Macarons and Swiss Roll - City Square, Johor Bahru

I headed to Malaysia over the weekend and bought some pastries from the different shops.

First up - French Macarons from Lavender Bakery.

Macaroons at RM $4 each. I got a box of 3 for RM $13.20 (Around SGD $1.40 for a macaron slightly cheaper than the ones sold locally) 

These sugar babies were packed in a convenient drawer style box.

From top to bottom: Matcha, Citron, Earl Grey.

Matcha Macaron. - It is great that it has a rich Matcha flavour without the bitterness at all. I love how all the macarons have a thin sugar crust and is soft and chewy on the inside. It is like eating a sugar cookie and candy at the same time. 

Earl Grey Macaron. My favourite among the 3 flavours. If you love anything earl grey, this is one not to be missed. Very rich earl grey taste that lingers in your mouth.

Citron Macaron. This one is lemon flavoured. It tasted like those lemon essence from the baking store so I'm not really fond of  it. 

I think the macarons tasted fantastic but there is just one downside to it - they all got air bubbles. (Hollow in the middle) I'm not sure if it was just the batches of macarons that day but it will be perfect if there weren't air bubbles! 

PS: A good read over here if you wanna know more about macarons. - 10 Signs of a Bad Macaron

Next up Mika Swiss Roll. They got a ton of flavors but I chose:

Raspberry Swiss Roll - RM 13.90

The other end looks neater but I wanna take a close up of the nice thick Raspberry cream.

I love the sponge cake, Super soft and fluffy.

Spiralling cream in the middle of the cake. The cream has a very rich raspberry taste with raspberry seeds in it. 

I like how the sweetness level is just right. I can finish the entire swiss roll for dessert.

Bread & Hearth - Keong Saik Road, Outram Park

Bread & Hearth serves artisan bread baked daily, fresh out of the oven! One good thing to know is there are no preservatives were used in process. Although the b

I tried some of the food from Bread & Hearth over a span of 2-3 weeks so I decided to do a compilation of the food I tried.

Located at 18 Keong Saik Road, 089125.

This place can be a little hard to find if you never been around the area.

Nearest MRT: Outram Park, Exit H

Opening hours - Daily 8am - 930pm.

Good variety of breads, tarts, puddings and viennoiseries available.

Devil's Food Cookie - $3.80

I love the cookies. Rich dark chocolate flavour cookies with crushed walnuts. These cookies have a hard outer layer and a chewy center. Very addictive.

Their coffee menu are above the counter so look up for the prices!

Latte - $5 a cup.

Bread & Hearth mixes their own coffee blends and their coffee has a rich nutty flavour. I also love that fact that the coffee is not sour at all (I hate sour coffee). It really does complement the breads and pastries well like they mentioned. The hot coffee are served with a piece of financier cake - sponge cake with shredded coconut filling. Yum.

Bacon Egg Mayo (Pain De Campagne) - $9

My favourite sandwich here. Anything with bacon goes! This rustic bread has a crackly crust and a slightly chewy interior filled with bubbles. Pain De Campagne contains 20% dark rye flour. The dark bread has a kind of fragrance that I really like. The bread is drizzled with olive oil and layered with cheese, bacon strips, lettuce and egg mayo. A very flavourful sandwich.

Lemon Chicken Sandwich (Herbaceous Ciabatta) - $7

This has a crispy crust and a chewy interior and it is much softer than pain de campagne. The aroma of the herbs goes well with the lemon chicken. The bread is also drizzled with olive oil and the basil in the sandwich adds another kind of fragrance to it.

Ham and Cheese Sandwich - Jambon Fromage (Pain Au Tomate) - $8

If you ever order the Jambon Fromage just go with the default baguette. I chose pain au tomate bread which is sour because of the sundried tomatoes and on top if it, mustard is used as a spread here. You can imagine how this is more sour than it should be.

Matcha Orange - $2.80

The bread are toasted when you dine in. If you are having takeaways, do request for the bread to be warmed up. (It just makes the bread 10 times tastier) The warm matcha bread has a crispy crust and a chewy interior. The bread is pretty dense and there is a subtle green tea aroma lingers in the mouth. The citrus orange peel is a pleasant surprise. 

Lemon Meringue Tart - $6

Real lemon juice are used to make the lemon filling. I think the different flavour is well balanced. The sourness of the soft lemon filling with the sweet meringue on a mildly sweet, thick buttery crust.


I purchased some viennoiseries and breads back home. Their breads can be only be kept till the next morning (no preservatives) so it can last till breakfast.

Pear Danish (Pain Au Poire) - $3.20

I love viennoiseries. 

Basically viennoiseries are bread that has laminated dough (a lot of layers) and the most common viennoiserie is the croissant. This one comes with sweet custard and pear slices. Sweet.

Butterhorn - $3.50

I really like this one. Sugar coated, crispy and showered with a lot of caramelized bread crumbs on top! A little messy to eat because it is very crispy and flaky.

Pizza puff- $6.50 Not the ordinary cheap pizza bread. Love the layered crust, topped with pineapples, capsicums, onions, mushrooms and cheese on top. Mildly sweet and salty. 

Croque Monsieur - $4.50

I find this one pretty ordinary. Cheese on the top and more grilled cheese and ham in the middle. I guess if you like grilled cheese and ham then this might be the bread for you.

Viennese Chocolat - $2.80

This is a soft and fluffy white bread with lots of chocolate chips. I expect it to be super sweet but surprisingly it tasted only mildly sweet and I was told that they used dark chocolate chips for this.

Overall, I think they serve excellent coffee and good bread. This place gets pretty crowded during brunch hours but is a good and quiet place to chill in the late afternoon/evening/night on a weekday. They provide free public wifi only when you check in via their facebook page.

Great news is that they do not have service charge and there is a 10% discount for UOB cardholders for dine in.

Yamazaki Boulangerie Chaude @ Jcube

I decided to give myself a treat today. Craving for some sugar.

Location: Yamazaki @ Jcube (2 Jurong East Central 1, Level 1)

In a nutshell, Yamazaki  Boulangerie Chaude is a Japanese bakery and boulangerie chaude actually means hot bakery in french.

Chocolate Horn at $1.40 each. This is a super sinful treat. The top coating of the bread is sweet chocolate. It looks like a hard coat but is actually a very soft, thin layer of chocolate that melts when you bite it.

 





















There is a very generous portion gooey chocolate filling within. The liquid chocolate inside is slightly salty and and it gets a little messy eating this. It is a little cloying so a cup of plain water or green tea helps.

I like the slightly chewy and fluffy texture of the bread.

Rating: 3.5/5

Next is the Belgian plain waffle. ($1.50 each) This is actually a small and thick waffle, very different from the "local waffles" that I grew up eating. The golden layer of the waffle is crispy with very little glaze on top. The texture within is soft and dense, very similar to pound cake.

I like the combination of the sweet crispy layer and the soft cake within.

Rating: 4/5

I saw some other bread that looks pretty good. I shall try them next time!

Curry Naan - Breadtalk

Hi! Here is a quick post. I used to eat bread every single day but less often now. Here is one of my favorite bread - Curry Naan.
Location: Clementi Mall, Breadtalk
Price: $1.40

I don't think you can tell from the pictures but this actually a super long bread. (around 30cm) and I can't believe it only cost $1.40. I love the slightly chewy texture of the bread and the herbs in it. I don't now what is the powder on top but their is this herb fragrance that I like! It reminds of the herb aroma of Focaccia Gardenia bread. 

There's nothing on the flip side of the bread. Chunks of meat and more herbs found inside. If you like herbs and spices, you might want to try! It is slightly spicy though.

Rating: 4/5

Bengawan Solo @ Westmall

Location: West Mall, 1 Bukit Batok Central Link #B1-02
Price: $3 per slice

I bought 3 slices of fruit cake from Bengawan solo just to try. It is rather expensive considering $3 can get me a decent meal at food court.

The layer of fruits on top is really fresh and juicy. The sponge cakes have a slight hint of lemon which makes it very appetizing. Cream layered between the sponge cake and the side (the green stuff you see in the picture) is kiwi syrup i believe. Quite worth it for the price.

Rating: 3 and a half stars.