By the Servings @ Market Street
Mei Heong Yuan (mei heong means "fragrant flavor") has become one of my favorites in my ongoing quest to find the best Asian dessert shops in Singapore; their peanut sweet soup, black sesame sweet soup, and steamed milk pudding are some of the best I've tried. Another recent venture took me to the Temporary Chinatown Complex where I sampled the black sesame and peanut soups at Dessert 115. Though not quite as impressive as the dessert soups at Mei Heong Yuan, 115 was good enough to earn an honorable mention.
This afternoon, I took a trip up Cross Street in search of more Asian-flavored sweets. Located on the first level of the new Market Street Car Park along Cross Street, among a handful of other exciting new eateries, is a trendy new dessert shop: By the Servings serves Asian-style desserts with odd names. A quick glance at the menu unearths such surprises as "Popeye's Pudding" (below right) is a spinach-flavored egg custard and "Bug's Bunny" (below left)--a popular carrot-raisin konnyaku jelly. (I have some morbidy curiosity about the spinach pudding, so it is very likely that I will return there again next week just to try it. )
For my first visit, I went for the most popular item on their menu, the "Wild Blossoms." The owner invited me to sit myself down at the counter while she ladled generous servings of the warm dessert soup into a ceramic bowl for me. The dessert soup arrived piping hot with lots of pieces of dried longan, wolfberries, ginko nuts, and red bean--just the way I like it! And, like any good Asian dessert, the sweetness of the soup was subtle, just enough to meet the requirements for being a dessert without becoming so excessively sweet as to overpower the nutty flavors of the ginko nuts and red bean. The natural flavors of the dried longan and the wolfberries brought an extra bit of sweetness to the dish--an earthy sort of sweetness.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn't stop at just one bowl: I had to try more! The owner saw me eyeing the menu and encouraged me to try the "Purple Petals" which the menu describes as a "Hawthorn Roselle Nata De-Coco Jelly." Seeing as how I love the flavor of hawthorn berries, I decided to order one to go. I was also enticed by the "Black Oats," a new menu item listed under an assortment of all-day breakfast items: black sesame oatmeal with golden raisins sounded too good to pass up. So, I ordered that to take back with me as well.
With both the "Purple Petals" and "Black Oats" packed up to go, I hurried back to the office--I absolutely could not wait to taste them! I sampled the black sesame oatmeal first. After sitting in the container for so long, the raisins had already gotten fat and juicy--the way that raisins get in a nice warm bread or rice pudding. The flavor of the black sesame was wonderful, and with the consistency of the oatmeal, this dessert reminded me of a traditional black sesame dessert soup with the extra nuttiness of wild oats. The oatmeal's consistency was neither too thin nor too thick. This would make a wonderful breakfast or afternoon snack! (I am eager to sample their museli and granola some day as well.)
The hawthorn berry jelly was a great disappointment. After being told that it was one of their more popular items, I was expecting something truly remarkable. The dessert was nothing more than an unbearably sweet cafeteria-style jello with cubes of nata de-coco for added aesthetics. After having consumed both the oatmeal and the red bean soup (both of which were subtly sweet dessert items), I was disappointed to find my taste buds swimming in the artificial sweetness of hawthorn berry flavoring which was, suffice it to say, overpowering.
By the Servings is a dreamland for those Asian-dessert enthusiasts like myself who appreciate the subtleties of Asian-style desserts. But, a word of caution: this dreamland does contain a few jarring doses of syrupy-sweet reality. For the most part, you can't go wrong--just don't expect everything to be perfect.
By the Servings / Market Street Car Park, Cross Street - Singapore
This afternoon, I took a trip up Cross Street in search of more Asian-flavored sweets. Located on the first level of the new Market Street Car Park along Cross Street, among a handful of other exciting new eateries, is a trendy new dessert shop: By the Servings serves Asian-style desserts with odd names. A quick glance at the menu unearths such surprises as "Popeye's Pudding" (below right) is a spinach-flavored egg custard and "Bug's Bunny" (below left)--a popular carrot-raisin konnyaku jelly. (I have some morbidy curiosity about the spinach pudding, so it is very likely that I will return there again next week just to try it. )
For my first visit, I went for the most popular item on their menu, the "Wild Blossoms." The owner invited me to sit myself down at the counter while she ladled generous servings of the warm dessert soup into a ceramic bowl for me. The dessert soup arrived piping hot with lots of pieces of dried longan, wolfberries, ginko nuts, and red bean--just the way I like it! And, like any good Asian dessert, the sweetness of the soup was subtle, just enough to meet the requirements for being a dessert without becoming so excessively sweet as to overpower the nutty flavors of the ginko nuts and red bean. The natural flavors of the dried longan and the wolfberries brought an extra bit of sweetness to the dish--an earthy sort of sweetness.
My curiosity got the best of me, and I couldn't stop at just one bowl: I had to try more! The owner saw me eyeing the menu and encouraged me to try the "Purple Petals" which the menu describes as a "Hawthorn Roselle Nata De-Coco Jelly." Seeing as how I love the flavor of hawthorn berries, I decided to order one to go. I was also enticed by the "Black Oats," a new menu item listed under an assortment of all-day breakfast items: black sesame oatmeal with golden raisins sounded too good to pass up. So, I ordered that to take back with me as well.
With both the "Purple Petals" and "Black Oats" packed up to go, I hurried back to the office--I absolutely could not wait to taste them! I sampled the black sesame oatmeal first. After sitting in the container for so long, the raisins had already gotten fat and juicy--the way that raisins get in a nice warm bread or rice pudding. The flavor of the black sesame was wonderful, and with the consistency of the oatmeal, this dessert reminded me of a traditional black sesame dessert soup with the extra nuttiness of wild oats. The oatmeal's consistency was neither too thin nor too thick. This would make a wonderful breakfast or afternoon snack! (I am eager to sample their museli and granola some day as well.)
The hawthorn berry jelly was a great disappointment. After being told that it was one of their more popular items, I was expecting something truly remarkable. The dessert was nothing more than an unbearably sweet cafeteria-style jello with cubes of nata de-coco for added aesthetics. After having consumed both the oatmeal and the red bean soup (both of which were subtly sweet dessert items), I was disappointed to find my taste buds swimming in the artificial sweetness of hawthorn berry flavoring which was, suffice it to say, overpowering.
By the Servings is a dreamland for those Asian-dessert enthusiasts like myself who appreciate the subtleties of Asian-style desserts. But, a word of caution: this dreamland does contain a few jarring doses of syrupy-sweet reality. For the most part, you can't go wrong--just don't expect everything to be perfect.
By the Servings / Market Street Car Park, Cross Street - Singapore
Hi J.Lo, thank you for your feedback on By The Servings. We are very glad to have caught your attention! Glad too, that you like our Black Oats (that's my personal fave too!) Half of our menu serves traditional well-known desserts such as Almond cream (loads of hard work, since it's hand strained fresh daily!) and Mango Tango (only fresh mangoes, very low profit margins!) and the other half's more unique items, recipes by our culinary mentor, Catherina Hosoi. Our clientele's are mostly regulars, so after trying the more conventional desserts, you can head for the "adventurous" ones! =P Give us a call anytime. We do deliveries for the Shenton way crowd. Also caterings for weekends (but for these, do give us a call 5 days in advance!) Cheers!
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