Fans of Shibuya toast which was made famous by After You Cafe in Bangkok will be elated to know that there is a new cafe in town which can more than satisfy their Shibuya toast cravings since travelling to Bangkok is not going to be happening in the near future.
Located along Bencoolen street, don’t be surprised if you can’t find the cafe when you get dropped off by your grab driver. In between NAFA campus 3 and Hotel G, the cafe is located on the 2nd floor of this Aroy Dee Thai Kitchen which I suspect is owned by the same owner.
From the first floor to the 2nd floor, you will realise that there is absolutely no signboard or anything. During my duration in the cafe, I noticed many customers peeping in and looking for the cafe.
Once you get into the cafe, you will be transported into a pretty garden themed white minimalistic cafe with white cushy seats and white marble designed tables. You can find pretty flowers on every single table as well as a greenery wall complete with a pink neon sign for the perfect Instagram pictures. Tables in front of the garden wall is pretty popular so do visit early.
The servers will pass you the menu and you will place your orders at the cashier and payment will have to be made before the food is served. The cafe only accepts cash and nets.
They serve mainly desserts like thick toast, bingsu, waffles with ice cream, Thai desserts like red ruby and mango sticky rice as well as a variety of drinks and blended drinks. A few things that kind of got my feathers a bit ruffled is the fact that they did not really take strong measures about safe distancing. The tables were pretty near each other and they did not cross out any seats so when the café was full house, it was very crowded. I even shifted my seat to avoid sitting right next to one person. Next, they had limited menus so when the café was full, some tables has to wait for others to finish their orders before getting a menu. Lastly, they ran out of many selections on the menu even though we were there just after the opening time. This included items like mango sticky rice, red ruby, red bean bingsu.
That being said, we decided to just grab a bite and not linger around too long. At this point, we were not exactly in the most joyous mood but when the thick toast was served, we were pleasantly surprised. Firstly, the presentation of the milk tea thick toast that we ordered was very pretty on a wooden board which is similar to those at After You. The toast was topped with a scoop of milk tea ice cream and crumbs of graham biscuits and there was a side serving of honey for you to drizzle onto your toast.
The biggest surprise or save of the day was actually biting into the thick toast itself. The outer surface of the toast was buttery and very crispy so much so when you bite into it, you can hear the crunching sound. The fact that while the toast is crispy, it is hardly dry as the entire toast is well coated and soaked with melted butter which gives the entire toast the creamy and moist flavours. The balance of butter is just perfect as the toast was not oily at all and the ice cream has a nice subtle milk tea taste without being too sweet. The biscuit crumbs also added a good additional crunch texture to the entire toast. I have to say that this is one of the best thick toast I ever had and I feel it is even better than After You. This is so good that I spied on how it was being made and realised that they actually used the air fryer to make the toast.
The other dessert we ordered was the milk tea bingsu although originally I had wanted the red bean one. The bingsu came with a small jug of evaporated milk which can be poured into the bingsu. The milk tea ice cream was the same as the one on the toast so it had the same subtle tea flavour without being overpowering. The shaved ice was also sprinkled full of graham crackers bits.
My only complain was that it tend to get messy with the evaporated milk dripping off the bingsu as the bowl was really filled to the brim with ice and crumbs so it was not so easy to pour in the milk. If you get past the mess, the shaved ice is really very fine and melts in your mouth immediately so when combined with the ice cream, biscuit crumbs and milk, it is a nice burst of flavours and texture in your mouth which is extremely satisfying in a hot afternoon.
I had the hot lemongrass which is really quite mediocre although the price is really affordable at SGD 1.80 only but I would not order this again.
Overall, while there are a few points which ruffled me slightly, the staff are still basically smiley and friendly. What matters most is that their thick toast is quite out of this world or at least I would say best I have ever tried and the bingsu is also not too bad. So to brave the crowd for the toast, I would definitely say Yes. One other plus point of the café is that they close only at 3am so plenty of time to head down for late chill outs after dinner.
Address: 127A Bencoolen St, Singapore 189637
Opening hours: 12.30 pm to 3 am
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