Cart in SG : Heavenly chocolate at Max Brenner’s and earthly pizza at Da Donato

Wed 2 Jan 2008

My first day of work for the year. I was back at work again after taking leave for about a week. It was a busy day for me, flying about everywhere. When the day ended, it was just nice to spend some time and hang out with Cartcart.

View from the top of the bed and breakfast

It felt somewhat different now that the the routine has changed – no rushing to get to Darul Arqam in the morning like we were used to. Instead, it felt like a regular day, like I was the husband going back home at the end of the day to his doting wife. Actually, I don’t mind that role at all.

After watching Tstar’s handbell concert, Cart wanted to visit the Esplanade and watch any musical concert there. But due to the timing, there were none available.

Nevertheless, I was more than happy to bring him to one of the famous landmarks of Singapore – The Esplanade or the durian, fondly called by the locals 😀

The esplanade was still as grand and beautiful as the first time I stepped there in 2004. After our dinner at Al Dente, I brought Cartcart to Max Brenner for dessert.

Max Brenner specialises in chocolate recipes, like hot chocolate, chocolate cakes. I first went here in 2004 with Geri and we both enjoyed it very much.

When we reached there, there were quite a number of people there already. Some students, some businessmen, I saw a few couples and a complete family too. It wasn’t crowded, but enough people to be lively.

And the place was definitely very cosy. I loved the decoration, with the dark brown furniture and the natural colours. It made the place very warm and inviting.

We had to pour over the menu and contemplate on what to get. As both of us are chocolate monsters, it was daunting to figure out what to get as everything in the menu sounded so good.

In the end we decided on getting the Chocolate Fondue 😀

And it was delightful. I couldn’t get over how smooth and warm and heavenly the chocolate was. Every taste was just pure love.

I was very sorry when it was gone in less than 20 minutes. For something that was supposed to be for two people, the chocolate was so little! Next time we go there, I would probably get the large one instead!

Here is a quick video of us enjoying chocolate at Max Brenner :

Thurs 3 Jan 2008

After numerous mentions by NTT about how great the pizza at Da Donato was, on a whim, we organized a small pizza gathering via Twitter. It had to be small, as NTT advised that the place was actually very small.

Dont ask me why NTT is crouching so low

I did not quite believe it till I actually saw it for myself. When we reached there, there were just about 2X4 square tables lined up in all as well as a number of very hungry friends! Cart and I arrived embarrassingly late after having to fight with the after-office traffic. The guys were nice enough to wait for us to arrive before ordering … Sorry everyone … 🙁

We made our order at the counter and I could not seem to tear my eyes away from the colourful pizza display. There were different types of rectangle cut, individual pizza on the wooden counter. You pick the one that you like for the person to bake in the oven.

Individual pizzas was an affordable $7 each while whole pizzas costs from $15 and above 🙂 NTT and Arzhou ordered the Quattro Formaggi (four cheese) pizza which they seem to enjoy very much.

I’m not that much of a cheese person, so the pizza wasn’t really what I’d normally have.

Cart and I ordered the vegetarian pizza instead. When the staff brought it to our table, I was quite surprised to see the amount of greenery on top of it. Daphne quipped that it looked like a forest!

This pizza has olives, mushroom, onion and generously sprinkled on top of our pizza is rughetta – a sharp tasting vegetable that Cart absolutely adores. It’s an acquired taste though, and tastes best when its in a mixture with other food, rather than to eat it as it is.

Cartcart loved his pizza so much that he did not even want to talk, while just focusing on his food in front of him. Being a native Italian, and loving it, that means that the pizza here must be good! 😀

Here is a quick video of us having pizza 🙂

After our pizza, we adjourned to the Wiener Kaffeehaus for a spot of coffee. It was just a stone throw away from Da Donato.

The smell alone was inviting here. There were loads of lovely scents about, lemons, vanilla, freshly brewed coffee and others.

The proprietor walked up to us and started to chat with us about the different types of coffee that they had there. One in particular, was the Kopi Luwak – a very prized coffee which is actually made from Civet Cat excrement!

The lady explained that the Civet Cat chooses to eat the best coffee berries and the berries does not get digested. Thus, the excrement are then harvested for use.

Arzhou was very interested in ordering a cup. But unfortunately for him, the house was sold out of the Kopi Luwak and had to settle for something else instead.

I, on the other hand, ordered something less controversial. The Viennese Iced Coffee

The iced coffee that I had was delicious! I think that, that was the best Iced Coffee that I ever had. It had ice cream on top of the most creamy and delightful coffee. It was absolutely delicious. I even forgotten to videoblog about it 😛

This is Daphne’s Maria Teresa

I’m not too certain whats in this coffee, but Daphne said that she felt happy after drinking this. I didn’t know that coffee was an anti-depressant 😛

And this is Cart’s double espresso.

I did not have the chance to snap what the others had, but I’m sure that the display was as pretty as the ones we had 🙂

Here is a quick video of us having coffee :

And it was such a splendid night we had, chatting away, joking around and having fun. It was just lovely and we both enjoyed ourselves very much. Thank you Sekling, Uzyn, NTT, Arzhou and Daphne. We really had a spectacular time 🙂

Links :

• Daphne’s blog entry
• NTT’s blog entry

Next : Cart’s final day in Singapore

In this series :

• Part 1 : His arrival
• Part 2 : Of first lessons and I am legend
• Part 3 : Of science center and yummy spagetti too
• Part 4 : Gorgeous sounds of the handbells
• Part 5 : Meeting the aunt
• Part 6 : My classmate 10th year reunion
• Part 7 : Not enough time at the Singapore Zoo!
• Part 8 : Cart’s big day