Domino’s Grand Opening

Singapore welcomes Domino’s back to our shores after a long 10-year hiatus with a new franchise in place and a halal food certification! I had the opportunity to attend Domino’s grand opening of their second branch at Tanjong Katong on tuesday night, and it was a cosy and interesting affair.

Chief Operating Officer of Domino’s Pizza Singapore & Malaysia, Mr. Ba U Shan-Ting (pictured below), gave an informative speech where he revealed 3 guarantees that Domino’s will abide by – a 30 minute delivery guarantee, product satisfaction guarantee, and 15 minute take-out guarantee.

I believe customers will be really excited to find out if Domino’s is able to deliver all that they promise. Domino’s, however, is confident that they will meet expectations by scaling their operations and they’ve got goodies to make up for it if they don’t: for the delivery guarantee, customers will receive a free regular pizza voucher (worth $22.80).

The enthusiasm and morale of the Domino’s team was high that night as they shared their universal pizza war cry, and I’m hopeful that they will deliver the same good service to customers in the months to come. I was impressed by their efficiency and teamwork when orders came in (we got to see how they managed their back-end operations in the kitchens and all), and the staff demonstrated how they would go about guaranteeing a 30-minute delivery. Now here comes the fun part: some other food bloggers and myself got to step into their kitchen to try our hands at making Domino’s Signature Hand-tossed Pizza…

The Domino’s staff were diligently churning out pizza orders despite our ‘meddling’ in the kitchen.

These are experienced hands pictured above showing us how to make and spread out the pizza base. On average the Domino’s staff can make a hand-tossed pizza (minus the cooking part) in 30-45 sec. Every order (take-out or delivery) is made on the spot. Cooking time in their ovens takes 5 min so most delivery orders are out the door in approx. 12 min. Here I am looking sheepish after a hesitant attempt (the real pro is the guy behind me)…

Pizza’s going into the oven…

Pizza coming out fresh from the oven…Rest assured that Domino’s pizza is all thin crust. Mine evidently fails their stringent QC checks ha.

The very last step of the process is the packing and cutting. Thank goodness no one but me had to try my pizza!

Although Singapore may not be as much of a pizza nation as our western counterparts, I’d say Singaporeans should give Domino’s a shot. Their pizza’s pretty delish and more flavours will be added to the menu in the months to come (Domino’s will have 9-10 branches in strategic locations island-wide by year end). In the meantime, you can get your Domino’s pizza fix (via delivery) if you live within the radius of a 10-min drive from either their Tanjong Katong or Chun Tin Road branch (8 Chun Tin Road, opp. Beauty World along Upper Bukit Timah Road). The other alternative is to grab a takeout from their existing branches. Domino’s now has an opening offer for takeout customers so do check out their website: http://www.dominos.com.sg

Vosges Haut-Chocolat’s Bacon & Chocolate Goodies

Vosges Haut-Chocolat was started by owner/chocolatier, Katrina Markoff, who personally chooses all ingredients that are flown into their Chicago kitchen. Trained in French confectionery methods at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, Markoff has worked extensively in France, Spain, and Italy before founding Vosges to build on her passion for luxury chocolates.

This gorgeous purple gift box of bacon & chocolate products are a result of Vosges’ experimentation with a variety of ingredients. Who would’ve thought savoury food like bacon and sweet chocolate would be a good match? Each combines applewood smoked bacon and Alder wood smoked salt with chocolate. Their milk chocolate bars are made from 41% cacao, while their dark ones are made from 62% cacao. The gift box above contains:
3 oz Mo’s Bacon Bar, 3 oz Mo’s Dark Bacon Bar, Mini Mo’s Bacon Bar, Mini Mo’s Dark Bacon Bar, 2 Flying Chocolate Pigs, ¼ lb Bacon Caramel Toffee, Mo’s Bacon + Chocolate Pancake Mix

Imagine a Bacon Chocolate Chip Pancake Mix for breakfast…it’s the best of both worlds really. These are buttermilk pancakes spotted with chunks of Vosges’ Exotic Candy Bar, which combines applewood smoked bacon and Alder sea salt with deep milk chocolate. Each batch makes approximately 8, 5–inch pancakes. 2 batches per container. They even have a recipe enclosed for your own kitchen experimentation! yums.

Last but not least, we’ve got Bacon Caramel Toffee, which consists of buttery toffee crisps encased within their 41% deep milk cacao…the sweet & savoury goodness of bacon with deliciously sinful caramel toffee sounds incredibly hard to resist! Sounds perfect for a quick, guilty perk-me-up treat when no one’s looking…chocolates make great indulgences, so try something different next time (I’m sure it’ll continue to intrigue you in the culinary arena too)

/ images are taken from Vosges’ website

World’s Most Expensive Cupcake

This is what a US$106,794 cupcake looks like.

Since1910 (a premier online diamond jewelry retailer) celebrates their 100th anniversary this 2010 by offering a special diamond engagement cupcake. The utterly extravagant diamond cupcake is available in vanilla and chocolate, and is adorned with a 5.48 ct Round Diamond on top of the cupcake. Advertised as a GIA certified 5.48 ct round diamond  – F color – Si2 clarity – Good Cut, there are many diamond options for the cupcake which will affect the total price of the cupcake.

Since1910 has expressed that this idea of combining diamonds and cupcakes came from the many proposal stories they’ve heard of, where rings are deliberately hidden in desserts…this cupcake will make a truly decadent proposal I’d say…at least you won’t have to worry about her swallowing/choking on the ring. Then again guys, the cupcake had better be as good if not better than the diamond if your girl’s a dessert lover.

via PRWeb