Hello fellow munchies.
Here's my first post, and I want to start from the first meal I prepared in the year 2013 (after much procrastination about blogging, which I haven't been doing for years since high school).
I was shopping for breakfast options from our local supermarket, NTUC Fairprice and I happened to see NYC Bagel Factory's bagels on the shelves. NYC Bagel Factory sounds like it originated straight out from New York City - but no, it is a true blue Singaporean brand! There are a few local brands that I know of, which hints at the impression that they are from other countries, or that they have branches around the world, but let's not go to that now.
The main product offering is Bagels - plain, sesame, wholewheat, cinnamon raisin, cheese, however you want it - they've got it. Check out the entire product range here. I thought that their Cream Cheese spreads were a really good form of captive product pricing (a form of product mix pricing strategy) cos it complements the bagels so well rather than just butter and jam. I swear that the Smoked Salmon Cream Cheese is super good. A must-try if you are a cream cheese lover. Beats Kraft's Philadelphia Cream Cheese spreads hands down. I've yet to try the other cream cheeses though, but I promise I would review the cream cheeses again. :)
My friend who worked at Starbucks once told me that untoasted bagels are so hard that when you throw them onto the road and a car ran over it, it won't be squashed. It somehow made me think of rock-hard donuts until the day I tried toasting bagels myself.
Two ways to toast bagels: either use a toaster or the oven.
I don't have a toaster so I used the oven. I did not pre-heat the oven. My oven is not a smart one, so when I adjust the temperature knob, it takes a long while before the temperature rises to 150°C. I put all my bagels in the oven in one batch, for about 5 to 10 minutes (I did not take note of the time, but watch the oven for browning). If you do not bake long enough, the bagels would be as 'hard' as untoasted. If you overbake it, the bagels would be too crisp, almost like bagel chips. As a personal preference, I like my bagels slightly on the crisp side but not too crispy. :)
Spread your NYC Bagel Factory Cream Cheese over the warm bagels and it's ready to serve!
*FYI - To my best of knowledge, NYC Bagel Factory can be found in both NTUC Fairprice Xtra (island-wide) and The Marketplace (Raffles City).
If you do know of any other places selling them, do drop a comment below so that I can update to share with everyone. :) Thank you!
*FYI - To my best of knowledge, NYC Bagel Factory can be found in both NTUC Fairprice Xtra (island-wide) and The Marketplace (Raffles City).
If you do know of any other places selling them, do drop a comment below so that I can update to share with everyone. :) Thank you!
