To celebrate Mid-Autumn, Mandarin Orchard Singapore has unveiled an exquisite selection of mooncakes in an equally exquisite brand new packaging. Both baked and frosted-skin collections are available for people of different preferences too.

What’s nice about the packaging is that each baked mooncake is presented in a custom-designed carrier featuring the hotel’s iconic lattice pattern, accentuated by a motif of peony flowers in a red foil stamping. Adding an auspicious touch as well is a decorative Chinese knot with a tassel, finished in a vibrant red to complement the already exquisite box.

This year’s features include the limited edition Mini Baked Mooncakes made with premium ingredients. Two flavours include the Cempedak with White Lotus Paste and the Japanese Yuzu and Pistachio with Black Sesame Paste, which is made with a gold-dusted charcoal skin.

Another is the return of their signature baked mooncake with Mixed Nuts with Jamón Iberico (a type of cured ham; not shown here), which melds both sweetness and savouriness in every bite. Legit favourite there.

While I will never understand why people prefer snow skin mooncakes (heck yeah baked ftw), there are also snow skin favourites like the Lychee Martini and Chocolate, and Red Wine Cranberry Paste with Japanese Yuzu and Lemongrass. These delicately handmade and refreshingly innovative mooncakes are filled with creamy decadence, and will make you go all Crazy Rich Asian and channel your inner Eleanor Sung-Young!

Of course no Mid-autumn collection is complete without the time-honoured classic selection of baked mooncakes, like the Double Yolk and White Lotus Paste. The health conscious can also opt for the Macadamia Nuts and Low Sugar White Lotus Paste (watch your diabetes)!

We were also treated to a selected menu of Mandarin Orchard Singapore’s own talented chefs, such as an aerated salted egg concoction with croutons and truffle shavings, and a Kurobuta Pork Belly “Kong Bak Bao” (扣肉包). There were also matching German and French wines by Wein & Vin to pair with the mooncakes and food, and even the attendance of esteemed palm reader Master Khor!

If you, like me, want everything and can’t make up your mind when you order stuff like mooncakes, you can opt for The Mandarin Collection. Each set comes with four different flavours which include the aforementioned Mixed Nuts and Jamón Ibérico, Double Yolk and White Lotus Paste, Macadamia Nuts and Low Sugar White Lotus Paste, and Azuki Red Bean Paste and Pine Nuts.

The Mid-autumn Collection is available at Mandarin Orchard Singapore’s Festive Counter at Level 1 Lobby from 17 August to 24 September 2018 (from 11am to 7pm daily).

For larger orders or corporate enquiries, please call 6831 6320/6262 or email festivedesk.orchard@meritushotels.com. For more information, view the brochure here and the order form here.

This post is brought to you courtesy of Mandarin Orchard Singapore, by Meritus.

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Eatsy-ing Into Your lunch

Having lunch on a weekday, especially with your BFFs at work usually entails one of two (sometimes both) scenarios. One is the never-ending crowds as office gophers like myself simultaneously come out to forage for food. Even after you (finally) get your food after a long wait and finish your meal, someone will kena “arrow”  (read: involuntarily assigned) to be on accountant duty and figure out exactly how much each person pays (top tip: the magic no. is 1.177 for including service and GST in Singapore).

via GIPHY

One pretty good solution to that however, is using Eatsy, a collaborative mobile app that allows diners to not only order ahead, but also pay for their orders all in-app at their favourite local eateries and coffee shops.

You can just order the items you want through in-app e-menus, hit order and pay through the app, all at once! The venue will then prepare your food ahead of time, and you can simply arrive to piping hot delights without the wait (and you get to cut everyone’s queue with swag). Works for BOTH takeaway and dine-in services!

Emphasizing on the “collaborative” part of the app, Eatsy also allows your friends to ‘join’ your table if you are dining in. No more worry about splitting bill as you can set the payment mode to be “Let’s go dutch” and vola! No more headache about Linda arguing to round up to the nearest $0.10, or Clarence insisting on splitting the sides 4 ways because he only had 1 piece out of 10. Did I also say you can enjoy cashback from paying through this app?

More about Eatsy

Eatsy Technologies, the firm behind the dining app made up of a group of youthful and talented foodies, was founded in September 2017 by CEO Shaun Heng, who formerly worked in Corporate Development at RedMart. The collaborative order-ahead app aims to partner with the best and busiest quick service restaurants and cafes in Singapore to give them a competitive and technological edge to drive up profitability, and also provide a more personalized way to connect with their customers. Notable names in Eatsy’s current list of the merchants include crowd favourites – Tanuki Raw and Park Bench Deli. To date, Eatsy has also seen an impressive gross transaction value growth of 80% month-on-month!

“Imagine it is lunch time and you are helping to order take-away for your colleagues. With the app, you don’t have to jot down everyone’s orders and queue anymore. Just add your friends in the app – they “piggyback” onto your existing order and send it through. The restaurant will start preparing your orders, so just head downstairs for collection once it’s ready. This ‘collaborative ordering’ saves a lot of time for customers and drives incremental orders for merchants. Our mission is to make mobile ordering and payment the new way of life when dining out.”

Mr Shaun Heng, Founder and CEO of Eatsy Technologies. 

Trying It Out @ Park Bench Deli

To try out the app first hand, we were hosted at Park Bench Deli (PBD), a hole in the wall in its own right along Telok Ayer Street. Inspired by the culture of no-frills sandwiches and subs from delis in North American cities and neighbourhoods, where white collars in fancy suits enjoying their deli-bought subs on a park bench are common sight.

Although the menu has slightly changed over the few years it has been in business, their focus is on bold sanwiches, made with swagger and lots of spunk. From sous-vide Fried Chicken dipped in buttermilk to Philly Cheesesteaks on hoagies, with hand-melted gruyere cheese whiz (my favourite), you can find something for yourself to chomp down while questioning life’s meaning. It certainly helped that Eatsy was so fuss free to use, so less playing footsy with the bill, and more eating!

I’ll be back with a bigger review soon

More Information

Eatsy

For holeinthewall.sg readers, enjoy $5 off your first Eatsy order with the code “HITW5“. Valid till 31st July 2018! Not valid with other promo codes. Other Terms & Conditions in-app may apply.

Check out their website for a full list of restaurants: https://eatsyapp.co
Download the app here (Apple App Store | Google Play)

Park Bench Deli

179 Telok Ayer Street
Singapore 068627
Reservations: chope.co
Phone: 6815 4600
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This post is brought to you by Eatsy. Download it now on Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

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C is for Communal

Over the last week I was invited to a media event at OUE Downtown Gallery’s newly launched concept, the OUE Social Kitchen. Opened to the public since 18 September 2017, it is situated at the third storey of the complex (which is really actually a really long building btw), and where you can be part of Singapore’s first communal cooking experience! Inspired by how food is a very universal language we connect with, OUE Social Kitchen is designed as a “co-cooking” (think co-working but with stoves and dining rooms) so that you can comfortably cook and enjoy your own cooking with your friends and family, or even the strangers-who-are-actually-friends-you-haven’t-yet-met at the next station!

The 4000 square foot kitchen space has six standard stations, and two more that’s partitioned at the back that are halal-friendly! There’s also a very spacious dining area, and also two VIP rooms where you can bring your finest guests to enjoy the experience as well (or hold cooking classes! Chef not included, but feel free to ask the staff for any special arrangements)!

C is for Cooking

When we arrived there were already kitchen stations prepped with fresh ingredients where we could have a shot at being the next MasterChef. With a random draw, we picked the salmon en papillote (salmon in parchment) recipe and off we go! It wasn’t too bad in the end, and we got to trade dishes with fellow cooks too! The kitchen’s pretty professional, and is armed to the teeth with the full range of kitchen appliances from Smeg, such as state-of-the-art gas and induction hobs, ovens, microwave, fridge, wine chiller and coffee maker. Small appliances, baking essentials, cookware, crockery and cutlery will also be provided by OUE Social Kitchen. There’s also a wide range of condiments and seasonings at your disposal!

Don’t worry if you are not that great a cook or don’t know how to operate the appliances; there is an in-house chef (was kindly introduced to Chef Andy) and staff at the ready to provide assistance, some cooking tips, and more importantly when you’re done cooking, clean-up services (yay, no dishes)! Thereafter you can enjoy your food at the dining area as long as you like without worrying about anything other than who’s getting the last piece of chicken!

Apart from a delectable range of treats like tacos, DIY waffles and Vietnamese rice rolls, we were also treated to a quick in-house kitchen demo making tuna cakes at one of the VIP rooms. Featuring a high-tech cooking station, you can also interact with your important guests and impress them with some Michelin star-worthy cooking!

C is for Cheap

You may think that such an atas setting like this will burn a really big hole in your pocket/purse right? Actually they’re pretty affordable, with the standard kitchen station started at S$48/hr for up to four persons (that works out to $12 per person) and the VIP room from S$108/hr, subject to 7% GST. They say you can hold corporate and private events here as well, up to 200 people! Now that’s a real community!

Oh, before I forget, you can bring whatever ingredients you like (but please don’t try to make pot brownies here, this is still Singapore)! Or if you don’t want to or don’t have the time to go to the nearest supermarket (which is quite a walk away) you can purchase pre-packed ingredients with the OUE Downtown Gallery App (available on App Store and Google Play) or over the counter, with advance notice.

More Information

OUE Social Kitchen
6A Shenton Way
#03-02/03
Downtown Gallery
Singapore 068815
Opening Hours: 10am to 10pm daily
Tel: 6224 0355
Email: socialkitchen@oue.com.sg

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GIVEAWAY

Fancy yourself impressing your friends and family with your culinary prowess, but not having the space to do it at home? Or maybe you want a new idea for the weekends with your girlfriends? We’ve got TWO sets of vouchers worth $50 (valid till 19 Nov 2017) that you can use at OUE Social Kitchen up for grabs! To participate, you can either:

1. Like our Facebook page, this post and comment what you would like to cook/bake at OUE Social Kitchen, and/or
2. Follow us on Instagram (@holeinthewallsg), like and comment on this post what you would like to cook/bake at OUE Social Kitchen as well.

Winners will be picked at random from both posts and announced on social media. Contest ends 8 October 2017 (Sun) 11:59pm (2359h)!

If you didn’t win, don’t worry. You can use the promo code “OUESK141” for a $10 off your booking. Simply use the Downtown Gallery app, navigate to OUE Social Kitchen, and make a booking with the promo code by 31 Oct 2017.

Best of luck!

This post has been kindly brought to you by OUE Social Kitchen.

Want to tell me about a hole in the wall in your neighborhood? Write to me!

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Just yesterday I attended the Singapore Coffee Festival 2017 (Media & Trade Day). Organized by The Straits Times and presented by the DBS Bank, it’s back for its second year!  This year it’s held at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre Singapore. To me even though it meant a 10 minute walk down a very long sheltered walkway, it is a big improvement over the previous location, as the entire immigration and boarding centre is turned into a giant festival ground, all in the comfort of cool air-conditioning! There are actually 2 levels of the festival this time, so instead of a claustrophobic corridor, now it is held in a spacious and tall indoor venue.

To cater to everyone, they’ve also split up the sessions into two: brunch (10:00am to 3:30pm) and sundown (4:30pm to 10:00pm). Be sure to go on time so that you have maximum enjoyment of your favourite cuppa. Before you read on, get your tickets here! Regular tickets are priced at $22 per session, and at $18 per session for DBS cardholders and Straits Times subscribers.

The Straits Times – Coffee and Conversations

Similar to last year, apart from just downing shots of caffeine, The Straits Times are holding a series of talks and conversations with interesting personalities, from baristas and start-up entrepreneurs, to social enterprises and corporate leaders.

The brunch sessions features Coffee with the Boss, a series of talks by towkays (bosses/leaders) such as DBS’ regional head of group research Timothy Wong on investment tips (Sunday), Singtel’s consumer chief executive Yuen Kuan Moon on the digital age and technology (Saturday), as well as Princess Cruises director for South-east Asia Farriek Tawfik on travel tips and destinations (Friday). The sundown sessions are more casual, featuring cafe owners, baristas discussing becoming a F&B entrepreneur, and having a mid-career change into the industry. Check out the full programme here.

Live Kind with DBS

Can a cup of coffee change the world? As part of its vision to create a positive impact beyond banking, DBS Asia For Good Foundation presents Live Kind, which include a series of interactive workshops like coffee brewing, latte art to snack making and tasting sessions. You can also  shop for some artisanal coffee, tea and snacks at The Good Market. Live ethically, effortlessly with these sustainable businesses from across Asia that will be showcasing a range of socially conscious coffee, organic snacks, and all natural skincare products.

Also get yourself some goodies by completing a list of tasks on the Live Kind Passport, but you got to register on the link first or at the festival!

Check out their website before you go down, over here.

Hook me up with some Caffeine!

This year, Singapore Coffee Festival boasts over 100 partners and exhibitors, from commercial brands to local coffee brewers. Get yourself some classic and curated roasts by various cafes (I went for Brawn & Brains’ Natural and Kochere coffee mixes (served in a pourover). Personally I preferred the natural for its berry taste and acidity! Otherwise, get some cold brews such as by Lorgan and Sons and 1degreec, or Coffee in a Cone by Coffee Academics just to name a few. Some festival exclusives are also available, such as Hyde & Co, whom are selling its cold brew iced teas in bottled form for the first time at $8 each, while Tiong Hoe Specialty Coffee will be launching a special blend of coffee beans. There are also international specials like the Japan Roast (I love their Kenyan roasts) and Shiseido boutique are also here to show off some international love!

Do also check out the second level of the exhibition (there’s escalators and elevators available) where you can find coffee making paraphernalia for sale, and also Owa Coffee by Mandai & Wildlife Reserves Singapore, which is grown by Javanese farmers in an wildlife-friendly manner and protects the Javan silvery Gibbons, which is threatened by deforestation from practices such as coffee-growing. You can also participate in (you need to register online first) different workshops like Lab Sessions @ The Lab by Common Man Roasters.

Check out the different sections of the exhibition, such as a local Kopi Corner designed by Daniel Boey featuring Ya Kun Kaya Toast, and the sunset wharf where you can find Hyde & Co and Symmetry along with a power packed line-up of musical performances throughout the festival, featuring acts like local singers Inch Chua, Jawn , indie rock band Stopgap, and producer Tim De Cotta. I’d recommend chilling there, by the seaside, to end the night with your favourite beverage! For me it was the coffee pale ale (beer) by Brawn & Brains!

For a whole list of participating cafes and brands, click here!

Coffee Alternatives

Wished you had a better tolerance to caffeine (unlike me) and want to take a break from the coffee? There’s also plenty of options such as the flower teas by SWATi, Strawberry Oolong Tea by Boba Brew, and many more! Hungry? There’s also plenty of food choices, such as the watermelon soft serve (eat it fast, it melts really quick!) and Rendang Mac & Cheese with Ayam Keluak Kueh Pie Tee by Arbite. Check out the friendly magazine that’s available if you ever get spoilt for choice!

#Covfefe or Bust

Hope you people enjoy this year’s Singapore Coffee Festival like I had. As drinking a large amount of coffee does have a diuretic effect, be sure to drink plenty of water and stay hydrated, and avoid it on a completely empty stomach!

More Information

Singapore Coffee Festival 2017 By The Straits Times and DBS Bank
Marina Bay Cruise Centre – Getting There
61 Marina Coastal Drive
Singapore 018947
Tickets here

Many thanks to The Straits Times & DBS for inviting!

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