2am: Dessert Bar

We wanted somewhere quiet to chill out at, and as we walked along Holland V., 2am: Dessert Bar caught our eye.

Though it wasn't exactly very quiet, it seemed like a cool place to chill out at.  It wasn't a very big place, and tables were very near to each other.  We couldn't even get an extra chair to put our bags (inconsiderate I know, but the tables were too small to put bags as well) and those seats with sofas were all reserved.  It was a full-house Saturday night for them.

We got a couple of drinks and 2 desserts; Purple and Tiramisu

Obviously, I got Purple just because it is named PURPLE!  The portion was puny, but it tasted really unique.  I can't remember what the chef said to us, but I remember lavender infused marshmellow in it.  :)

Tiramisu was good.  At times, it tastes a tad too bitter with the excessive coffee powder on it ( i think it's coffee powder) tastes like it, but combining it with whip cream took away the bitterness. 

We were also quite surprised that for such a small dessert bar, there were aplenty of chefs.

I went to 2 am Dessert Bar for the second time.. And I tried a different dessert this time round.. First was the chocolate tart with orange sorbet… I think the tart base was one of those ready made ones.. So I didn’t really like it.. But the sommelier introduced really good wine.. I really liked it… I like my sweet dessert wines…

The other dessert was Tiramisu with some coffee based ice cream… I think the shape of the ice cream is such a delight.. I’m so influenced by Evan… Lol… But the Tiramisu was quite authentic with its lump of mess there…

http://claireofalltrades.blogspot.com/2010/06/4th-dec-2009-2am-dessert-bar.html

Photos are dark cuz of the bad lighting.. Sorry about that.. :S

i tried locating this dessertbar for like god-knows-how-many-times after reading the reviews and wanting to judge it for myself. but i guess i was not smart enough to find it. until a few weeks ago. going up the dim staircase was a slight bit of challenge. and embrassingly. i almost tripped over the winding steps. damn! *blushez* the palce was quite dim but ok la. at least i could still see what i was having. =) what i did not really like was the seats? coz although there were some sofas which were occupied. some high chairs where there were groups of people seating around. the rest were like slanted seats and it was side by side. so i felt a bit weird sitting slanted with my feet hanging out over the edge. hmmmz. we ordered the strawberry with sweet milk since i am not a fan of anything chocolate. together with the pairing of the wine. and my friend had a glass of latte. the latte was not bad. i quite like the smell and taste of it. smooth and a bit nutty. the dessert was so-so. nothing to shout about. but i guess it is overrated in some sense. the strawberries were really sweet though. not like those you get from the markets or ntuc. the sherbets by the side were not too bad. think one of it was of blood orange? what i thought was the saving grace was the host/waiter roberto who hails from spain. probably it is part of his job to talk to customers and introduce the food. but i felt he did it remarkably and with much sincerity put in. he asked if it was our first time and introduced some desserts to us. upon hearing that i do not like chocolates. he was able to suggest to something else too. he did not take my order. but when he saw what i ordered. he actaully came over and introduced another wine to go with the dessert instead. giving benifit of the doubt. i tried the wine. and it was really smooth. not much tannins and it has a fruity aroma as well. very easy to drink for someone like me. and it went really well with the strawberries. juz before we left i asked him the name of the wine coz he mentioned earlier that this was the last case of wine in south east asia. not sure how true. but here's the details to share with you guys: place: torancon, guenca castilla lamancha producer: finca la estancada 2007 rosado, semi dulce anyone going to spain soon? can help me get the wine pls? =P

It has been 2 years since I visited the 2am:Dessert Bar. The previous time I had wanted to do so, it was a Sunday evening and hence the bar was closed. =(

This time round, I brought my friend, who missed her chance to visit the bar as she was on a business trip. And though we did not have a reservation, I was so happy to have gotten a seat on the sofa, although it was only for a short 1.5 hour.

The menu has changed since my 1st visit!! But all-time favourites, such as, Chocolate & Tiramisu are still available on the menu. =)

My friend and me were rather lost as to what to order, so the really friendly service crew came forward and did a really good introduction as to all the desserts. And she gave her honest opinions as to what she really liked and what she has not tried. And being a 'real' chocolate lover, I immediately voted for Araguani H2O (SGD 14.00), which had a 72% chocolate content!!

Upon serving the dessert, I was informed that within the chocolate cube-block lies a sphere of caramel. YUMMY!!! What really impressed me, was the combination of bitter chocolate with caramel, hence the overall effect was rather surprisingly pleasant. The Yuzu Sorbet reminded me at once of lime sorbet, but it was the necessary sour required to couple with the sweet but bitter chocolate cubes. =)

My friend had a Toffee Pudding (SGD 14.00), which was coupled with Passion Fruit Sorbet (??), which both of us were unable to figure out the taste. My friend commented that it tasted much and reminded her of the English Sticky Toffee Pudding. It was rather thick and the toffee taste was strong and fragrant. It left quite an impression on my friend. =)

As usual, 2am:Dessert Bar has an ambience, which is perfect for dates, catching up & chilling out with friends etc. Birthday celebrations as well, which was something which we chanced upon this evening. A group of girlfriends were celebrating their friend's birthday and they even got the bar crew into the whole affair. =) At that instant, my friend and I concluded that this will be a good place as one of the locations to visit for a Hen's Night!! Just think, sweet and sinful sensations to one's tastebuds, while trying to lose all the weight before getting married. =D

Well, I'm definitely curious to visit 2am:Dessert Bar again! Afterall, I've been presented with new surprises each time I visit the bar!! But definitely not too often, as it will be a little painful for the pocket. =P

Well, I must say that the desserts are creatively decorated. But the portion is small though, making it appear expensive. But the ambience is nice, comfortable and serivce is good. The varity is wide as well. Good try.

The main thing about a food place is... the food. Not the ambience. Not the service. Not the sommelier/manager with giant rimmed glasses who insists that a dry Australian shiraz goes fantastically well with the chocolate dessert because the dessert really brings out the smoky chocolate flavour in the wine (even though sugar, the major component of all desserts, tends to make dry wines taste bitter. But of course I wouldn't know any better despite my personal experience...).

By that measure, 2am Dessert Bar is quite lacking.

Of the five desserts that we ordered as a table, only one met my standard: the Araguani H20 (essentially a 72% Valrhona chocolate cake, but which, my server informed me, had been "infused in Evian water" and had a caramel mousse capsule inside the cake that was designed to "explode with flavour") . The sandwiching of the different layers in this cake created a texture that went very well with the flavours in this cake. This was definitely the star dessert of the night, in my opinion.

Halfway through the waiter's explanation about the Evian water infusion, though, I wondered to myself: how much of an impact Evian (and ONLY Evian) water has on the "smoothness" of the cake? Was it to do with the purity of the water? If it was purity, then shouldn't they be using the millipore-filtered water (used in medical labs) instead of Evian (bottled and distributed by Danone, the French yoghurt maker)? If you ask me, the difference between Evian water and PUB tap water in the making of this cake is insignificant: the main actor of this cake was Valrhona, who made the chocolate, which made up 80+% of the dish. It's quite hard to french-connection-uk up after you've gotten the right chocolate for a chocolate dessert, I think.

The strawberries and sweet milk was "ok". As was the toffee pudding. Nothing to scream about, basically.

The Amedei chilli chocolate was interesting. The chilli-chocolate thing is a new fad that's going around Europe and the US. Kudos for trying to bring this to Singapore. But to accompany this with chocolate soil, honeycomb, a mousse of some sort and various dots of "zzh-ell" (i.e. gel) on a Zen-rock-garden-inspired arrangement on the plate was perhaps a little overboard on the cleverness, like the Evian-water-infusion thingy. It's not very clever to be perceived as trying to be clever.

The tiramisu "looked a lot better than it actually tasted", said my friend. I was not impressed, however, by either the taste or the look. Looks-wise, the tiramisu looked just like a normal tiramisu cake. Taste-wise, however, 2am Dessert Bar's tiramisu cake was very restrained in taste, almost to the point of blah-ness.

An Italian chef once told me that tiramisu should have a slight messiness to it, because it isn't a precise formula or recipe: every grandmother in Italy has a different recipe, so it's a bit ridiculous to speak of perfection when there is no such thing. After he said that, he scooped this tiramisu that his apprentice had made, and slapped it on my plate. As that tiramisu slowly collapsed like a dying Jabba the Hutt, it reeked strongly of espresso and Marsala wine, but it was amazingly good in all its excess. As he said, "this is exactly as my grandmother made it: a bit over the top, completely shapeless, but it's good!"

2am's tiramisu is like a very well-schooled and exceedingly polite person: you can't point a finger to any social faults. It stands up on the plate like a trooper with backbone. That person can also be amiable enough, but about as emotionally engaging and memorable as plain paper. For someone who's never had tiramisu before, this tiramisu cake will be good.

And it's not bad. It's just not memorable or emotionally engaging. Which probably encapsulates my view of this place.

tot the chocolate tart was too die for and served with some orange sorbert i think the cheesecake wa in a very different form but was equally good. the only bad thing was it was a little too xpensive together with the wine pairings and desserts i think it is about 60 plus. well i guess it is a prettie cool ambience too

Every dessert here is arty and decked out. I liked the showiness of it all and the blood orange sorbet was my fav pick.

Dessert can be pretty pricey though, but I guess there is a prize to pay for workmanship.

The setting wasn't fantastic for the kind of price, but I guess these days younger folk are having more spending power and living it up at higher end eateries.

Will be back again for another round. It was pretty memorable.

We had the 10 course degust with matching wines.

I can't elaborate too long because I'm going to dream about it right now. So, one thing to say about this place,

MEN: Take your ladies/men there.
LADIES: Ditch the freaking diet and try it.

P.S:
Suitable for all sweet/non-sweet people. Did I really mean personality? Sorry I meant people who a sweet or non-sweet tooth.

Yay! Time to dream about it now....

p.s The sommelier- the one with the black rim glasses who speaks with american/french accent made our experience SO MUCH more memorable. Love the wines. Do get the matching wines if you drink.

As much as I like to eat impossibly large amounts of extremely delicious food at extremely low prices, I've always had a weakness for daintily plated desserts, and that's exactly what 2am: Dessert Bar serves on a platter.

Being a rather competent cook myself, I always find it hard to order outside owing to the "I can do that at home" factor, but there's no such problem here, because give me a pat on the back if I ever learn how to make half the things that Janice and her team offer up on each and everyone of her meticulously and concisely plated desserts. Even if I did know how to make the pink ginger syrup, to do it at home only to drop 5 measly drops of it on the plate would be unnecessarily labour intensive.

The mention of that pink ginger syrup gets me squealing with excitement in the memory of it, on my plate of Araguani H2O. It speaks of a creator that's unafraid to experiment with exotic flavour combinations, and has an eye for how colours work on a plate. The Araguani Chocolate itself, which was described as having been infused with Evian water, was an excitingly new texture, in it's almost crumbly physical state, to it's mousse like finish on the tongue. The best part must have been the caramel pearl that was hidden in the middle of the block of chocolate, which was a sticky gooey disruption to the chocolate that encased it. The chocolate cookie/wafer base underneath it all just added to the medley of textures that was accompanied by a yuzu sorbet, which acted as a great foil to the chocolate on the plate. Tasting like a subtle lemon/orange concoction, this is the yuzu I'm sure other chefs from abroad have fallen in love with, and not the sickly sweet mandarin orange skin concoction that the Haato chain of Japanese ice cream tries to pass off as yuzu.

A similar dish in profile that we also had was the Chocolate tart, that was served with a salted caramel and a blood orange sorbet. The tart which oozed chocolatey goodness the moment you cut into it was a beautiful pastry to filling ratio and a perfect and refreshing rendition of a done to death classic dessert. The blood orange sorbet it is served with is to die for, and I know of patrons that have eaten it up before the tart even had a chance to catch their eye. Try not to do that though, because the sorbet is in beautiful balance with the heavy chocolate tart, and I do believe they're meant to be eaten together! Sharing the plate is also the bewildering to make "coco pops" (that's what I call it, not sure what the technical term for it is though!) and concentric ellipses of salted caramel.

The last plate we had that night was the Twix, which is Janice's adorable rendition of her favourite supermarket chocolate snack (it happens to be mine too). The only gripe I have with it is the lack of a sticky, chewy caramel element, which is the essence of the chocolate bar that inspires this dish. Served with Valhorna chocolate ice cream and a peanut cookie crumble, this dish is executed to perfection, though its flavour profile was probably the least exciting of the three desserts we had that day.

Finishing up our desserts, I was looking at the residue of melted ice cream/sorbets/crumbs/chocolate on the plate and wished hopelessly that every plate of dessert came with a an edible tissue paper to mop all the deliciousness up. Maybe a crepe or something of the sort, you know? The 2am team's penchant to dive straight into labour intensive processes to make the many elements on each plate work so well together and do justice to the exciting flavour combinations (lapsang, anyone?) is what will keep me coming back again and again.