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.

Saizeriya @ The Cathay

It had been 4 years since I last visited Saizeriya. Getting older. Compared to my visit 4 years ago, the portion seemed to shrink a significant bit.

Mushroom soup - $2.90

Really thick and rich mushroom soup with lots of mushroom bits in it. Thankfully the portion is just right so it does not get too cloying. I would love it if they serve this with a small piece of garlic bread.

Free flow drink bar - $2.80

I tried some latte, Schweppes and ice milo. Definite nono for instant coffee. Get the soft drinks instead.

4 "Wings" - $3.95

Somehow the spacing made the portion looks pathetic. Juicy and oily at the same time. The skin was a little crispy. Come to think about it, $1 for a joint of a wing is very expensive. I felt cheated.

Pepper Chicken Steak - $6.90

My main dish. Portion was tiny. Comes with a chicken chop, some corn and three potato wedges. I believe the dipping sauce is brown sauce mixed with vinegar. (I hope my taste buds were right) Chicken is juicy. The dipping sauce was a saver as it made the dish tasted better if not, a little bland. A side note: I really don't like corn.

Oven Grilled Escargots - $5.90

Escargots were a little oily and buttery. The texture is in between a scallop and cockle. It was pretty nice and I finished it in 30 seconds. 

I always find that Saizeriya is a value for money place to dine in but now it seems like it is not the case anymore. However, I really like that they now have a bell on the table to page the staff when we are ready to order so we do not have to wave like idiots to get their attention. 

Decent food (pathetic portion), clean environment and I love the drink bar.