Pastries, The Local Way @ Ming Xiang Tai

One cannot talk about Penang and not have food come up as a red hot topic. There is something for everyone here, be it Chinese, Malay, Indian, Peranakan, anything ranging from the humble hawker fare to restaurants, cafes, coffee shops. The options are just mind boggling if you are a keen foodie (and have the stomach space for a sampling of this and that). Unfortunately I do not have a bottomless pit for a stomach and I can only consume so much (so many more I've yet to sink my teeth into), and also, unfortunately, with age hurriedly catching up with me, the waistline is also rapidly expanding with every mouthful of food I consume, and every gaspful of air I breathe.
I discovered this yummylious little shop just next to the where the famous Chendol stalls are, and a quick visit there yielded me some extra kilos in weight after succumbing to the wonderfully aromatic local Chinese pastries freshly baked in-store.

RaRa and Reddy Visits "Glutton's Paradise" - OTT Cake Shakes @ Cake Spade

Over-The-Top-Milkshakes. An Instagram worthy piece of gluttony that sent the world into a frenzy. News has it that this trend found it's roots in a bakery-cafe (Patissez) in Canberra, Australia. Didn't take too long for the rest of the world to jump of the bandwagon of saccharine bliss. Over at Cake Spade, it seems, have gone one up from the already extravagant OTT Milkshake with their (extremely) Instagrammable Cake Shake. Essentially a hybrid of the OTT Milkshake with an addition of a bust-the-diet slice of homemade cake, each concoction never fail to illicit "Oohhhhs" and "Aaahhhhs" from gawking patrons. Brace yourselves people, we have pictures to drive you into sensory overload!

                 

Green. Go green with envy.  

One Is Never Enough - Bonheur Pattiserie's (heavenly) Macarons

Too much sugar is bad for you. Like pfft, said who? You can never have too much of sugar, don't be silly. Unless you eat sugar by the mouthful whole day long and 7 days a week, then yea, you should be fine with the occasional sweet treats here and there. One of the huge misconception about macarons is - "It's too sweet!" Like no. If you have the right recipe, it can be the best-est tiny piece of heaven you can have! And by the way, life is so short, eat dessert first!

Eye pleasing soothing shades of pastels. And they taste as good as they look

Mad About Sucre - Reddy On Sucre High

Pastries have always been Reddy's Achilles Heel. Being in a pastry shop is akin to a child being in a candy store - eyes are all wide with curious bewilderment, the mind soaks in the multi sensory treat, and the taste buds tingles with excitement on the thought of devouring each and every piece of those painstakingly handcrafted works of art. Enter Mad About Sucre, one of the newest pattiserie in town with pastry chef Lena Chan at it's helm, armed with a prestigious Le Cordon Bleu qualification, and her brother fashionable brother Eric who is in charge of marketing and daily operations. Their small cakes menu change seasonally, the menu is not extensive, you get only a few flavours for each season, but there will be a few signature ones which are usually on the menu on a daily basis - the chocolate dome dessert of "Black San Domingue" and their Hummingbird cake. The service is impeccable - not the stuffy fine dining kind of impeccable, but more that with feel-good warmth and genuine enthusiasm.

Treat Time - Going Local with Rich and Good Cake Shop

Life is short, there is always room for cake. In the spirit of the upcoming Jubilee weekend celebration in our LittleRedDot, a group of colleagues decided to create a pooled order of those infamous Swiss Rolls from Rich and Good Cake Shop. And boy did we order! They serve a multitude of flavours, with Kaya being their signature offering.

Kaya flavour $8.00 for a slim roll of approximately 30cm in length. Now who does not love a good Kaya! Oh, for those not-in-the-know, Kaya is basically an egg and coconut custard painstakingly made by stirring continuously over low flame to achieve that thick, smooth, velvety texture.

Return With A Vengeance - Treats with Pantler @ Telok Ayer

Life is so short. Why hold yourself back from a good dessert? Or two. After stuffing my face with 3 magical concoctions at the first visit, yes, Ms Piggy had to go back to the brilliant Pantler and sample more fantastic works of art. This time it was the Mille-Feuille and their signature Pantler Roll Cake.

Mille-Feuille @ $7.80. Looks like the simplest thing in the world ain't it? But no...... getting the puff pastry perfect - light, flaky and yet crispy is enough to make a few grown man/woman cry. The cream pattiserie is thick and rich (not cloyingly jelak and sugar laden) and you can visibly make out those tiny flecks of REAL vanilla pods. 

Return With A Vengeance - Chef Yamashita @ Tanjong Pagar Plaza

My Achilles Heel. Pastries. Especially when it's within reach. Sigh. Temptation got the better of me and I found my 2 hurried feet wandering to Chef Yamashita's. Again. Yes. Again. Determined to have just ONE, Yuzu Matcha Mousse became the victim of the day.

Treat Time - Flourish @ Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Love the excitement of discovery. Especially if there are cakes involved! Stumbled upon this nondescript joint whilst strolling after lunch. Flourish they are called. Located at the retro shopping complex of Tanjong Pagar Plaza. Tucked in between kopitiams catering to ravenous lunch crowds, they stand out prettily with inviting scents of freshly baked pastries.

Beautifully piped meringues

Treats With The Crowd - Chef Yamashita @ Tanjong Pagar Plaza

Chef Yamashita Masataka, or better known as just Chef Yamashita, is the name synonymous with cakes and pastries of exquisite taste and beauty. He is trained at Tsuji Culinary Institute in Osaka and moved to Singapore 7 years ago from the Nara prefecture where he was running a cake shop for 8 years. For those familiar with the Japanese pattiserie scene in Singapore, you will most probably remember Chef Yamashita for Pattiserie Glace . Fast forward some years later, the talented pastry chef moved out on his to set up Flor Pattiserie and now his current baby, Chef Yamashita, located at a very unlikely place - Tanjong Pagar Plaza.

Look, RaRa and Reddy waiting for a bite!

RaRa and Reddy's Weekend Time - Two Bakers @ Horne Road

T'was a drag-our-bums-out-of-the-house day.The mouth craves something sweet, the mind craves an adventure to an unknown territory, and the flesh is unwilling to venture out into the hot sun. Eventually, after a few wasted movements of the hands of the clock, RaRa and Reddy finally decided to head down to, somewhere where we needed to do some navigating from Lavender Mrt. Armed with Google Map, we were greeted with the sight of a few options in Horne Road. After a few read-ups here and there, our choice for treats today will be at Two Bakers.

Perennial favourite with RaRa, Strawberries! Very Instagram worthy.
Seasonal Fruit Tart @ $8.80

Treats With The Crowd - Bun Master @ Tanjong Pagar Plaza ***Closed at Tg Pagar Plaza. Only open at Toa Payoh. Updated Aug 2017***

Well, I know that there is a bakery here. But never paid much attention, until the discovery of a new favourite affordable lunch haunt, Tanjong Pagar Cooked Food, which just a few steps away. What piqued my interest was the presence of queue poles in front of the shop. That can only mean one thing, that they are popular! Very typical Singaporean, follow the queue haha. Bun Master's the name, and buns (obviously) the game. And yes! They have Golden Sand Bun (baked version), or better known as Liu Sha Pau.

Fresh out of the oven, hot and ooozy! Drooooolz.

Treats With The Lesser Crowd - Pantler

#Rehash from Facebook post#

Being an ardent fan of pastries, someone who appreciates handcrafted morsels of art, Pantler has always caught my eyes everytime I walk by. And yes, it is also packed most times, but just to be kiasu, I headed there yesterday before the lunch crowd sets in and ordered 3 beautiful pieces of pastries - Ruby Tart, Yatsura and Banana Eclair (the taste is reminiscent of Tokyo Banana!), took like a bird-sized bite of each, and requested the staff to tapao the unfinished portions. And.. they willingly obliged, without judging. I believe one of the duo behind Pantler, good looking Matthias Phua (even caught a glimpse of Chef Tomoharu Morita, handsome too!) served me my tapao-ed pastries. "Celebrity" moment.

Will return again to sample more sinful treats, 3 is not enough smile emoticon

Oh, by the way, they have an Online Store WITH delivery.

That, is, a work of art