Tag: bakeries
There aren’t many bakeries as iconic in the local cafe scene as Bakery Brera, a stalwart fixture at Farrer Road that operates out of a compact shophouse unit, almost like a polished “HDB-downstairs bakery”, strikingly diminutive for an establishment of its stature and popularity.
The craft of a patissier is an artful calling where even the most understated pieces demand finesse. If fastidious ratios and intricate plating are points of appeal, then Tigerlily Patisserie’s resplendent creations will certainly make your heart skip a beat.
[Update: Mooi Patisserie has closed and reopened as Wren Cafe.] Unsurprisingly, we’ve seen a growing stable of chefs venturing out into their own cafes and F&B operations of late. Singapore’s pastries and cafe scenes are thriving after all, maybe growing even more robustly than the restaurant ecosystem. Inserting itself into the ranks of personally headed projects is Mooi Patisserie by Chef Gail Ho, a pastry chef who’d previously earned a Michelin star at Meta.
The narrative of Singapore’s F&B’s previous two years had been noticeably dominated by home-based concepts and celebrity chef debuts. Even after reaching what can only be described as a critical mass of trendy new openings though, there’s still no cafe in Singapore that embodies the dining paradigm as profoundly as Sourbombe Bakery.
[Update: Pomme has closed.] Boat Quay is a rather curious place that is bustling with lunch hour spots and after-work drink spots but the cafe ecosystem here is rather weak, as cafes come and go fleetingly — even the local sandwich titans had some trouble with keeping their Cubano shop Onda afloat for long. Though a few cafes have seemingly taken root in the area, one of the promising ones is the new Pomme.
Trends are ruthlessly fleeting in the cafe scene. One moment, the flavour of the month lures in the most enthusiastic crowds, the next, it’s left vacant and lifeless on a sunny Saturday brunch. Still, if there’s one thing that has stood the weathering of fickle cafe fads, it’s the timelessness of bakes and Madu the Bakery is a solid case study for blending trends with the classics.
It’s an indelible fact that sourdough has generated an incredible amount of buzz in the cafe scene in recent years. Even with the deluge of scrumptious bakes, pastries, and pizzas, I don’t think any other establishment has been able to utilise wild yeast fermentation as holistically in Singapore as the newly opened Anna’s Sourdough.
Having been a regular at Yeast Side’s quaint hideout at King Albert Park, it was exciting to step into the spanking new Farrer Park outlet for the first time. This new space is as lively, unpretentious, and inviting — a trademark of the cafe, which also doubles as a craft beer bar.
There’s undoubtedly a glamorous allure to global trademarks who find their way to Singapore. Global recognition can generate a ton of fanfare and that was doubly true for Mr Holmes Bakehouse when it was announced that their world-famous cruffins were landing in Singapore.
Not many pastry cafes can flaunt credentials as lavish as Le Matin Patisserie, a pastry phenomenon that took Singapore by storm during the COVID epoch. That’s because at its helm is Chef Mohamed Al-Matin, a prolific pastry chef whose lustrous resume can prove blinding.
