Craft Bakery & Cafe (Holland Village) I ThumbsForFood

Hello everyone! The start of the week is here again. Hopefully, you are feeling well-rested from the weekend! 

Well, as a student studying in the West side of the island for almost half of my life, I have always been trying to find good food and cafes around this region of Singapore. When I heard of Craft Bakery and Cafe, I knew I had to check it out and I am soooo thankful for my friends who were able to accompany on my cafe hunting journey in the West. 

Currently, they have a lunch promotion that serves up a main course, soup and coffee/drink for $19 nett. The promotion is valid on weekdays from 12-4pm. I went there on a Tuesday and of course, I got myself a lunch set! 

Bacon Mac & Cheese $12.50. This was really yummy on my first few bites. The amount of cheese they throw into this dish is sooooo generous. Mac & cheese should be really cheesy! The herbs used compliments the dish also. Well, the mac & cheese here is definitely better than a lot of others that I tried in other cafes! The best is still the one at Five & Dime though. But, I would recommend this dish to be shared among a few people as it can get really gelard if you finish it on your own! 

Spicy Sausage in Arrabiata Sauce $16. This is definitely a safe choice but nothing fantastic about it as well! I would have this if I am craving for something appetizing.

Bacon & Mushroom Aglio Olio. Well, I wanted to go for the Prawn Aglio Olio but they did not have prawns that day and so I opted for mushrooms. I think it is a pretty simple dish as well but I have to say they did it quite well as I wiped up my whole plate of pasta despite not being very hungry. You can request for them to add chili which will make it even more yummy! 

Flat White

Espresso

Mushroom soup. The soup came with the lunch set. It wasn't really yummy but I would still order the set because it is just more worth it! It is not terrible as well, you see.

Hazalnut Molten Cake $9.50. Well, Craft is opened by the people behind 3 Inch Sin which is famous for their chocolate lava cakes so we just had to try this cake for ourselves. I am not a good judge of this because I am a huge fan of everything chocolate and lava. Yes, love warm desserts with ice-cream soooooo much!

Overall, I am quite happy with my visit to Craft Bakery & Cafe. They serve up good coffee as well, so it makes a good place to chill and drink coffee/eat desserts with your friends or family. I will definitely want to try their Craft Sandwich (bacon with green apple slaw on waffles) the next time round! 

Craft Bakery & Café (Holland Village) 
24A Lorong Mambong Singapore 277183 
Tel: +65 6467 7710
Opening Hours: 12:00pm-11:00pm (Sun-Thurs), 12:00pm-12:00am (Fri-Sat)

Cheers,
Z

Pho Hoa (Holland Village) | ThumbsForFood

Pho Hoa has been around for quite sometime and recently it opened a new branch at Suntec. So how did the food fare?

I did not take not of the exact price. For appetizers/starters, it's about $4-$8. For noodles, it ranged from $12-$20plus depending on the choice of your beef (they have loin, flank and other different parts). 

We ordered 3 types of starters. Fried Roll, Sugarcane Prawn and Scallop Roll. It's an alternative to the traditional type of Vietnamese Spring Roll if you don't really fancy Basil leaf. I felt that the dishes were pretty average. If you would ask me to pick one, I would probably choose scallop roll as I prefer the kind of crust it has. 

Scallop Roll

Fried Vietnamese Roll tasted really like the normal Chinese Spring Roll. Nothing special.

Fried Vietnamese Roll

Sugarcane Prawn

The highlight of the restaurant would be pho, as suggested by the name. Pho is actually stick noodles in soup and depending on your preference, you can choose beef (of different parts of the beef) or chicken. I would think the beef pho would be a better choice since it's renowned for it.

Pho would be served with a plate of taugays (beansprouts) , basil leaf, lime and chili. You can add them based on your preference. 

Side condiments that come with Pho

Pho with beefballs, flank and beef slices

For those not craving for noodles, you can try their rice plates. The rice plate comes with your choice of meat and a side, which is the fried Vietnamese roll. The grilled chicken is quite nice and tender. Other than that, the dish is quite average as well.

Overall, I think Pho Hoa serves comfort Vietnamese Pho, but there is nothing too extraordinary about it. The price is a bit steep compared to other Vietnamese places, probably also due to its location.

Overall Rating: 7/10

18 Lorong Mambong

Holland Village

Tel: 64673662Fax: 64662737

Love, Y

Barossa (Holland Village) | ThumbsForFood

Well, so I went down Holland Village looking for lunch deals again. I was really tempted to visit La Noona again but I decided that I should give a fair chance to its neighbour, Barossa. Barossa is an Australian-inspired bar and restaurant. It has two outlets in Singapore, one at Holland Village and the other at Esplanade. The business was relatively poor compared to La Noona, which was packed with people.

One plus point for Barossa is the nice and cosy feeling that the shop gave me once I stepped into it. I really like the decorations and the furniture too. Pretty nice place to chill with your friends in the evening! They serve up wine, champagnes, beers, shooters, mojitos, etc.

Did I forget to mention the most important part? Yes, there's 1-for-1 promotion during lunch for their pastas! I love pastas. Well, if I were to compare La Noona and Barossa, I would say that they serve up really different styles of pasta. 

King Scallops Pasta $22. Juicy scallops sauteed with asparagus in thick spicy cream sauce toppled with fresh scallop leaves. The thick spicy cream sauce did not appeal to me so I did not choose this in the end. But, it was so delicious. I regretted my order as soon as I tried this. I can only say that the description does not really fit the actual taste. The sauce was not spicy but more to the salty side. The scallops were the bomb because they were rather generous with it. 

Garlic Prawn Pasta $22. Well, this was such a disappointment. Really ordinary but I like it that there  were a plenty of prawns. 

All in all, I think that the 1-for-1 lunch pastas are pretty worth a try! A bargain for the real deal [: However, La Noona definitely serves up better quality pasta. If you are looking for huge scallops and prawns, maybe Barossa will be the choice for you! But, do not expect too much of its taste! 

Our ratings of Barossa: 6.5/10

Barossa (Holland Village)

22 Lorong Mambong

Cheers,

Z

Plain Vanilla Cupcakes (Holland Village) | ThumbsForFood

Recently, there has been a craze over PV cupcakes. After listening to the many positive feedbacks, I decided that I should have a try at these cupcakes too. It is located at Holland Village just beside the El Patio Mexican Restaurant. If you are around that vicinity, why not have a try at La Nonna too? The Italian food there is pretty good as well. 

Plain Vanilla Cupcakes is located at the 2nd storey of the shophouse. Though it is a little shop, it is constantly packed with people. There are nine flavours on display everyday and some flavours may vary from day to day. 

I decided to buy half a dozen to have a try at the cupcakes. Of course, Red Velvet is a must-try for me. The cupcakes are priced at $3.50 for one, and $19 for 6. Some flavours that attracted me were the Banana Chocolate cupcake and the Strawberry Cream cupcake.

Personally, I feel that Plain Vanilla has one of the best cupcakes in Singapore. Of course, there are many rising cupcake stores nowadays. I think most of us are familiar with Twelve Cupcakes but why not have a try at PV? Look forward to our review on Cupcake Engineer located just beside Societe Canteen!

Plain Vanilla Bakery
34A Lorong Mambong
Tel: +65 6465 5942
Tue to Sat: 12pm – 8pm
Sun: 12pm – 6pm
(Closed on Mon)

Love,
Z

La Nonna (Holland Village) | ThumbsForFood

Italian food is one of my favourites. I love pastas! When I heard about the 1-for-1 lunch promotion, I knew that I had to visit this restaurant. La Noona actually means grandmother, so they serve Italian food with a family taste to it.

Everything on the menu is up for the promotion so it is really a good deal. Yes, everything including appetizers and desserts.

Bread to start off our meal.

Look at the awards!

 Capellini $21. Capellini pasta with clams in white wine sauce. I felt like having something different that day and so I decided to try this dish! But, it is a little on the bland side. I wouldn't try this again next time though!

Linguine $21. Linguine pasta served with crab meat in Tomato cream sauce and fresh basil. This is one of their recommendations for pasta. I really like this! It is flavourful and the crab meat goes well with the tomato cream sauce as well. Definitely a must-try! 

Other than the Linguine, the waiter also recommended us the Spaghetti (Spaghetti Pasta with mixed seafood served in traditional squid ink sauce. I will definitely try this the next time I visit the restaurant! 

In the end, we paid around $12 each which was a real bargain for the pasta we had. Have a try at their desserts also! 

Our ratings of La Noona: 7.8/10

Signature dishes: Mozzarella E Parma, Spiegola, La Noona Pizza, Torta della Noona

La Noona

26 Lorong Mambong

Holland Village

Opening Hours:

Daily: 1200-1430, 1800-2230

Cheers,

Z