Prestat Fine Chocolates

Prestat was officially established in London in 1902. Its chocolates are the favourite of Royal Family, in particular The Queen Mother, HM Queen Elizabeth.

I have tried both the Prunes and Apricots in (60%) Dark Chocolate. Both are priced at $29 per box of 150 gm. The tastes of prunes and apricots overpowered that of the expected thin coat of chocolate. It would have been cheaper and more chocolaty had I bought the fruits and dark chocolate separately and eat them together. I don’t blame them. Fruit-dips are usually disappointing to me. I suppose when I eat chocolates, I expect chocolates to play the predominant role. However I enjoyed the dark chocolate coated orange peel sold by Canelé during the Chinese New Year period.

I find Prestat truffles and dark chocolate ranges nothing to scream about. Perhaps I am not used to “English” chocolates. Given its high price, $58 for 200 gm of truffles, it is over-rated. Worst when you are paying a premium when the prices in UK are so much cheaper. Yes, prices will be higher as compared to the place of origin because of airfreight and so on. But the price differentiate of Prestat chocolates is particularly higher compared to other brands. I do notice that for most non-local chocolates in Singapore, prices are generally more expensive here compared to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

There are definitely better, and even cheaper, alternatives available. But if you have not tried Prestat chocolates before, now is a good time to try. Currently there is a promotion where you pay $68 (instead of the usual $116, that’s more than 40% discount) for a box each of their Milk Marc and Pink Marc De Champagne Truffles. There are also good discounts for some of their other ranges.

Chocz.

I couldn’t possibly eat chocolate just once a year. To get my fix, I do have to travel and make a special trip and I don’t normally travel just for one thing. So when I have the cravings and am too lazy to make a special trip, I get Chocz. as I happen to pass by it once a week.

Singapore brand Chocz., which started in 2001, specialises in Swiss chocolate. Their Swiss chocolates are made in Singapore whilst the Leonidas Chocolates from Belgium are airflown here once a week.

Amongst the Swiss range, I like the Dark Truffle, Cappuccino, Exquisite and Almond Rocher Dark. Their Mango Truffle does not taste like mango at all. However if you are not set on tasting mango, it is quite nice; the paste goes well with the white chocolate and it is not that sweet. Sadly, their Good Night (dark sesame paste in milk ganache) also does not have strong sesame flavour. The best dark sesame paste chocolate I feel is from Canelé.

If you have not noticed by now, I have a preference for Belgian and dark chocolates. Hence for Leonidas Chocolates, which has both a dark and milk chocolate variety for every flavours, I naturally go for the dark variety. Leonidas Chocolates do tend to have a nutty flavour. If it is a Leonidas, I will eat it!

Chocz. chocolates are priced at $19.80 per 100 gm. Currently there is a promotion where you will get 20% discount if you buy at least 200 gm of their Swiss range. For their Belgian range, you need only to buy at least 100 gm to get 20% discount. That’s only $15.84 per 100 gm of Leonidas! Load it up man!!

Mizkan Creamy Golden Sesame Dressing

On my last trip to Tokyo I walked into a restaurant in Shinjuku and ordered lunch. I can’t remember the name of or where exactly the restaurant was as, unlike dinner, I usually would just eat at whatever place I happened to be and felt like eating. And anyway, that was supposed to be my last trip to Tokyo and since I didn’t plan on returning I didn’t bother to take note of the name or location of the restaurant.

On the table was a mini pounder and you placed the roasted sesame seeds into the pounder and grinded them into powder form. As you grind the seeds, the aroma from the roasted seeds would be released. You poured this powder onto your rice or whatever food you fancied. On the table there was quite a large and long bottle of sesame seed dressing. This was for the free-flow fresh cabbage salad. It was the best sesame seed dressing I came across. I refilled my salad twice and almost finished that bottle of dressing. I had actually wanted to ask where I could buy the dressing or whether they would sell the dressing. But since I couldn’t speak Japanese, I didn’t. I have searched for the dressing in Japan and Singapore but nothing resembled it. I suspect the dressing was made in-house.

I have tried several sesame seed dressings that are made in Japan. The one that I like most is Mizkan Kin Gomadare Baisen Arabiki (Mizkan Creamy Golden Sesame Dressing). It is made not from black or white, but golden sesame seed. Golden sesame seeds are high in protein, vitamin E, calcium, and other minerals. They contained large amount of sesamin, which is an antioxidant.

The consistency of this dressing is just nice – not too liquid nor too thick. As there is vinegar in it, there is just a slight sourly taste that goes well with any salad or cutlets. It is available at Cold Storage for $7.90 for a 250ml bottle.

Here is a suggestion. Buy half or one red cabbage from Australia and keep in the refrigerator. They stay fresh and last longer than lettuce. Whenever you feel like eating it, too lazy to stir fry vegetables or need an extra dish, simply cut the cabbage into strips, wash and drain them, pour and mix in generous amount of the dressings and serve - you will have a very appetizing and nutritious dish. If you find the texture of raw red cabbage a bit too chewy, boil them in hot water for a couple of minutes first, let it cool and then pour the dressing.



The purple color in red cabbage comes from a class of pigment molecules called anthocyanins which may provide cancer protection, improve brain function and promote heart health.

Lengthen Incoming Call Ringing Time

Yesterday, I went to Starhub Service Centre at Plaza Singapura to have my incoming call ringing time lengthened from the network default of 30 seconds. Was told it cannot be done. When I insisted that it could be done and it was only whether they wanted to do it that the guy came back with his supervisor with a piece of paper with the instruction code to do so. But it was still only 30 seconds.

Before I attempted to key in the code, I asked the supervisor whether doing so would corrupt my SIM Card and she assured me that it wouldn’t. But after I tried, my SIM Card was corrupted. But I didn’t realise this until I reached home when my phone kept indicating “insert sim card.”

So I had to go to their Service Centre again but this time I went to the one at Tampines Mall as it was nearer and told the service guy what happened. He and his supervisor(s) were also not aware that the ringing time could be lengthened and were surprised that instruction codes were available. Anyway my SIM Card was replaced but all the data was corrupted and could not be retrieved.

I had backup my SIM Card onto my computer hard drive which unfortunately crashed three weeks ago which meant I didn’t have a backup! I will have to ask some of my contacts to give me their contacts and have to key them in again.

As calling Starhub would be a frustrating thing to do, I decided to write in and let them sort out amongst themselves before coming back to me. But to get their email address I had to call the hotline as the email address wasn’t reflected on their website. The guy who picked up the call, Tino, who was situated in the Philippines, told me the email address was customerservice@starhub.com.sg. When I asked about the sg part, he replied that “since Starhub is in Singapore, there should be sg”. Of course he was wrong!

I had written them an email detailing the sequence of events and would wait for their response. Even within a small HDB flat, 30 seconds might not be sufficient for one to get to the phone in time if one is in another section of the flat. Why must Starhub insist on just 30 seconds? Customers should be allowed to decide how long they want their phone to ring before been diverted or stopped.