Sunday, October 21, 2007

Haato

I had been wanting to eat at this particular Japanese restaurant for some time. Having heard that the ice cream that they served there was nice, I wanted to try it for myself to see how it compared to other Japanese ice-cream, Tom's Palette and even Awfully Chocolate. Imagine my surprise when one day my university friends decided to hang out at Hatto during our three-hour break between classes. I'm currently studying at NUS (National University of Singapore, for the clueless) and Haato is located at Ridgewood Condominium at Ridgewood Close. As my friend H drove, YD, B, AN and I chucked ourselves into her car and headed for the restaurant to chill out and study at the same time.


Haato at Ridgewood Condominium
I heard that there are other branches around like at Wheelock and even at Yio Chu Kang but I am not too sure of their exact addresses as I can't seem to find their website online. Anyway I am so happy to have H, because upon reaching there, I realised that it was really very difficult to find the place. Also, it's located inside a condominum, which makes it rather weird going all the way there just to have ice cream. But it was a lazy Friday afternoon, so there weren't many people inside. The vibe of the place was a rather relaxed one.


The ice cream counter
I was so excited! They had so many unique flavours and I wanted to try them all but I was too "shy".


The flavours
The staff were really friendly though and encouraged us to try the different flavours to find the one flavour that we would be satisfied with.


The sofas and couches available
I know this is a rather dark shot but I didn't dare take more pictures because it is really embarrassing to take so many pictures in public!!


Lychee Martini and Milk Tea
I love the flavours for its uniqueness but I must say that these two didn't make a good combination. LOL. I like the Lychee Martini for its light texture. Furthermore the sweetness was just nice and it was very refreshing on the whole. The milk tea ice cream on the other was creamier, thicker in texture and much sweeter. I like the milk tea alot but the two flavours are so different that it just doesn't do your tongue justice to eat the Lychee after the milk tea when your tongue's been 'conditioned' by the sweeter flavour. You become numb and can't taste the actual texture of the lychee ice cream then.


Rum and Raisins
I know this picture looks gross but it's really because we were too slow in snapping a shot. :)
AN treated us for the ice cream, but if you guys want to know the price, Haato gelato is priced at $3 (UDS$2) (Single Scoop) or $4 (USD$2.56) (Double Scoop). For a take away pack it's $13.50 (USD$8.65) for 650ml or $20 (USD$12.82) for 1000ml. They have flavours like black sesame too. Thumbs up for the unique flavours!


Waffles and Chocolate Ice cream and a game of Chinese Chess
You know what was my favourite at Haato? Yup! You guess right!
It was the Waffles!! The freshly baked aroma of the waffles, coupled by its firm yet soft texture and its crispy nature really captured my tastebuds! I love how the butter and syrup was drizzled all over the waffles. H told me that she could eat two of these waffles at one go. I must agree with her that the Waffles are so addictive! The hot crispy waffles with the cold rich yummy ice cream, really made for an enjoyable feast. YD and B decided not to study during the three hours and engaged in a game of chinese chess combat!! I think the waffles here are much better than Gelaro's waffles and other places. It's by far the best waffles I have ever eaten!


The softshell crab
B has been on a diet recently so he gets hungry at weird timings. Despite all of us being stuffed to the max, B was hungry and we decided to order the softshell crab. Unfortunately there weren't too many pieces. I can't remember how much we paid, but H told me that the portion has shrinked over the years. The softshell crab tasted the same as usual, nothing different or special about it here, apart from the fact that the sauce accompanying the dish is extra spicy.


Another shot of the softshell crab

Ambiance: The ambiance makes you want to chill there on a lazy Friday afternoon. You tend to make yourself so comfortable that when you have to leave, you do so with great sadness in your hearts. After us another family dropped by. We actually didn't want to leave early, but as all of them were eyeing our table, we decided to leave early instead of chit chatting. Not really somewhere where I would bring my date for a date. 3.5/5

Service: The service wasn't too bad. The only thing was that they seemed a little understaffed that day, perhaps due to the fact that the 5 of us came in suddenly! Despite their slow services and the long time involved taking our orders, the staff were very friendly and the people seemed happy. 3.5/5

Food: On the whole the food was good. The ice cream was light in texture and unique in its flavours and I really loved the waffles and to me, it's really value-for-money. I can't recall the price of the waffles or the softshell crab but I reckon it to be within the range of S$4-S$7 for each item. The softshell crab was mediocre. Nothing to remember it by and nothing to cause me to want to forget it. It's really a pity that the size of the food has been shrinking of late. Personally I feel that businesses should always be ethical and never shrink food sizes to cut down on prices. They should be open and frank with customers.

My friend R says he found the ice cream to be of average standard and did not find anything spectacular about it. He found it to be rather bland compared to the other ice creams he enjoyed. I would beg to differ though. It's often unfair if you compare ice creams to each other because every type is very different from the other. Gelatos should never be compared to ice creams and ice creams should never be compared to sorbets etc... Nothing should ever be compared to something that's in a different class/group. Hence this Gelato's texture is really light and smooth, unlike the usual heavy, creamy ice cream texture. That's why you can't compare ice creams like Yammi Yoghurt to Ben & Jerry's. I always wondered why Yammi Yoghurt never seemed to catch on with the other Singaporeans when I love it so much, and I realise that it could be because Singaporeans do not know how to appreciate the different type of ice creams for their different strengths. Perhaps Singaporeans judge using the same measuring stick for entirely different entities and this is obviously wrong. One should never compare across the board because it is never a one size fits all thing! Ok enough with the lecture. I would give the food and ice cream a 3.75/5 overall (4/5 for the ice cream and 3.5/5 for the other food) .

Haato
Contact no: 64649607
Address: Ridgewood Condominium #G1
5 Ridgewood Close Singapore (276696)

Opening hours: 11am-11pm (daily)

P.S. I realised that the initials for this blog is HIMT (Heaven in my tummy), rather masculine huh? I should rename my blog to something with HERT. hahahhaa.... get the joke? Hmmm "Heaven ever run there"? I am so lame...

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Nectarie

Finally!! A long-awaited post! I'm sorry people.! I know that the last entry on this food blog was like in May... some 6 months ago! One friend asked if I stopped eating after that buffet at The Line! He must have thought I died of over-eating for being that greedy. Hahaha well truth is... I've been eating even more! It's just that after May, I got my internship at one of the Statutory boards in Singapore and I was pretty busy holding forts at work, tuition, functions etc etc... And after my three-month internship, university started. I'm now in my honours year and well, going about eating so much... it's really hard to keep a record!


Clark Quay at night
(Picture courtesy of my Canadian friend Jonathan)


I have so much entries to catch up! But I'm really happy I have this blog. Though the updates are far and few, I feel that whenever I look back at these memories, I feel so happy knowing I felt happy eating those at that point of time! hahaha... Man, now I know why the mind is such a powerful tool. Imagining food can be as happy as eating them! hahhaa...

Some of you eagle-eyed people out there would notice that I've changed a few stuff here. Actually I think I'd have continue letting this blog stagnate at the buffet blog, but yesterday someone left a note for me with regards to my pictures on Blue Magnolia's cakes. Hahaha people actually read this blog?

I decided to start with something small after such a long haitus! The Nectarie!! :)

If you are a night-person like me, chances of you hanging out at the Clark Quay belt probably are quite high. For me, it's one of those few places at night that's still so lively and 'open' (as in not 'open' in the liberal sense...). As can be seen, I enclosed a picture of Clark Quay above. I love hanging out at Clark Quay because of the 'buzz' there. Some people hate it for its crowd and over-commericalisation or whatever they call it. But being at Clark Quay and around there makes me feel alive. Anyway, back to the food... For the past many months, I've noticed this wonderful dessert bar that serves beautiful desserts. The best thing was that it was still open in the late hours alongside the bars. It's open till 2am on Friday and Saturday nights! The name of this place? Nectarie (le Dessert Patisserie).



The interior of the dessert bar
I love the chic warm design of the place!


Yummy pictures of pastries adorn the counter...


The beautiful cakes that make me salivate



Another look at the cakes
I didn't get to try much of the cakes on display though. My Canadian friend Jon was in town and we were touring about the area, but we were both too full to stuff another cake down our throat. So we shared a slice while catching up.



The Chocolate Truffle Cake
And finally the cake!! The Nectarie serves savouries, meals and drinks but I only tried this Truffle Cake. I will have to go back again for another taste of their beautiful cakes. My cake looked so pretty! :) I paid SGD$7 (USD$4.79) for this cake(Based on the rates of USD$1=SGD$1.46). I'm so happy the Singapore dollar is rising against the USD!! Hahaha now I can do online shopping and go back to America for some more tours!!

The chocolate truffle cake was very delectable! The chocolate was of a mousse-like texture which was very satisfying- thick, creamy, smooth and the sweetness was balanced by a tinge of bitterness. The sponge was moist, light and complimented the mousse texture very well. Overall, it was a very satisfying Chocolate Truffle Cake- unlike many deceiving truffle cakes that turn out to be dry, hard and cloyingly sweet. 4/5

More cakes!!


Parfait of Dark & White Chocolate
(picture courtesy of Jon :) ) I would love to try these delightful looking domes one day!! :)


Mango Mousse
Picture from Jon again. See... I love his pictures... a DSLR really makes a difference! But I love my new Fujifilm F50! :) I think Fujifilm cams really rock! Anyway back to the review... I love Mango but Mango cakes aren't really my cup of tea. :) I love the presentation of the cakes and the wonderful decorations! :)

Ambiance: The place is a rather small place, thus if large groups wish to have a gathering there, it would definitely pose some problem. There are tables outside though and since the night air is always cooler, groups might find it better to be seated outside. Apart from the size, I love the ambiance there- with the warm dimmed lights and the cosiness that stems from it being a small bar, I had a great time catching up with my friend and having a break from the touring. Most of the chairs inside the bar are high chairs though, so for girls like me who's wearing a dress, I had some difficulty getting up the chair while preserving my modesty at the same time! 3.5/5

Service: The girls at the place were rather friendly. Something to note though is that they don't serve ice water! So you have to pay absurd amounts for a bottle of ice water or a drink of smoothie. I still find this a sore point, when restaurants refuse to serve free ice water, I get upset at them because I feel that customers shouldn't have to be compelled to buy a drink just for them to chalk up more revenue. The surprising thing though is that they don't charge service charge in the final bill. I wonder if it was because I only bought a slice of cake and if the same rule applies for meals there. 3/5

Food: On the whole, I liked what I ate and I will go back if I am in the vicinity while hanging out. I will be too biased if I based the restaurant's ranking on one cake, so I shall give the overall grading a miss. But for the cake, it was definitely a 4/5!!

Nectarie
Contact. no: 63056727
Address: Blk 3C River Valley Road #01-05
Clark Quay Singapore (179022)

Opening hours
Sunday- Thursday: 12pm-11pm
Friday- Saturday: 12pm-2am

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