I know the thought of cheesecake makes some people shudder. While I love a rich one, others are put off by the dense texture and how it can fill a tummy too much.

Enter Lucia Cakes. It offers two kinds - Ombre Berry and Avocado Lime (from $45 for a seven-inch cake that serves eight to 12) - that are not baked, but set with halal beef gelatine.

The avocado does not register as strongly as the lime in the avocado version, but I love the bright berry flavour in the Ombre Berry. Both are so very delicate and, after polishing off one slice, I immediately want another.

Ms Agatha Xavier, 35, named her business after her maternal grandmother Lucy, who lived in St Lucia's Lane in Sri Lanka. The baker was in banking for a decade before enrolling in Le Cordon Bleu in London to train in classical French patisserie.

Her offerings are a mix of ethereal and light, like the cheesecakes; and homey, like her brownies.

The Triple Chocolate Brownies (from $35 for an eight-inch square that can be cut into 25 pieces) have a satisfying fudgy texture. They are made with cocoa powder, dark couverture chocolate and white chocolate chips, and is a recipe she has adapted and honed over several years.

Lots of flavour is packed into each little square and there is little to quibble about. But I do think a bit more salt, and dark chocolate chips instead of white, would bring me closer to brownie nirvana.

It is tempting to hop over to the shop, but you are likely to be disappointed. Order online and then pick up.

WHERE: Lucia Cakes, 93A Club Street (for collection) MRT: Telok Ayer TEL: 9726-5101 OPEN: 10am to 7pm (Mondays to Saturdays) INFO: www.luciacakes.com

TANTALISING TOFU

There are many food temptations at Tanjong Pagar Centre. Hattendo cream buns from Japan call out to me and so does the Penang food at The Little Island. But on my first visit there, it is SBCD Korean Tofu House that catches my eye. The attraction: organic tofu made in-house daily.

The tofu is served with beef or pork ($18.90) in a hearty soup. Diners pick the level of spiciness and I am happy with mild. Wobbly, custardy and oh-so-soft, the tofu is a real treat to tuck into, especially together with the spicy soup.

Other versions include Assorted ($19.90) with beef and seafood; Seafood ($19.90), with clams, prawns, squid and mussels; Intestines ($19.90), with beef and offal; and the curious Ham & Cheese ($19.90).

All of these come with Hot Stone Rice (above) and the fun is digging up the crisp grains from the bottom and the sides of the pot. Some stellar side dishes that are part of the set include sweet fried yellow croaker fish.

Other dishes worth ordering include JabChae ($19.90), sweet potato noodles with shredded vegetables and beef; and Prawn Tofu Pancake ($19.90), patties made with that excellent tofu.

WHERE: SBCD Korean Tofu House, B1-01 Tanjong Pagar Centre, 7 Wallich Street MRT: Tanjong Pagar TEL: 6386-6441 OPEN: 11.30am to 10pm daily INFO: www. facebook.com/SBCDSingapore

YUMMY THAI STREET FOOD

While a Bangkok holiday is always a treat, I find fewer reasons to go these days. So much of what I enjoy in the Thai capital - the street food and strong Thai iced tea - is available here.

One of the newest Thai restaurants is KinMoo in Tan Quee Lan Street. The 50-seater, which opened in January, is owned by Ruldoph Tan, 35, who worked in marine fuel oil trading; his Thai wife Thanyaphad Tanapermpassaphon, 30; and Mr Tan's former colleague Lei Tsen Siang, 57.

KinMoo means "eat pork" in Thai and that is what diners do at the restaurant, seeing as how 90 per cent of the menu is dedicated to it.

Kow Lao Moo ($8.90, above) is a dish I would go back for. It is a simple dish - sliced pork, pig liver and intestines and pork balls in a flavourful (and a little sweet) soup. On a rainy night, it is perfect, and made better by slices of daikon in the dish, meltingly soft after soaking up the flavourful soup.

BaaMee Keow Haeng Moo Dang ($6.90), dry wonton noodles with grilled pig jowl, is the best dish of the meal. Neither the wonton nor pork is spectacular, but the noodles are. They take springiness to the next level and are made in Singapore to the owners' specifications. If that isn't enough, they are tossed in lard and there are chunks of it topping the noodles too.

WHERE: KinMoo, 01-02, 2 Tan Quee Lan StreetMRT: Bugis TEL: 6908-1896 OPEN: 11.30am to 3pm, 5.30 to 10pm (last order at 9.30pm), daily INFO: www. facebook.com/kinmootql

BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS

Tucked away at the end of a row of restaurants on the ground floor of Serene Centre is The Bakery by Woodlands Sourdough, a place I keep haunting for breakfast.

As the name suggests, it's a bakery that sells sourdough bread. The bakers are husband-and-wife duo Nurhasanah Johari, 39, and Chalith Kanchana Kariyawasam, 36. Former customer-turned-investor and business partner Bridget Emily Chen, 43, round up the trio of owners. Woodlands comes into the picture because that is where the couple live and where the sourdough starter was created.

The Bakery has a great toast menu.

There are no boring flavour combinations here. My favourite is Vegemite & Cheddar Cheese ($4, above).

A thin layer of the Australian yeast spread sits on the toast and is blanketed by shavings of cheese, with softened butter plopped here and there. There is just enough Vegemite, just enough cheese and just enough butter - perfection.

Peanut Butter & Sriracha ($4) sounds like an odd combination, but makes perfect sense if you think of satay or gado gado sauce.

Bite into Sage Cream & Berry Compote ($4) and you get a little jolt. Is that garlic? Yes, it is and this savoury-sweet vibe is one I like very much.

The only sweet one I try is Chocolate & Marmalade ($4). The orange is lost in all of this, but that is a small quibble. There is good bread. There is melted dark chocolate covering it. What's not to like?

WHERE: The Bakery by Woodlands Sourdough, 01-05 Serene Centre, 10 Jalan Serene MRT: Botanic Gardens TEL: 9816-6251/ 9487-4045 OPEN: 8.30am to 6pm (Wednesdays to Sundays), 5 to 8pm (Sundays for Pizza Night), closed on Mondays and Tuesdays INFO: www.facebook.com/ WoodlandsSD

Film picks

John Lui Film Correspondent recommends Logan, Elle, and more

LOGAN (M18)

137 minutes/ 4 stars

A month after its release, the adrenaline-pumper of a superhero movie is still in cinemas.

Logan (Hugh Jackman) is a drunk who lives on the United States border with Mexico. Set about a decade from now, the world is free of mutants. Logan is a survivor and protects the sickly Professor Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Caliban (Stephen Merchant, his gangliness put to great use here).

Director James Mangold (The Wolverine, 2013; 3:10 To Yuma, 2007) discards the plasticky digital look of The Wolverine and its predecessor X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) in favour of real car crashes and hard-edged violence.

ELLE (M18)

130 minutes/ 4.5 stars

Michele (Isabelle Huppert, above) is the autocratic boss of a successful video-game company. A shocking act of sexual violence is inflicted on her, a violation that colours everything revealed about her in the rest of the story.

Director Paul Verhoeven and screenwriter David Birke, in adapting Philippe Djian's 2012 novel Oh..., make Michele sympathetic one moment and a monster the next. But as the story unfolds, the loose character sketch tightens into a thriller. When that transformation occurs, it pulls the rug out from underneath Michele, as much as it does the viewer.

WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: Various times ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: Schedule and bookings at theprojector.sg

GET OUT (NC16)

104 minutes/ 4 stars

In this work of horror starring Betty Gabriel (above), writer-director Jordan Peele turns the screws of racial anxiety to breaking point.

Black man Chris (Daniel Kaluuya) is visiting the leafy suburban home of the parents of his white girlfriend Rose (Alison Williams), but underneath the liberal acceptance, something is off.

There are plenty of movies that address racial inequality, many of them mirthless and preachy. Not this film.

Peele, from the television sketch show Key And Peele, makes Chris an easy protagonist to get on the side of and, through his desperate eyes, see the creepiness just beneath the surface, waiting to pop out.

THE FOUNDER (PG13)

116 minutes/ 3.5 stars

The film opens with 50something Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton, above) speaking to the camera, persuading - or rather, pleading with - the audience to trust him.

He is selling blenders, but as all salesmen know, he needs to sell himself first.

The problem is, he no longer believes in his own patter and his order books are blank.

The story of the man who took a burger shop owned by two efficiency nerds in San Bernadino and turned it into a global enterprise is told as a bitter fairy tale, sometimes as black comedy.

WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: Various times ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: Schedule and bookings at theprojector.sg

Arts picks

Olivia Ho recommends A Peter Rabbit Tale, This Chord And Others, and more

A PETER RABBIT TALE

In this coming-of-age tale by the Singapore Repertory Theatre's The Little Company, based on Beatrix Potter's beloved children's classic, young Peter tires of chores and runs away from his burrow, but must contend with the trials and tribulations of the wider world.

WHERE: KC Arts Centre - Home of SRT, 20 Merbau Road MRT: Clarke Quay WHEN: Till April 14, 10am (weekdays), 11am and 2pm (weekends and public holidays) ADMISSION: $25 from Sistic INFO: www.srt.com.sg

THIS CHORD AND OTHERS

Director Timothy Nga restages Haresh Sharma's 1991 comedy about race and religion as part of The Studios season by Esplanade - Theatres on the Bay. In it, the friendship of three young men of different races (above) is tested by a job promotion and office antics.

WHERE: Esplanade Theatre Studio, 1 Esplanade Drive MRT: Esplanade/ City Hall WHEN: Today, 8pm; tomorrow, 3 and 8pm; Sunday, 3pm ADMISSION: $35 from Sistic (call 6348-5555 or go to www.sistic.com.sg) INFO: bit.ly/2nyJoCC

THE HISTORY OF BOYS: THE MES 56 AND BEYOND

This exhibition by Indonesian contemporary photography collective MES 56 mixes works such as Wimo Ambala Bayang's cheeky post-colonial The Dutch Are Already Near! series (above) with Yaya Sung's sombre memorials to lives lost during political tumult.

WHERE: Deck, 120A Prinsep Street MRT: Bugis/Rochor WHEN: Till April 23, noon to 7pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays), noon to 5pm (Sundays), closed on Mondays and public holidays ADMISSION: $5 INFO: www.deck.sg

MIGRANT POETRY EVENING

Despite changes in the line-up and high-profile lawsuits over contracts, the South Korean-Chinese boyband are still going strong. As the title indicates, this marks EXO's third concert tour since their debut in 2012. Their third studio album Ex'Act (2016) sold more than one million copies and won the Mnet Asian Music Award for Album of the Year.

WHERE: Singapore Indoor Stadium, 2 Stadium Walk MRT: Stadium WHEN: Sunday, 4pm ADMISSION: $128 to $288 from Apactix (go to www.apactix.com)

SINGAPORE INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL & THE LATE SHOW 2017

Let's see some jazz hands for this edition's line-up of class acts, including neo-soul British singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, American jazz bassist and singer Esperanza Spalding (above) and American guitarist Ray Parker Jr.

WHERE: Main stage at Event Plaza; The Late Show at Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Hall F; Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue MRT: Bayfront WHEN: Today, from 5pm; tomorrow and Sunday, from 4pm ADMISSION: From $108 for one-day general admission advance booking from Sistic (call 6348-5555 or go to www.sistic.com.sg)

ARMIN ONLY EMBRACE SINGAPORE 2017

Fret not if you did not manage to get tickets for the sold-out Coldplay concert this weekend as there are plenty of other options to get your groove on. Superstar Dutch DJ Armin van Buuren (above), ranked No. 1 by DJ Mag a record five times, will be playing a solo set that draws on his last album Embrace (2015), which featured Dutch musicians such as Mr Probz and Eric Vloeimans.

WHERE: The Meadow, Gardens by the Bay, 18 Marina Gardens Drive MRT: Bayfront WHEN: Tomorrow, 5pm ADMISSION: $161 at the door

SANTANA TRANSMOGRIFY TOUR 2017 - SINGAPORE

Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame inductee and guitar icon Carlos Santana (above) returns for his Transmogrify tour after selling out his 2013 show in Singapore. His band's newest album, Santana IV (2016), features the reunited classic line-up from the early 1970s, last heard together on disc on Santana III (1971).

WHERE: Halls 601 to 604, Suntec Singapore Convention & Exhibition Centre, Suntec City, 1 Raffles Boulevard MRT: Esplanade WHEN: Tuesday, 8pm ADMISSION: $89 to $299 (US$1 or S$1.40 from each ticket will be donated to The Milagro Foundation) via Apactix and SingPost outlets