SPR MRKT Catering: Quality Over Quantity

Last night it was another fortnightly session of Associates Gathering in my office. I was most looking forward to this particular session as SPR MRKT was delivering their newest goods. Some of you may know they cater to this event frequently. At every session, I become the most popular colleague for that evening! It helps with my self-esteem, I am not going to lie. Last night I was hoping to repeat the “glory” and sure enough, SPR MRKT nailed it.

Unlike the previous menus, this menu was a succinct two savouries and two desserts. That’s because the two savouries were higher-priced and you will see, less grubby. Featuring new items from their baby sister, Koskos Café, I could not resist the Crayfish Rolls with Two Rabbits Smoky Chilli and Sriracha Shrimp Paste Chicken with Slaw in a Waffle Cone. Yes, for reals, a waffle cone!  For desserts, two cakes: Double Fudge Chocolate and Coconut Carrot with Butterscotch Frosting. What I love most about SPR MRKT, and the main reason I keep going back to them, spot-on seasoning! It is never under-salted or overwhelming so. The flavourings always balanced. At the end of yesterday evening, my colleagues surprised me by not complaining about the small quantity. In fact they all agreed quality over quantity. I think that means, no more grubby food, we want those crayfish rolls again!

Without further ado, let me show you the spread that made me so popular last night:

Look how the Sriracha Shrimp Paste Chicken with Slaw in a Waffle Cones were delivered…

My colleagues were surprised when they first saw this. “How does one eat this?!” Well, like an ice-cream. It was a delicious fusion take on our beloved Tze Char classic. And the whole cone was filled with juicy fried chicken thigh.

Crayfish Rolls with Two Rabbits Smoky Chilli was the winner of the evening. Check out those scorched marks! I did not see a single person stop at one roll…

For desserts: two perfectly portioned cakes.

The Double Chocolate Fudge Cake was soo rich, just a slice single-handedly took them down. The Coconut Carrot with Butterscotch Frosting was a different story. Think bits of coconut in every bite of the tender carrot sponge with the subtle butterscotch frosting providing another flavour hit. This cake is officially my favourite. I loved every bite of it! Let it sit out at room temperature for a tender texture but at fridge-cold, the flavours are more pronounced.

 

Can’t wait for more marvellous spread from the ever-reliable SPR MRKT/ Koskos!

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. 😉