Café Mary Grace at Serendra

Last weekend I had a sinfully rich hot chocolate, with just a hint of vanilla, at Café Mary Grace at Serendra. We'd flown to Manila for the Chinese New Year holidays (when everything in Singapore is closed!) and spent Sunday night catching up with Carl, Kathy, Diane, Dex, Issa, and the kids.

The eponymously named Mary Grace Hot Chocolate is one of several varieties on the menu. It's so rich I practically had to eat it with a spoon... but it's smooth, and not at all cloying or bitter.

Besides the hot chocolates, we tried the pastas, the iced teas (one pitcher of Hibiscus iced tea, and another of Apple and Cinnamon), and the dessert squares. Ironically, nobody ordered any of the famous ensaymadas.

Mary Grace's daughter Chiara introduced her to us - she was very nice and so motherly, we felt more like houseguests than customers.

Dozens of letters to Mary Grace peeked up at us through the glass tabletops. We read a few, and then Diane and I slipped in a couple postcards of our own. I wonder how long before someone discovers them?

A dozen meters away from Café Mary Grace, Xocolat sells hot chocolate from a small stall while waiting for their main store to open up. And with Cacao right at the entrance, it looks like Serendra is shaping up to be a chocolate lover's paradise.

Information and Contact Details:

• Café Mary Grace is at Serendra, Bonifacio High Street, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig
  
• Phone: +63 (2) 856-0308

What others are blogging about Mary Grace and Serendra:

• Pictures of the café, by one of Mary Grace's kids
  
• Photos of the ensaymada, cheese rolls, lemon tarts, and Food for the Gods by their food stylist
  
• Anton's Best of Serendra Restaurants at Our Awesome Planet
  

Related posts? Compare this to Singapore hot chocolate, where I've had to make do with Starbucks and Spinelli...

post this to del.icio.us

Strawberry Ice at Rakuzen

We decided on a Japanese dinner for Valentine's, which in hindsight was a great choice because it's hard to eat steak with a broken arm!

You can usually count on Japanese set meals to be beautifully arranged, and Rakuzen's were no exception. Their sushi and sashimi sets looked tantalizing. We opted to keep it simple, though - I ordered the tencha set (tempura on rice with soup poured over it), John ordered several yakitori dishes, and we both had maguro sushi and tekka maki as appetizers.

The sushi was good, although the yakitori was bland.

My favorite part of the meal is... dessert. We ordered Strawberry Ice, which is a trio of frozen strawberries filled with something that tasted like vanilla-marshmallow pudding.

We chose Rakuzen because it's at Millenia Walk, about 15 minutes from City Hall MRT. Getting a cab is a nightmare on Valentine's day, so John and I met at the MRT station. He surprised me by showing up in his barong - an amazing feat for a guy in a cast. I was very impressed.

Information and Contact Details

• Address: Millenia Walk #01-14, 9 Raffles Boulevard, (S) 039596
  
• Phone: +65 6333 1171
  
• It's said to be affiliated with Sushi Tei

What others are saying about Rakuzen

• "Rakuzen flies in fresh fish from Japan every Tuesday and Friday" - AsiaOne
  
• "The best endamame (sic) I have tasted" - Singapore food choices, Lah!
  
• A poor review at Makansutra's Food! Food! Food! forum

post this to del.icio.us

A Broken Arm

John broke his arm! Or, more specifically, he fractured a little bone somewhere at or near his elbow. He got taken down while going for a header. At least he got the ball... his soccer team went on to win 4-2.

We got yet another taste of Singapore's famous efficiency at Tan Tock Seng hospital's emergency room... to save time, the ER asks you to line up and pay while waiting to see the doctor. :)

I had to present my identity card (or a work permit) to register as a visitor. I guess they're afraid patients will get undocumented guests? The screener stuck a blue paper bracelet around my wrist, marking me as a visitor so I wouldn't get accidentally treated. Or, more likely, so I wouldn't get accidentally charged ER fees.

Kidding aside, Tan Tock Seng really is efficient. John arrived alone while I was at capoeira class, so by the time I got there he was already somewhere in the maze of treatment rooms and patient waiting areas. In Manila I would have had to wander around describing John to nurses and peeking under partition curtains to see if I could identify his running shoes anywhere. Here, I gave his name to the friendly Filipina nurse at the registration counter, and she looked him up in the system to check his current status.

"Oh, he's in consultation," she told me. "Room 8."

I sat and waited while he went through x-ray and got a cast, and then we walked over to Novena Square for a nice hot meal.

Things we've learned you can't do with a broken arm:

• Tie shoelaces
  
• Play Xbox
  
• Peel shrimp

post this to del.icio.us