Thyme and Parsley

I have no pictures of this meal as it was a sudden decision to try the place.

The food is not fancy but it is delicious, well seasoned and generous.

Which is a big plus for Singapore where there are full of fancy looking places that cannot even season their food properly.

I had a smoked duck salad, sirloin steak with potatoes and berry pannacotta for $38. If that is not value for good well seasoned food, I don't know what is.

The steak was grilled very nicely.

Even my mother who is picky with food (but who is also a very good cook in my view) was satisfied.

The set lunch with the steak is apparently $25. If I worked closer to this place, I would frequent it more often for lunch.

Website: http://www.parsleythyme.com/
Address: 61 Kampung Bahru Rd
Opening Hours: Mon- Fri 12-2, 6-10; Sat 6-10
Contact Number: 62262801
Price: $25 for lunch set and $38 for dinner set.

Strangers Reunion

New entrant into cafe scene on 37 Kampong Bahru Rd Shophouses… Coffee is soso. I think highland coffee on the same stretch has better coffee and chef icon has better hot chocolate.

But this place is a nice quiet chill out corner especially if you want to cuddle with a book or do some research on a laptop.

Address: 37 Kampong Bahru Rd
Website: http://www.facebook.com/StrangersReunion
Opening Hours: 9am - 10pm

Savor Rye La Mian Xiao Long Bao

This place is a hidden gem.
As it is next to Chef Icon, it is the perfect place to have some lunch before heading to Chef Icon for dessert.

Xiao Long Bao

Forget Din Tai Fung. This place has cheaper and better Xiao Long Bao. The Xiao Long Bao is juicy and filled with the wonderful broth that squirts out when you bite into it. Best still, 4 Xiao Long Bao only costs $3.80. They are bigger than what you get in Din Tai Fung as you need 2 bites to finish it. I actually prefer it smaller as I like to be able to eat my Xiao Long Bao in a bite. But oh well, you get more for less money so...

The only other complaint I have about these Xiao Long Bao is the lack of decent chilli oil in this place. The chilli oil they have is lacking of flavor and bite.

Guo Tie

Other dishes here I would recommend is their vegetables in salted egg sauce and their Guo Tie.

Location: 3 Kampong Bahru Road
Contact Number: 62235038
Opening Hours: 11am- 11pm
Prices: Under $10 per person

Chef Icon

Chef Icon is another gem in Kampong Bahru.
I only discovered it through a friend who bought me the cheesecake for my baby shower. We all raved about the cheesecake and I decided that I had to check it out. Especially since it is still considered to be in the vicinity of Tanjong Pagar.

I had a chance to speak to the owner of the bakery who has worked in the industry for 20 over years. He is passionate about his craft and natural baking techniques. Hence, his products do not have chemicals or preservatives unlike most bakeries.
This isn't necessarily commercially productive but having tasted his products I can say that it creates premium products.
Being an artisan bakery, they only do a certain amount a day so I suggest that if you want to try these cakes and breads, go in earlier in the day.

Baskets of bread

This place only has a few dozen bread rolls in a day. This is a pity as they really do make good bread rolls that are crusty on the outside and soft within. There is texture to this bread and none of the terrible oily flavor that cheap bread shops use. I would love to be able to order this for a party but they simply don't do this to maintain the quality. The only thing I would like in this bread is a bit more sweetness to it but perhaps this is hard to achieve through natural baking techniques.

Hokkaido cake with Mocha centre

This is a wonderfully simple and delicious cake. The owner said that the difficulty of baking a good cake is to make a cake moist and yet firm enough to have texture and bite. A lot of cakes I have eaten have problems in balancing the two. This one is very good. The flavor is also not too sweet. A lot of sweetness comes from the cream in the centre that is eaten with the cake.

Iced Tea

There are iced teas, coffees and sandwiches in the shop that one can have. The sandwiches are really good as they use the bread baked in house- clubman bread.

I love this shop and wish that it was even closer to my house so I could frequent it more often.

Website: http://www.cheficon.com/cakes.html
Location: 5 Kampung Bahru Road
Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 8am- 8pm, closed on Sun and PH
Contact Number: 9337 3900
Prices: About $6.5 per slice of cake

Highlander Coffee

Highlander coffee is another decent coffee place around the Tanjong Pagar area. In fact, I would say its one of the earlier pioneers of decent coffee in Singapore

This place is actually situated at the fringes of Tanjong Pagar in Kampong Bahru, which are the conservation houses across SGH.

The place has a coffee academy at the back of the cafe.

Latte with a cookie

You can see from the latte above that the coffee frothing looks decent. Decent frothing doesn't have plenty of holes and the froth is not thin but has shape and texture. Looks like a marshmallow top.

Coffee was a good temperature and was quite smooth.

The food here is practically non existent though. I understand if coffee needs to be the focus but I think its a waste of money having unappetizing wraps in the glass counter. 

Its a good place to go to after you have lunch in the area. 

Website: http://highlandercoffee.com/

Location: 49 Kampung Bahru Road

Opening Hours: Mon - Sat 9am - 6pm
Prices: About $4 for a cup of coffee