AM Bakery

I seldom gush about bakeries. There aren't many categories for bakeries- (1) cheap and good enough to fill your stomach (e.g. BreadTalk, Four Leaves), (2) not cheap and better than the first category (e.g. Cedele, Duke Bakery) and (3) slightly expensive and very delicious (e.g. East Manhattan, Bread Table). In life, you can't have everything, so quality is usually proportionate to price.

But at AM Bakery, no. You can have your bread and eat it too. It is cheap and really good. I have gone down a few times despite it being a 40 minute bus journey away, just to get my hands on these fresh bakes.

All the pictures are from their facebook page. The moment I step out of their shop, I sink my teeth into one of these goodies. Here are some of their bakes I have tried so far:

(1) Signature Banana & Pecan Bread ($3.80)

I like how healthy this bread tastes- a light banana flavour with crunchy pecans. It is not dry at all and with every bite, you get a whiff of banana.

(2) Tomato & Olive Focaccia ($1.80)

We are fans of focaccia because of the herby taste. The dried tomatoes adds a slightly sour edge to the bread.

(3) Almond Croissant ($2.50)

Hands down, my favourite from AM Bakery. If there is only one thing that you can buy from the bakery, make this your choice. There was once I entered the shop and bought one almond croissant. I finished one within 3 minutes from the time I left the shop. Before I knew it, I was walking back and getting myself another. At $2.50, this is incredible bang for the buck.

The buttery aroma, crispy and lightly sugar-coated on the exterior, containing beautifully light layers of almond-flavoured pastry. It feels like ... falling in love! Last week, I tried an almond croissant from a place that starts with D and ends with France, and knew that there was no way I could return to pre-AM Bakery-almond-croissant days.

(4) Orange & Lemon Brioche ($1.90)

This was one of the first pastries we bought from AM Bakery. Again, the citrus taste on a fluffy piece of bread with hidden bits of dried orange was simply refreshing.

(5) Signature Banana Cake ($8.80)

One of the items that customers regularly ask them to bake is their Signature Banana Cake. It is moist and dense, topped off with crumble. However, some might find this a little too sweet.

(6) Mango Cake ($33)

As I liked AM Bakery's bread so much, I decided to take a chance with them for my birthday cake. I have had more misses than hits with mango cake but wanted to see if they had equally high standards for their cakes.

I was impressed. Generous cubes of very sweet mangoes covered a sponge cake which had a light layer of cream spread over it. I do not like cream and always make an effort to remove all traces of it from cakes, but this cream was really light and easy on the palate. The sponge fingers also added some texture to the cake.

My favourite bakery in Singapore. It is a bonus that the people at the bakery are really friendly!

AM Bakery 
The Midtown
1187 Upper Serangoon Road
Tel: 6702 1163

Read More

Meat n' Chill

I have a friend who is essentially a carnivore and he has been craving Meat n' Chill for the longest time because of the Value Lunch Platter, which is a meat platter comprising 200g New York strip, chicken chop stacks, fried fish, smoked pork and to make themselves appear as though they are not hard core meat guys, they throw in a token garden salad as well. That's exactly like me! I eat a lot and then decide to do nominal exercise just because it makes me feel better. But too bad my friend couldn't get to eat it because this promotion was only applicable during weekday lunch. 

The pork ribs here come with different combinations and if you like pork ribs, you will be able to find something. Being the boring old us, we stuck to the Signature Pork Ribs (Cajun) ($21). Each main came with 2 sides and we chose the garden salad and Southern biscuit. The well-marinated and juicy pork ribs were meaty and slid off the bone easily. 

We also ordered the Meat n' Chill Seafood Platter ($26)- looks amazing, tastes amazing as well. The calamari was coated with a thick crispy batter. The mussels were fresh but the star of the show has got to be the prawns- I caught a whiff of the smokey prawns before the prawns exploded in my mouth- it was so juicy! The thing about grilling food is that it often tends to dry the food out but this does not happen in this instance. The only issue I have with the prawn is that it is a little too salty. Other than that, this Seafood Platter is delicious and great for sharing.

We were surprised that food traffic was low on a Saturday afternoon. Chill environment with all that comfort (translate: unhealthy) food made for a great afternoon.

Meat n' Chill 
6th Avenue Centre #01-04
Tel No: 8812 4455 

Read More