Cafe Oliv- Found my desserts heaven in sg~!

Janelle and I had a long day of interview today. We decided to head off to Cafe Oliv for a big treat! The restaurant was empty when we entered. It was already like 7.30pm and there was no one there?? Don't be deceived by it! People only start streaming in after 8pm. Why does people at east coast road have their dinner so late? haha

We ordered Chargrilled Bratwurst Snail & Spicy Italian Sausages with Rosti Potato $14.90

A's rating: 4.25/5, J's rating: 4.3/5

A: I like the rosti in Cafe Oliv! It was different from what I've tasted in Lauterbrunnen (Switz). Rosti is actually a national dish of Switzerland, usually served with sour cream. Rosti in Cafe Oliv was made using shredded potato and they pan-fried it, topping it with bacon, adding additional crisp to the rosti! It was not overly seasoned and it tasted great with the bacon and sour cream. Both of us find the spicy italian sausage must tastier than the bratwurst snail sausage. This would have been a perfect dish if not of the snail sausage. Oh, they also add final touch to the dish by adding fried shredded sweet potato! We had to ask the owner to find out what it was! Janelle even thought that it was "cuttlefish" initially. haha

J: This rosti is one of the best ive tasted so far. Sometimes e rosti can be too oily, nua n salty. I love the crispiness of the top layer of rosti with bacons and e lighter, softer texture of the bottom layers of rosti with the sour cream. The taste of the spicy italian sausage was so overpowering tt it rendered the snail sausage almost tasteless. But the snail sausage was bland on its own too.

We also ordered Oliv Tradtional Beef Stew with Fennel, Potato and Pilaf Rice $12.90. We ordered the dinner set menu which includes a soup+main+drink+dessert ($16.90).

The mushroom soup was very creamy and we both feel that it would be better if there were chunks of mushrooms in the soup. Definitely not ur usual campbellis mushroom soup!

Here's come our beef stew!

The Pilaf Rice

This hot steaming stew is delicious! It was a perfect combination with the pilaf rice. Actually we do not know what is pilaf rice. You could feel each individual rice grain in your mouth! The so called "Li Li Fan Xiang!" It tasted great wih the beef stew, especially when you bite each mouthful of rice with large chunks of beef. Yumm..

A's rating: 4.5/5

J: I thought the beef could be more tender. There were a couple of beef which were overdone n e tendons made it hard for me to bite off the beef. I actually feel that the pilaf rice was very good bcos each n every grain is very separated n i love the bite of e grains. I would gladly finish the rice on its own with the gravy from the beef stew lol.

J's rating: 4/5 beef, 4.5/5 pilaf rice

And finally our desserts! Mudpie!

The presentations of the desserts were awesome! We find this mudpie amazingly delicious! It was a combination of coffee ice-cream + chocolate bits + chocolate ice-cream drizzled with coffee sauce. We initially thought that it was chocolate sauce! The coffee taste was not overpowering and not too sweet to make u feel sick after eating a while, which we both like about. Eating the bits of chocolates with the ice-cream was simply delicious! Best mudpie I've tasted so far, even better than Island Creamery.

J's & A's rating: 4.5/5

We decided to get additional dessert as desserts were having a half-price promotion ($3, UP $5.90) on tue and thursday.We ordered the brownie with cookies & cream ice-cream. Brownie with ice-cream was the highlight of today! The brownie was heavenly! The 1st bite into the ice cream brownie blown us to heaven~ oOOompHHH aHHhhHHH this issss A-W-E-S-O-M-E!! Chunks of walnuts can be seen and the brownie was so soft that it dissolve almost immediately in your mouth! It was not too sweet and definitely v shiok when served warm with the ice-cream. Janelle and I were like snatching the brownie among ourselves n scraping the plate, not wasting every bit of brownie left! haha. It was THAT GOOD!! We couldnt't help smiling when we started eating the brownie! It's been a long time since we've experienced such a heavenly dessert, other than the bread pudding in London.

Brownie with Cookie & Cream Ice-cream

Feeling insatiable after finishing the brownie within a min, we succumbed to the growlings of our stomachs which were hankering for more brownies! We're such a glutton pigs! haha! This time we ordered Brownie with mocha chip ice-cream. We're in heaven! It's the best dessert we've eaten in Singapore. The only dessert that would make both of us come back for it again! The brownie tasted much better with the mocha chip ice-cream. Next time we will just order this combination! The mocha ice-cream was very aromatic n shiokfully delicious in combination to our warm brownie choked full of nutty chunky walnuts drizzled with choc fudge! This really gave the extra punch tonight! (J: Personally I feel that the mudpie was gd but bcos its all cold coffee & choc ice cream mudpie, it was less shiok as compared to warm brownie with cold ice cream. This brownie with mocha ice cream can definitely satisfy both ur cravings for choc & coffee!) We feel that the cookies and cream ice-cream was pretty normal, nothing fantastic.

Brownie with Mocha Chip Ice-cream

J's & A's rating: 4.8/5 for brownie with mocha chip ice cream. This brownie would have scored 5 if they can replace their ice creams with better ones like from seventh heaven or island creamery :P Btw their ice creams r not made by themselves so they're actually ordinary ice creams.

Having such a good dinner and 3 yummy desserts, we were almost too full to move! (J: I'm suffering from sore throat now bcos I had such a fabulous meal lol) I bet the owner, Kelvin was shocked that girls of our size could finish so much food! Bill for tonight totalled up to $41.60 for 1 soup, 1 drink, 2 entrees + 3 desserts! And no GST!! We will definitely come back on thursday again! Because desserts are half-priced on tue and thur! We will try out new yummylicious food again and DEFINITELY our BROWNIE not to be missed!!

Visit http://www.cafeoliv.com/ for more info.

Cafe Oliv
220, East Coast Road
(Near Church of the Holy Family, Katong)
6-344-3114
Open daily from 11:30am - 11pm

Sweet Stone Liège waffle & chocolate fondue

J: We have been missing our Swiss fondue and belgium waffles ever since we came back from our Europe trip. If I were to list the top 3 desserts I tasted in Europe that has the "ooOOmpH" factor, they would definitely be Swiss fondue from 'Des Alpes' in Interlaken, authentic Belgian chocolate waffle from 'Laurenzino Wafels' in Brugge and homemade bread pudding with custard from 'North Sea Fish Restaurant' in London. They are absolutely divine and I literally felt heaven upon the 1st mouthful!

Swiss fondue from 'Des Alpes'- thick warm chocolate fondue with nougats and nuts in it! What's so special about their fruits plate is that they added dried apricots which was something refreshing when dipped into the sweet choc fondue! The most shiok way of eating chocolate fondue is to dip ur fruits or marshmellows and suck the choc 1st when u placed them into your mouth. It's really shiok when u feel the choc running down ur throat! We think that bananas and marshmellows are the best marriage to choc fondue!

Belgian chocolate waffle from 'Laurenzino Wafels'~ Some of u might ask what's so special about belgian waffles? They look almost the same as what we find in singapore. Well, the first difference is distinctive.Unlike the usual liquid waffle batter used in singapore, belgian waffles are baked from dough. That's why you get a crispy crust on the outside and a soft chewy texture inside.

In my opinion, the perfect marriage to waffle is chocolate! Dip the freshly baked waffle into e rich belgian

chocolate and suck the chocolate while biting into the chewy Liège waffle, the mixture of sweetness, crispyness and chewy after taste is simply awesome!

After reading through our all time favourite "ieatishoot" food blog, we finally found a place to satisfy both our cravings for chocolate fondue and belgian waffles at hawker price! Welcome to the Sweet Stone at Golden Mile Food Centre~

For just $14.80, you get a belgian choc fondue, 2 waffles, fruits platter and 2 scoops of ice cream! Well, I must say although the waffle falls short of my expectations, it is still one of my top 3 waffles in singapore. We specifically requested for our waffles to be freshly baked instead of warming the prebaked ones that they had because we had previously tried the belgian waffle at old airport rd which was kind of disappointing when they merely warmed the waffles.

The owner was extremely accomodating and baked 2 waffles for us. Oh yes, he also mentioned that they were not affiliated to the old airport branch and proudly assured that theirs are of higher quality! It was a misunderstanding on my part to think that they were the same! sorry!!

Unlike the one I had in Brugge, this waffle is more bready but still decently delectable for a Liège waffle. "Liège waffles originated from the city of Liège, in eastern Belgium. They are richer, denser, sweeter, and more chewy waffles. They feature chunks of pearl sugar, which caramelize on the outside of the waffle, when baked, giving you the crunch and the sweetness of the waffle."

The owner begged to differ that warming a prebaked waffle will compromise its quality! He had even sent his waffles for lab tests and it has been proven that his waffles can be frozen up to a month without much compromise to its taste! Someday, I'm going to buy one back and try it haha. It was also very nice of him to share some tips with us. To warm ur waffle, preheat ur oven to 150oC and warm it for 45sec before eating.

Surprisingly, their chocolate is really fantastic and I highly recommend everyone to give it a try! It brought me back to the times spent in Brugge when I first tasted it. Yes, according to the owner, the choc is imported from Belgium so that the quality is not compromised. Also, unlike the Swiss fondue that we had in Interlaken which was warmed with candle, they actually microwave the claypot and pour warm choc into it. The reason is simple. The chocolate will be burnt if u warm it over a candle. However, I still prefer my choc to be warmed using a candle so that it can be kept warm throughout the makan session (it was done this way in Switz n the choc was not burnt). We recommended to the owner to try adding nougats or nuts into his choc but i guess he wants to retain the flavor of his belgian choc n its understandable. However, u r free to bring ur own toppings! Also, they dont sell the choc alone and it can only be bought with purchase of their waffles. One complaint from us is that we feel that the chocolate given was not enough. We finished the choc even before we finished the fruits platter! Yes, thats how good it is, almost on the verge of licking the claypot dry lol. But, u can always pay for additional choc at $1.

Lastly, I would like to comment on their gelato. There wasnt a lot of variety and I was rather disappointed with their gelato, with the exception of speculoos flavor. They homemade their ice cream daily from natural ingredients with no preservatives added. I thought the rest of the flavors were rather ordinary just like the ones u can easily buy from ntuc / the ice cream man outside schools. Angeline didn't like the fizzy apple flavor because its a sorbet. Just an ordinary sorbet that tasted sour to me. Speculoos however, was certainly refreshing n uncommon. It has an initial sweet caramel taste and a biscuit after taste. We certainly love it together with our waffles dipped with choc!

All in all, this place is definitely worth a visit for its quality and the price that u pay. U can be sure we will be back for its waffles but prob not the fondue because u pay less for the warm choc dip rather than warming the claypot for the same belgian choc. The marshmellows, fruits and choc dips can be purchased separately with the waffles.

P/s: Imo, the fondue is not really worth the price. They have waffle sets like Set A(1 waffle + 1 choc dip = $2.50), Set B(2 waffles + 1 choc dip = $4.20) etc. I think to make ur money worth, instead of paying $14.80 for the royal fondue, order 2 set As ($5) and bring ur own fruits! The choc dips r exactly e same as e fondue except they r not served in e microwaved claypot but they r still warm. Btw they only serve 3 scoops of choc dips in the clay pot. So even if u purchase additional choc dip n buy fruits from e fruit stalls, the price is still less than $14.80 :) For tt price, u can get 6 Set As which is definitely more shiok to satisfy all the sweet tooth out there lol!

J's Rating: 4.5/5 for waffles, 4.75/5 for belgian choc, 4/5 for Speculoos gelato

Sweet Stone
Golden Mile Food Centre
#01-67 (Beach Road)
Open everyday from 10:30am to 9:30pm

www.sweetstoneholdings.com