Sunday Brunch: PS Cafe at Dempsey

 

 If I had to pick one cafe that I will head back, PS Cafe @ Dempsey will be on the top of my list. My first visit here was way back in 2009, where we had our Christmas team lunch together. Fast forward 5 years later, I'm still working with the same company but minus 2 other colleagues who left the company for other pastures. As I'm typing this, I recalled that the pri-school gang celebrated one of my birthdays here as well. So this marked the 3rd time I'm heading back to PS cafe, which is considered an achievement given that I rarely revisit cafes. 

 

Heading towards Kaiwei & Yanni's house to pick them up for our double date, but the main agenda was to celebrate Yanni's birthday.

PS Cafe offer both indoor and alfresco seating options. If not for the sweltering heat, I would gladly jumped at the option of sitting outside to enjoy the scenery. Thus, we joined in the queue and waited for approx 45 min before we got a table indoors. It's a pity that they don't take reservations for weekend brunch at this outlet :(

Handwritten menus has a certain charm over me, especially when the handwriting is so neat & tidy! Their dessert counter is strategically located at the entrance of the cafe, aimed to attack the dessert bugs in all of us, lol! 

 Gigantic slices of cakes are displayed on cake stands. With a wide variety of cakes on display, ranging from carrot cake to butterscotch cake, my personal favourite is their signature double chocolate blackout cake served with dark chocolate sauce. It was a pity that we were too full from our brunch that we didn't get to order desserts :( Well, there is always next time!

  

We finally got a table and immediately placed our orders.

  

 Hot Chocolate for me, as usual.

 

Well, I can't really recall what the rest ordered for their drinks but it looked like Passionfruit French Fizzes and banana milkshake. Leecher had his daily brew of coffee which I concluded it wasn't worthy of a pic, haha.

 

Kaiwei & Yanni.

We literally over-killed ourselves by ordering 1 main each and 2 side dishes. OK, I admit I ordered 2 mains as I was so famished that I thought I could finish everything. Leecher gave a skeptical look when I ordered but I brushed him aside and insisted on ordering my items, haha. 

Instead of my usual eggs Benedict order, I opted for Blueberry & Banana Pancakes, which was blueberry pancakes topped with caramelised bananas served with fresh whipped butter and maple syrup. I'm definitely not a fan of bananas, so that got distributed out before I started eating. The pancakes were slightly fluffy and chewy, which was how I liked them to be. 

An item from their daily special menu - Eggs Benedict on crab meat patty, served with salad by the side. We spotted this item on their chalkboard menu and Yanni decided to head for this. It was certainly a good choice, for the crab meat patty was really good. The 2nd dish that I ordered, Homemade Toasted Muesli - greek yoghurt and berry compote topped with homemade almond and seed, honey-toasted museli. I wasn't expecting a gigantic bowl of museli, lol! Leecher was literally giving me the how-are-you-going-to-finish-your-orders-stare which I kind of avoided and felt like kicking myself in the ass, haha. 

 

No visit to PS Cafe is ever completed without a plate of their PS Truffle Shoestring Fries, tossed with truffle oil, grated parmesan and parsley. Best for sharing! 

PS Brunch Burger, served with wagyu beef and US chunk patty topped with gruyere cheese, wilted spinach, crispy smoked bacon, tomato, crispy onions, herby mayo and fried egg on a toasted sesame bun with PS fries and aioli. This is one huge serving of burger that even Kaiwei was struggling to finish. Leecher headed for Corned Beef Hash - homemade corned beef with crispy potato skins, grilled onions, chilli capsicum, cos and toast with a fried egg and homemade tomato relish. Leecher was pleased with his dish apparently for he didn't even leave some for me to try, boohoo! Well, I shall forgive him on that since I was struggling to finish my food, lol!

 
A trip to PS Cafe never fails my (food) expectation, for I'm sure we all added at least 1cm to our waistline after the meal, haha! A lovely place and quality brunch food options, I'm sure that we will be back again in the near future. 

PS Cafe at Dempsey

28B Harding Road

Singapore 249549

Tel/SMS: 9070 8782

Note: No reservations for weekend brunch

KL Work Trip, Dec 2012: Day Trip to KL

My perseverance finally paid off - for I'm now composing the last entry for 2012 work trips! Hooray to clearing another folder :) I went on a day trip to KL, meeting up with prospective clients for a quick catch up before they all head for their holidays. Dec is always a quiet period (in office) where out of 10 emails sent out, you will receive at least 6 out-of-office replies. Thus, I had to confirm schedule with my clients before I proceeded to book tickets for the trip.

 

I headed to the airport early morning to catch the 7am flight, which surprisingly was a full flight. Instead of passengers heading for holidays, I saw quite a lot of passengers dressed in their business/corporate attire on board. We were all busy typing on our laptops whenever we can #lastminpreparation, lol!  

Xmas period, my fave! (Psst ... mental countdown to another 6 months of Xmas this year)

My trusty dog tag that accompanied me during my travels :)

Anyway, I flew Silk Air to KL, as I had to get into town early morning to meet the clients. My 2nd time traveling Silk Air and it felt like an upgraded version of budget airlines. My usual routine - read the papers to catch up on the latest headlines first, then off to lala-land when the plane starts taxiing and wake up during touch-down. This time round, I was busy preparing for some materials for clients' meeting, so I spent whenever I can typing on the laptop instead. 

Upon landing, I immediately hopped onto a cab and headed straight to client's place. I had a late breakfast/early lunch at Starbucks, just below my client's office - needed the energy before the start of a long day. I even got 10% discount off for being a "staff", lol! 

 

 A couple of hours, I was back at the airport ready for my flight home. Before that, I needed some comfort food & the best place for junk food - McDonald's! McDonald's french fries and corn cup are my comfort food. 

I decided to walk around the main terminal instead of heading to my usual spot for "debrief" session. 

Xmas decorations all over the airport. Now, I really feel like jetting off to winter wonderland for Xmas this year! Somehow, Christmas feels more magical when snow is in the picture :)

        
Dinner as soon as I landed in Singapore - this pretty much wrapped up my business travels in 2012 :) Mission accomplished!  

Platters: Guest Chef Edition VI

I'm back at Platters for another guest chef edition. As we bid farewell to Chef Karl Dobler & Eugenia Ong for their wonderful creations, it is now time to invite another guest chef in the house. Chef Jeremy Nguee is chef-owner of Preparazzi and for this collaboration, he will be creating his own rendition of comfort food. So, be prepared to ditch your diet plans and start feasting away!

Located along Club Street, this place is hidden away from the hustle of the city yet in close proximity to the working crowd.
 
 Platters also boost an extensive list of Euro-centric wines, which are refreshed frequently.

We had non-alcoholic drinks before starting the meal. While I ordered a lemon tea, Leecher was intrigued by the range of organic drinks available @ Platters. He promptly ordered an organic lemonade, which was refreshing for him after a walk from the office to the venue.

 

What is interesting about this collaboration is that Chef Jeremy came up with Singlish names for all the 4 platters that he created ~ a true Singaporean indeed, haha! First up, we had Thunder Thighs & Crackpot Rice platter, also known as The *Siao (*crazy)Seafood Platter ($38 for half platter, $68 for full platter). This platter consisted of French frog legs, soft shell crabs and crab roe rice for mains & as for sides, there were butter and bacon coupled with tobiko and hollandaise. We were told that the frog legs were soaked in milk overnight before deepfrying ~ when I tasted it, the frog legs tasted more like chicken meat - tender & juicy. Crab roe rice was a hit amongst us too!

 

The Maniac Meat main course aka *Never Die Before (*the phrase 'never die before' is usually said in response to a daredevil act). The mains consisted of grilled angus sirloin, truffle roast spring chicken & home-made foie gras terrine. Sides include buah keluak butter, maple candied bacon, fat potatoes, grape jelly and charcoal crumbs ($48 for half platter, $88 for full platter). Looking at the amount of meat on the platter, I knew I was in for a treat since I'm such a meat lover, lol! The sirloin was a tad tough for my liking, but roast spring chicken was absolutely soft & chewy. On the other hand, maple-candied bacon tasted really like ba kwa.

 

Smear some of this buah keluak butter on your beef for a different taste :) 

   

 We had white wine to go along with the first platter & red wine (from Spain) for the second platter. 

 

Coffee Caramel Delight aka *FatDieYou #1 (*FatDieYou, when translated into Mandarin, it is usually used in reference to something utterly indulgent). This platter consisted of caramel fondant, coffee jelly, vanilla ice cream, chili chocolate crumbs and peanut butter brittle ($16 for half platter).

 

My Pastry Hero aka *FatDieYou #2 was the 2nd dessert platter that we tried. This platter consisted of freshly baked madeleines, rose meringue, rose espuma, lychee jelly and raspberry sorbet ($16 for half platter). We had 2 desserts served together & the trick to eating both platters was to mix everything together (on each platter). Comparing the two, my personal preference goes to Coffee Caramel Delight for the varying degrees of taste delight. You'll experience sweetness from caramel fondant, followed by a slight tinge of bitterness from coffee jelly. The extra bite comes from peanut brittle, where you can't resist the urge of popping more than one piece into your mouth :) On the contrary, My Pastry Hero was uniform in taste with different hues of sweetness from rose, lychee and raspberry.

 

Pay a visit to Platters & rem to hashtag #platters #fatdieyou & #42clubstreet on instagram/twitter.  

*Special thanks to Jean & Jenny for the invite :)   

Note: Chef Jeremy Nguee are available from now till Feb 2014.

Platters

42 Club Street

Singapore 069420

Tel: 6223 8048