Twelve Cupcakes

I had been a follower of Jamie Teo’s blog previously and so when I learnt that she opened a cupcake shop, I was eager to try out her baking skills. But sadly, Novena is hardly an area that I hang out at.

A couple of days ago, I happened to be in the vicinity and decided to grab some cupcakes from Twelve Cupcakes. It was a small store chucked at a corner of United Square, with lovely sweet decor and alluring cupcakes.

As I arrived at 5+pm, there wasn’t much selection left to choose from. I badly wanted a salted caramel and it was sold out. Frankly speaking, I wanted to buy just 1 cupcake and eat it on the spot before committing to the whole box but I thought that would be weird. So, I ended up with 2 Red Velvet, 1 PB Chocolate, 1 Strawberry Chocolate, 1 Strawberry Vanilla and 1 Blueberry Vanilla.

With much expectations, I started off with Red Velvet when I got home. Sadly, it didn’t wow me. I felt that the cake was a little dry and the cream cheese frosting didn’t taste strong enough.

What wooed my heart was the Strawberry Vanilla and PB Chocolate. I guess Peanut Butter and Chocolate can never go wrong. For the Strawberry Vanilla, the white chocolate bits on the strawberry frosting was just marvelous! It melted in my mouth instantly and the luxurious mix of strawberry and white chocolate was perfect with the moist vanilla cake. Yums.

I would still love to try out the other flavours but I’m just not sure when will that be.

Twelve Cupcakes
+65 62568130
101 Thomson Road
B1-60 United Square  

Restaurant Week: NOVUS

When I learnt about Restaurant Week a few weeks ago, I was euphoric as I have been dying to try out some! However, by the time I get down to the reservation site, I found out that reservations had started a week ago and all the restaurants that I was interested in were fully booked for both lunch and dinner for the whole week!

Being desperate, I even tried searching for 1pax and it didn’t work out.

So I got myself a lunch date with YQ and we settled for NOVUS. They were serving a mystery 3 course lunch menu.

I had drinks at NOVUS once and sampled their bar snacks, which tempted me to return for a proper meal. And of course the location was a plus point – in a museum.

YQ went ahead with the Cured Salmon – Stuffed & Rolled Organic Chicken – Black Sesame & Mango. While my choices were Foie Gras Anglaise – Red Snapper – Valrhona Chocolate Test.

The Cured Salmon was a lovely surprise. The oyster leaves with yuzu gel and lily bulbs gave a refreshing burst in the mouth and complements the home cured salmon.

My Foie Gras Anglaise was extremely rich in taste. The goose liver custard was smooth and melts in the mouth. Pieces of gingko nut, stuffed morels and duck confit gave some bites to the soft custard.

I am not a fan of chicken when it comes to dining out, just because I feel that it’s so easy to cook chicken! haha.. But this Stuffed & Rolled Organic Chicken was simply delicious and I would have chosen this over my Red Snapper! When the plate was served, we both wondered “Where’s the chicken?” Well, the white meat was presented in a stuffed sausage manner and boy, it was so tender and delicious!

The Red Snapper was extraordinary normal. The rice-look alike risoni pasta was interesting though, plus the semi-sphere shaped tiny jelly bits.

The combination of Black Sesame & Mango intrigued our tastebuds. Black sesame meringue stuffed with wild strawberry ice cream topped on mange espuma. There’s some sticky chewy chocolate on top too which provided a even more complex flavour and texture to this dessert.

From left to right, 33% mousse – 55% souffle – 68% sorbet – 72% warm custard – 80% dehydrated chocolate.  

As the name suggests, Valrhona Chocolate Test. I could only finish 2/3 while YQ helped me out with the remaining. The aerated chocolate mousse had bits of sparkle candies (the one that pops in the mouth) which makes the mousse fun to eat. The souffle is soft, moist with a slightly crisp at the top layer. Yums. The sorbet’s texture was like normal chocolate ice cream and tasted like bitter chocolate which was excellent for my tastebuds! The warm custard was a miss while the dehydrated chocolate tasted kinda like coco crunch.

Overall, we are very satisfied with the 3-course lunch and it cost us $40++ each. Reasonable I would say. 🙂

NOVUS Restaurant . Bar . Courtyard
National Museum of Singapore 
93 Stamford Road #01-02