Happy Mid-Autumn Festival! :)

I was actually feeling quite sad this year because 中秋节/Zhong Qiu Jie/Mid-Autumn Festival was in mid-September (today), so I didn't manage to buy mooncakes back from Singapore, just like I did last year! :( So I missed my snow skin mooncakes terribly. Haha. Thankfully, there's a Breadtalk copycat outlet in Adelaide, also known as Breadtop, and they sell both snow skin and the traditional mooncakes. Oh yay. :D But they also came at a rather hefty price. :( 2 mini mooncakes for A$7.90. Whaaat. :(

It tickles me to know that the translation of 冰皮 is mochi. It's meant to be snow skin! Hahaha! :D

They do have a variety of flavours though, which more or less makes up for the price I guess. Plus it was much cheaper than the imported mooncakes from the Asian groceries nearby. =/ Was so tempted to get the durian, chocolate, mango and the traditional ones with egg yolk paste inside because these are all my favourite flavours. :D But thankfully my housemate reminded me that after this festival, all the mooncakes will be selling at a discounted price!!! :D So, yes, being the poor student that I am, I'm going to wait patiently for that to happen! :) Maybe tomorrow or Saturday, then it will be selling cheaper, I think. :)

Anyway, Chatime had this really ingenious idea to collaborate with Breadtop this year in promoting their mooncakes. From 17-19 September, whenever you buy a cup of bubble tea, you get 1 free mini mooncake! Such a fantastic way to sell your bubble tea and promote Breadtop too! 

Although it says till 19 September, it's really 'while stocks last'. :( 

Thank God, I managed to get this deal on the 1st day itself. I went mid-day today and the mooncakes were all gone. :( So I was quite sad... but I saved A$5! Haha. Chatime should have made sure there were enough mooncakes to last till 19th September so that they can sell more cups. I bet their sales would have just soared within these 3 days. :P Anyway, the mooncake that I had was a egg custard mooncake. It was pretty much like a dessert, not bad, but not memorable. Haha. But it did whet my raging appetite on wanting to eat mooncakes. :) But then again, I'm not much of a mooncake person too! So, never mind.

***

So... did I do anything special to celebrate today? No. I just went to uni, city to do uni work at Coles, bought some Korean ramen from the Korean shop, chiropractor and then back home. The weather was terrible today. :( It was sunny in the morning, making me feel like I should wear less clothes (aka no thick jackets or anything of the sort), and then it turned windy and rainy by 2pm. -_-" And it just kept pouring! Grrr. Unpredictable please! Adelaide's becoming like Melbourne now. Noooo. >.< I wanted to go to the Mid-Autumn Festival Celebration at Elder Park but decided against it because it was probably going to be a very wet event. :( And I was already quite wet getting home because I didn't bring a umbrella out. :( 

Oh well. Hope others had a fantastic Mid-Autumn celebration and ate lots of 汤圆 (glutinous rice flour balls in a dessert soup) and mooncakes! :) Hope I get to eat my discounted-mooncakes soon, too! :) 

xx

A Macaron Review :3

After trying out the macarons from Le Carpe Diem, I can say that I have fallen in love with these little tricky bites of delicious-ness. Every bite of macaron was like a little food-explosion in my mouth! I couldn't help but go back again, and again, just to buy their macarons! I think I've gone back like 3 times so far? Yes...their macarons are to-die-for! :) It also doesn't help that my chiropractor is like 15 mins walk away from this French cafe. :( So every time, after I'm done with my chiropractor, I take it upon myself to exercise and walk to that place and get my fix of macarons, as and when I need it. :P

Haha. I've even introduced my friend and housemates to the macarons and they loved it! Yay! :D Such a nice feeling when your recommendation is recognized and acknowledged! Happy. :) Anyway, while I was sharing + posting about these macarons, I heard of another macaron place in Adelaide, known as the Mac Factory (TMF). Intrigued, I searched it up online and realized that it was just <5 mins walk away from my chiropractor! What a coincidence! So being the foodie at heart, I felt compelled to check that place out and compare it against Le Carpe Diem (LCD). :) But apparently, it's even more 'popular' than LCD because it has funny working hours, and I had to make sure that they were open before I popped by. =/

Since I was going to do a comparison, it made sense to buy the same flavours as they have at LCD; salted caramel, lemon and raspberry.

Macarons from The Mac Factory

Macarons from The Mac Factory; Salted Caramel, Lemon & Raspberry

As you can see, the macarons from The Mac Factory looks just like all the ordinary macarons out there.

Macarons from Le Carpe Diem

Macarons from Le Carpe Diem; Salted Caramel, Lemon & Raspberry.

Yep. I bought the same flavours. But as you can see from the pictures, LCD macarons are smaller but the shell is higher and the filling looks to be more generous than TMF. TMF macarons are $2.50 each whereas LCD macarons are $2.80 each.

Review

Taste-wise, Le Carpe Diem macarons win hands-down. The flavours of each individual macaron was stronger than The Mac Factory and it tasted genuine. With TMF, I had this plastic after-taste in my mouth which was rather unpleasant to be honest. :( And only the salted caramel macaron was decent. There was barely any taste of lemon and only a hint of raspberry. Yes, TMF macarons are $0.30 cheaper and bigger too, but quality over quantity, LCD is the overall winner. Plus LCD macarons look so pretty, it's like a work of art! The pastry shell from LCD macarons are melt-in-your-mouth, it's truly how macarons should be! Whereas I found that the shell from TMF macarons were a bit too chewy, I can feel it sticking onto my teeth. :( Another thing that I really love about LCD macarons is the filling. Oh man! Their fillings are so delicious and it is different from TMF and the other average macarons out there. It's like a combination of ganache + buttercream. So, so, so, so good! It just makes me want to eat more of their macarons! :( 

The filling inside. (LCD macarons)

I did a time test too. In other words, I only ate the macarons (bought from both LCD and TMF) 2 days after I bought them, under the same conditions, barely a week apart. The LCD macarons tasted as good as I bought it on day 1, whereas TMF macarons tasted a little stale (probably explains the plastic after-taste that I had). =/

Summary

Le Carpe Diem 1: The Mac Fac 0

So yes, overall, I wouldn't buy TMF macarons again unless I have a really bad craving for macarons and LCD is too far for me to travel (which is not going to ever happen since LCD is just like 10-15 mins walk away from TMF). TMF's macarons are average at best, the only good thing is that they offer more variety than LCD. But quality-wise, I'm not really that taken in. 

With that said, I would really like to try out other macaron places to see if LCD's standard can actually be beaten by others. Or would the authentic French bakers win, in this case? ;) Stay tuned!

Le Carpe Diem Cafe Creperie // BEST Macarons

Bonjour!

Recently, I was searching online for a list of cafes/restaurants that I haven't been to, in Adelaide. And I found a fair few, some came with recommendations from friends. :) I chanced upon this quaint cafe while googling online and I'm so glad I came across it. I think Adelaide is doing pretty well recently, there's so much new cafes sprouting up and the food is really good too! :)

What made me sit up and notice this cafe was that it's French. Yes, finding a French cafe in Adelaide is like finding a gem in the coal mines! Haha. Okay, that's such a lame analogy. But it came with very good reviews too, such that I was so tempted to go and try it with a friend. And I was praying that she will want to go to that place too! And she did!! Yay!! :) I was very happy when I found out that she wanted to try that French cafe too! :D Great minds think alike! :) 

So off we went, on a sunny spring day, to broaden and explore our horizons on French food ! 

Writing the opening hours on the glass! :)

The French decor. I love the lamp at the corner. :)

This is where they make their coffee and the left is where they make their crepes fresh. :) 

The staff were all from France and spoke real French. It was really like coming to France without actually hopping onto the plane! It's a good place if you know French and want to practice your French. =P

Another thing I wanted to come to this cafe is because this cafe serves gluten-free food. And being a student dietitian, I was very interested in that! Haha. I've tried gluten-free food in the past, even though I don't have to, but I wasn't impressed with gluten-free food at all. The bread is just plain unpalatable, to say so in the least. It was more of a cake-consistency rather than a bread. :/ So I was very interested to try out the gluten-free food here! :)

The food menu. Simple yet informative. The names are mostly in French but the descriptions are in English.

Stated clearly that their galettes (savoury crepes) are suitable for those who have coeliac and diabetes. :D

Let's move on to the FOOD, shall we? After all, that's the main highlight of our trip. :) 

What's a French cafe without pastries? Yum.

French Puff Pastry filled with sultanas

The gateaux cabinet filled with yummy desserts! Top: Salted caramel creme patisserie, chocolate eclairs, chocolate mousse.
Bottom: Chocolate lava cakes (gluten-free), __ cake, macarons (lemon, raspberry and salted caramel)

Top: Lemon, chocolate and lemon meringue tarts. Bottom: Nuts and fruit tarts. 

The chocolate lava cakes with dried fruits inside that are gluten-free. :)

A special french dessert that's chocolate mousse with pear mousse on top of a praline peanut base.
Wanted to try this, if not for my sore throat. :(

My friend and I decided to start off with main courses first, since we haven't eaten lunch yet. So we both ordered the savoury galettes (crepes made with buckwheat flour). I ordered the Saint Malo Galette (mushrooms with swiss gruyere cheese, tomatoes and egg) with a sweet cider and my friend ordered the Brest Galette (chicken with goats cheese, tomatoes and olive oil) with Spring Juice (rose, strawberries and raspberries).

My sweet cider that came in a red 'bolee', a bowl-cup. This French cider is a little stronger than the normal cider. :)
And the cutlery that came in a metal tin with the table sign: 23! :) 

Saint Malo ($12.50)

This buckwheat flour crepe is indeed my first time tasting buckwheat flour! The crepe itself was crispy and light, it tasted a bit like wholemeal but a lot lighter. What I loved about this crepe was that it is super cheesy (every bite had this long strand of cheese attached to it), the ingredients were generous (heaps of mushrooms and tomatoes) and the runny egg yolk! YUM! :D This filled me up to about 3-quarts, just nice enough for dessert space. :)

Happy friend with her Brest Galette ($14) and Spring Juice ($8.90). :)

After our main courses, even though we were kinda full, we still went ahead with desserts because the pastry table and gateaux cabinet were too tempting for us to resist! We even chatted with the knowledgeable and friendly lady boss, Djani Goodes, where she introduced to us the variety of French desserts and pastries they had on board and even snippets of French cuisine. :) Gained a little bit more knowledge on French cuisine and how they managed to have so many delicious desserts yet they are not worried about gaining weight! It's because they eat quality food in small amounts. e.g. they only eat a small square of good quality dark chocolate and pair it with a fruit coulis.

We were so spoiled for choice with our desserts! Didn't know which to choose, in the end, we decided to share! :D Best decision ever! :D We chose the salted caramel creme patisserie and 1 each of the different flavoured macarons! :) 

Salted Caramel Creme Patisserie

This dessert was truly a delight to eat! The pastry outside was soft and light and the creme caramel was so light and fluffy! I thought it will be too sweet to eat, but no, the salted caramel had just the right tinge of sweet and salt to it, that it went perfectly well with the fresh whipped cream and sweet strawberries. Truly a sweet feast.

L-R: Lemnon, Raspberry and Salted Caramel

The BEST macarons I've had to date! Seriously. I don't usually order macarons because they are overly sweet, even with the fruity flavours! But THIS! This changed my mind!! They were absolutely scrumptious! Each macaron was infused with the actual real fruit/ingredient and they didn't taste like artificial flavours. These macarons had a gooey centre where I could taste really aptly lemon, raspberry and salted caramel in each of the respective macarons. It was not overly sweet too! Absolutely delicious! :D

After eating this, I'm sold on their macarons alone! This, I would come back for!! Haha. Actually I tried to do so 2 days after coming here, but it was closed on Monday, sadly. :( So I didn't manage to satisfy my macarons craving!

My chai latte ($4), which went perfectly well with the desserts. :)

This chai latte was a perfect combination with the desserts that we ate. :) I love that it's not too cloying sweet such that it clashed with the desserts, instead it complimented the desserts. And it was the perfect ending to my meal as well. :) This place is definitely a place I would go to, over and over again. :) 

Food: 4.5/5. Service: 4/5. Value: 4/5. Ambience: 4.5/5. 

Le Carpe Diem Cafe Creperie

230-232 Grenfell Street

Adelaide, SA 5000

-Closed on Mondays. 

-Tuesdays-Saturdays 8am-5pm

-Sundays 9am-5pm

Spring! :)

Spring is here!! :) And I'm beyond excited! Haha. I've realized rather belatedly on why I have survived winter for the past 3 years... it was because of the HEATERS! Yes, I had 2 heaters that I continuously kept on, especially at night. Being able to stay in the uni hostels is really a blessing. :) Moving out to a new place was when I realized that electricity is really very expensive in Australia. :( So I had to go without heaters during winter this year. And it was soooo cold!! No kidding. :( I was so not used to it... I could just wear 1-2 layers last time, and this time round, even though I wore like 4-5 layers, it still wasn't enough! :O That cold. 

So yes, I'm really excited for spring weather! Haha. And spring in Adelaide this year, has been a totally new season! One that reminds me of Singapore's heat minus the humidity, in the daytime, and then the weather turns chillier at night. But I'm enjoying it nevertheless. I can wear shorts, skirts, dresses and t-shirts without feeling too cold! I reckon it's time to keep away the thicker layers! Whoop! :D 

I'll probably keep my rain jacket though because it's forecasted to rain this weekend. :( Oh well, I'm happy and blessed to have glorious weather for a few days. I just hope it won't become chilly again. It's nice to see the trees turning green again, instead of bare and spindly during winter. :/ 

Have a lovely week! xx