foodMOREdelicious

Provence Bakery and Cafe

once upon a time (and up till now) in holland v, there is this small and cute bakery shop, called provence bakery and cafe.

a friend of ours introduced us to this cafe, so one day we called everybody up to make an outing to this place. the way she described the bread here made it sounds to taste like a little drop of heaven.

for me, i was just glad to have a reason to meet up.






the moment we stepped into Provence, the aroma of breads welcomed us indeed. the ambience of the cafe by the patio is typically europe, as we enjoyed the tasty breads and freshly brewed coffee, what more was there to ask for?








i don't get it though why the bread replica on the mainboard looked all black and overcooked. this is so misleading :p

the first thing that caught our eyes was the notice on the main door, saying wassant has sold out. to tell you the truth, i don't even know what a wassant is, never heard of it. anyway, it was ok because our friend recommended the milk bun, so that was what we gonna target and ambush.




ok the moment of truth. the milk bun was quite nice, the bread was tender and the milky custard filling melted in your mouth. get the shop attendance to reheat it for you if it's all cold, they are bunch of nice, friendly and all-smile people, hats up!







my other favourite was the cinnamon bun. the top sugary coat was not all sugar since i could taste the strong sweet fragrance of white egg. it was nice. the cinnamon aroma was pretty subtle i could barely noticed it. it's like it was there on first munch, and not there on the next. interesting indeed.






Hajah Maimunah Restaurant

it was the second day of ramadhan, it was friday, and i was not working when i reached enlightenment right after waking up from my afternoon nap at 4pm.

we must break fast at hajah maimunah!

how my parents spotted this place first, i had no idea. you know, whenever my parents come all the way from kl to visit me, they would make a trip to this place. that, considering they have to take 2 bus rides all the way from simei, which for them should be almost feel like a quest, believe me.



....


it's one of the 2-storey shophouses along this small lane beside joo chiat complex in geylang. not very stand out if you asked me. i've never noticed it before. in fact, few of my friends got lost despite my directions - opposite joo chiat complex, a few shops after hotel 81.

don't be turned off by the queue at the main entrance though, because it moves pretty fast. in fact, maybe even faster than those early morning mrt stations today newspaper distribution queue.

once inside, you'd be overwhelmed by the whole circusy atmosphere there. i mean, look at those waiters zooming left and right balancing trays of rice and dishes with much zest in between those fully seated dining tables! skillfully avoiding customers trying to grab a seat like a volture spotting dead meat.

not that you'd find volture food there, 'coz all the dishes should be fully cooked and looked really yummy from the display window. they have such a variety of selections there, kuah lemak, sambal goreng, masak asam etc etc, you just name it.

my only complain? is that i hardly have time to chose the dishes properly. by the time i arrived at the dishes counter and had clearer look at the menu, it was already my turn to select. so i ended up with some impromptu selections. oh well.

our favourites? definitely the siput sedut. i mean, we finished 3 bowls of that alone. i guess after fasting the whole day, eating healthily wasn't exactly the agenda on top of our minds. the beef rendang was very good too, tender and tasty. and i personally like the tahu telur, although that probably was just because i am such a tahu telur freak.

we took the ramadhan buffet, which was only $11.90 per person. cheap, right? and no nonsense like extra charges for deserts, drinks, even no service charge, taxes etc etc too. $11.90 net. full stop. never had we bitched before about how we were ripping hajah maimunah off, you know, instead of the usual restaurant ripping us the customer off bitching.




the mightyly siput sedut

satisfied customers, happily ever after. we'll be back for sure!

...ed