Welcome to Serangoon Gardens.

i loved the interior of this place, looks great! basic cafe food, on top of what’s pictured, i also tried candied bacon waffles - that was the winner for me. whole family loved it, amazing combi of sweet and salty

Had the signature chocolate (??) latte which was really really good and lavender/chamomile/eucalyptus tea. Super cozy place

The wonton ingredients such as the wonton are pretty meaty and juicy. The char siew is also quite nice. The noodles however can be more chewy but I am just being nit picky. It's not quite a decent pack of wanton becasue I ordered via grab.

Selling at S$6.00 per bowl, this durian dessert came with durian puree blended with some dairy and ice to create that mousse texture, and topped with two scoops of durian puree. Short of drizzling some Gula Melaka to become a Durian Pengat, yet this dessert was highly likely the top favourite of the dessert shop, as proven by the strong fragrance of durians even at the ground floor of the shophouse.

With the safety regulations in place, dine-in patrons would be required to drop an SMS to the designated number to collect a queue e-ticket. And you would surely understand why the crowd downstairs appeared like an assembly area for a fire drill at 8.00pm on a Friday night. Something must have been done right to deserve this dessert-hungry crowd.

I was very surprised to see that Chong Qing Grilled Fish was swarmed with fish fans who enjoyed loads of spice along with it.

Had it not been for my colleagues’ recommendation, I would really not know that they had a less spicy version, that is the Pickled Cabbage flavour. It came as dish with a tray of sourish base. Given the little amounts of bones and scales on the Patin fish, it became a good choice for us, especially since we liked our fish with less fine bones hidden under the flesh. On the whole, the dish was quite appetising with the adequate levels of sourness.

Paying S$39.00 for this was all right, but it was just not enough for our table of 5 to share. And so, we ordered another set in a different flavour of soup base. That was not inclusive of the many plates of “side dishes” and two towers of beverages to go with the meal. And since it was a weekend dinner, our table was expected to dine for a maximum of 90 minutes, which we managed to do so abidingly.

I had the fish maw noodle soup which this stall is famous for. It comes in two sizes, $11 and $13, and I got the $11 one. I loved the huge soft chunks of fish maw. There’s also pork liver, mushrooms, minced pork and a few cabbage leaves. Unfortunately I didn’t really like the soup. Yes it is cloudy and eggy, but it is also loaded up with an overwhelming amount of MSG.

Chuupppppppppp! Usually I’d give 10/10 for anything that resembles more of a swimming pool than a plate of food. This is still good, don’t get me wrong. But I think soft boiled egg + plain prata cannot compete with a good old egg prata. (Rating: 😬)

I love the Danish and matcha latte. They have croissant/Danish set at $5.90 with coffee, top up $1+ for latte.

Apparently if you’re a French citizen you get discounts! I see a lot of expats here showing some discount card.

Delicious burger! DIY choose ur own fillings. The beef patty is yummy! Had cheese bacon fries to go with my burger.

For the 4th course, we were served frog legs "inche kabin". This deep fried frog legs dish was inspired by a fried chicken dish served by Hainanese cooks serving aboard British ships. The term "inche kabin" means Mr Cabin in Malay, a homage to the roots of this dish. The frog legs are marinated with spices and coconut milk, deep fried and served with an ass-kicking fiery dip made of chilli, pickled garlic, soy dauce and calamansi juice. The frog skin was shattering crisp with a nice hint of the coconut and spices. I wish my fried chicken tasted like this!

This was followed by grouper moolie & herb salad. A pan-fried wild grouper is served with a mild curry sauce and homemade coin prata. @jooeunchung loved the curry and prata. The curry was light and reminded me of pumpkin soup. And that homemade coin prata --- woah, give me more please!

For our belated 3rd anniversary and Fourth of July party, @jooeunchung and I checked out this intimate and small chef's table restaurant which serves a tasting menu inspired by local flavours.

Chef Gan is an alumni of Candlenut and Goto Kaiseki and this showed in the Peranakan flavours and Japanese-style cooking.

He started off with a luffa & scallop chawanmushi. Inspired by a local dish, stir fried luffa, eggsi with Hokkaido scallops is steamed in a dried scallop stock, and topped with charred luffa. We love the intense and flavourful chawanmushi and the plump juicy scallops.

Chef Gan followed up with my favourite dish of the night, summer salad with sambal matah. Seared squid and prawns, and seasonal vegetables is topped with raw Balinese sambal and finished with calamansi juice. I like that Chef Gan made slits on the squid so that it will retain its soft tender texture during the cooking process. The sambal was piquant, flavourful and appetising. I love the melodious blend of sweet, sour and caramelised flavours.

For the crab dumplings in broth, the consomme-like soup was prepared using chicken and live flower crab stock. The crab dumping is essentially a giant meatball made of fresh crab meat and pork belly. The soup was warm and soothing. I loved the use of lime zest to give it a slight acidic note. The dumpling was full of sweetness and umami. They definitely did not stinge on this!

This was definitely a great start to their 8-course tasting menu!

Back to my favourite dog friendly cafe where I can bring my furry little one along.

A friend and I ordered:

-Escargots ($6)
-Prawn Aglio Olio ($9)
-Chicken burger with double patties ($12)
-Garlic mash potatoes
-French fries ($2)
-Sautéed mushrooms

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