Pique Nique : An American Picnic

As I have talked about the whoopies in the earlier entry, this one would be about the various types of American style bars available. Not all are fabulous of course, but there are some that may suit ur tastebuds.


As Chef Pang (Award winning Pastry Chef of the Year 2011) was from Canele I spotted some bars that resemble the ones at Canele.eg the triple chocolate cheese. But overall I would still say that the quality of the cakes at canele is slightly better than the ones here, perhaps because these are bars,so they are more simplistic or rustic.sort of like the baked in big batches,slice and serve kind of cakes.

Among the 6 kinds here, the chocolate pudding pie,the lemon chiffon pie left a deeper impression.



Chocolate Pudding Pie

Those who prefer more mousse than sponge(like me) would like this.the quality of the chocolate used here is not too different from Canele or Bonheur. The presentation though dark and plain, is the one that pleased me the most. The top layer was given a cocoa dust coating, like many hills sitted together. It's very dense and rich, good with tea or coffee but I had it together with the lemon bar below.



The Lemon Chiffon Pie
biscuit base, lemon custard/curd, meringue

Hmm, I think it is very misleading to name it this way. Definitely don't expect your chiffon here. Perhaps it is the airy and very light lemon curd here or lemon custard?? that would fit it's name. It really looks like a lemon meringue pie doesn't it? But you would be surprise that the lemon layer is very sour and soft, quite different from the usual thick lemon curd in the classic version. Of cos no one would say that meringue is not sweet, but I enjoy the texture of the lemon here,it's really tangy.



            Red Velvet Cake with cream cheese layer
As for this really Red bar, I was surprised that the sponge layer remain soft after a day in fridge. The colour makes me highly suspicious whether too much coloring has been added into this. A little crumbly but not 绵密。again, I think they may be trying to twist the classic south american cake into something different. I cannot really judge if it is a good idea as it depends on whether you are a 重口感 person who like the classic one or you prefer a lighter or healthier version like this?

Brown Sugar Walnut Pie

This one is choked with walnuts but yet the price is the cheapest among all. This is very rustic old school bar that is really sweet gooey and sticky. I would prefer if the marshmallows are not added. But the chocolate mini balls gave a contrasting texture.

If you like monkey bread or sticky buns you might enjoy this.

Sweet potato pie
Whipped cream,sweet potato and a slightly moist base
Another Southern US Bar

This one is sweet but less sweet than the brown sugar pie, hopefully because it is the sweet potato and not too much additional sugar.luckily, the sweetness is still acceptable because of the spices that balanced it as the Japanese version would be much sweeter than this. The base was rather disappointing as I would prefer sth more crunchy to go with the dense layers on top.


Chocolate Caramel Cupcake
the only cupcake I have tried from here
I don't usually eat cupcakes, so decided to try since there were so many on display. Just one will do, I picked something that I would not dislike that much-the caramel version. And I guess I did not regret. The crumble was buttery and crispy.


Moist and chocolatety cupcake that has soaked up some ganache
 After warming it up, the ganache had blended with the caramel but I could still get the distinction between the choc and caramel in the cupcake. The ganache was just sufficient to go with the cake layer.ganache or fresh whipped cream is a better friend of cupcake than buttercream to me.

The bars go from $4.80 onwards to around $8.

And don't be mistaken that they only have cakes. It is a cafe restaurant that serves all day breakfast, cheese burgers, Mac and cheese,hotdogs,sides,desserts. I haven't try alot yet so up till now I better reserve the comments first.


All day breakfast
Choice of style of eggs(sunny up here),bacon and english muffin

During a gathering, Pigo ordered this because the eggs Benedict set ran out of stock. Well, I don't really understand why they could not serve the other set because aren't te ingredients actually quite similar?




Eggs with Salt & Pepper

The English muffin was toasted till quite crispy but we thought it would look like a typical mc Donalds version but apparently it isn't.the yolks were runny but the bacon weren't that crispy. For the price in such a high flow shopping mall, I think it is quite average and simple fare.


The hot iron waffle with salted caramel($10)
Where's my whipped cream or butter AND 1 scoop of ice cream?
No wonder the sauce was not enough
When it was served, we were surprised by the huge size, really resemble a US Size portion. And this waffle was slightly better than expected, crispy airy inside and most importantly not sweet. Luckily it did not make me think of having Prima Deli's waffle. Compare to Prima, this is not as dense but u can see that it looks thicker, like the height of thick French toast.

However, do note if they served whipped butter or cream along this because it was on the menu. I sensed sth was missing but did not take note because we were busy chatting.

But I asked for two more servings of salted caramel because it was insufficient to go with the huge waffle.
I think it is a good way to try their salted caramel sauce because they do sell them in jars call milk jam, the Delicious Dulce Du Leche that is made by cooking milk slowly for hours until it reaches a caramelized gooey state that is very rich.



Back to waffle, after a while, it turned soft already. So have to eat it while it's hot.

Hmm, as the reviews for the restaurant food are mixed with good and bad, I think we need to try other in order to judge. But so far the food is acceptable but nothing exceptional.I was unimpressed by it's carelessness or forgetfulness in serving it's food.

Nevertheless, I looked forward to trying more of his creations at Antoinette in Mandarin Gallery since the Penhas outlet at Lavender is too far away. Because I've heard that they are selling my favourite St Honore.

Pique Nique
Takashimaya B1 (Opposite KFC)

Comments