Is J Co donuts in Spore as good as those in Jakarta?

I finally got a chance to make my way down to J Co outlet in Raffles City this week to get a feel of the donuts selling in Singapore. There were about 5 to 6 people in front of me when I join the queue. Queue management is bad as there is only 1 active server who is taking the orders. This is partly due to space constraint at the counter as there is insufficient space for another server to move behind the 1st server. As such, the box gets pass on from 1 server to another when the customer has done his or her selection of donuts that is within the reach of the 1st server. Donuts that is out of the reach of 1st server will be added to the box by the 2nd server. This arrangement is alright but if the customer decided to buy more than 1 box (i.e more than a dozen), that is when the problem arises. After donuts selection for the 1st box is done, customer will proceed to place order for the 2nd box and 3rd box for donuts that is within the vicnity of the 1st server. All the while, the 2nd server is actually not doing anything as the customer has not moved down to her section as yet. This is actually the main reason for the build up in the queue.

On top of this, I have to say that the donuts are not as impressive as those I saw in Jakarta. The donuts I saw on display are not of standard size. You can see from the picture I posted that 2 different donuts I ordered looks different. One is round shape while the other one strangely is oval in shape. The donut topping is also not as nicely or professionally done. Fork is remotely missing from the counter and I saw many people ended up using their bare hands to eat the donuts. We also placed orders for 2 cappucino and it took 3 visit to the drinks counter before we got them. Weirdly, my friend's cappucino look whitish and tasted like latte while mine is brownish and tasted more like the genuine cappucino. Menu does not offer orange juice and nope, all transactions must be paid in cash, no NETS or VISA available at the outlet.

Overall, I would say the visit is quite disappointing and would definitely hope that J Co in Singapore would iron out the initial teething problems soon to ensure a more seamless and enjoyable experience at their outlet.

For now, I would still flex my hand muscle and lug home as many donuts as I can from Jakarta.

J Co Donuts has finallly arrived in Singapore!!

Hip hip hooray! That's my reaction when I learnt that J Co has finally make its way to Singapore. Due to my work nature, I travel to Jakarta occasionally for business and each time I am in Jakarta, I never fail to "gorge" myself on J Co donuts and of course not forgetting to "lug" home as many donuts as my hands could carry. Although there are many donut chain in Jakarta like Crispy Creme, Dunkin Donuts, I-crave just to name a few, I still think that J Co donuts are the best cos of their texture. It is really soft and springy and of course the multitude of choices is also another reason why I am crazy over J Co donuts. The picture above is donuts from J Co Jakarta. I couldn't resist taking a photo of the donuts so that I could look at them (yup even though they have ended up in my stomach). :p

I used to lament why it is that there is no J Co in Singapore. I was even more upset when I learnt that J Co has "landed" in KL during my trip to Jakarta in Jan 08. Why in KL and not in Singapore, I thought. Why did J Co not thought of setting up operations in Singapore as well since we are so near to each other? So you can imagine my excitement and happiness when finally finally J Co donuts are available in Singapore.

I have not yet had the chance to "chiong" down to the one and only branch in Singapore to lay my hands on any of the donuts yet, so I can't tell for now if the donuts are as good as the ones I had in Jakarta. Hopefully, I can find the time this weekend. And hopefully I will not have to contend with long snaking queues found in other donut chains around Singapore. Well, guess I don't have to fear cos J Co is expected to open 13 branches island wide in Singapore with the 2nd branch opening in Bugis in May. So for now, I shall keep my fingers crossed and dream of sinking my teeth into J Co donuts every weekend! :)

Food galore in Kyoto n Osaka

I had intended to make a second post of the food I ate in Kyoto much earlier but was not feeling too well after my trip back. Guess too much food and cold air make me sick.......haha.....guess I have only myself to blame for eating so much. And then I am back home, I was caught up with the unpacking and cleaning up and before I know I am busy with Christmas shopping and eating again.....so this late post. Anyway, here are the food pics.

Most of the time, I try to take pic of the food I ate but on some occasions, it's actually quite difficult with the crowd in the restaurant and frankly speaking I am quite embarrassed to whip out my camera and snap away. So I actually took the pics with my camera phone instead (more discrete compared to camera), so that might explain why the resolution for some pics are not fantastic. In any case, if the pics can talk, they will tell you how wonderful they taste......haha.....hope my pics do the food justice.

This is what I had in an italian restaurant which we found "underground". It's a shop located in the basement away from the busy street. If not for the advertisement, we would not have found this place. They are also the very few restaurants that has an English menu which we could use to order our food. We were really happy to finally be able to order food without just pointing at pics and when the food arrived, we were not disappointed either. The spaghetti was wonderful, salad was crisp and dessert was not too sweet. Overall, it was a very enjoyable dinner.


I also managed to have okonomiyaki on 2 separate occasions and it was althogether an interesting and fun encounter cooking your own food right in front of you. Needless to say, I enjoyed the cooking as much as the food itself. :p Here are some of the okonomiyaki pictures.




And of course not forgetting the japanese food........udon and ramen.



Well....think that's all the food I can stomach for now. Enjoy the pictures! :)

Day 1 in Osaka

Wow! Finally touch down in Osaka Kansai airport after a six hour flight. Really cold the moment I stepped off from the plane. It's close to 11 degrees although the temperatures are expected to drop to 6 degrees in the night and in the early morning. As it is only 835am in the morning, there is hardly a very long queue at the customs and it took us less than half an hour to clear through the customs and get our luggage.

We locked up our luggage in a coin operated locker and then we are off to Rinku Town (a shopping mall with all the branded goods at factory outlet prices) which is a 15 mins train ride from Kansai airport. We took the JR train which is very fast and clean. The rail cuts across a wide expanse of sea and its just amazing fast and comfortable. We notice that before we board the train, the seats inside the train will be automatically "reversed" so that every passenger will be facing the front of the train and this will be done again once the train reaches the terminal station at the end of the journey.




This is Rinku Town. Very nice place and the best thing is it's not crowded being so early in the morning.


I was more of window shopping then doing any serious shopping here though and after wondering around the mall for about 2 hours, I decided to call it a day and make my way back to Kansai airport for my lunch. I was really hungry when I sat down and ordered my lunch and I really can't wait to eat them. Me and my colleague ordered a set each. I had sashimi set which is really very fresh and yummy.


My colleague had the sushi udon set.


Really enjoyed the lunch and I am really looking forward to the next few days ahead....:P

Afternoon Tea at Blue Magnolia

I was watching a tv programme (HDB Tai tai) some time ago and the 2 "made believe" tai-tais in the programme went for afternoon tea at this little cafe located in Macpherson Road. My office is located in the same area but I have never notice this cafe till I saw it on tv. The food they featured looks really nice and I decided to make a trip down to the cafe to see and taste the food for myself.

The opportunity finally came early this week. I went down with a friend and it was pretty quiet when we get there around 430pm. Unfortunately, there is not much food items left at that time and the crepes which I saw on tv was not on sale at that time. :( Luckily, the cafe's famous Adzuki Green Tea Cake is still available. We ordered 3 other small cakes and together they made up the "Petite Four".

I ordered an infusion tea called Nightcap (a combination of peppermint & camomile tea) which comes in a nice clear teapot and is constantly kept warm by a tealight candle.
My friend had the Creamy Hazelnut Coffee instead. Among the 4 items we ordered, my favourite is the Cheesecake. The savoury Cheese Puff (next to the cheesecake) is unique but not fantastic.

The Adzuki Green Tea Cake is a letdown as I could hardly smell the green tea and I personally feel that the cake could have more of the adzuki bean inside the cake. Blueberry cake is also not very special.

My friend like the Creamy Hazelnut Coffee though. I guess I would not mind buying the cheesecake although I will give the 3 other items a miss. Although the food had not been as nice as I would have expected, I like the way the food is presented - in small little dish in a very manageable portions which allows you to try many different items without getting too stretched (the tummy i mean). Service is pretty good too. So I think I will still make another trip down for the crepes which I missed out this round. For those who are interested in visiting the cafe, here is the address.

Blue Magnolia

439 Macpherson Road.

I will make another post here after my next visit.