18 APR 2009

Wifey has been working too hard during her peak period. We decided that she has to pamper herself with a decent breakfast before going to work this Saturday… With that, we returned to Choupinette for brekkie…

Once seated in the cozy little cafe, we placed our orders: a Ken’s Set ($10.00) and an Egg Royal’s ($21.00). Both of these come with a small fruit juice and any hot drink on their menu. I grabbed their Cappuccino, which to me was nothing spectacular.

The Ken’s Set consisted of a choice of any of their freshly baked viennoiserie. Wifey chose their Croissant and it was still warm and very nice with the butter & strawberry jam…

The Eggs Royal’s - eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce… Everything was perfectly done: the poached eggs, the excellent smoked salmon, and the rich, creamy and buttery hollandaise sauce… What I don’t agree with is its serve size… I am pretty sure… if I open my mouth wide enough, everything will be gone in two mouthfuls!!

So obviously, we were not satisfied by the Croissant & the Eggs Royals… We topped up our orders with a Cheese Twist ($1.80) and a huge Praline Doughnut ($2.90) which were rather good…

The bill came up to $40.37 and I thought it was quite pricey considering the serve size was rather pathetic for that price. Don’t think we will be back for brekkie… but we will probably be back for their freshly baked viennoiserie.

If interested, all pictures and write-up of other reviews can be seen here...

Was exploring the eateries in the vicinity of the junction of Farrer Road // Bukit Timah Road and came across Choupinette, a French Cafe... Apparently, "Choupinette" means "Sweetie pie" in French...

Initially, I didn't think much of it at first... but still went in to have a look what Choupinette had to offer...

Immediately, wifey was attracted by the variety of breads available... like moth to a flame... I can read the conflict on her face... "Oooo this MUST be nice... OHHH that seems nice TOO.... Ahhh I want all of theseeeeeeeee as well!! But... But... But... the price!!..."

Personally, I don't think the price is an issue for these dainty French pastries if they were authentic and nice... Eventually, we ended up getting a couple of take-away items for tomorrow's Breakfast and a Cheese Twist on the go... Came up to a little over $10.00...

The cheery French cashier...(owner?) stuffed a huge bag of Hot-Cross Bun with our order and told us - "here this is free!! Heat it up and its divine with butter!! Happy Easter!!"... What a nice surprise!! Deep down, the thought that it may be near its used-by date did surface (blame it on KS (kia-si) syndrome), but upon closer inspection at home, the Hot-Cross Buns looked fine. I heat one up and eat it with some butter... and it was indeed divine!!

This area is not one we come by often, but I'd most likely be back for their breakfast or cakes & coffee in time to come... Also, I think Choupinette to be a nice & cosy place to laze the afternoon away...

So, we went here for brunch about a week and a half ago. We got lucky on parking, of which there is very little. Getting your car to Choupinette is liable to be half the struggle for brunch.

First up, the setting – Choupinette feels very crowded. It’s not unpleasant but doesn’t manage to be wholly relaxing. The table wobbled like a crazy food-filled see saw as well.

Second, the food – I had croque madame, which was pretty basic. It’s nothing gourmet: just two slices of square white very lightly toasted with some cheese, some ham and a fried egg on top. Certainly nothing to worry the likes of Hediard but at the same time double what you’d pay for the same dish much better executed at Epicurious. The missus had eggs Benedict, which were apparently satisfactory. I suspect that grabbing some of the pastries and croissants would have been a better option.

No complaints about the service – if you pay with Amex, you get a little bag of macaroons (the nasty French-style ones made out of shaving foam and roof insulation) which I’d probably have deducted points for if they weren’t free.

So, overall, okay but not exceptional. If you were stuck on Bukit Timah Road and couldn’t be bothered to get further into town for brunch you could do worse.

There used to be four, but with the latest addition of the Canon to the Arsenal, the power balance was tipped back. The current score stands at Canon 2, Olympus 2, Nikon 1. With the figure at a perfect five, there’s a harder fight especially so when somebody countdown five seconds for the shots.

While just like how the different brands have their own strengths; with Canon producing the crisp sharp shots, Nikon edging out with the vibrant colours display, Olympus providing the balance in between, there isn’t a perfect combination. And of course, there are pros and cons of Choupinette. The small capacity of the restaurant made it a great place for a lazy pig-out, but it also meant that the place was packed to the crowd on a busy weekend.

I like how my Nikon produced the perfect blend of colour, to bring out the best in the settings of the restaurant. And surely, the Canon and Olympus camp would protest against that.

Walking by the array of bread, the three of us were attracted by the Pain au chocolat ($2.90). From the memories, warm melting chocolate filled within the crispy bread. But it was not to be, the bread was cold even though the staff helped us warm it up. Chocolate fillings, or rather, the lack of it was the main downfall.

The same problem goes for the Almond Danish ($2.90), the bread wasn’t warm, while we couldn’t expect freshly baked bread to be coming out just for us, it would be a lot better if only the bread was warm.

The chouchou’s set ($22+) from the lunch menu had choices of either one of grilled hot sandwich, lasagna or smoked salmon sandwich, together with a drink and dessert. This was La Moussaka. The fanciful name brought home the impact, otherwise you wouldn’t be seeing this dish here. But, it was a very ordinary one, nothing to shoot about.

The generous slices of smoked salmon from the Le Noé’s sandwich ($22+ from chouchou’s set) was definitely worth the price. Coming in two huge slabs of bread, it could easily filled up two person.

Choupinette’s interpretation of the Madame and Monsieur was an egg, with the latter coming without. Grilled sandwich with a choice of ham, chicken or eggplants with emmenthal cheese & béchamel sauce. Le Croque-Monsieur ($15). Apparently, our Madame was so engrossed with the sandwich that she couldn’t give her comment.

I always wondered what exactly is a quiche ($6 per slice), well i got my answer today, in not one, but two quiche! The lorraine quiche (top picture) is perhaps the most common quiche there is. While I didn’t exactly fancy the spinach quiche, I still prefer my spinach eaten like a vegetable.

Eggs on toast with smoked salmon and hollandaise sauce served all day long. This is for all the lazy bums out there! The Egg Royal’s ($21+) ought to be presented with the most-expensive-eggs-you-ever-eaten honour. I kind of wanted to kick myself for not ordering this, the poached eggs were done perfectly, and the looks alone would give much pleasure.

Another dish which you can’t left out of any brunch menu, Eggs Benedict’s ($20+). Eggs on toast with ham and hollandaise sauce. Well if your stomach isn’t feeling right having smoked salmon for breakfast, eggs with ham are always a safer choice.

It’s kind of heavy eating a burger for breakfast, but hey we are having brunch! For all the carnivores, Le Burger ($18) is just, well a hamburger. The beef patty was slightly overcooked, but it was served with a generous servings of salad, and the fries even came on a separate bowl. But for $18, i thought it was rather on the high side, you can have a gourmet burger at Relish, or maybe a cheaper burger from Hotshots or Smoking frog kitchen might do the job.

On first impression, the Tarte au citron ($5.60) or lemon meringue tart would definitely made a statement with the beautiful burnt and thick layer of meringue. While others took one bite of the tart and refused to touch it any more, i was slowly sampling it since this was my first time trying meringue. The layer of meringue on top was supposed to form a stiff peak but the one here was too thick, and there was also hint of coarse sugar within which was probably due to the improper dissolve of the sugar.

We were contemplating between chocolate or coffee éclair since there was too much desserts with chocolate. But we decided against it since coffee is an acquired taste, and had the Éclair au chocolat ($5). There was a salty after-taste in the éclair which came across as rather weird.

I was eagerly anticipating the Palais Royal ($6.90), for the dark chocolate and crunchy praline. But there wasn’t any crunchy praline to be found. Nonetheless, i still enjoyed the dessert even though some didn’t really like it as they were disappointed by the lack of the crunchy praline.

A very simple custard & raspberry, the Millefeuille framboise ($7). The several layers of puff pastry brought back fond childhood memories of the cake which i had before when i was a kid. It was difficult not to make a mess of it as the cake crumbled easily.

The Tarte aux Pommes ($5.90 a slice, $7.90 for an additional scoop of ice cream) was quintessentially an apple tart with a scoop of normal ice cream. The additional of 2 bucks for the scoop of ice cream was totally not worth the money, but the apple tart was decent. The thin slice of dessert was fulsome with the apple taste.

Vendôme ($6.90) also caught our attention with the three layers of dark, milk and white chocolate. The dessert was more like eating three layers of chocolate mousse, some didn’t like it, but i did.

The macarons ($1.80 each) were a disaster. We had eight of them, four from each chouchou’s set. Choupinette has about 13 flavours of macarons available, we chose chocolate, raspberry, strawberry, peach, passion fruit, orange, pear and hazelnut. Almost all the macarons had chocolate gauche for fillings, i wouldn’t mind small macarons if they were good, but the one here had an artificial taste to it. Something was definitely missing but we couldn’t quite make out what. The very artificial colouring of the macarons didn’t appeal to us too. The shells of the macaron crumbled easily and didn’t have the chewy texture a good macaron should have.

Total bill was $193 for 9 of us. Some paid more for their expensive egg brunch, while some paid less for just bread and desserts. But generally, if you are looking to try their brunch or lunch menu, you will probably looking at 20+ per person, and that’s probably excluding desserts. Choupinette has a great base of Caucasians customers, and it isn’t difficult to see why for the cosy and homely decorations of the place. The name of the restaurant, and the French names of the food screams chic. It will probably be better to go on a weekday where there’s less customers if you want to try this place out.

Well, just like how there will never be a perfect DSLR for either Canon, Olympus or Nikon users. Some of you might like Nikon for the design, Canon for its brand, Olympus for its nimbleness, all of us have different preferences. Similarly for Choupinette, while we were disappointed by the desserts, but the eggs on the brunch were exceptional, and you might just like the food there. No matter what, all of us love our DSLR, and the common passion for food. Another dessert enthusiast outing, until the next one!

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words. Food, my dear, is what they call an adventure!

Went together with Sihan and gang but was sitting on the other side of the table so I shall complete her reviews for the missing dishes...

Ambience - Though the place is small for its weekend crowd, the interior part of the café is crammed full of rustic wooden tables and cushioned chairs with a sitting capacity of about 30 to 35 people. The use of pink gauze curtains provides a classic and romantic environment for the window seats. One tip, if you are going for ambience, avoid the 11am to 12:30pm time slot on Sunday. The place can be cramped and I mean it...

On the other side of the café, an array of freshly baked breads was displayed and this reminds me of Swiss Baeckerei since the latter also has a dine-in menu of sandwiches, salads, little French pastries and beverages.

Value - I would say breakfast at this place is not cheap and the ambience is compromised during weekends due to the high amount of human traffic. The food were served in quite a disorganized manner.

Service - I have to give credits to the staff who tried her very best to cater to everybody's attention. Also, I appreciate that we weren't told off for bringing a firing squad (8 diners with 5 dSLRs) who combed every single corner of the shop.

Food -
--- A-la-carte ---
Carnivorous diners will be pondering on their orders, given the bulk of the items offered were eggs and ham so a cheeseburger ($19++) would sound good. The beef patty though well-seasoned is way too overcooked but we suspected the beef patty was left on the grill after the café ran out of gas that morning. Thus, might explain the overly well-done beef.

The Quiche Lorraine ($6++) is a must-try with a sufficiently salted and seasoned custard with pastry crust of a right crispness.

--- Breakfast sets ---
Most of the diners came for their breakfast sets which comes with a juice and a drink and the two we ordered were Eggs Benedict's ($20++, served with ham while Eggs Royal's ($21++, served with smoked salmon) and both were served with 2 lovely poached eggs on crispy toasts and creamy hollandaise sauce. We liked everything of Eggs Benedict's (ham fares better than smoked salmon for its stronger taste) but not its price.

--- Desserts ---
Choupinette's desserts mysteriously resembles the ones we saw at Swiss Baeckerei and due to the huge kitchen at the back of Swiss Baeckerei and Swiss Baeckerei pricing the cakes lower than Choupinette, I can't help but to think that the desserts either came from the same supplier or were out-sourced.

Palais Royal, a dark chocolate with crunchy praline ($6.90++) was the best among the entire lot we have tried but not the best I have tried. By the way, Swiss Baeckerei claims this to be their best-selling dessert.

Tarte au citron, a lemon meringue tart ($5.60) which Swiss Baeckerei claims to be their speciality.

Millefeuille frambois, custard and raspberries ($7.00++) was something I enjoyed the most despite its pastry being alittle soggy. Something light and refreshing after the loadful of eggs.

The Eclair au Chocolat Noir, a dark chocolate eclair ($5.00) has a mysterious resemblance with Swiss Baeckerei's chocolate eclair.

Vendome, a dark, milk and white chocolate mousse ($6.90) is another creation we saw at Swiss Baeckerei except for the different decoration on top of the cake. The chocolate content is weak and thus was too creamy to my liking.

Tarte aux Pommes, an apple tart (a slice costs $5.90++ while an additional scoop of vanilla ice-cream costs $7.90++), is something which I have seen in the shelves of Swiss Baeckerei. No doubt it is an extremely thin slice of apple tart and I have neutral thoughts towards it. It is the nicer dessert among the entire lot but the ice-cream was just Magnolia ice-cream.

Macarons was a complete disappointment. The unsightly cracky shells, the hollow pockets... with the chocolate gaunche in almost all flavours... has a distinctive taste that is similar to popcorn.

Although most have complained about its price tag, this place have been opened since 2001 with a heavy human traffic on that Sunday. I wouldn't say it is bad but if you are willing to spend for a good breakfast, it is not a bad place after all.

The photos can be viewed from my blog
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A little corner shop along Bukit timah Road. Within a stone throw of my primary school/ Junior college vicinity. Yet I was always quick to dismiss its colorful sign board and green tinged glassed walls. So when the gang chose this location as our next food tasting session. I was very much excited, especially since I had read up that they do serve the classic brunch dishes such a croque monsieur and eggs benedict. These 2 dishes for me were like heavenly treats on a lazy morning during my 1 month stay in Australia last year. Hence I was looking forward to a little revisit. Nonetheless, i had my qualms as here in Singapore, we never got to handling the dish right. Whether it is the brilliantly poached eggs or the perfect hollandaise sauce. Something was always missing or tarnished.

Visible from the title of my post, the entire experience was hugely disappointing. The croque monsieur that i ordered was alright, though the version from the now defunct Corduroy and Finch was much better with the addition of melted gruyere cheese within the bechamel sauce laden toasts. The eggs benedict on the other hand, recieved negative comments from my fellow diners who claimed that it was too stiff a price to pay for 2 poached eggs on toast and smoked salmon. Priced at $21, I definitely do agree with the conflict between the meagre portions and the huge price tag.

The desserts that my companions ordered were a flops as well. Apart from the apple tartin with vanilla icecream, others including the lemon meringue tart, millefeuille framboise, palais royale, chocolate eclair, vendome as well as the assorted macarons were a major failure. With a large 'F' tag attached to their names. Not that I'm being to critical, as it is evident from the reviews of the other bloggers as well. The millefeuille framboise was a mess consuming, and not to mention the puff pastry layers were all terribly soft. The palais royale was plain.. and definitely no crunchy praline layer at all! the vendome fared a little better than the rest with a contrasting layer of white chocolate and dark chocolate mousse over a milk chocolate cake. However, with absolutely no contrast in textures, this cake left little room for imagination.

Overall, I wouldn't visit the cafe again. With gimmicky brunch sets and mediocre desserts, its a wonder that so many caucasians patronise the stall.. hmph..