SPR MRKT Catering: Always Reliable & Delicious

Thanks to SPR MRKT, for two sessions in a row, I was the most popular colleague! Yeah! Who doesn’t love to be loved by many?! (Read here for details on my part-time job as Feeder and the continuing series.) I love ordering from SPR MRKT as they are flexible, accomodative, and efficient. Whenever a menu is sent over for my review, any suggestions would be quickly addressed. The menu would be promptly amended to suit my colleagues’ penchant for deep-fried grub. Plus I can count on their punctuality. 6p.m. sharp. Always. Needless to say, the food is always delicious or sublime. Each order is supposed to feed 25 pax. But I reckon it can easily feed 30 and above. SPR MRKT is that generous with the portions.  

Two weeks ago, the menu for the evening was Chicken Satay, Herb-crusted Fish & Chips with Tartare Sauce in a bag, Fried Chicken Wings with Paprika and Thai Chilli Sauce, Mini Tiramisu, and Canele. An exciting array of food made even more exciting by the superb quality.

The Herb-crusted Fish & Chips with Tartare Sauce in a bag was such a crowd-pleaser as each colleague “owned” a bag. Each contaied a chunk of fish and skinny fries. We sure felt like kindergarten kids at a birthday party except these bags were filled with yummier stuff. My colleagues raved about the tartare sauce and sturdy chunk of white fish. My advice: be very careful of those chips – highly addictive.

The Chicken Satay was not your usual fatty meat on a stick. This was a whole slab of boneless chicken thigh topped with the most texturous and peanut-y sauce. Subtly sweet, it took a lot of willpower for me to not scrap off the peanut sauce from the other skewers. The Fried Chicken Wings with Paprika and Thai Chilli Sauce was a satisfying take on the classic bar snack. The thick crunchy batter, albeit someone in the kitchen was a little too heavy-handed with the seasoning, left us all very happy. The Thai Chilli Sauce was served in separate containers – win.

This cafe has always killed it when it comes to desserts and that evening was no different. The boozy Mini Tiramisu were each topped with generous shaved chocolate! Say goodbye to self-control and your waistline because you will not be able to stop at one. I know my colleagues fought a tough battle. One had four(!) of those sweet innocent-looking Caneles. I can’t blame them. Custardy interior paired with a burnt caramelized exterior, it may not be the best I had but was a good effort. (FYI, my best Canele ever was Momofuku Seiobo)

  

Two weeks later and last night, I had to order from SPR MRKT again. This time a completely different menu: Grilled Paprika Beef & Vegetable Skewer, Tortilla Chips with Con Carne Salsa and Sour cream, Shrimp Paste Chicken Thigh with Sriracha Sauce, SPRMRKT Mini Bread Pudding with Housemade Vanilla Sauce. However I feel my colleagues are getting spoilt by SPR’s food. They moaned and missed the Herb-crusted Fish & Chips from a fortnight ago. They said the shrimp paste chicken thigh was a tad salty (until someone did a miraculous thing: dip in sour cream from the tortilla chips – complete game-changer!) For the next few sessions, I hope they like MacDonald’s. Nevertheless the spread last night took their breaths away. Can you blame them?

There were two epic trays of Tortilla Chips with Chilli Con Carne! Carb heaven! And the chips were, hands down, my favourite of all the SPR MRKT grub. Truly satisfying comfort food.

The Salsa and Sour Cream were packed separately ensuring the chips arrived crunchy. Another reason why I love SPR MRKT. Food always arrives piping hot and fresh!

The Shrimp Paste Chicken Thigh or Hai Cheong Gai with its super crisp chicken skin and juicy meat had most of the crew congregating around the tray. At the end, when the chicken was finished, people were still picking at the leftover chicken skin.

Two tubs of Sriracha Sauce, also separately packed, in ice-cream-like paper containers. We sure had a wild time dipping into the sauce. Then a colleague dipped into the Sour Cream from the tortillas and we fell further in love with the fried chicken. The heaviness cut by the tangy cream – LOVELY!

I did not take a clear shot of the Grilled Paprika Beef & Vegetable Skewer because it did not look appetizing but I was so wrong! This was a piece of steak on a stick. Each piece of juicy tender beef was threaded with grilled zucchini and peppers. Those who could take beef last night all fell madly in love with the smoky beef flavour. Plus many pieces still had luscious beef fat on it. By the time I found out about its tastiness, my hands were too oily to take another picture. First world problems.

The SPRMRKT Mini Bread Pudding with Housemade Vanilla Sauce, packed separately, was unsurprisingly a crowd pleaser. The only complaint that night: inadequate. My complaint was that the size was a perfect fit to pop the whole damn thing into the mouth; i.e. bread pudding poppers! Terribly addictive, this dessert yet again only served to bring us tremendous joy and ruin our waistlines. 😦

SPR MRKT Catering never fails to deliver. It is wonderfully comforting to know where one can go for reliable food providers. Enquire with the cafe on their catering services. Cutleries and paper plates were always provided. Except we did not need them as we are savages. Check out their blog or mine, for ideas on your own menu. They are extremely accomodative and by the looks of things, value-for-money. You won’t regret with them. My Mum wants to organize a gathering just so she can cater from them. 🙂         

Wingstop A No-Show, Tip Top To The Rescue and First-Bite Magic From Edith Patisserie

Last night was another edition of my firm’s fortnightly Associates’ Gathering! My colleagues were missing Fried Chicken so I had Wingstop all planned out. Four days before, a fairly large order on Foodpanda was placed and unlike my first time, I selected the Cash on Delivery option. Guess what? At 6pm, the star of the evening was a no-show! After a panic call to Foodpanda, I was informed my order was missed… Bleh. So I ran down to the basement of One Raffles Place and grabbed whatever fried food was available from Tip Top. Unbelievably at 6 plus in the evening, the display shelf was remarkably full. *phew* When I ran back up to my office with four boxes of fried grub (gosh, I will never forget the smell of overused oil…), guess what? Foodpanda called to say my Wingstop order was on the way… No, thank you. FYI, Chicken Up is now available on Foodpanda. Woopee to another fried chicken choice!

The savoury side may have been a letdown but the same cannot be said for the dessert from Edith Patisserie. At the risk of sound boastful, first LOOK at this cake…

Salted Caramel Popcorn Cake: Vanilla Sponge, bittersweet salted caramel, salted caramel buttercream topped with Garett’s CaramelCrisp Popcorn.

You got to admit, I knocked my ordering-street-cred out of the ballpark AGAIN!

Check out the neat layers and don’t get me started on the divine whipped buttercream…

However first-bite magic came from the Mini Creme Brulee Eclairs: Mini eclair filled with toasted custard filling, topped with crunchy caramel. The slab of crunchy caramel providing contrasting texture to the softly-whipped filling made all the difference in the world. I first ordered this in November last year together with the Chocolate flavour but this flavour registered deeply in me so a return order was essential!

How good were the eclairs? Last night, I did not see a single person who first bit into it and not declare how good it was.

And finally 16 mini assorted tarts because my dictionary only contains the word “VARIETY”. The Fresh Mango Passionfruit and the Chocolate Salted Caramel were heartbreakers.

Altogether my order from Edith Patisserie including delivery to the CBD area cost $140. And I am now stalking their website and Instagram account planning my next order…

Before I end off, here is another picture of the cake to drool over…

It’s Friday, guys! Hope you all have many delicious meals planned. Can’t wait to update you all on mine on Monday. 🙂

SPR MRKT Catering

Last night, I outdid myself again! Woohoo! Well, that’s what my colleagues declared when they saw the spread I ordered from SPR MRKT. I mean, just look at it. Won’t you be in awe too?

Some of you may already know I am my firm’s organizer of the Associates’ Gathering held fornightly. Firm gives me a generous budget and I scout for food to be delivered in at 6pm. An easy-peasy, fun job! The type of food is always junk food. The one and only time I ordered in Salad, NO ONE appreciated it; many boxes of salad were thrown away. It turns out everyone believes in the occasional indulgence.

You probably already know about SPR MRKT, a well-established cafe in Tanjong Pagar that combines cafe, art exhibition and grocery shop. Did you know they cater too? Last night, not only was the food superb and portions generous, the operational aspect was just as impressive! Delivery was on time, ample cutleries and plates were provided (brown take-away boxes included(!)). Plus there were sauces for each dish and clearly labelled. NEAT.

Now we move on to the foooooddddd…

There were three savouries and two desserts. First savoury was a special off-the-menu item: Grilled Teriyaki Pork Buns – mini deep-fried mantou buns sandwiched grilled pork belly in a teriyaki sauce. When I first this on Instagram, I immediately commented asking for this. And I SURE have good judgment when it comes to food; it was outstanding. (Of course, the same can’t be said about men but I’m working on it.) The expertly deep-fried Mantou buns were so fragrant and the pork belly impossibly tender – clear winner of the evening.

Fried Chicken Wings and Drumlets with Thai Chilli Sauce: HUGE uber-crispy thick battered and moist chicken wings – a seemingly simple dish but delivered hugely in taste and execution. Respect.

Curly Fries accompanied by Tomato and Chilli sauces – addictive and a crowd-pleaser too! Good luck resisting these crunchy goodness. We went into caveman-mood by sticking our hands in and helping ourselves. No time for serving spoons.

For dessert, my collagues could choose between buttery freshly-baked-tasting Madelines; that still tasted great the next morning, …

Or the legendary SPRMini Bread Pudding with Housemade Vanilla Sauce. Those who have visited the cafe were squealing at the sight of these minis. To say they were superb is just unkind. The luxurious Vanilla sauce were simply decadent.

But why choose either when you could have both?!

The spread was meant to feed 22 persons. Well, as my colleague said, 22 people till they explode! More than 30 of us were filled to the brim last night. Happy excited faces were aplenty! And for those who don’t do dinners (me), the brown take-away boxes came in VERY handy. 😉

Less than an hour after the end of the gathering, I found myself scrolling through the cafe’s Instagram feed making tough choices for my next order. Thank you SPR MRKT for taking good care of us and making me the most popular person in the office. 😉

Poulet: Please Open in Raffles Place!

Unbelievably I have never tried Poulet before. You would have thought that a F&B-eager beaver like me would have conquered this French Bistro chain before it even opened their second branch? Well, no. But 10 branches later, I finally tried the famed Poulet Roti at their Raffles City branch. Let me tell you, I have been missing out big time. Because this afternoon I had really good Roast Chicken!

Served with creamy fresh button mushroom Chardonnay sauce and fresh spinach, I could not believe how tender and fresh-tasting the chicken was. My metal knife sliced through every bit so easily – I swear a plastic knife would have easily accomplished this feat too. And when I sliced into the thigh area, a whole puddle of juices flowed out. So impressive! The beautiful blistered-brown skin also stood out for its sweet caramelisation and crispness.

Around the internet, many people criticize the cream sauce. I liked it. Sure, it was not thick and creamy but that is precisely why it scored brownie points with me. Diluted cream evidenced more water than cream –> less calories. I happily slurped up the liquidy-cream, all the while imagining it was low cal. Haha.

As luck would have it, I had two plates this afternoon! You see, I was halfway through my first half-chicken (above picture), and having gobbled up all the button mushrooms and spinach, when the parts near the bone started bleeding out. It was not a pretty sight. But the service staff was so bloody efficient and apologetic when she saw the blood flowing out. She quickly removed the plate and replaced me with another beautiful half.

I scored myself more spinach and mushrooms. What a wonderful first visit!

Raffles Place-peeps might understand that our only roast chicken option is the chain that begins with Rosti. Quite frankly, the stale roast chicken from the chain is getting from bad to worse. (Don’t get me started on the Fish & Chips. It is a perfect example of how fried food can go wrong) Sure, price-wise, Poulet is more expensive given there are no sides like green peas, cauliflower gratin or salad. But for much tastier roast chicken, I will take Poulet any day. So Poulet owners, please please please open a branch in Raffles Place soon! Poulet is the perfect place to get our roast chicken fix.

Three Buns Burgers and Cocktails, Potato Head Folk

Much positive words have been said about Three Buns Burgers (“TBB”) so I am going to jump on the bandwagon and harp on about its deliciousness. Last night’s dinner was my second trip to TBB.

My first visit was on their opening day and I had the best time. I was so eager to try this place I rounded up some of my colleagues at 6pm and we rushed down for dinner. We were so desperate to try the burgers, we did not bother trying to get a table on the second floor and just stood at a table under the vent. It was terribly smoky but the food was so worth it. I had a bite each of my friends’ bugers: Four Floors and The Roots. I swear I went through a moment of revelation. Both bites were DELICIOUS! Juicy succulent burgers with the juice dripping down our hands. Scrumptious! The same goes for their Naughty and House Fries. And DONT get me started on their Wings… Saucy, tender, devilishly good! I really think the food was so worth the pain from a juice cleanse the next day.

Anyone on my second trip last night, I successfully persuaded my girl friend to celebrate her birthday there. Having opened for close to a month, I was eager to see if the “magic” I felt the first time round was still present.

Today I am more than happy to report back I felt the same revelation from my first visit. The best part was my friends feeling the same too! On this visit, I had the Honky Tonk: buttermilk fried chicken, coleslaw, lettuce, hot sauce & den miso mayo. Check out the burger! How inviting does that look?! A whole fried chicken leg “patty” peeking out underneath the golden slightly-charred sesame bun commanding me to take one big bite into it. I humbly obeyed.

And when you do bite into it, the balanced contrasting textures and flavour will surprise you. The buttermilk fried chicken is unsurprisingly crispy on the outside but the inside, oh WOW OH WOW! It was so juicy and tender! That fluffy grilled bun… oh if you only knew the JOY I felt inside! The lettuce brought an appreciative lightness to the sinful chicken and bun but that thick studded-mayo just negated all healthiness of it.

I am so tempted to call this the best burget I ever had but there is still the lamb burger on the menu which I can’t wait to try.

Of course, not forgetting the fries… I had to get both fries on the menu for my friends to try. The House Fries, plain but double fried was less stunning than my first experience however the thick potato-y texture of each stick made it a solid fry – definitely no thin sticks in sight.

The Naughty Fries, on the other hand, was BETTER this time round. There were more beef and bearnaise sauce atop the thick cut fries. Each fry also seemed to be more conscientiously shaved or sliced, every fry was very even. My friends could not stop raving about this dish.

The best part of the evening was how unabashedly we picked up the burgers and ate with our hands despite the messiness. Getting our hands soiled with greese and cheese was definitely the best and only way to enjoy the burgers.

I would just like to mention about the little unpleasant experience that evening, we asked for a birthday candle and when they said they did not have, we left it at that. But after dinner, a little chocolate pudding dessert, which we did not order, with a lighted candle stuck on it was served to us. We were surprised and quite touched by the service until we saw the bill and they had charged us for the pudding! Not wanting to ruin the evening, we did not pursue further but this little move was rather scheming. We did not plan on having desserts as we were satisfied with the sweet drinks. But please bear in mind when you next visit.

Popeye’s, I’m so behind.

So bad for the body but so good! The chicken skin so crispy and full of flavour. The buttermilk biscuit was even better than the I last had it, years ago. Extremely crispy exterior, tender soft interior. The Cajun fries, so beautifully irregular coated in a thin crispy batter.

An emotional day called for a heavy sinful lunch. I shall spend the rest of the day repenting.