The Larder

Good waffles are hard to come by and even though many cafes offer this as a dessert choice, more often then not, the waffles are quite disappointing. When a fellow colleague strongly recommended this cafe for extremely good waffles, I definitely needed to give it a try.

The Larder Cafe is nestled amongst neighbourhood shophouses right in the centre of Toa Payoh central. The cafe easily stands out in terms of their storefront as a chic modern cafe

The cafe is not very huge so there are limited seats during meal times. The decor is mixed between modern chic and raw industrial style but the overall atmosphere is still quite cosy

The menu offers both hot and cold snacks and food as well as a substantial list of desserts

You can also check out the cake offerings for the day at the cake display chiller since it is not listed on the menu

Just next to the cake display chiller. you can see the full display of the ice cream and gelato flavours which can be paired with their waffles. There are some pretty unique flavours like lavender honey, avocado and gula melaka.

The ice tea was pretty refreshing and I liked that it is not overly sweet since it is already pre-sweetened.

The soda float also has a huge and generous scoop of ice cream

There is this special citrus drink with a scoop of sorbet as well as cute tadpole jellies. The drink is quite sweet but definitely great for a hot afternoon

The truffles fries were cut shoestring and fried till crispy. The serving is pretty small and it is lightly seasoned with salt and truffle oil. The truffle flavour is quite light but enough to give the fries a nice taste

The German sausage platter comes with a side of sauerkraut and mustard for dipping. The sausages are grilled well and juices are well retained but taste-wise, there is nothing too special.

The fried wontons served here are shaped like long fingers instead of the usual round shaped ones served elsewhere. Due to the shape of the wontons, there is a lot more skin to be fried therefore the entire stick is extremely crispy but taste-wise is quite general as well.

The highlight of the visit was definitely the waffles. The first one we ordered was the red velvet waffles with 1 scoop of speculoos ice cream and soursop sorbet. Firstly, the waffles were served freshly made so it was hot and crispy while the inside was soft with strong red velvet chocolatey flavours. For the ice cream itself, the texture was very creamy and really complemented the waffle very well. The speculoos flavours did not have enough speculoos kick for a fan like me but the soursop one was pretty tangy and refreshing.

The waffle was so good that we immediately ordered the 2nd one while still digging into the first plate. The 2nd waffle was the buttermilk flavour with gula melaka ice cream and salt sea caramel ice cream. The buttermilk waffle was lighter in taste compared to the red velvet one but had a nice milky flavour. The gula melaka ice cream was also lacking in the brown sugar fragrance in my opinion but the salt sea caramel flavour was quite a winner. It complemented the buttermilk waffle so well that the taste was upgraded instantly.

Overall, the food served at The larder was quite decent with some nice and affordable lunch set meals but I definitely recommend checking out their waffles and ice cream for desserts.

Address: Blk 177, #01-124 Toa Payoh Central, 310177

Operating hours: 11 am to 10 pm ( Closed on Mon)