Patisserie G, Singapore

3D Latte Art but no 3D Glasses required!

Chic japanese themed cafe located in Millenia Walk. Not a typical place that I would head to for a cup of cuppa. Heard and saw pictures of the 3d latte art totally made me want to check it out myself. Coffee beans are from local roastery Liberty Coffee was definitely a plus! Be sure to try out the desserts from the Cordon Bleu pastry chef Gwen Lim who has apparently worked under Pierre Herme himself! Pretty Awesome!

Cappuccino and Triomphe
Burnt salted caramel mousse and hazelnut sponge

Patisserie G
9 Raffles Boulevard,
#01-40 Millenia Walk,
Singapore 039596
Tel: +65 6338-7578
Opening Hours:
Mon – Thu: 8:00 am – 9:00 pm
Fri: 8:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sat: 11:00 am – 10:00 pm
Sun: 11:00 am – 9:00 pm

Chye Seng Huat Hardware, Singapore

*Drum rolls* CSHH is the flagship store of Papa Palheta. If you like PPP, you will definitely love this place featuring a Coffee Bar, Coffee Retail, The Roastery, The Workshop and The Annex. The roastery and coffee bar is exactly what it means, the annex is where the tasting happens (call and reserve in advance! 23 bucks!) and the coffee retail is where they display the coffee gadgets and add ons some of which are really interesting.

Jalan Besar is definitely not the easiest place to get to but I went there twice without driving. so its not impossible lol. Don’t be fooled by the front of the store, it may look closed due to the shutter grills but the “main entrance” is actually on the side, just like how PPP’s entrance was behind. Pretty cool concept and it definitely fits well into the entire row of shophouses in the area.

Check out the menu too. its really simple.. espresso + milk, espresso + water and brewed coffee. no coffee jargon involved. with a really interesting drink that I didn’t get a chance to try.. the beer (& coffee) moment where the description was something like Jungle Beer x Papa Palheta if I am not wrong. maybe someone who has tried that can let me know if its awesome 😛

Espresso + Milk

Smooth, creamy with no residual bitterness.. Coffee junkies.. u know where to head to for your next caffeine fix.

Chye Seng Huat Hardware
150 Tyrwhitt Road
Singapore 207563
Tel : +65 6396 0609
Tue-Thu: 9am-7pm
Fri-Sun: 9am-10pm

Toby’s Estate, Singapore

Toby’s Estate, is a pretty renowned coffee chain in Australia. Originally in Toby’s Mum garage in Sydney now expanded to Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Singapore, and even Brooklyn. They were also in the Union Square Holiday Markets in NYC. I kinda like the Robertson Quay area as its usually not too crowded and there’s plenty of dining areas. There’s also a couple of coffee places where you can sip your coffee by the river. Of course when the weather permits..

Cappuccino

Sat by the river for a bit and it started pouring.. Coffee on a weekday afternoon was awesome nevertheless. *Thumbs up*

Toby’s Estate
8 Rodyk Street
Singapore 238216
Tel: +65 6636 7629
Daily: 7.30am – 6.00pm

Barista, Portland

Latte

Barista
539 NW 13th Avenue
Portland, Oregon 97209
Weekdays 6am to 6pm
Saturday & Sunday 7am to 6pm

Coava Coffee Roasters, Portland

Updates: Latest addition in town! Coava just opened a new branch at
2631 Southeast Hawthorne Boulevard
Portland, OR 97214
Mon – Fri: 6am – 6pm
Sat – Sun: 8am – 6pm
Definitely check it out when you are in the area!

Packed with people with or without rain, though most of the time it’s the latter. This place is huge, but seats are still really limited. They seem to occupy about half the space and the other half is a huge empty space with several planks of wood. Unique and interesting design. They have a sleek counter table in the middle of the café where everyone seems to have a MacBook in front of them while they are sipping on their coffee. Apparently, their baristas, Devin Chapman and Sam Purvis, won the North West Regional Barista Competition (NWRBC) and Brewers Cup for both 2011 and 2012. Devin made my cappa that day, totally recognized him. On a side note, the baristas are really friendly! Definitely worth a visit if you do drop by Portland!

Cappuccino

Coava Coffee Roasters
1300 SE Grand Ave
Portland, OR 97214
(503) 894 – 8134
Weekdays 6am – 6pm
Saturday 7am – 6pm
Sunday 8am – 6pm
Coffee, Pastry & Wi-Fi

Maison Ikkoku, Singapore

Happy Lunar New Year to all!

I had a really great reunion dinner today. It was raining, so it was really perfect for steamboat (or hotpot, as some know it by). But the best thing about reunion dinner, is really not the dinner, but the reunion! It’s heartwarming to have the whole family huddling around the steamboat, eating and catching up. (: While my dad and mom spent the entire day preparing for the dinner, I was out this lovely Sunday, at Maison Ikkoku for a spot of brunch and coffee. Yes, I know, how un-helpful right? But, I reckon the more I help, the higher the chance of me botching things up, so I figured I might as well make myself useful elsewhere, contributing to the F&B industry.

Maison Ikkoku is named after a Jap manga and translated, it means “house of the moment”. Along Kandahar St (beside Good & Rich Cake Shop, THE place to get the best kaya swiss rolls), it is a three storey shophouse functionally sectorized by levels; level one is the cafe, two is a menswear boutique, and three has an alfresco cocktail bar (which I haven’t visited). Heard real good stuff about their coffee art, and I was not disappointed when I went today. The interior of Maison Ikkoku was fodder for thought and conversation when I went there with Q this afternoon. There were copper pipings that exposed a bulb at the end (we were wondering if it’s copper or brass), the plush pin-cushioned seats, the half-cupboards hanging on the ceiling (supposed to look like they’ve sunken through the second level floor), the old door that’s reused as a table-top, and many other things that kept us entertained. So this is probably a good place to bring a date if you are worried that there’ll be nothing to talk about. :p

I suppose MI wasn’t crowded today because it’s the eve of CNY, and most people were probably busy preparing for the festivities of CNY, so it was quiet and picturesque. We just lounged around the entire afternoon there, sipping coffee, which was quite potent, btw. I hear their baristas roast the coffee themselves weekly, and they’re trained by world-renowned Jap celebrity barista and latte art specialist, Hiroshi Sawada. Which explains the perfectly crafted latte art.

MI Misubi
Japanese short grain rice with seasoning & SPAM ham

This is one of their house specialty, and it’s like a luncheon meat sushi? But don’t underestimate this seemingly simple looking dish, it packs some umami in it, and if not for our main brunch courses coming up, we might have ordered more of this. And I do apologise for the unusual lighting of the photo, but I was trying to bounce the flash off the wall on the side because the ceiling was not only quite high up, it was also black in colour. Please be patient with noob me 🙂

S.E.A.T
Norwegian smoked salmon + scrambled eggs + avocado + sourdough toasts

MI Latte

If you excuse the bubbles (because I took too long to photograph it, being the noob that I am), then you can see for yourself that the latte art at Maison Ikkoku is indeed, exceptional. This is quite a big cup of latte, and I ordered it to photograph it, because I already had a cappuccino before this. Bigger cup = more distinct art. Looks about right, right?

When you are done getting your caffeine fix, do take a stroll up to the boutique on level two. There are many atas menswear labels from UK, Japan, US and France. Even if you do not buy anything, just browsing around in the eclectic shop is an interesting experience.

Maison Ikkoku may mean “house of the moment”, but I sure hope they don’t just become a place of the moment; hope they stick around long enough because they serve good food and really pretty coffee!

Maison Ikkoku
20 Kandahar Street, Singapore,
Singapore 198885
Mon – Thu:9:00 am-9:00 pm
Fri – Sat: 9:00 am-11:00 pm
Sun: 9:00 am-7:00 pm