I'm not a dessert/sweets person, so never crossed my mind to have lunch here. However, my friend who tried the pasta at the Paragon outlet urged me to give it a go. Was skeptical but I am glad i gave it a try.

It was a Saturday afternoon and the place was pretty quiet (only 2 other tables were taken)...the air-con on high made the whole restaurant rather cold.

We ordered a tomato crab pasta, marinara pasta, a salad and the strawberry crepe.

I must say they are very generous with the crab serving in both the pasta and the salad, and it tasted very fresh! My friend who is not a tomato sauce fan enjoyed her tomato crab pasta, which was not overly saucy, it was slightly towards a "dry" pasta. My marinara pasta was more saucy, and it was how I liked it.

The salad (sorry i can't remember the exact name) was refreshing and nice. It was a lime-y vinaigrette, with lots of greens and crab.

The strawberry crepe was not overly sweet, I guess the slightly sour strawberry kinda balanced the taste. We were afraid that the ice-cream may be too creamy, but it was not too bad.

Overall, it was a nice lunch, with just nice portions. The only thing was the cold air.

Hey all HGW readers and Canelé fans out there! Guess what I found in the new menu here at the Robertson outlet today? ANTS!!! 蚂蚁!! You know those teeny insects that appears wherever and whenever there are sweet things?

YUKS!!!

Well, today I was just staring lovingly at those croissants on the trays on display…woa look so yummy…when GOSH! I didn’t believe my eyes when I saw a whole colony of ants on the chocolate croissants! *GASP!* And so being very nice (shhh….before anyone finds out!), I signaled the waitress over and *innocently* asked her what those croissants were. “Oh these are chocolate croissants!” Obviously she didn’t see those creepy-crawlies!

I then pointed out to her and whispered, “errr….but I think there are ants on your croissants…” She took a closer look and guessed what she said after like 20 seconds (if you count that’s long enuff!), “Oh! Ants!” Then she paused very long not knowing what to do. *faintz* Walao! I still must teach her meh?? Bring the tray out of sight from display before you lose any customers lar!!

I think she finally did bring the tray back into the kitchen. God knows what she did after coz I only saw her take a clean piece of pastry sheet (those papers they place under the pastries) back to the kitchen. She probably only changed the sheet and not throw the contaminated croissants away. Of coz I didn’t stay to look or query further or EVER gona buy anything from this place anymore!! :X

Ants in your pastries…croissants…chocolates…maybe even hidden in your cakes. Yuks!

Hmm…so Canelé fans…what’s the next dessert you’re gona buy from any of the outlets? The main bakery is here at Robertson, and cakes, pastries etc are delivered to the respective outlets from here…. :O

Dang. I should have taken a picture as evidence! Then this place sure gonz for good! hmm...now that I'm thinking of those eew! thingys again...they sure look like worms...not ants! :/

are leaving in Serangoon, we still go there for fine deserts (all of them). Expemsive ..mmmm … let say it is not cheap! I will still go again, mouth pleasure “C’est très bon!”. We invite friends or go to visit friends that love cakes … that is what to get!

I recommend
- Cube L’amour
- Triple Chocolate Cheese cake
- Café Caramel
- gateau Chocolat


Bon appétit ..

Canele Patisserie Chocolaterie - A high end dessert cafe under the Les Amis group of restaurants and helmed by Executive Pastry Chef Pang, who was an ex member of the Singapore National Culinary Team.

Located at the picturesque and upmarket Roberston Walk, Canele's flagship outlet is a rather nice place to chill for after dinner desserts or afternoon tea. Takeaways are also available but if you choose to dine in, please be aware that a 10% service charge will be levied.

Nougatine - Filled with Nutella, Salty Caramel, Caramelized Filos, Nougatine Ice Cream, Vanilla Creme Chantilly - For starters, the Nougatine seemed rather interesting with the addition of salty caramel. However, taken as a whole, it reminded me uncannily of peanut butter with its smooth sticky texture and buttery undertones. I liked the caramelized filos, which are essentially paper thin pastry dough coated with a layer of caramel and left to harden. Flaky yet stick to your teeth.

Jupiter - A most aesthetically pleasing slice of cake which was bought off the display shelf. Extremely rich and topped with a thin cylindrical shell of chocolate, Jupiter boasted caramel and a layer of wafer in between the spongy cake. Did I mention the dark glistening chocolate that engulfed the entire cake? Overall a very nice but sinful dessert.

Black Forest 2007 - I cannot comprehend the rationale behind inserting a year into the name of a cake. But that's besides the point. The point is, as pretty and minute a piece as the black forest cake may be, it certainly wasn't outstanding, not even close. The berries were soaked in Kirsch but the amount of cream was too much for me to stomach. And it certainly didn't help that the cake did come across as a little too dense and moist.

Berry Black & Bushman Brew - Interesting names for the teas but unfortunately rather overpriced for the mediocre quality. And its all because Canele doesn't serve ice water.

With the prices Canele is charging, I can see why its a high end dessert outfit. I appreciate the creativity and quality behind the desserts but certainly not the prices nor the tiny portions.

See all my pictures here.

Finally. I really mean finally. For a fact that i love desserts, last nite was my first foray into Canelé Pâtisserie Chocolaterie. Canelé, u see, is a dessert arm of the Les Amis Group. So if u are complaining about the price, this is the main reason. But of cos, the quality of the pastries, I feel, more than made up for the prices.

Went on a Fri nite at about 930. Were we lucky to find some seats for the 2 of us. Coz before we knew it, crowds started to stream in and by the time we left at 1030, the place was full (place close at 11pm). scanned the display and for a while, it was difficult to make up our minds. Eventually, the Cube L'amour and the Triple Chocolate Cheesecake became the victims of our degustation! The cube was made of rose petal mousse, red berry jelly, rose almond genoise and rasberry eau de vie. The taste of Bandung is very prevalent, but the red berry jelly helped to bring down the sweetness and gave a nice sourly note in the end. Least favorite of the 3 we had. The triple cc had a top layer of dark choc, new york cheese separating the 2 and then walnut fudge cake at the last tier. The dark choc mousse was smooth, the new york cheese provided the bulk and the walnut fudge (which actually tasted like brownie) add texture to the palate. Overall a good choice, other places dun do this so well. Oh did I mention 3 desserts? After finishing the cube and cheesecake, I decided that we should get another good looking piece to go with chamomile and peppermint in the teapots. So i was on a mission again, this time with my mind on some tangy pastry. In the end, the Tarte Citronarrived on our table efficiently just allowing enough time to take a good pic before finding its way down my gullet. The almond tart filled with lemon cream, torched Italian meringue and candied lemon peel has 2 unique flavours. The sweet sweet meringue and the soury lemon cream. Sweet toothed as I am, I find the meringue to be really high on blood sugar if it is taken by itself. But the lemon on the tart gave a shot in the arm (insulin?) by overcoming the brain cells with good, tangy, lemony twist. This face off was executed to a good effect, kudos to the man behind it.

And you know who we saw behind the kitchen? The award winning chef Pang was pulling strips of candies to make petals to form a an exquisite rose flower. Though he is no Pierre Hermes, i am so glad that local pastry chefs like him ply their trades in our land, soothing our tastebuds with great creations to offer.