pies & coffee, buona vista

quiet stop for coffee and cake at the rochester mall – unassuming, but they make a mean chocolate cake. there’s not really much to say about this place: it’s not quite a hipster joint, and more akin to starbucks in feel, prices average, space average.

we had an array of desserts from their rather appealing cold counter – lots of options available (savory food too, if you’re in mind for some):

a slice of chocolate cake, which was dark and chocolatey and rich like ganache – this went down quickly, so watch that you don’t lift your fork away from the plate too much (especially if dining with fellow chocolate people);

a bit of a lemon meringue pie, which I was less enamoured with – the white fluff was slightly too-stiff and piled way-higher than it needed to be, and the filling didn’t have enough tartness to cut through the rather one-dimensional sweetness;

and a chocolate tart, for which our expectations were raised after the girl behind the counter described it as “oozey like a lava cake”. it’s a fantastic idea, and would have been absolutely phenomenal if executed properly – but we had to return it twice so it could be adequately warmed (it came back cold to the finger-test, which I think ridiculous), and the filling was definitely not oozey. it tasted like an average double-crusted (pretty thick pastry too, though at least pleasantly buttery) chocolate tart.

I like the iced cappuccino – but I’m in no way an expert or a fanatic so I suspect relevant javaholics will need to chim in here. it’s a decent sort of place – good for holding those tea-break meetings or meeting some friends, but it certainly hasn’t the soul (or the supposed elitism) one expects with coffee joints these days.

p.s. I hear something curious from friends about how drury lane was set up from renegades of this very place – and I have to say I prefer that establishment for its quality. but again, it’s also a bit of a kitschy hipster versus truly-commercial sort of comparison, which likely doesn’t make it fair for the latter.

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Pies & Coffee (Rochester Mall)
#01-02 Rochester Mall
35 Rochester Drive
Singpore 138639
tel +65 6570 0080
$.5: sixish a coffee, as with most modern joints