I was forced to… I mean a kind request was made to visit this cafe due to the latest theme, Miffy. I enthusiastically obliged because you know… I loveee Miffy.

We were lucky to get a seat even though it was a Saturday, but we had made the effort to go early.

The decor was definitely a feast for the eyes for those who appreciate the cartoon character. The staff were friendly and polite but they seemed a tad slow and unsure in making decisions like where to seat the customers.

The food itself was rather simple and to me, boring. It was really nothing special but, I have to say, they made these simple foods taste good. I had the waffle with chicken and she had the japanese curry with rice. The waffle was one of the best I have ever tasted and it complimented the chicken and sauce very well. The curry was just alright, but it was presented beautifully, as shown in their menu. It’s hard to go wrong with curry. We also ordered a chocolate drink and a lava cake. The chocolate drink was horrendous and totally not worth the price. The chocolate lava cake was tasty, but not rich in flavour. These 2 mains, 1 dessert and 1 drink set us back to about $80. In my opinion, that is a really high price to pay for such simple lunch food but I do understand the high price is owing to the theme and the effort put in for this space and food.

Overall, I feel that such themed cafes were created as a hype to attract the die-hard fans but it is definitely only worth that single visit.

We initially planned to have a buffet at another restaurant but we weren’t in the mood for it at the last minute. Then this restaurant caught our eyes while we were Googling for cafes to visit because of its forest-like decor and the ambience they portrayed in the photos.

When we reached there, the place was just as we had expected. They had some seats indoors and more seats outdoors. The vibe the place gave was extremely chill, the type of chill that made you want to sit and relax for the entire day.

The menu was very simple; beef, chicken, vegetarian, vegan, sides, drinks. It was very affordable and the lunch set was what caught our eye. A lunch set lets you choose a burger, which starts at about $15 and if you add $5 to that, you would get a side, a drink and a hot beverage as well.

I had chicken, she had beef, we chose 2 really unique sounding drinks (Orange-basil and Elderflower-mint), sweet potato fries and german cabbage salad.

Everything we tried was really tasteful. She utterly enjoyed her naked beef burger; well-cooked, flavourful and very juicy too! The burger she picked had parma ham and parmesan cheese which blendes together perfectly with the beef. My chicken burger was great, but my only complaint was the done-ness of the chicken. The colour of the chicken was golden brown but since they used chicken breast, the golden brown crust it created was chewy and got stuck in my teeth so I think cooking the chicken breast a little less would have made it perfect.

My drink was the Orange-basil and it was nice, but the orange seemed to overpower any flavour from the basil. The Elderflower-mint was amazing though. We loved that more than the Orange-basil maybe because we’re huge lovers of anything mint.

Overall, this is an awesome place to bring a date to. The deco is superb and the service was undoubtedly great. The prices are really affordable and the location is right in the heart of the city.

 

Every single time I visit Mustafa Centre, I will ride pass this quaint looking restaurant nestled at a corner of Desker Road. The signboard on the outside is huge and I’ve never thought of trying the food because I believed it was just one of the many cafes already open all around Singapore. One thing I recalled was the Durian Cake advertisements I somehow catch a glimpse of on Facebook, I think. I know I have seen their ad but couldn’t exactly remember at the moment.

So when Cass wanted to try out the food here, I was definitely was up for it. The main dish I was looking forward to was surely the Durian Cake.

First impressions; the deco and ambience was really appealing. It was dark with just the right amount of natural light brightening up the restaurant at 2.30pm in the afternoon. The staff were attentive and very polite. We proceeded to order their set lunch.

Both of us were served a cold, lightly sweetened tea and an appetizer called Kyoto Desker. The appetizer was cold tofu served with blended century egg and some other condiments. I loved it because the century egg complemented the cold tofu well. I think adding some strips of pickled ginger would have been perfect.

For the mains, I ordered their Urban Baba Babi Pongteh while she had the Ah Gong Fried Chicken & Ah Ma Noodles.

The Babi Pongteh was simply delectable. The pork was cooked so tender and it could just melt in your mouth. They served this with a side of some toasted baguette slices but I did not really like the baguette slices because it was too crispy for me. I prefer my bread to be soft but overall, this was a dish made with love.

The Fried Chicken and Noodles was a very simple dish which was wonderfully seasoned and plated very presentably. The chicken was fried to perfection and the noodles were al dente. The cincalok mayonaise was nice, but I think it needed a little more spice and cincalok in it to give it more of a kick. Overall, this was a dish you could not go wrong with and it didn’t disappoint.

For dessert, we had their signature Durian Cake and Tiramisu Entremet. I am a huge dessert person and love most kinds of desserts. Cakes and chocolates are some of my favourites and I was really looking forward to this very widely talked about Durian Cake.

My verdict; it was a letdown. The cake was very dry, the cream covering it barely had a durian scent but the durian filling tasted fine. Maybe my expectations were set quite high for this dessert so I was really disappointed. Maybe it was just this batch, I’m not sure but just the thought of serving this to my durian-crazy-dad, I can predict that he would say it was just so-so. With that said, please do try out the dessert on your own. When it comes to food, there is no way to make one dish and expect every single person to enjoy it the same way.

Next was the Tiramisu. I’m guessing this was their rendition of a tiramisu. I did not like it as well. It just felt very gelatinous. Every layer felt like a dense form of jelly. The only part I enjoyed was the exterior chocolate layer. Again, like I said before, not everyone enjoys food the same way. I personally do not like such jelly-like desserts; for example, no-bake-cheesecakes. Such desserts are just not my cup of tea but maybe you might enjoy it so don’t simply brush it off since I did not like it.

On the whole, this was a great lunch experience for both of us. Amazing deco, comfy ambience, friendly staff, delicious food. The only letdown were the desserts. We spent about $35 per person only since it was a set lunch menu and I would definitely recommend you to bring your date here. The cost for dinner seems higher though. On a side note, they serve this huge chocolate cake which looked really enticing but we did not order it because we would not have finished it. If you do get to try it, let me know how it was.