Second time at Grin Affair

My first taste of the dessert from Grin Affair was simply heavenly and it left me wanting to try more flavours.  So ahead of the Intern’s farewell little-do, we decided to place an advance order for the desired flavours.  I got the number off their website, sent a SMS to them to ask if I can place an advance order for 30 odd bottles.

One day passed, no reply.  As you can tell, patience is not exactly my virtue.  So I decided to give them a call to check, someone picked up the phone and just flatly told me that yes, they can take the advance order, all I needed to do was to send in the text.  I found it rather strange to send my order thru a SMS.   Afterall, the names of the desserts weren’t exactly short and to type everything in a text was kinda waste of my time.  I’d say an email order would be alot better.  But arh well, I complied anyone because I thought it would make a sweet treat for the colleagues plus a couple more orders thrown in for the home.

Colleagues loved the idea of the dessert in a jar.  If you looked past the novelty, the desserts are really pretty good.  Light and airy, you could easily finish one of these jars easily.  For the little afternoon tea party, we ordered: Strawberry Custard, Hazelnut, Dark Chocolate, Lychee Passionfruit with Sea-Salt Pistachio, Cookies & Cream, Matcha & Azuki Bean and Banoffee.

I had the Matcha & Azuki Bean which I didn’t quite like.  The Matcha sponge cake was soft but the azuki beans, I thought was a little too heavy for the overall dessert.  Colleague who had this dessert loved it though, so I guess it’s an individual preference.

I brought home 6 bottles for the family to try.  Perhaps the entire transportation of desserts from Point A to Point B and then eventually home didn’t help to retain the freshness of the dessert.  They didn’t taste as good as I first remembered it to be.  But the helper and the MIL loved the Double Chocolate one which I didn’t get to try but managed to snap a shot of the dessert.  I thought the overall presentation for the Double Chocolate has gotta to be the most appetizing of the lot.

The Man and I shared the Lychee Passionfruit with Sea-Salt Pistachio since I couldn’t stop raving about it.  Thankfully, he loved it too!  We also shared the Banoffee which I thought was much better than the Matcha & Azuki Bean.  The moist coffee sponge cake together with fresh banana slices and baked pecan nuts made for a very satisfying after-dinner dessert.

Not sure if I would make another trip down to Grin Affair to get the desserts the next time round.  The entire experience of buying the desserts was less than satisfactory.  I still think the desserts are best enjoyed on the spot straight after the purchase.  Maybe the day which we purchased the dessert was simply was a bad day or maybe it’s just best to have the sweet memory and leave it as that.

A sweet affair at Grin Affair

I count myself pretty lucky.  Many of the teams in the companies that I’ve worked in, I’ve met some really nice colleagues – some who have even gone on to become friends.  S is one of them.  We worked together for about a year when I was in ‘Sparkle Co’.  Gosh, I feel old saying this but that was about 6 over years ago!  Then, she had been a lovely colleague but as a friend now, she’s ever so thoughtful often bearing me with gifts of wafer-thin Kueh Bangkit when Lunar New Year approaches.

This time was no exception.  A long overdue visit to her home, I went bearing a small little gift but S surprised me passing me a bag filled with goodies from Indonesia and a cute cookbook on cookies.  Thanks S, totally wasn’t expecting this.

And we spent the afternoon catching up, with plans to go to Grin Affair for some dessert as I been meaning to check out the place after seeing some of the pics from S’s Facebook.  I guess I lucked out for I later found out that the place is run by a relative of S.  Tucked in a small corner at Everton Park, we took a leisurely walk from S’s home but upon arrival, we found out that everything had already been sold out for the day! ;(

Thankfully, they were making fresh supplies for the next day and we managed to get two very precious jars of the latest flavour – lychee passion fruit with sea salt pistachio to try.  I doubt that this combination could go very wrong, well, not with my fave lychee and passion fruit in it.   As the store was going to be closed for the rest of the day, we ended up carrying the jars back to S’s home to enjoy the pre-dinner snack.  Be warned, Grin Affair is pretty small with a couple of chairs and small tables for you to have your dessert and then go.  If you are doing that, then do take some time to admire the cute vintage decor placed in the store.  Else, I’d recommend you buy the cakes and then enjoy them at home.

The cakes look almost too pretty to be eaten and I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into the layered cake tucked in a jar!  So was it as good as it looked?  Oh YES!  On first bite, the saltiness from the sea salt was sharp and distinct but little by little the layers of the sweet lychee mousse (complete with lychee bits), zesty passion fruit along with the moist vanilla cake slowly came through.  The pistachios gave it an added crunch to this delicate dessert.  Never quite tasted anything like this and this was an instant like! A winning combo of sweet with a touch of saltiness that actually worked!  S’s little boy also couldn’t stop ‘stealing’ a couple of bites from his mommy’s dessert.

And when you are done with your desert, don’t trash the jar just yet.  You could return the jars back to Grin Affair and keep the ticket that’s attached with the jar.  Collect 20 of these tickets to redeem for a free jar of cranberry.  Or you could be like me, keep the jar and use it to store knick-knacks around the home.  I think this will make a cute little vase for small flowers on my dresser.

There are altogether 12 different flavours available on the menu.  S says that the Banoffee, Maron and Mango ones are pretty good. So, looks like I gotta be a little hardworking the next time round and head on earlier to Grin Affair to snap up these flavours before they are all gone again.

Thanks again S for the sweet treat and the delightful afternoon spent in your home! 

Grin Affair

Address: 3 Everton Park, #01-77A, Singapore

Telephone: 8282 7375

Opening hours: Mondays – Saturdays (12pm – 8pm), Closed on Sundays