Whatever happened to Founder?

Supper nights.

In my ideal world,

I thought this would be the perfect late night comfort food.

I mean, even Chow Yun Fatt loves it.

Or so the papers say.

Go for the long ribs.

$8.

Go ahead.

Indulge yourself a little.

But I'm hardly a fan of pork ribs.

I just wanted soup!

Beancurd sheets :)

Beancurd Puffs

So all these side dishes were good.

Then what was my issue with Founder?

The soup! Oh my. :(

The soup eeez too salty!

Imagine the salt overpowering pepper.

I couldn't even bring myself to ask for a refill.

And why there was a queue for this,

I could not comprehend.

But it'll be a long while before a repeat visit.

If ever.

We needed failproof desserts.

Nutella and Pistachio Waffle.

If you like a heavy vanilla base for your ice creams,

this is where you'll find it.

Keep running.

Just so I can keep eating. :)

what's the deal about guilt free ice cream?

Whatsapp

March 8, 2012

An image invite to Brownice's pre-opening party.

Sin Ming Centre

8 Sin Ming Road

#01-03

Singapore 575628

A first for a vegan ice cream treat!

Over the past two/ three years, I've since lost track of which part of this business is individual and which other parts are a collaboration.
I suppose in all businesses, it might have started out as an individual idea before it is shared with other like-minded individuals, thereby giving life to the possibility of turning a dream into reality.

And it is all that, that I am brought back down to earth about how painstaking it is to be an entrepreneur.
And for that, I'm really happy for you- Denise, seeing your dream come true! :)

But there we go. My dear friend has followed through with her dream.

Starting from a space rented in the industrial parks of Woodlands for the manufacturing of her ice cream with a glacier, to a small cart at Orchard Central with weekends of sellout tubs of signature flavours like banana oat and matcha and to this, today, their very own shop space in Sin Ming.

Frankly speaking, if you're looking for ice cream as an indulgence, the taste here would disappoint. It isn't a full bodied buttery creamy taste (think: Haagen Daaz) that you would find in here and so I wouldn't recommend the chocolates and vanilla flavours to you. But the fruits however, are a totally different story.

If you're looking for ice cream to take away the heat, something to soothe the throat, a pick-me-up or simply, a way to end your meal then, look no further than Brownice.

Made of organic ingredients that are vegan friendly and dairy free, their banana-oat and mulberry flavours are highly recommended! :) They've stopped matcha for a bit as the aromatic matcha powder from japan cannot seem to be found for some reason. See, this is how seriously they take their craft. No top ingredients, no go.  

The pricings are reasonable. $3.70 for a scoop and $5.30 for a double. Salted Caramel further out front sells a double scoop for $5 and...

Should we talk calories here? Between you and I, I'd pay more for my indulgence assured that I can eat up with little guilt and firm confidence that you're getting what's good for your body :)

And for dinner? Simple minced pork chicken cutlet noodles with a side of Thai styled beancurd.

I couldn't have thought of a better way to end off my last day of first term. :)

Daawat Tandoori. Service par excellence.

Getting out of the pouring rain and jumping into the hot shower.

And curry for dinner. Of course :)

Naans. They had a good offering of different naans. Be sure to specify how you'd like your naans done. We asked for them soft and they came soft just as requested. :) I had the kashmiri and it was chock full of nuts and fruits. Mmmm!

Two servings of fruits and vegetables right? I've settled the fruits. Now for the vegetables. It was a vegetable shahi korma. Mixed cocktail vegetables. Now the understanding was cocktail as another word for mixed. Right? No. When it arrived, it was fruit cocktail. Complete with the papaya bits i love and random cherry bits. For a moment, it seemed we made a wrong choice. Well, it was curry so we mixed it all up anyway. And you'll never guess. It was absolutely naan worthy. :) It was entirely mopped up by dinner's end.

Do you know the origins of butter chicken? According to a Discovery Channel documentary, this indulgent recipe was invented in 1950s, by a chef at the Moti Mahal located in Daryaganj, the central region of Delhi. Initially famed for its Tandoori Chicken, the cooks there used to recycle the leftover chicken juices in the marinade trays by adding butter and tomato. The tandoor-cooked chicken pieces were then tossed in this sauce and there. was. butter chicken!

Pieces of boneless tandoori chicken cooked with butter, tomato puree and various spices including cumin, cloves, cinnamon, coriander, pepper, fenugreek and dried fenugreek leaves (Qasuri Methi) that contributes generously to the distinctive flavour of this dish and of course, topped with fresh cream.

I was just giving random feedback about the spice level of the butter chicken (too spicy for some) to the waitstaff and within minutes, the boss was at our table, asking if we needed anything changed. He said he heard something was too spicy and he was more than willing to get it changed for us. We were already halfway through and told him that it was just a comment, I was more than happy with it really. :) He went on to tell us about how the spice level can be adjusted with differing proportions of tomato based sauce and said that we should let them know immediately if it wasn't to our taste. 

Genuine concern for your dining experience. This doesn't happen very often and least when I expected it at such a quiet and homely establishment. A very humble man, he enquired about the rest of the dishes and accepted our compliments with shy thanks. That's service par excellence for you. Just randomly during a point in time of our meal, I was looking over at the laptop that the boss was surfing on and when he saw my line of sight, he was all ready to jump out of his seat to see if there was anything he could get for me. I quickly smiled and assured him otherwise. Service quality. check!

Pun totally intended :)

Just because I wanted ice cream. Early Grey for me. Very heavy on their vanilla base. Which works for me :)
Affordable prices and good quantities of ice cream. Lots of repeat visits for me and everyone else!


 Daawat Tandoori Restaurant

207 Upper Thomson Road

Yew Lian Park

Singapore 574346

Tel: 6252 4497/ 6822 3716

Standard Chartered Card Holders get 10% off total bill till 30th April 2012 and there's no service charge. :)

La Petit Cuisine along Upper Thomson Road- French cuisine made affordable

   for starters. heated dinner rolls with plain butter. no ipad included.

 L'Entrée (Appetizer) Escargots with a flaky buttery crossiant drenched with savoury brown sauce.

Le Plat Principal (Main course) My order of a duck confit. Skin on, fried to a crisp with tender meat shielded from the frying. Now, the sauce however, wasn't too complimentary to the confit.

 

So I asked for some mustard and I was given a choice of three, in a quaint biscuit tin. I liked the tomato mustard the most. There was dijon which was too strong and another that was too sour. Of which, I promptly dismissed the name of. And what a pleasant surprise it was that the chef herself should appear at our table to enquire about the meal. It's these personal touches that make a world of difference in the service line and dining climate. And on that note, the number of tables probably count for ten, or a maximum of 15 at best hence the capacity for personal enquiries from the kitchen. But points for effort!



The other Le Plat Principal (Main course) was my friend's choice of steak and frites. Hmm. For its price, it was justified. But for its quality, let's just say there wouldn't be a repeat order of this.

And a random fact that might be useful if ever the day comes to dine in France,

A French dinner table will always have bread on it. It is however, considered bad etiquette to butter your bread at a meal in France. Instead, people in France use the bread to wipe up the juices left behind at the end of each course. This is because the different courses of a French meal are all served on the same plate.

Bon appétit!