Antoinette:The Temperamental Lady

Having tried the cakes of Antoinette, I have expected the quality of the savory food to be on par to the sweets but it was not so. Upon seeing the familiar Crepe Salees( Savoury Crepes) on the menu, I've ordered 2 to try.
Paris
Paris Ham,emmental cheese and a sunny side up ($14.50)
This was for my little sis.The crepe was not as crispy as I expected, but it was not soggy either. It took quite some effort to cut through the crepe and the texture is rather chewy.
The portion of salad on top is quite generous.The overall taste is pretty bland as the cheese is not that kind of melted or gooey kind, but has hardened. Some of the emmental cheese bites tasted bitter which I found it strange actually. The Paris Ham is not very juicy and leaned towards dry. This was rather below average as compared to the Nordic one below.

Nordic ($16.50)
Smoked Salmon red onion capers and dill cream cheese

perhaps most would find this much more savoury due to the already very salty smoked salmon. but the plain dill cream cheese was a good balanced to the saltiness but I wished there was more.

The red onion is crunchy and added a contrasting texture to the crepe. The capers is a familiar friend to pair with smoked salmon. But if u notice closely, the colour of this crepe is lighter than the Paris Ham's version. Hence, though the filling of this is much preferred, the quality of this crepe, being rather tough and not golden brown(no 香味)and so this crepe an average one. In fact, the crepes at Canele were not that tough or chewy, even though it might not be crispy.

French Toast with Hot Chocolate Sauce & Fresh Chantily Cream ($11)
Wish, fortunately something really tasty finally popped out. The French Toast was warm and the interior very soft. The exterior is golden brown and it's temperature was melting the cream away. Better eat this while it's hot.

Never regretted ordering the hot chocolate version, as I was initially considering the salted caramel sauce. The hot chocolate sauce was of the right consistency and not that sweet. Yums...highly recommended.

Nougatine ($9)
Praline Ice cream with hazelnut nougatine,salty caramel and caramelized filo pastry.
Initially wanted to order the sweet Crepes but after having the savoury ones, we wanted to avoid another round of disappointment. So jumped straight to this:)
Don't look at this and think the portion is little as the scoop is very huge and thus good for sharing. But I find this very creamy but too sweet.

In fact, if u compared the menu, the sweet Crepes selection is similar to the ice cream ones. So can save quite a lot if you can go without the crepe. The ice cream is combined with creme chantily on top and drizzled with salty caramel sauce. The phyllo pastry is crisp and very light. Like eating paper. The caramelized nuts added crunchiness to the ice cream.

My second visit was to the Penhas Outlet but the service there was less friendly than the ones at Mandarin Outlet.

Gnocchi Carbonara($18.50)
Parisian Gnocchi sautéed with caramelized bacon, white wine cream sauce, served with poached egg and Aged Parmesan cheese.

The portion was not as big as written in some reviews but it was sufficient to feed one. The poached egg was good, runny and soft. The cream was not too runny and is spiced with herbs. Not overly salted, the pasta was surprisingly not too bad to me. But some might find it a bit 腻 after eating for a while.

According to I weekly, gnocchis are usually made with mashed potato but Chef Pang has gone all the way to mix the potato with cheese flour and herbs. The version here changed my previous skepticism about gnocchi being very filling. Indeed, it might be filling but the potato dumplings here are pan fried, and thus golden brown with a buttery fragrance. As such, the mini sized dumplings were each crusty on the outside and chewy. Pure Comfort food on a rainy day.

Besides savoury items, there was a selection of bread. Of course the first one I zoomed into was the almond croissant.($3.50)

Very filling as the croissant here is covered with almonds on the outside and filled with almond cream on the inside. But I should have takeaway this and heat it up myself as the bread arrived lukewarm...especially with the aircon wind blasting on top of your head, the bread turned cold very fast. The croissant had the right sweetness and the nuts set this apart from the rest. However, I did not find this as buttery and crisp as the pain au chocolate(last below)

So what could be better by dipping the bread into a cuppa hot chocolate?
Antoinette's Hot Chocolate ($6.50)
Vanilla perfumed hot chocolate
This was mildly sweetened and the consistency was just nice. Not too diluted or too creamy. The hot chocolate was really hot to the touch and it was oh so comforting to pair this with the almond croissant. I did not take notice of any vanilla scents but well, as long as it's chocolate-ty, I am more than satisfied:)
Pain Au Chocolat($3) Takeaway

This was very buttery and crispy with not much underbaked parts to it. Usually croissants might be quite soft or chewy at the base or interior but this did not happened:)
I initially thought that the amount of chocolate was too little but...after heating up, it became gooey and the taste was bitter. I was surprised that this amount was actually sufficient as there is no need to add on any spreads if the croissant pastry itself was already so good on it's own.

Upon seeing the bread selection, one might feel like trying all. Upon seeing the ice cream menu, one might also be tempted to order them. But as I just learned that there will be a standalone bakery selling French bread and another ice cream parlor opening soon....I think time can wait. I must be patient.

Antoinette
Penhas or Mandarin Gallery

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