Set off at the jetty, where all tourists get their rides from. We were going to visit the islands you see on the map.

Waters may be slightly polluted, but the vastness of the river that runs through China, Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam (10th largest in the world) did impress quite a bit. It was, and is the lifeblood of many civilisations.

The Cần Thơ Bridge which finished building in 2010

Churning out molten coconut candy

Coconut candy is a small cottage industry here. From the making to the packing, everything is done in a small open-aired kitchen.

Handicrafts sold here are done mostly by women. This stemmed from the days of war, when men had to leave home to fight. Many women supported their households by selling handicrafts.

Had a sumptuous spread of tropical fruits harvested from tortoise island. Pomelos, Pineapple, Chiku slices, logans, and jackfruit.

Sitting the sampan back to our boat

Multi-purpose hats: shield yourself from the sun, light drizzles, or use it as a basket to carry stuff.

Our skilled rower, maneuvering through the narrow waterways

Caught her by surprise there! I quickly apologised of course, and instead of glaring at me she flashed me a huge smile (:

Attap-Chee trees, or Nipa palms flanking the waterway

The innards of its fruit

I helped to row the boat too! It’s no easy feat I assure you

Speeding through the Mekong once more

Their eclair looked really enticing in the display, but alas they threw mine in a bag so it never survived the trip home. But it doesn’t matter, I took a bite moments after I bought it  and didn’t really find it spectacular. For one, the proportions were all wrong – an overwhelming amount of sweet milk chocolate pastry cream doesn’t go down well when there isn’t enough choux pastry.

As you can see, all the pastries, buttery or not, were dumped into the same bag. Even delifrance separates them -.- They were rather pedestrian to me with the exception of maybe the buns (fig, yuzu) but they were a little oily because of the croissants sitting on top. But with all due fairness, they were consumed the next day (they don’t keep very well. Notably, the croissants lost their crisp exteriors, assuming they did have one) and not on the spot so I’ll save my comments on them for another time – though I doubt i’ll waste my money on them again :\

CNY prep started on friday with a visit to the night market for some veg. All the goods were arriving fresh from the wholesalers- look at that giant oyster mushroom! The house was decked with flowers the next day, all ready for monday the first day of cny. We also received a box of goodies- the most notable being the pineapple macarons. This flavour seems to be in vogue this year; shell wasn’t very spectacular but the filling was quite delicious.

The rainbow after the storm was beautiful. Went chinatown with the besties to soak up some of that cny atmosphere. Squeezed with throngs of people to try all the snacks for sale- really reminded me of my younger days when the grandparents were still staying in a shophouse at chinatown. The huge dragon in the middle of the road near Chinatown point was really a crowd magnet. We joined in the camwhoring fun of course

Two types of pineapple tarts in the house this year. The yearly staple by mum’s friend made it just in time, and Le Cafe’s famous golfball tarts. Aesthetics-wise Le Cafe’s didn’t impress, but what it lacked in form it made up in substance. The thin crust was crumbly and not buttery to the extent of oily, while the filling was very generous, larger than a quail egg! However dad still prefers ours because it’s pretty perfect in all aspects (except maybe the crust, it’s less crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth), and bite-sized making it much easier to eat haha. I like both because I don’t really mind making a mess.

the best kueh lapis I’ve ever had was at one of the visitations. This was from indonesia, and we spent quite a lot of time discussing how they made it! The limoncello mini magnum was good, but I still like the double chocolate series better.

Happy cny everyone!

Our driver first took us to Taroko National Park which is situated in the mountainous region of Hualien . It’s so vast that it stretches over three counties, Hualien being one of them.

Walking around the lyax valley

Occasional pools of incredibly clear blue waters. Reminded me of Gosaikunda lake in Nepal, which is a 100 times the size of this!

One of the things I absolutely love about travelling is the natural scenery we get sometimes. Truly breath-taking.

Admiring the gorge at the Swallow Grotto (燕子口). Just look how little we are!

Had lunch, and delicious ICE CREAM at Jinheng Park (靳珩公園)

The geology here is pretty fascinating too. I might as well lift the text off wikipedia:

“The rock now seen in Taroko began over 200 million years ago as sediment on the bottom of the ocean. As the sediment collected, it was subject to increasingly large amounts of pressure which eventually hardened it into limestone. Over the past 100 million years, tectonic compression between the Philippine Sea Plate and the Eurasian Plate supplied additional pressure that metamorphosed the limestone into marble. Uplifting forces from the plate collision pushed this rock above the surface of the ocean to where we see it today. In fact, the region is still being uplifted by approximately 0.5 cm per year.

The gorge itself was carved into the marble by the erosive power of the Liwu River.”

And if you think Taroko Gorge is the most awesome thing you’ll see in Hualien, think again.

Check out the amazing view of the Pacific Ocean. Not a single boat in sight to obstruct the horizon. Imagine standing here admiring the vastness of the sea, listening to the crashing of the waves up and off the shore, and the strong winds threatening to sweep you away. It was therapeutic to say the least.

After savouring a piping hot bowl of fishball soup that really calmed the nerves, we continued with lots of sashimi. We had tai, and tuna but the piece de resistance was this: salmon sashimi slices sandwiched with herring roe (I think ) cured in vinegar and sugar and plastic-wrapped with a fish (sardine perhaps?). The latter is pretty uncommon, in fact I’ve never seen it in Singapore before.

The roe tasted a lot like sushi rice (because it was cured with the same ingredients) but it had a more umami-ness to it.

Oh, and did I forget to mention that Hua Lien is also known as mochi-land?? 曾記麻糬 is famous for their range of hand-made mochis. The variety is astounding. I highly recommend coconut, green tea and peanut.

Our driver claims that this place dishes out the best xlbs, and by xlbs he means those little buns on the far right. Presentation-wise it was a little rough, but taste-wise, the pau was fluffy and soaked with the juices of the ball of pork at the centre. It’s about 25 cents sing for one anyway, so I can’t be critical can I Feel free to order everything on the menu, with the exception of maybe the spicy and sour soup.

It’s a pity we only stayed for a day because Hua Lien’s such a beautiful place. A revisit next time perhaps.

The new FFT has finally opened in the Botany Centre of the Botanic Gardens. The Botany centre is accessible at the Tanglin Gate (parking’s available here), which is pretty far from the Botanic Gardens MRT.

It used to be an old foodcourt that I never knew about, whoops. Despite being open for about a month already (I think), the place has not received much publicity yet for whatever reason.

The new FFT’s a great place to hang out with friends, or to bring the family. The space is very industrial, with high ceilings and grey furnishings. The indoor seating alone can take up to 200 people, and some tables are really huge. We managed to sit together despite being a huge group of 12- a nice change from all the other times when we had to split up.

My friends happen to be very finicky eaters, and they have big appetites. I think a single course is sufficient for girls, but the guys seem to need twice as much haha.

This is the brunch set consisting of pomme noisettes, garlic mushrooms, and scrambled eggs with cream ($8). Their garlic mushrooms, a mixture of fresh shiitakes and button mushrooms, were really toothsome and flavourful. The scrambled eggs were also a delight, fluffy and not too creamy or liquid.

I thought their grilled Portobello burger ($8) bordered between good and great. The portobellos themselves were grilled perfectly, juicy with tonnes of earthy flavours. The Pineapple Sage Vinaigrette received mixed reactions around the table. Some liked it, while others found the sweetness quite confusing with the rest of the dish. I myself would have preferred a parmesan topping because I found the vinaigrette a little oily (Yea, I like to kid myself sometimes. Hate the sight of raw dripping oil ahaha). The potato bun was also a little greasy, but on the bright side it was a little denser than normal burger buns so it didn’t become soggy and difficult to eat.

Their pancakes were what attracted me to FFT in the first place, so naturally I had to get some. The friends and I shared banana walnut ($10) and dark chocolate with raspberries ($12). The mixture of raspberries into the batter for the latter was a great idea, for the acidity cut through the richness of the pancakes soaked in gula melaka syrup making it very more-ish. The dark chocolate chips, semi-melted by the heat, were a luxurious finishing touch. Banana walnut was a little different. This time we could really taste the batter itself. Comparisons with Strictly Pancakes are inevitable of course, and I would say I prefer the batter of SP (Update (27/1/2012): I had their mixed berries pancakes this round and I must say the batter was much fluffier and less eggy. yum!) . It’s slightly less eggy than FFT’s version, but in terms of the overall flavour combis (discounting the savouries offered at SP) I think FFT’s better. Anyway, I thought the cream and gula melaka syrup went seamlessly with the sliced bananas and walnuts. The walnuts in particular, though raw were delicious when eaten with everything else.

I still don’t understand the red velvet craze, and neither do the friends. Anyway, I thought the cake was too dense, and the cream cheese frosting was far too sugary. Not a good idea.

FFT @ botanics is a slightly different concept. It’s more communal (evidently, from the large space), and cafeteria-style. Their burgers, and pancakes are quite value-for-money vis-a-vis the same fare offered at other places. Will be back for brunch/lunch again!

The friend’s mum insisted that he got her some mochi from 一之軒. I was kind of curious about why she insisted he get 5 boxes of their handmade mochi which could only last for 3 days. How good can it get, right?

I totally understand now. really. It’s probably the best mochi I’ve tasted in my life enough said.

All their handmade mochis are great, but their black sesame mochi is truly phenomenal. It’s a little messy to eat, but worth every moment of unglam-ness. The mochi skin is brilliant- thin, soft, very Q but tender to bite. Underneath that is possibly the largest ball of black sesame paste I’ve ever consumed in my entire life.

There you go. A picture of the mess I was making in the car whilst pumping petrol. Just look at the proportions! The filling is hardly sweetened and has the rough texture of millions of ground up black sesame seeds. The strong nutty flavours made it so addictive and easy to eat despite its ridiculously large size. By large, I mean this:

Bigger than my lens cap. This photo proves what I mean!

And as if the abundant filling wasn’t enough as a ‘feel good’ factor, wait till you hear the price. It’s 100twd for 7, which works out to about 14twd each. 1 SGD= 22twd (at that time what I changed). You do the math.

These babies need to be hand-carried if you are planning to bring them home. They come in boxes of 7 suitable for gifting- but really keep the good stuff for yourself haha. The salespeople will tell you they can only last for 3 days, and no matter what you do never refrigerate them because the skins will harden. Chill them before consumption if you must, or better yet just eat them fresh out of the chilled cabinets in the bakery.

Other flavours I recommend are peanut, and green tea red bean- but nothing beats black sesame. For red bean purists, you might not be as impressed because I found their red bean nice, but a little below the standards of really good Japanese red bean. Still good though.

Directions there: they have many branches but the one we went was I think, the main branch. Use the m6 exit at Taipei main station, you’ll see a sign and lots of baked goods a few steps away! Click here for their website.

No regrets making the special trip down. An overwhelming majority tell me how much they love this unassuming confection- and I agree wholeheartedly. The perfectly golden- brown crust is a telling sign of how well the heat was controlled and distributed to bake this. The buttery and tasty crust crumbles upon every nibble and melts ever so slightly on the tongue. The pineapple filling is not as sweet as the pineapple filling we are used to for our cny pineapple tarts but this really appealed to almost everyone who tried. What we have has much more sugar in it, thus explaining the caramel hue we see in general. Anyway, for this very reason lovers of our cny pineapple tarts will probably not like 家德’s version.

I can’t say this is the best because people look for different things when they eat stuff. Some would like it more buttery (and by extension, more oily) and others would prefer a sweeter filling but I must say the 家德 was very well received by the family and friends.

Surprisingly the one thing that was even more well received than 凰梨酥 was 老婆饼 (wife biscuit). I got freshly baked ones that day, which were a bit of a pain because I had to wait for them to cool before I could seal up the individual packs. Yup you heard right, individual packs. If you are like me, a loyal fan of Heng Xiang (or Hang Heung) in Hong Kong you will understand what I mean. No more 老婆饼 thrown roughly into a box that is tied by a raffia string- which will most probably not survive well during the airflight. 家德 not only packages everything up nicely, their 老婆饼 can easily rival, or might even be better than Heng Xiang. Dad and I both think the winter melon filling is not as sweet here allowing the natural sweetness and flavour of the winter melon to come through, and the proportion of flaky pastry: winter melon filling is much better. The pastry is surprisingly tasty so much so I was picking up the pieces after I finished everything else.

They come in boxes of 6, 12 and 20. Very suitable as gifts.

Besides these, they also sell 太阳饼 (sun biscuit) which the friends raved about. I was foolish enough not to buy any because I bought some at another place. Sigh. The friends also bought huge egg tarts while they were there. They looked really enticing, especially when the bakers started bringing out a fresh batch but alas, I was too full.

Address:

佳德糕餅有限公司CHIA TE BAKERY CO. 105台北市南京東路5段88號營業時間: AM7:30~PM9:30

PS: I spent about $1100 for my entire trip. Most of it came from the air ticket which was almost $500 (I bought 20kg of luggage space for both ways hehe). If you need any suggestions as to where to stay or what to do, feel free to email me!

Cappuccino and latte both decently done, definitely up to cafe standards. Their coffee art is by far the most interesting, and they don’t lost their form as you drink. An adorable bunny for me and angry birds for the friend.

Chocolate truffle cake was pretty average, the old school type with more chocolate fudge than usual. Sandwiches were hearty, something that I would head back for. My roasted pumpkin sandwich came as a turkish pide stuffed with the veggie goodness roasted with herbs like rosemary. The friend’s ham and cheese sandwich was huge because they used thick toast- the thickness of three gardenia pieces!

All in all a satisfying lunch. Worth a trip down.

1. Jewels Artisan Chocolate for their black palm island salt macaron and raspberry macaron

Chef Then may be well known as a chocolatier, but I actually adore her macarons much more. Not every flavour is mindblowing but they are all pretty good. Expect to find more than one flavour in her fillings, and most have soft centres. Black palm island salt for example, has a salted egg centre while her raspberry has a tart raspberry center. Word of caution though, do eat your macarons at the cafe itself because they don’t survive well. They are very well-aged so I never found the quality to be as good when I keep them for more than a day. Also I find consistency a bit of a problem. Had issues with their salted caramel macaron which was so uncharacteristically bad.

Price: $2++ for 1, POSB/DBS cardholders get 10% off

Review #1, #2

2. ET Artisan Sweets for their blackforest (brandied cherry middle), green tea (adzuki red bean middle), yuzu (yuzu custard middle), pumpkin (seasonal, pumpkin puree middle), vanilla bean (with valrhona chocolate pearls), and chocolate hazelnut (with crispy feuilletine)

My first impression of ET wasn’t that spectacular, but I quickly became a convert after tasting their macs again after more than a year. Throw out all my criticisms in here because I seriously think that their macs taste much better now.

For one, ET ages their macs for at least 2 days. The flavours are always rotating, and there are seasonal flavours. I’m always excited to find out what’s new when I’m there! Most importantly, they are consistent in terms of quality- no such things as airpockets in shells, overtly chewy shells or flavourless buttercream. I really should stop waxing lyrical about ET now, but just bear with me for few more seconds okay?

Besides the yuzu flavoured buttercream, ET also makes a yuzu custard centre that really accentuates the citrusy sweet flavour of the yuzu. This is no doubt one of their most popular flavours.

Pumpkin is the latest addition that is still selling in the shop. Other christmas flavours were rum raisin and hot chocolate which unfortunately aren’t being sold anymore. Pumpkin puree is mixed in the buttercream, and the mac has an additional gooey centre of pumpkin puree. When the friend brought macs for our christmas party, everyone was fighting to get a bite of this!

On the left is green tea which is absolutely delicious IMO because it has all my favourite flavours, namely green tea and adzuki red bean. The green tea is much stronger now, so green tea fans rejoice! It’s miles better than jewels’ green tea mac, trust me. Oh and for those vanilla purists out there, you will be glad to see that ET’s buttercream for the vanilla mac is speckled with vanilla beans. I believe they use Madagascan vanilla beans but don’t quote me on that. And a little update, they used to use valrhona but now they use Michael cluizel chocolate.  It’s still really good so no worries.

And if you haven’t yet noticed, ET has changed their packaging! The motif now has an adorable baby blue background and gold foil detail on the leaves. Without a doubt ET has the prettiest packaging that can rival even laduree at almost half the price. If you are planning to give the macs as a gift, you can get them to tie a ribbon for you, and request a pretty paper bag to go along with it.

Prices have increased but trust me it’s still very affordable. Their macs are almost 1.5 times the size of jewels, no kidding.

I’m a huge fan of ET now. Though I buy their macs at least once every 2 weeks I bet i’m still not their number 1 customer. They have such a huge following that their macs (esp the popular flavours like blackforest) fly off the shelves literally. Please make a trip down if you haven’t!

Price of 1: $2.50, 5 in a box: $12.50, 6 in a box: $15, 12 in a bigger box: $30

Past reviews: #1, #2

3. Canelé’s Rose, Fleur de Sel Caramel, and chocolate feuilletine

Oh gosh canele, where should I start. Such a love-hate relationship I tell you.

I love their chocolate flavours I really do- more than ET’s and Jewels. But with the recent management change, I’m not sure if I’ll still like them.

I got their christmas flavours, pistachio cherry on right and yuletide stollen on left. They were unbearably sweet, so much so I had a persisting headache which lasted the rest of the day. The flavours were basically masked by the artificial sugary taste. Creative yes, but as the Singaporean rhetoric goes, “it’s too sweet!!”.

That said I used to like the aforementioned flavours (refer to title), but KIV this all right. We’ll see how it goes when I try them again.

Prices: Christmas flavours were an eye-popping $3 each, normal flavours go for $2.50

Past reviews: #1

Macarons Overseas

France:

Sad to say I never had the chance to try other places besides Ladurée and Pierre Herme in france but the next time I go I promise to be a little more adventurous in my macaron hunting. I totally agree that Pierre Herme is bordering on being overpriced so my goal next time would be to find more affordable ones! That said, Pierre Herme is still my favourite because of his ingenuity and consistency in quality. Laduree sells one of the prettiest boxes but they come with a hefty price tag. Their macs are delicious as well, all very refined in flavour though pierre herme still edges out by a bit IMO.

Past reviews of PH: #1, #2, #3

Past reviews of Ladurée: #1, #2

Sydney:

Adriano Zumbo also tops my list for macarons. His shop is the only reason why I want to visit Sydney! He also has a mind-boggling array of flavours, out of which I have only tried a fraction of. 

Past review: #1

We went on tour again as a family with Chan Brothers. Dad chose this package because it would bring us through not just north and south vietnam, but also central vietnam. In essence we traveled from Hanoi –> Hue –> Dalang –> Ho Chin Minh. We visited a total of 2 UNESCO World Heritage Sites namely Halong Bay and Hoi An, which were both charming in their own ways. Food wasn’t the very best unfortunately, but that’s the weakness of tour packages anyway. The trip did however give us a taste of what Vietnam has to offer, and a chance to understand their culture, and their people.

The Kissing Rocks, the symbol of Halong Bay

Halong Bay features almost 2000 huge and majestic limestone islets. The emerald green waters are calm, so much so you never get seasick while you’re in the boat.

We were unfortunately “blessed” with the worst kind of weather you can imagine- biting cold and a thick fog. Suffice to say my photos required quite a fair bit of adjustments to get the contrast right. That said my photos are not a misrepresentation of the beauty of this place. The editing was a matter of making my photos correspond better to what I saw- blame it on my photography  skills if you must.

Anyway, back to the kissing rocks. From this angle, we saw a dog kissing a rooster (some see two kissing roosters, anything goes ). When you travel around it, you see a garoupa. Part of the fun in traveling around Halong Bay is interpreting these oddly shaped limestone islets.

To fully appreciate the majesty of Halong Bay, one must also understand the complex geographical phenomenons that developed these limestone islets and the numerous grottoes located in the islands.

I’m not much of a geography person myself (scored the lowest in the level for my first geog test, whoops) so I can only furnish you with information from Wikipedia. Halong Bay used to be a deep sea, but as a result of tectonic plate movement, has developed into what it is today.

Tourists flock to Halong Bay every year to admire this natural wonder. Luckily, the waters are still very clean and beautiful, and the place isn’t overcrowded with tourists thereby retaining its peace and serenity.

I believe this boat is transporting sand. Fun fact: Singapore imports sand from Vietnam.

We visited a fish farm halfway through our trip. Bought a couple of crustaceans for lunch.

Just look at how high these limestone islets can go!

The Surprise Grotto took my breath away. The ceiling was so high and the indents in the ceiling would make you think it’s man-made. Huge limestone columns, stalactites and stalagmites littered the entire place, all products of nature after many years. The lights installed further emphasized all the marvelous detail on every work of art by mother nature. It was quite an eye-opener for myself.

More photos coming very soon!