Lola's Cafe

It was my first visit to the highly raved Lola's café. Lola's Café have been gathering a strong following of loyal patrons over the years and many braved long waiting time to relish their legendary brunch menu. I finally took a day off for a causal catch-up with my peers who live in the east and highly recommended the cafe for brunch (10am to 3pm). 

Lola's café is located at Simon Road, barely a five-minute walk away from Kovan MRT. To prevent long waiting time/hours in the humid weather, do remember to make a reservation the day before. They do not allow reservation to be made on the same day. 

I did not do much research prior and thankfully reached an hour earlier before the meeting time to get a queue number.  The waiting time was exactly an hour before we were directed to our tables. 

I ordered Farmhouse Brats ($10), Pork sausage bun with nacho cheese sauce, purple slaw and potato fries. The protein was juicy and savory, well paired with the other fillings. Had a cup of Flat white ($5) and it was thick with the right level of bitterness. 

I had the entire plate of Honey Paprika Crispy Wings ($10) all by myself. The wings were fried to perfection, generously peppered with paprika and honey drizzled on top. I couldn’t be bothered about any image and dug it with my bare hands. It was totally worth having my fingers oiled which I get finicky about. 

Had a bite my friend’s Breakfast Butter Croissant ($14) and it tasted heavenly. The croissant was crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. You could literally taste the layers of butter tediously folded in the preparation process. In between the croissant, it was filled with scrambled eggs, honey bacon, pork ham, cheddar cheese and a generous serving of garden salad. 

The service was impeccable and the floor crew tended to our needs politely and efficiently. The only drawback was the waiting time, just remember to make your reservation the day before and it will be good. Food was exceptional, great service and totally worth every penny. 

Lola's Cafe could easily make it to one of the top ten cafes to visit in Singapore on my personal list. No wonder the hype and tons of good reviews about it. If you haven’t been there, you’re missing out a lot.

Lola’s Café

Address: 5 Simon Rd, S545893

Tel: 6284 0349

Email: contact@lolascafe.com.sg

Hours:

Monday Closed

Tuesday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

Wednesday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

Thursday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

Friday 10:00 am – 12:00 am

Saturday 10:00 am – 12:00 am

Sunday 10:00 am – 11:30 pm

Letoile Cafe

Recalled my first trip to Letoile Cafe a year back and enjoyed the spacious upper deck. Based on impression, I loved the white walls and furnitures with all sorts of concepts pieced together. Every corner felt very customised and the vintage artefacts placed around blended well in the casual and free concept. The homely vibe made it an optimal spot for catchup, therefore a return trip to the cafe. 

However, it wasn’t a lucky day on my second trip to Letoile Cafe when we found out that the second level was temporary closed (for renovation) upon arrival. We went ahead to dine on the first storey since we travelled all the way down from the west. The experience was not as great as the first due to the bustle of the intense lunch time crowd.

Nothing could ever go wrong at Letoile Cafe with their brunch sets, mainly their Big Breakfast meal ($16.90) and Eggs Benedict ($14.90). As usual I paired my brunch with a cup of Flat White ($4.50) get my caffeine addiction fixed for the day. 

My Egg Benedict was slightly better than average. The eggs were perfectly poached and the light acidity from the hollandaise sauce lingered over levelled the entire taste. It came with a good portion of fresh vegetable salad to add fibre the meal. The Flat White was brilliant; strong, robust and nutty!

The Big Breakfast Meal cames with well toasted bread, sausages, bacon, grilled tomatoes, salad and choice of eggs (scrambled, sunny sideup, over-dry or omelette). 

On the other hand, the Beef Steak Sandwich ($19.90) ordered by another friend went on opposite direction compared to the breakfast sets. It was served with a generous amount of fries (could taste a tint of truffle in it) and salad but the main highlight wasn’t pleasing. The beef steak was overly done and tasted like jerky. The pastry bread was tough and was too hard to slice. Definitely a little too difficult for my lady friend to handle. 

In a nutshell, the temporary closure of the upper deck affected the overall experience. It did not felt complete. Nonetheless, I’m still looking forward to the next visit again (hopefully a surprising revamp) for a quiet brunch digging on Big Breakfast and Egg Benedict with my companions. 

Letoile Cafe

160 Owen Road, Singapore 218953

6298 2872

Hours:

Monday - Friday: 11:00-22:00

Sat, Sun & PH: 0900-22:00

Old Hen Coffee Bar

Finally had the chance to visit Old Hen Coffee after hearing so much about their cold brew that was flooding my Instagram news feed.  The café is conveniently located at Rangoon Road, a road across Farrer Park MRT station from Exit (B). Travelling there was fuss free due to its accessibility via public transport. 

The café is cozy and conducive for discussions. No wonder the space was mostly filled with students busy on their projects, typing vigorously on their notebooks. The entire café was fully occupied even on a Thursday late afternoon; we made do with the high tables by the windowpane.

I didn’t mind compromising personal space for their fine coffee and cake served. I ordered their Signature Creamy White Cold Brew ($6.50) and a slice of Strawberry Balsamic Cake ($8.00). The prices were not inexpensive, but everything tasted darn good.

The Creamy White Cold Brew stored in a charmed glass bottle was silky, cool and soothing. Not too sugared and perfectly chilled, I couldn’t find a better option to combat the scorching weather. On the other hand, the Strawberry Balsamic Cake tasted surprisingly delicious. It was dense, moist and not overly creamy. The icing had a jello texture, making every bite fulfilling.

My friend ordered a Matcha Latte ($5) and Hot Chocolate ($5) and both didn’t disappoint. I preferred the Matcha Latte to the latter.  It was well concentrated with a rich amount of green tea powder and steamed milk. I appreciate their less sweetened Matcha latte compared to Starbuck’s. 

Besides, Old Hen newly revamped menu offers burgers, sandwiches and waffles. We were too full for mains but we definitely hope to try them soon! 

Old Hen Coffee Bar
88 Rangoon Road #01-03, Singapore 218374
Mon: 12.00pm - 10:00pm
Wed - Fri: 12:00pm - 10:00pm
Sat - Sun: 10:00am - 10:00pm

Matcha Strawberry Cake

The spongy texture of shortcake filled with immense Matcha flavour accompanied with refreshingly sour-sweet strawberries could simply melt in your melt on your high tea chill out. 

Matcha Strawberry cake has always been one of the top to-bakes on my list and I conquered it on my first try. With references to several online recipes and ideas, I combined texture of Japanese Strawberry Shortcake to serve with green tea flavour and replaced the too-much-will-make-me-sick whipped cream to cream cheese frosting. Thankfully, it worked out fine and tasted better than expected. 

I presented my it with the look of a naked cake to prevent the cream cheese from overpowering the matcha flavour. However, do note that naked cake would be best consumed within 2-3 days as the exposed areas of the cake tend to dry out in the fridge. Enjoy the recipe! 

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake

2 Eggs *room temperature

60g Granulated Sugar

20g Melted Unsalted Butter

60g Cake flour

10g of Matcha powder 

Note: If you do not have cake flour at home, measure out 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Remove 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour and place it back in your flour canister. Replace the removed all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. Sift flour 5 times to fully incorporate. Weight out 60g 

Decoration:

Cream Cheese Frosting

120g of Unsalted Butter

120g of Cream Cheese 

2 cups of Icing Sugar

1 tsp of Vanilla extract

Fresh strawberries

Directions:

Sponge Cake

1. Line the round cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 170C

2. Beat eggs with wire whisk in a metal bowl. Mix sugar and place it over a bowl of hot water and melt the sugar and warm them up to body temperature. Then remove from the hot water and beat the batter on high speed with an electric mixer until white and fluffy. Then on low speed, beat for about a minute to set the texture.

3. Sift in flour and matcha powder mixture little by little and gently cut through the mixture with wire whisk until somewhat combined. Then using spatula, sprinkle melted butter, and quickly lift up the batter to mix.

4. Pour the batter from heights of 11 inches (30 cm) into the pan (like ribbon) and drop the pan lightly on the counter to raise the air bubbles out of the batter.

5. Bake at 170C (338F) for 25 minutes.

6. Place a cutting board and a paper towel on a wire rack. Then place the cake pan upside down and cool with the pan on top.

7. When it's completely cool, use a knife and slice the cake into two layers. Otherwise, wrap with plastic wrap and rest the sponge cake in the fridge for a few hours. *you can store it in the fridge for 2 to 3 days and decorate the cake when needed

Cream Cheese Frosting

1. In a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer

2. With the mixer on low speed, add the powdered sugar a cup at a time until smooth and creamy

3. Beat in the vanilla extract

With references from: 

Ochikeron 

Food Network

Lynn's Cakes & Coffee

Made my way to Necessary Provisions on a Tuesday late afternoon but they were closed. As I walked down the row of shophouses, I chanced upon Lynn’s Cakes and Coffee and was attracted by the exterior of the cafe. I opened the door and was immediately greeted by a shelf of cakes at the counter.

The café was quiet, and not too crowded for a weekday high tea. I got myself a Rainbow Beauty Slice ($8.50) as recommended by the staff and paired with a cup of flat white ($5). 

I ever had prior experiences of ordering rainbow cake at other cafes and was left utterly disappointed by the taste. Simply, rainbow cakes are so aesthetically pleasing and their vibrant colours would always subconsciously raise our expectations.

Nonetheless, Lynn's Cakes & Coffee's Rainbow Cake was one of the best I ever had. It was well layered, moist and spongy. The flat white didn’t complement well with it, probably because it didn’t taste robust like how I like my coffee to be. On another note, a pot of tea might have been a wiser option.

A few power sockets were planted to the walls and corners of the café and wifi was available (but it wasn't bullet speed fast). All in all, the rainbow cake lived up to its name as the bestseller and definitely worth a try for rainbow cake lovers! 

Lynn's Cakes and Coffee

11 Eng Kong Terrace, Singapore 598983

6314 2886

hello@lynnscakes.com.sg

Hours:

Tue - Thur: 11am - 7pm

Fri, Sat & Eve of P.H.: 11am -  9pm

Sun & P.H: 11am to 8pm

Monday Closed

The Working Capitol

I strolled down the street after a visit to 'the Lokal' and was intrigued by the newborn, trendy and chic multi-storey workspace with a cafe. The cafe situated at the first level, serves mainly coffee and sandwiches; a great companion in the midst of one’s daily work schedule.

The workspace on the second level (not for public) appealed to Caucasians, starting entrepreneurs and working executives away from offices. We had a casual enquiry at the counter and learnt that they offer memberships, designated workspace rental on a weekly/monthly basis, event hall booking and more.

It didn’t felt like Singapore to me, probably due to the scene of well-dressed executives in their hipster shades and MacBooks hustling on a typical weekday.

Renovated with a rustic and scandinavian design concept, I particularly liked how aesthetically pleasing the place was furnished. Good news for students or working executives, electric sockets are available along the benches to fuel your laptops. 

The Smoked Salmon Sandwich ($8) lacked the value which I paid for. Somehow wished for a brioche instead of whole meal bread, and a simple side dish by the side would definitely make a difference to the overall meal. On the side note, it was well peppered and sliced pickles were added. My cup of Flat White ($5) was decent, just a tad too milky for me.

I thought the Banana Nutella Sandwich ($6) my friend ordered deserve a shoutout. A study snack can’t go wrong with toasted bread with rich nutella and banana puree in between. But six bucks for it, maybe not. 

The entire experience was comfortable and I loved the trendy vibe effortlessly created by the cafe. Food and coffee was alright, just nice to snack on while getting busy on projects. 

I loved the idea of The Working Capitol bringing business to café experience, renting (designated) workspaces for individuals to get productive, away from the creepily quiet libraries and offices.  Hope to see more of such creative concepts in time to come. What an interesting addition to the cafe scene in Singapore!

The Working Capitol
1A Keong Siak Road, Singapore 089109
6805 4050

The Tastemaker Store

The well-simplified café is situated along Havelock Road, in the midst of a neighbourhood filled with traditional shops . The white walls tied with earthy tones of maple tables and potted plants created a relaxing vibe to unwind. Seemingly quiet and spacious, it felt like the perfect place for a good read, undisturbed. 

The Tastemaker Store would appeal to everyone for their menu items priced below $10. The portions were not huge but light enough to fulfil a craving during teatime.  The sandwiches were well presented, thus making them look photogenic in the café setting. 

The Hotdog Bun + Crips ($5.80) was satisfying. I especially love the cheese-bursting-in-your-mouth sensation upon every bite on the sausage.  The fresh crunchy lettuce added a bonus to the overall taste too. 

The Ham & Cheese Sandwich and Egg Mayo Sandwich tasted rather homemade – Nice and simple for a plate of less than six bucks. 

Overall, the meal and ambience was cohesive; unpretentious and wallet friendly. I especially love their idea of fusing local traditional specials, (i.e. Seafood Hor Fun, Curry Chicken Rice and Crabmeat Fried Rice) to add a little variety to the café staples. I might probably head for their specials mains or another sandwich since one was not enough to fill my tummy. A little gem in the HDB estate, it could be my new secret hideout when I get desperate for an escapism. 

The Tastemaker Store

Blk 22 Havelock Road #01-705 Singapore 160022

Store Hours

Mon - Thu 11am - 6pm

Fri - Sat 10am - 9pm

Sun & P.H 11am - 6pm

Tues Closed