Loysel's Toy Cafe, Kampong Bugis Singapore

 

It has been our "modus operandi" to do coffee after meals. Oh well the world is really fair, there's alwiz demand and supply, check and balance. If you can do a great awesome "bak chor mee" u can't make a great cup of coffee. No shit that's true.

And even if u have the greatest beans imported from all the exotic places in the world, grinded to perfection, brewed excellent cuppas of coffee...doesn't mean the food that u served is great. Such is life :))))))))

yup check and balance, yin and yang.

so that makes us customers, travel from places to place for different things....just for breakfast. I know...all the trouble for it.

It was a lovely Saturday morning in Singapore...there isn't haze, blue blue sky and the birds were chirping. The M People convoyed to a certain place for a certain Bak Chor Mee with raved reviews. It wasn't my palate....don't get me wrong, I lurve bak chor mee.....just that this one was different and I didn't like it.

In case u were still wondering, I don't usually blog about places that I didn't like. That's the philosophy of the blog, post about things that I like, places that I would like to share with u all. As for those bad experiences, oh well it's up to individuals to judge. What may not be appealing to me, could be something good/awesome for some. Preferences are very very and REALLY subjective u know. The eyes of the beholder....in this case, the palate of the consumer.

okie back to Loysel's Toy cafe, located at the shady quieter corner of Singapore....it's really a tranquil and casual place to do coffee with friends. Big mature shady trees surrounded this property made it quite relaxing. Paying tribute to the man cum engineer Edward Loysel de Santais, this cafe was named after him.

Mr. Loysel was the man who commercialized the world's very first coffee machine back in 1843. It didn't become an overnight success, instead he took it to the world exposition held in Paris in 1855....and ka-boom....the rest were history. Fast forwarding to the modern world, I am sure most coffee enthusiast would have a coffee machine at home. I cannot live without it!!!! even staying in hotels, it seems mandatory to have one inside your room :))))

Loysel's Toy Cafe imports beans from all around - Africa, America and Asia. It even has a small retail corner if you wanna take home some of those apparatus and iconic coffee machines :))))

Cameras were out to play that morning....
hehehehehehe....

Loysel's Toy cafe do serve food - breakfast, brunch, snacks but we came here just for coffees. So many places like this been mushrooming all over Singapore. They are doing a really good business with unassuming locations.

We wanted to try another one yesterday after lunch but it was jam-packed and the queue was as long as Mcdonald's/Minion queue.

So in the end we went to J&J's new dwelling which they've shifted in less than 72 hours...enjoying a few cuppas, brewed fr their Gaggenau coffee machine. Such an honor to be the first guests to step foot into their beautiful spanking WHITE minimalist home...but most of all to officiate their coffee machine. J&J Jelina was figuring how to connect the milk container to the machine. HAHAHAHA

so do u have a favourite place in town for coffee???
As for Singapore, I still prefer *click here* because it has a good balance of acidity, aroma and length.

for more information about Loysel's Toy, visit:
www.loyseltoy.com

Chicken Rice Challenge

yummy yummy steamed kampung chicken
look at the beautiful yellow thin succulent skin!!!!

2 Sundays ago, we had a chicken rice challenge at Yiks and Joanna. Not that any of us gonna cook chicken rice....but more of a tapao-blind-tasting-chicken rice session. Hua hua hua.

I think Si Fu bought the above steamed kampung chicken rice and it was really juicy delicious and yummy. My favourite of the lot :)))))))))

Roasted chicken was not too bad
my memory was so bad *thanks to all the champagnes*, I forgotten who brought wat.
but I definitely brought champagnes and my tummy :P *hic*

as we were having a food suicide on the front, there's more cooking done at the back.
lovely lovely fresh ingredients :))))))))))


Yong Tou Fu was cooking at the back
I didn't have any coz it's supposed to be a chicken rice challenge ain't it?
selfish me forgotten that JS doesn't eat poultry and all the dearie friends were so kind enuff to prepare plenty of non-poultry for him.

J&J Jelina made an imperial stock soup with loads of ingredients...
Japanese mushrooms, keichi, scallops and abalone. SO yummmsss. Think I had 3 bowls :P

Baba Brian touched down from Tokyo that morning "remote-controlled" prepared this dish of yummy succulent beef rendang. JS is one lucky boy with all these non-poultry dishes.

J&J Jelina also cooked this special yummy mud crab curry!!!
oh yummmsss~~~~

Not everyone were keen on the food though...
Keith was so busy assembling lego for his son
hahahaha these days, toys are so complicated it needs adults' "supervision"
kekekekekeke.
and as we speak, Laurel has delivered their 2nd baby. Congratulations!!! We look fwd to meeting all of you again this weekend.

anyone keen on chicken feet?
hehehehe with its condiments of ginger sauce, chili sauce, dark soya sauce.

 Yiks was savouring the last few drop of a really special collection of champagne

a special KRUG collection 1985
just enuff to go around once. Hahahahaha. Thank you for sharing my dear friend :))))

bottles and bottles of champagnes and white wines chilling in the ermmmm....pails?
I know.....we were drink such rare gems in such unglam chilling tong. Hahahahaha
but it's sure effective though coz we didn't have a huge ice box to cater to all the drinks.

Later, Champagne Queen Val brought another Roasted Chicken Rice from a different stall. This one was a bit salty or prollie our palate were all koyak with too much of flavours from too many different kinda food.

Hey I thought this was supposed to be a chicken rice only challenge? Why u guys alwiz never stick to the theme???

Chicken innards....
me no eat innards.....:P

Beansprout waiting to be fired on the wok

We didn't stay long. Only 3.5 hours b4 dashing off to the airport.
Wahahahahaha....that's our kinda weekend...Fly in to Singapore, Food Suicide, Boom and Fly out.

Joanna almost had to wheel me out with her baby chair, coz my tummy was so round :P
*staring at my tummy now*
at this rate I am goin, I better be running 12km everyday.
sigh.....

Wohoooo this weekend another round.
I m looking fwd to M People's food suicide again :))))
Till the next 24 hours folks!!!

Saja Saja dinner @ home

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I've got healthy gums!!! *shakes ass* shake-a-bom-bom
just being silly bcoz JS needed a human "specimen" for his test shot. To tweak the white balance bla bla bla yada yada yada. Didn't I tell u mobile phone can take really nice pic as well?

He should be a lawyer bcoz then there's a further 10 minutes deliberation on why a good camera is really worth the $$$$$$. JS then proceeded with pin pointing the bokeh effect created on the background and the subject/specimen is so sharp on the foreground. Yeah until can see my blemishes
 -_-"

So out of the blue, JS needed specimens/guinea pig for his awesome-super-outta-the-world-yummy-roast pork project.
No don't worry, we are not hannibal...he needed a group of ppl to chomp chomp nom nom and give some honest feedback on his experiments.

JS been cooking roast pork for the last.....errrr..weeks?? I can't recall. Blame it on brain damage due to alcohols. So me aka his housemate aka his guinea pig no.1 ain't working anymore, coz she can't deliver any feedbacks to further improve his roast pork. Because frankly I don't think there's anymore room for improvement.

Hello!!!! don't be a perfectionist!!! there's really no more room!!! already up till the ceiling...bursting liao!!!!

Sal my french classmate was already there much earlier, so while waiting for the other specimens/guinea pigs to arrive, we down our sorrow with champagnes...

yeah she was delivering some really bad news!!
Sal: "Monkey......our french is not improving at all!!! stop monkeying around in class and start paying attention!!!!!"
Monkey: "huh??? u think so??? I thought we were so good!!!!"
the power of illusion.....
Yeah I live in a very delusional world...Thank you Mr. Alcohol.

Later, Beautiful CS arrived and more gossips ensued....
this is wat happens when u put 2 females together...when there's 3 *with me innit*....it's a group of bitchas!!!!
wuahahahahahahaha

Monkey and YS

since the ladies were bz yak-yak-yakking away, I took the opportunity to lay my hands on Beautiful CS's husband. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yes revenge!!!! She alwiz lay her hands and legs and watever she got on JS >.<

I guess this is wat friends are about. You alwiz feel "at home" at their home. You can borrow things without returning back to them. You can *ahem* "touch" the husband. You can cry and bitch and laugh like a hyenna in front of them without felling silly. 

Friends alwiz complete me, and made me WHOLE!!!! one big full circle.
:))))))) but most of all they made me a better person and more humble about everything in life.

Soon dinner started, coz everyone's stomach was klug klug klug
special request by Beautiful CS, she wanted a cold pasta.

the above was a fresh finely minced Torro with negi, served on truffle infused pasta angel hair pasta, topped with japanese konbu, toasted sesame seed and spring onions.

plating can be better....hmmm.
oh well JS, u wanted constructive criticism I can't give anymore on the taste...so I am criticizing u on the plating, cleanliness and presentation. :)))))))))))

Ta-DA!!!!!!
why are those things sticking out???
it's razor clam shells :)))))))))

one big heaps of pasta to feed the hungers hungry ppl
Homemade razor clam pasta with sweet reduction of its jus, sake, tomato and garlic.

I wished the pasta was more al-dente!!!!
guess cooking one big heap of food ain't easy huh? U won't have control over its quality.

topped with some smuggled-fr-Hong Kong Har Ji powder.
basically it's dried prawn roe then made into powder form.
though it's one big heap, all gone....except the shells.

It was really sweet and yummy coz the razor clams were still alive when they arrived home. JS personally went to pick them up at a Seafood-Restaurant-that-has-got-an-armed-security-guard-that-made-it-into-the-newspaper.

Oh well these days, even seafood restaurants are not spared from daylight robbery. I know seafood restaurant are literally day light robbers bcoz they charge such high price for their fresh produce that were still swimming and frolicking inside their tanks. But then, the bad bad robbers are now targeting these kind of restaurants for its patrons/clientele are quite well to do to dine at such establishments. 

I was introduced to the owner of this particular restaurant at an exclusive boutique. He was shopping for a timepiece and I got to interview him. :P Oh well wat he said was pretty true, if the armed forces can't do anything, he had to take action and hired armed security guards to protect his clients and his business. Tsk Tsk Tsk. Terima kasih, janji sangat dicapati. Now where's my dhal to go with capati?


Brian C, Beautiful CS, Sal and Monkey

All so ready to be guinea pigs.
It wasn't that difficult to gather a group of friends who are mutual, and of coz who doesn't hate each other. I don't want to threat any knives wound at my dinner - JS has got really sharp knives at home. But most of all they have to enjoy pork!!!! hahahahahaha

so it was a rather stupid question when I sent out individual message to each of them to book their calendar...
"Wat do u mean do I eat pork??? I don't eat pork, I swallow them."
okie u are so ON to be my specimens/guinea pigs

Simple stir fried baby kai lan with japanese sake. Actually we wanted to get broccolini but the grocer ran out of stock.

Brocollini is actually a hybrid of Broccoli and chinese Kai Lan. It is sweeter than kai-lan and as crunchy as broccoli with loads of flower florets.


Beautiful CS and YS
They didn't wanna bring their Lil Monster so I couldn't see her.


I am so glad that I've crossed path with u beautiful ppl
:)))))))))))
but most of all thank you for being JS's guinea pigs yea...kikikikikikiiiki

as u can see, Brian C is so popular at this dinner, every lady want a piece of him. He was supposed to come with Sal. They were each other's partner. Sorry Sal we hijacked your lovely plus one :)))))))

While we were bz cam-whoring....the piece of baby was waiting patiently in the kitchen....
the meat needed to be rested before JS can chop them to pieces.

different techniques were employed this rime around to prepare this piece of meat.

Marinated for god knows how long, then dunked into the sous-vide machine, slow cooked for 6 hours I think....back to fridge to be air-dried for a night. U need the skin to be as dry as possible to crispy them up. On the day itself, it was shoved into the oven, turbo-fired the bugger for sometime to crisp the skin up.

our "butcher" then chop chop chop chop them into desired thickness.
until today, I still do not know how to use the cleaver. JS used it to cut big chunks of meat, slice garlic thinly, chop spring onions, to de-vein the prawns. He called it one stop centre cleaver hahahahahaha.

OMG
O.O


OMG!!!!
Can u see the crust?? loaded with spices
the 3 layered moist juicy meat???
there were a lot of yummy goodness left on the chopping board. How I wished there's a piece of bread for me to mop them off.

Ta-DA
JS's recipe of Roast Pork!!!!


The first tasting panels...
Krop-krop-krop-krop


then over on this side...
krop-krop-krop-krop


There was a moment of silence...
JS asked how was it?


then the "ATTACK" frenzy began!!!!
chomp chomp nom nom krop krop krop


Soon questions were bombarded and slammed onto chef's face
how did u marinate it?
what did u put in?
how???
why????

then second platter
JS asked the guests if they want anymore, coz there's MORE in the kitchen...
everyone said no no no it's OK...it's enuff...but he chopped more and brought it out somehow..
and guess wat? the second platter was gone as well
WUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

hello my friends, u all dunnit to feel shy one...
that's wat friends are about :))))))))

Beautiful CS: "Hey I think I can't fit into my pants anymore!!!"
kekekkekekekekekekekeke. Nvm I have a trolley at home which I can wheel u out later.

Happy Happy People
eppy eppy host and hostess :))))))

and all of them want a pic with the Chef

Chef with a lemon and me with a Microplane grater
Chef JS said he wanted to emulate the Iron Chef that hold that stupid piece of fruit...I forgot which one of the 3 irons chefs...
LOL!!!!!

Dessert of the Chocolate fondant

with its oozing centre...

Chef asked if anyone wanted 2nd round as he still have some leftover batter....
and everyone this time around really not shy and raised up their hands!!!!

compliments to the chef, he made another round for everyone!!!
He really loves this group of guinea pigs coz they can really EAT!!!!

Brian C, YS and JS


Monkey, Sal, Beautiful CS
I was so drunk then I needed a mask to cover my drunkard face :P
the mask was bought from Venice a few years ago

and finally a GROUP PIC!!!!
JS managed to do the timer setting on his Leica and did a group shot
but bcoz it's meant to focus on certain ppl, those at the sides were quite blur....JS called it the bokeh effects....hahahaha

Thank you once again my dearie friends/guinea pigs/specimens.
Till the next experiment OK?
:))))))))))