Review: Opening of Laduree ~Fabricant de Douceurs~ in Singapore

Image from Laduree FB Page

Ladurée is a French luxury bakery and sweets maker house created in 1892. It is one of the top premier sellers of macarons in the world. I heard about the crazy queues that formed for this famed bakery when it opened its first store in Ngee Ann City, Singapore.

When I was planning farewell for my colleague, I remembered that she mentioned Laduree's tea collection is on her wishlist. Basically, that sounds like the best excuse for me to convince lazybum me to make a trip down to Laduree.

I went to the counter store on Level 1 of Ngee Ann City and I was captivated.

I am not a sweets person to start with, but the macarons neatly lined up by flavours beckoned. In the heat of the moment, I decided to ignore the fact that the dainty little macarons will cost me more than a plate of chicken rice, or the fact that given my appetite, it will take at least 10 macarons to fill my tummy.

A box of 8 macarons cost SGD$30.40 (the cheapo me did a quick calculation and there is no discount from the individual price of SGD$3.80 per macaron).

From left to right - Pistachio, Salted Caramel, Praline, Orange Blossom, Rose Petal:

Ok, on to the taste.

I asked the lady which flavours are their bestsellers and she recommended: 'vanilla', 'orange blossom', 'rose petal', and 'praline'.
The macarons are one of the best which I have tried so far. Though my sample size is pretty small (I have only tried Bakerzin, Antoinette, TWG), there is a distinct difference that set them apart.

These macarons are crunchy and soft at the same time, and the signature sweetness of macarons spread swiftly within as you bite into them. The rich flavours linger in my mouth and I particularly love their 'vanilla', 'rose petal', and 'praline'. 

The best thing you can have at the particular moment, is a pot of freshly brewed tea.

Speaking of tea, it was supposed to be the main focus of my Laduree trip. We bought the Tea-Tasting set (SGD$63), which consisted of Jardin Bleu Royal, Laduree, and, Marie-Antoinette.

According to the Laduree Official Webpage:
Marie - Antoinette : An dulcet marriage of Chinese black tea combined with rose petals, citrus fruit and honey. An pastoral walk at the « Petit Trianon ». An delicious afternoon tea for a sweet and romantic pause. All the spirit of Ladurée.
Ladurée : An elegant association of Chinese black tea, citrus fruit, flowers, light spices and vanilla. A tasty blending sweet and delicate. Ladurée’s signature.
Thé Jardin Bleu Royal: Non-smoked China and India tea blend with rhubarb and wild strawberry flavours, scattered with cornflower and belianthus petals.

My colleague had yet to tried the tea leaves, hence I am unable to comment much yet. Will update when I have more information.

All in all, it is worth a one-time splurge at the very least.
But wait till I get a chance to try it in Paris, then I will tell you if it is still worth the extra markup for the direct import from Europe. :D

LADURÉE SINGAPORE

Address: Takashimaya S.C., Ngee Ann City #02-09
Tel: +65-6884-7361
Opening hours: 1000hrs - 2130hrs

Gardens by the Bay - Tulipmania Theme

Yet another post on GBTB (well. the whole point of making annual passes is to make my money worth right... afterall, money is hard to earn :( all those OT nights and stress-filled work related nightmares...

This time, it is the Tulipmania!

Ok, I dont really check my email that often so I only know about this event when i walked past the advert outside Raffles Place MRT Station. So the immediate mental image i had was fields of tulips (you know, Virgos are hopeless romantics deep down in their hearts) and i was really keen to make a trip down.

We made our way down after work one day so it was my first night flower-sighting experience ever.

Iphone cameras are really hopeless at night. urgh.

And finally we approached our destination! The Tulip Field!!

ok, i admit that i was really disappointed to know that tulipmania was actually just a small field of tulips in the dome, but hey. with every stalk imported from Netherlands (if i recall correctly), and every stalk monitored so that visitors can catch them when they are blooming, i appreciate the pains and efforts put in by the team.

Kudos for bringing these gorgeous flowers to tropical Singapore! <3

Last but not least, shall leave you with a last photo of the tulips!

Gardens by the Bay - 2013 Easter Theme

We made a short trip to Gardens by the Bay during Easter season.

Gardens by the Bay consists of several outdoor gardens and two conservatories. It also has many dining options such as Pollen (located within the Flower Dome) and Indochine (located at the top of Supertree).

The Outdoor Gardens are free admission, and are open to public from 5am to 2am daily. The conservatories and OCBC Skyway are open from 9am to 9pm daily.

Single trip entrance fees as at May 2013:

Image from the official GBTB webpage

Gardens by the Bay do have different themes every once in a while, so we signed up to be 'Friends of the Gardens'. this makes popping by the themed gardens easier and more economical! :)

The membership pricing is as below (as at May 2013):

Image from the official GBTB webpage

These are some of the photos taken in the gardens, using my loyal but low res iphone camera:

 Ordinary Flowers just looked more aesthetically pleasing when they are colour coordinated.

 Painted eggs to celebrate Easter!

 View from the top. Constraints of the iphone means that the aerial view photo ain't clear and sharp enough.

More photos of Gardens by the Bay to follow soon!