Weekend Meal: Mini-Zen and Cedele's Tea Cakes

September 9, 2007: I ate unhealthily yesterday- had a hurried lunch at Canteen B in Nanyang Technological University and then later on at about 4 pm, after the opening of Nantah Pictorial Exhibition, there were the oily spring rolls and fried vermicelli to pacify my hunger. I was determined to eat better today and I did.

For easier parking and healthier choice, I went to Donguri in the Japanese Association. I ordered the Mini-Zen set (SGD 12.80).
A., his invariably fixed choice of Japanese yasai karee rice. He finds the curry gravy really different from that of the other Japanese restaurants.

This month's chef's recommendations are good- as I have commented in my previous entry. The Mini-Zen comprised a bowl of sushi rice, saba simmered in miso and ginger, hijiki seaweed (substituted with spinach and mushrooms today) and boiled radish topped with katsuo bushi (bonito fish flakes)- all so wholesome and light (unfilling) that I had Cedele's desserts scribbled on my mental menu as part of this healthy eating.

A agreed, because Cedele's and The Cellar Door (on Upper Bukit Timah) are his sources for breads. He doesn't belong to the crowd of Japanese who flock to Provence (Holland Village) and Takashimaya Japanese-style bakeries where you get soft sweet-tasting breads. I will remember to take the pictures of Cedele's desserts the next round. It is very crowded; it's a place for discerning customers, surely, who want to pay for real food. I wonder why, though, cafes in Singapore are so noisy! There's the greenery outside, it's cozy and people are happily chatting but there's no peace and quiet. That's the only reason why I don't go back to TCC chains now - because the deafening pipe-in music drives me away. Cafes in Europe are generally places where you have your repose over good coffees and teas, and that's my idea of a cafe, but unfortunately I have been scouting for here in vain.