New: Au Chocolat at MBS

Au Chocolat is the first made-in-Singapore French-inspired concept store with a bistro dining area and a retail confeserie with a wide selection of chocolate and candy. (this is taken off their website). It occupies a rather large area of level 1 of The Shoppes with 2 main parts, a bistro serving a huge variety of food (Crepes, pasta, all day brekkie like french toasts, pancakes, eggs, Western mains, sides like sweet potato fries, truffle fries etc and many more!) and the other is the retail section selling cakes, pastries, bon bons, truffles (the choc ones), gelato, merchandise and such. 

The decor is certainly very whimsical and French-like and not to mention rustic, it seems like vintage is THE style right now of eateries. The staff here all wear straw hats and red aprons that blend in with the old feel of the place. Technically there's supposed to be like 'characters' and you follow them on their journey in the shop (frm what I read before they opened) but I barely saw any characters for me to follow or any story haha.

NOTE THIS: if you want to buy cakes/pastries or anything from the retail section to eat in the bistro section you've to pay $2/piece to eat there! SHOCKING OR WHAT??? Think they shld waive this $2 if ppl are alr eating at the bistro or sth. Argh.

Retail area (to the left sells gelato but today there were like only 3 flavours in the counter -.-)

Interior of the bistro area!

Train that goes round the bistro and they have another one at the bistro! This successfully attracts many kids :)

The napkin is thick but rough, not good for wiping mouth haha

Parma Ham Crepe

Quality aged prosciutto de parma, sweet rock melon & fine Swiss gruyere cheese

$18

Served with salad topped with Au Chocolat's unique chocolate balsamic vinaigrette

The crepe was not hot at all nor was it warm when it was served, I dont know why. And its so thin that its kinda non-existent. Like additional carbs and calories that you cannot taste and feel cos its so thin!! The rock melon was really sweet and it also came w walnuts and cranberries which added to the taste and texture of this crepe making it quite wonderful to eat in one big mouthful! I like that they use diff types of cherry tomatoes and there are rocket leaves/arugula on it as well so it makes a good mix of tastes when you eat everything together! But nothing spectacular though. The sauce, is a little sweet and savory but cant really taste it unless you eat the sauce alone. Ok if you're up to indulge (money-wise). The parma ham was great and went well w everything esp the melon and the walnuts! 3.4/5

Pssst I saw a plate of sweet crepe I think was the orange & tangerine or sth but it looked super not value for money, like crepe + some fruits on top and sauce then its $16??!

Stuffed French Toast

Two slices of brioche bread filled with plump berries & indulgent mascarpone cheese coated with cornflakes for that ultimate crunch

$18

This marries Wild Honey's french toast and Dean & Deluca's! Wild Honey's cos its stuffed w sth + mascarpone (WH's is peach I think and its berries here) then D&D's idea of coating it w cornflakes! To me, its not as fluffy and thick as I'd like it, quite a thin piece unlike WH's bread and the cheese's q watery idk why! Certainly a nice crunch from the cornflakes. Quite nice still though as a whole! The boy said it got a bit boring towards the end. 3.2/5

Tarte Au Chocolat

Decadent tart with a dark chocolate filling, praline cream & rum toffee bananas, served with vanilla gelato

$15

We were kinda like woahhh when the tart came cos honestly its the biggest tart I've eaten in my life! I think... Ok anyway this is REALLY decadent and delicious :) I could finish this on my own but if you're not a crazed dessert fan/chocoholic like me, then I suggest sharing this cos it can get a little jia lat or too bitter or too sweet towards the end cos it IS huge! The ganache is thick smooth and slightly bitter which is good but somehow towards the end, it gets kinda sick. The tart shell is not bad, breaks off nicely (tho a little hard at first) and is crumbly, not too thick either. Very yummy in fact if you share it w ppl!! The cream doesnt really add much to it when eaten tgt w the tart, I actually like it more when eaten alone!

The bananas just taste like normal bananas but much softer. The gelato is SO impt here 'cos it breaks the monotony of the hugeass tart and the gelato is good so ya towards the end was: tart > gelato > tart > gelato combi haha. Quality gelato too with lots of vanilla specks :)

At least this place gives portions that matches the price unlike many many oth places that charge exorbitant prices for dessert but give minuscule portions!  4.2/5

Rustic French Apple Pie

Flaky chocolate puff pastry crust filled with cinnamon-scented apples, topped with buttery crumble, served with vanilla gelato & salted caramel sauce

You can barely see the pie crust here hahaha and it certainly chocolate puff pastry!!! Totally normal, no chocolate. Its like not a pie but just a layer of pastry at the bottom and some resemblance of a pie at the end towards the left but that's abt it! The rest is the FILLING! Large chunks of well-cooked apples stewed w cinnamon, butter and all things sinful and yummy haha. The crumble is quite sparse but the apples were good! Quite hard to cut up the puff pastry below. The pie got jia lat towards the end too. So sharing is very much encouraged!! 4/5

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Just some things that I saw: the fries are served like how Swensens served theirs and the portion's roughly the same! And the chocolate cake in the desserts page is HUGE, even bigger than PS Cafe's black out cake and all oth choc cake slices I've seen haha. And 2 diff ppl ordered today and they both couldnt finish towards the end! Suggest sharing w more than 1 person.

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Now on to what the retail section sells!

Some sweets - big macarons, bars

Marron choc tart if I'm not wrong

Cupcakes

These sliced cakes are $8 each! They also sell whole cakes! There's matcha, choc w many diff combis and diff flavours.

Black Sesame Cheese cake $8/slice

And they have a section on cheesecakes! NY Style, white choc raspberry, matcha w oreo base, mango ginger (interesting), Dutch apple etc!

Gummies

Jellybeans

Chocolate truffles

Service was not bad at the bistro, though can be friendlier and more attentive. Portions for desserts definitely very big, recommended for sharing. Will not be in a hurry to go back due to prices!! But prices are kinda understandable cos of their obviously-high-rental! 

They're located 2 floors above the ice skating ring!

Au Chocolat

01-03 The Shoppes MBS

Website (their menu is there too, click bistro)

Windowsill Pies

Went to the Yule Market at Loewen Gardens at around 11am? It wasnt very crowded at that time and it was fairly easy to get a seat! Saw the Windowsill Pie stall once we went in and they had taste testers for their pies! And they're quite big pieces, which I think is obviously a good thing haha. Tried their apple pie that they have specially for Xmas, and was really impressed! So we got a slice (:

Its $6.90 for the piece above in that picture. Its quite worth it because there was a huge-ass piece of apple on top which was sooo soft and flavourful - sweet with a little rum, raisins were studded throughout and most importantly, the custard wasnt too sweet! And laced with just enough rum to make you go mmm~ and smile. The pie crust is just the right thickness, slightly crunchy and crispy.

We were so impressed by the pie that we bought 4 slices of pie home! Should really give this pie a try! Their pecan pie was another hot seller too, but didnt try it! Pie for another day!

They have a shop as well, with the address below. I believe they're regulars at the Farmers Market, cos I've seen their FB page and they've been there for the past few times! But there arent any Farmers Mkts till next year so, go down to their shop!

 The people are really friendly and cheerful!

Windowsill Pies
#01-206, 2 Pandan Valley, Acacia Court (Pandan Valley Condominium)

Farmers' Market, Loewen Gardens

Hi everyone!

I decided that I had to go to Farmers' Market at least once, so I went down last Saturday! The place is quite easy to find, so dont worry, just that if you dont drive, you prolly have to walk quite a long way! And if you drive, prepare to park somewhere else and walk because parking space is really limited!

Pastries from The Pantry (which is the cooking sch that hosts the farmers' mkt)

A booth

To the left was people selling cookies and on the right is Delcie's Desserts. I must say, all stallholders there are really friendly and they allow you to try almost all their products!! I tried the carrot cake (thing on the far right) and it was really moist. I tried the brownies too (squares in front) and they were the moist and a bit heavy kind of texture.

Blueberry muffin $5 - Delcie's Desserts

This was totally not up my/Mom's alley :( sad to say! I was hoping it'll be nice and all, but sadly it had no taste at all, even tasted like cardboard to me :/ Mom said it was the taste of flour. Idk, I couldnt taste blueberries at all even though I could see many of 'em. It was $5 for such a small muffin too, felt that this was really not worth the money. I feel bad for typing this because Delcie's a really nice and warm person! But sorry :( the muffin doesnt work for me!

Paella - $5

Wow!!! This was really good! The rice was really flavourful and for $5 a plate, you had so many ingredients (cant really see frm the pic) but lots of seafood was given! This was the small plate, you can order another for $10. I remember the signage which says they're from Bilbao, the new Spanish restaurant at 111 Somerset! Will prolly go down to try someday! They were also giving out jamon samples!

Mixed salad from The Pantry - $15

Basically you can choose from the diff salads they have on offer! Any 3 kinds = $15, of course you can choose lesser/more than 3 kinds! The tomatoes were THE BOMB I tell you!! Each big round tomato was so juicy that once you put it in your mouth, it pops and all the sweet juice spurts out!! Really really great! The quinoa was good as well, pumpkins were fresh and I had the lentil salad as well (at the background, kinda hidden), which was really flavourful!! 4.6/5

Chicken Pie from The Pantry

Mom kept commenting that the crust was really good, there was a subtle buttery taste which she loved and there were a lot of ingredients too!

Coffee Walnut Cake - $7.50

The texture of the cake is the reallyyyy crumbly sort, so if you dont like these kinda cakes, I suggest you not order! Though their cakes look SUPER tempting cos they're really in your face when you order anything from the counter at The Pantry cafe haha. It was studded with walnuts which I love, but you cant taste coffee except in the frosting that came along with it. Else the cake's like a plain cake w walnuts! 3.4/5

Popaganda Popsicle - Beet & Lychee $4

Have been wanting to try their popsicles for a long time and I'm glad to say that they've not disappointed me!!! It was a really hot day and this popsicle totally made it much more cooling!! It was refreshing and the lychee taste wasnt overly sweet! Tasted really real (ie doesnt feel like you're eating sugar cos yknow they use sugar to make it sweet or sth) and was a joy to eat (not just on a hot day!) 4.5/5

Raisin Scone - $4.50

Their scones are really yummy and huge!!!!! Though I ate it the next day and reheated it, it was still crumbly on the outside and fluffy on the inside!!! Really really good scone! 4.6/5

Most of the people at the market were expats, so it kinda felt like you aren't in Singapore anymore. And the place is quite small so it gets crowded quite easily! The Pantry offers the usual breakfast items as well - pancakes/french toasts/breakfast stuff - eggs, bacon, toasts, grilled tomatoes etc stuff oh and quiches too (which are rather huge). Actually portions at The Pantry are rather huge haha. Most of the stalls were selling stuff like olive oil/jams/diff kinds of dips. Some stalls sold pasta, 1 sold fruits, 1 sold vegetables, 1 sold kebabs. There were about 10 odd stalls? Yup, but the tenants change so it really depends!

I'd say it was an experience for me but I certainly wouldnt be itching to go back again.

Farmers' Market

The Pantry Cooking School

Loewen Gardens