slightly bitter, but it goes perfectly with the salty & umami mushroom ice cream and the sweet & tangy lemon yogurt. Salty, umami, sweet, creamy and even a little bitter, almost every last taste profile is represented here and it was an unexpectedly satisfying dessert.⠀
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Fura has thoroughly impressed me: not only have they managed to make vegetarian cuisine intriguing, they’ve made it plenty delicious too.

If you thought that @fura.sg small plates were intriguing, wait till you finish your drinking session with some of their desserts. Just like the tapas portions, Fura uses mundane & easily available vegetarian ingredients & reconstructs them into something unique & wonderful.⠀
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Take for example this superb Smokey Banana ($12++). Deep fried bananas are dressed in a banana cream, dulce de leche that’s been spiked with Courvoisier VSOP and a pasilla sauce. The familiar flavour & crisp texture of the deep fried bananas resembles that of goreng pisang (deep fried bananas). However, the rich & slightly boozy dulce de leche makes the bananas feel like a banana split instead. Either way, it’s a deliciously sweet way to eat bananas.
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Fura has thoroughly impressed me: not only have they managed to make vegetarian cuisine intriguing, they’ve made it plenty delicious too.

@pilot.sg run of divine dishes doesn’t just end at the big plates (mains), their fantastic form carries over to the deceptively simple sounding desserts.
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The dessert on the specials menu, which was the Apples & Berries ($15++) is equally simple yet equally satisfying. Poached apples are married to a mascarpone berry compote, candied walnuts and milk ice cream for a perfect finale to a delightful dinner. All the vital textures and flavours are represented here: sweet, sour and salty are accompanied by crunchy, creamy, crisp and tender textures to maximise engagement with your whole palate.⠀
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Even though Pilot is a little out of the way, I can definitely see myself flying down here a couple more times to dine at this small but superb restaurant.

@pilot.sg run of divine dishes doesn’t just end at the big plates (mains), their fantastic form carries over to the deceptively simple sounding desserts. The Butter Cake ($12++) sounds so painfully pedestrian that you’d pass over it without a second thought, but you’d be cheating yourself out of a shockingly superb dessert. The butter cake was astonishingly moist but not oily, and each soft & fragrant crumb of cake was a class complement to the salty & sweet camembert ice cream.⠀
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Even though Pilot is a little out of the way, I can definitely see myself flying down here a couple more times to dine at this small but superb restaurant.

(PARTIALLY SPONSORED) We were stuffed to the gills at @estuary.sg, but the beckoning of the Banana Parfait ($18++) was irresistible. Mashed bananas, whipped cream and cocoa power are layered upon one another and covered by the top layer of cookie crumbs. Two little pipettes of whiskey are sticking out alluringly, daring you to inject its alcoholic ambrosia into this sweet treat.⠀
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Banana and chocolate go together like bacon and cheeseburgers, and the sweetness of the chunky banana mash meshed excellently with the cocoa powder. The whipped cream had been beaten until it takes on a texture akin to mousse, and the parfait feels a bit like a cake at times. Inject the whiskey into the dessert for a boozy, oaky and slightly bitter counterbalance to the sweetness of the banana & whipped cream, and you have a so-fish-ticated dessert that’s guaranteed to delight.⠀
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For the last time (for now), thank you for having us @estuary.sg, and thanks to @scalemicroinfluencers for inviting us!

Weirdly enough, the older I get the more I appreciate the traditional sweets, especially Nyonya kuehs. I didn’t expect to find Nyonya kuehs in Bugis, but thanks to a tipoff from @wobblethebui, I found The Nyonya Kueh, a tiny little pushcart stall in the same coffee shop as the famous roast meat merchant.⠀
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I’ve only tried their ang ku kueh, pulut indi and kueh salat so far, but all of them have earned the most prestigious Asian accolade of ‘not too sweet’. The pulut indi’s (left) slightly crunchy coconut shavings are sweetened with gula Melaka for a molasses flavoured sweetness, and the blue pea coloured glutinous rice is fluffy & sticky, but not mushy. The ang ku kueh is a universal crowd pleaser with its marvellous mung bean filling and delicate, sticky skin that’s coloured red. ⠀
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However, my favourite is probably the kueh salat, with the same excellent glutinous rice as the pulut indi, but with a delightful kaya custard layer. I have no idea why the kaya custard layer on top is purple instead of green, but I do know that it’s sweet, creamy, chock full of pandan aroma, and an absolute winner.⠀
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With The Nyonya Kueh, the early bird gets the kueh, as these sweet treats sell way faster than hotcakes. And at an average price of a dollar & twenty cents apiece, these toothsome treats are an amazingly affordable indulgence.

Every good meal deserves a sweet ending, and @charliesgrill.com.sg serves a limited but well curated dessert menu. Due to us being super stuffed from the enormous entrées, we had to pass on ordering the House Made Brownie ($7.90++). Instead, we spilt a Belgian Chocolate Lava Cake ($7.90++), and a slice of Apple Crumble ($7.90++) between us.⠀
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While apple crumble isn’t exactly the same as apple pie due to the former having a crunchy crumbly topping as opposed to the flaky pie crust lid you get on an apple pie. Still, Charlie’s Apple Crumble feels plenty American to me with its sweet, comforting mix of spiced apple filling in a buttery pie crust and capped with a lid of crunchy cookie crumble. I was delighted to find that Charlie’s apple filling is slightly on the tart side, bringing a nuanced balance of sweet, tart and spicy from the cinnamon & vanilla. The only gripe I had was that the pie was served lukewarm instead of steaming hot. It was still decent, but I would’ve loved to see that luscious vanilla ice cream melting all over this slice of apple crumble.⠀
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Thank you so much for the hospitality @charliesgrill.com.sg, and thank you @eatwithkeat for inviting me!

Every good meal deserves a sweet ending, and @charliesgrill.com.sg serves a limited but well curated dessert menu. Due to us being super stuffed from the enormous entrées, we had to pass on ordering the House Made Brownie ($7.90++). Instead, we spilt a Belgian Chocolate Lava Cake ($7.90++), and a slice of Apple Crumble ($7.90++) between us.⠀
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The Belgian Chocolate Lava Cake was very sweet, mainly due to the deluge of melted chocolate contained within the soft cake, but it’s manageable as long as you share it. Of course, a lava cake is simply incomplete without ice cream, so Charlie’s very generously serves every lava cake with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. This sweet frozen dairy treat provides a cold contrast to the heat of the gooey lava cake, and they mingle to form a rich, decadent dessert.⠀
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Thank you so much for the hospitality @charliesgrill.com.sg, and thank you @eatwithkeat for inviting me!