The Marmalade Pantry in The City @ ION Orchard

Was in a party of 7 adults and we were looking for a place to do some catching up over coffee with a dessert or two. At 4+ in the evening, Marmalade Pantry at ION was sure crowded. However, the wait time wasn't that long and we got a table within 10 minutes.

From 3pm to 6pm, there is a promo for coffee (except mocha and only for hot drinks) and cake set which goes for just $9. When asked which are the bestsellers for cakes, the staff mentioned these; fudge cake; coconut cream and carrot cake.

So we got ourselves 3 sets of coffee and cake to share. After a heavy lunch, its quite impossible to do more than that.

The Marmalade Carrot Cake

Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake

Old Fashioned Chocolate Fudge Cake

Am not a fan of carrot cake, so no comments there. Loved the cheesecake and the fudge cake kinda grows on you as you ate more and more of it. Fudge cake was kinda dry but goes well with hot coffee.

Service staff here were helpful and made the effort to top up the iced water. Thanks!

Gyu Kaku @ Novena Square

Gyu Kaku is known for its meat BBQ, and having had it once at AnchorPoint, the meats were delicious. However, not wanting to risk smelling like BBQ, we forwent the grill (though it was utmost tempting with price points below $30 for lunch) and gotten donburi sets instead.

The weekday value lunch sets has just 5 options with prices ranging from $9++ to $15++. My colleague chose the buta kimchi while I went with the beef sogi.

Beef Sogi set came with mid sized bowl of rice topped with beef and tendon cubes, all fighting for space with a wobbly softboiled egg and some gari (pickled young ginger). It also has kimchi and salad on the side and a bowl of kelp soup.

beef sogi set @$12++

break the egg, mix it up

The rice bowl became super moist after mixing the runny yolk. The beef cubes tasted mild and pleasant. Loved the soft tendons. Lunch was pretty filling. Salad was good, with minimal dressing and the greens were crunchy.

Had a side order of beef croquette but it turned out meh. Not much taste and it was oily.

beef croquette

Plain water is chargeable at Gyu Kaku.

Nara Thai @ Westgate

Nara Thai Cuisine offers Thai food in a comfortable setting. A quick glance of the menu showed many seafood options. Was in the mood for some tom yum soup, so was there one evening for late dinner.

The restaurant has dark furnishings and dim lightings. As usual, ordered Thai Iced Tea, seafood tom yum soup and a meat dish, of stir fried duck.

Thai Iced Tea

Tom yum soup arrived fairly quickly. For carbs, they only had the blue jasmine rice available, otherwise need to order fried rice. There's no difference in taste between blue coloured rice or white rice, though my bro fedback that his was a tad too moist.

tom yum kung (@$19.90++) and blue jasmine rice (@$2++)

closer view of the tom yum soup

The tom yum soup was tangy, leaning more towards the sweetish sourish tone. The spice component was too mild. It gets very sourish towards the end of the pot. Sure to awaken any taste buds!

Unfortunately, the stir fried roasted duck took forever to arrive and it actually took us by surprise. For $18.90++, there were only that few pieces of duck meat and the rest were actually duck skin. Albeit very oily but tasty skins. Spicy too. Best eaten with rice.

stir fried roasted duck with crispy basil @$18.90++