Tampopo Deli, Re-reviewed!

Visited on 1st May 2010. Written by Mu Yao.

As mentioned from the previous post, the main reason why we came to Liang Court was for dessert, and henceforth, I found myself back here once again to try out some of the highly acclaimed desserts from Tampopo Deli. But as we arrived near closing time, most of the acclaimed and popular offerings, like the famed cream puffs for example, were sold out. Still, we managed to still have a taste of their offerings, like their (thus so far unreviewed) Nama Chocolate and Cheese Chiffon Cake. :)

In all, we found ourselves ordering the Cheese Chiffon Cake ($5.90), Nama Chocolate ($5.80) and the Mount Blanc ($6).

(I'm gonna skip the part on ambience and service coz I've reviewed this before :) )

First up, the Mount Blanc, which I think was a tart with matcha and cream filling and icing on top of a pretty hard solid cookie base. In fact, it was so hard that we broke all 3 of our little white plastic forks before I had the decency to change to the hardier red ones at the counter. The cream was fluffy light, and is the same one that's found in the famed cream puffs, with a heavenly, giddy-inducing sweetness that had full of milk rich freshness to it. It paired quite well with the matcha filling and icing, which is quite something because I was never quite a fan of matcha. The matcha itself was not too... well. beany. It didn't have that annoying powdery texture that normal matcha-made offerings had, which was good because it didn't make me cough! And the fact that it was made into an icing was all the more quite smart. But somehow, although it was all quite nice, it never actually quite matched up to the initial impression that I had with their impressive cream puffs. Or that "magic" pudding tart I tried the last time. But this was a very credible effort, especially for a non-matcha fan like me.

I think the highlight of the day was the ultimately decadent Nama Chocolate. It was so lusciously thick initially, with a viscosity that initially made it quite hard to cut with our plastic forks that I actually doubted how good this thing would taste like. It was showered and dusted with a heavy layer of cocoa powder. But the moment it went into our mouths - it was a chocolate-lover's orgasm. It just melted into a mouth with a comfortingly sinful texture resembling a melted mars bar - gooey, but still a little like a semi solid chocolate gelato (without the coldness, of course). The texture was so incredibly consistent and smooth - almost like silk - that it really made it a pleasure to have it all rolling in your mouth. And goodness, the chocolate was thankfully not the overtly sweet sugar/milk offerings that you would normally expect from bars like Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate. It tasted cocoa-ish (maybe because of the cocoa powder) and authentically chocolate. You really tasted chocolate, not an offering of processed sugar. Sinful - oh the Mayan gods would be proud. Really. :)

Okay, last but not least, the light and fluffy Cheese Chiffon Cake. Initially I was quite skeptical of the name - but I later realised the two dairy offerings actually made for a pretty decent piece of confectionery. Cheese and cream is good! The cake itself was so incredibly airy - almost like a strange cross between pillow stuffing and powder (okay, that's not a very appetising way to describe things). It made for a really welcome refuge from all that decadent sinful offerings (especially the EVIL nama chocolate) and the lightness of the cake floated our over-indulgent tummies back to earth. The cream, as I expected, was the same, or a highly similar variant to the cream that's in those cream puffs. But who cares about it being the same? If it's good, it's good man. The cheese flavour in the cake was thankfully not to overwhelming, it provided a nice little contrasting accent to an otherwise potentially gelak cake with all that sweetness over there.

And all that made up for another happy time at Tampopo deli. With a guilt trip at the calorie counter.

Goodness comes at a price.

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Address: 177 River Valley Road, Liang Court Shopping Centre, #B1-16

Contact No.: 6338 7386

Operating Hours: 11AM - 9PM Daily