Costa 269 @ Holland Village - Croffle (Croissant + Waffle)

Costa Singapore’s newest flagship store at Holland Village, has launched the brand’s first café style outlet with a hot kitchen, Costa269. That means your order will be made fresh on the spot and not simply grabbing off from the display shelf and pop into the oven or worse still microwave. Apart from offering the classic breakfast favourites, as a London coffeeshop, the menu also draws inspiration from the British's.

Like any other Costa outlets, the interior of their flagship store is just as stunning. Double storey high, the place is so much more conducive than its neighbouring one. Croissants seems to be the love of our century. Despite tasting just as delicious on its own, it was meld with donuts (Cronuts), before somebody decided to impregnated it with sinfully indulgent lava-ish fillings. This flaky, fluffy and buttery viennoiserie-pastry seems to behold infinite possibilities. Over here at Costa, croissants has once again stretched its boundaries and evolutionized into Croffle, the star of their brunch menu.

The Great Croffle Fry-Up ($17) embodies Costa’s British heritage - A sunny-side up egg sat atop the croffle, with side sautéed mushrooms and a beef sausage made from ground beef, tomatoes and onions. Though the croffle takes on a waffle persona, I like the fact that its crescent identity remains. I was surprised by the sound of that crispiness as I sunk my cutlery into the croffle, especially at the edges and where the grooves were. Sweet and buttery like croissant with flaky layers, but a relatively denser and chewier body of a waffle. For those who usually find croissant too airy too be satisfying, this could be perhaps the solution to that. Not a preserved meat person, the beef sausage was surprisingly likable, due to its meaty texture that has a rather balanced flavours of sweet and savouriness. Perhaps, I wasn't expecting much from a sausage from a chain café. Fans of fried chicken waffle, this should definitely be in your check list.

Other classic items such as Avocado on Toast ($11) and The Salmon & Scramble Bagel ($14) are healthy options to go for. I assume that avocado is a pretty pricey ingredient due to its perishable nature, hence seeing it on the menu was surprising. Although it seems to be a plain Jane compared to the others in the list, I like the elegance of it and the fact that I have started off my day, or even ended my day with such clean goodness. I would recommend adding sautéed mushrooms, which were just as good as any other served in bistros.

I'm not a fan of bagel as I find given its dense body, the ingredients that come with it are often too little to balance it, which is the case for theirs. The portion of the salmon and eggs need some beefing up.

You can also simply skip the typical savoury brunch and head straight to their Very Berry Croffle ($11). We had our served with an enormous scoop of salted caramel ice cream (you can also choose chocolate or vanilla), and topped with sliced strawberries and blueberries dusted with icing sugar. The croffle remains quite crispy under the icy cold ice cream, unlike waffles which tend to become soggy after a while. The combination of the ice cream, berries and the flaky, buttery croffle was quite divine. It would have surpassed my expectations more if it is served with a berry-based sauce rather than a ordinary maple syrup. Afterall, it is called very Berry, and especially when they have a hot kitchen to do it.

Compared to their ready-made items, this brunch menu is definitely many times more enticing. I thought the hot kitchen is slightly under utilised with their current range, before I got to know that the outlet will soon be introducing new items like craft beers and a grill-led menu. As a testbed for their future stores and given the location which they have chosen, the success of this concept will definitely positioned them a level higher than its competitors.

Written by Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food. Note: This is an invited tasting.

Costa 269
Holland Village
269 Holland Avenue
Singapore 278990
Tel: +65 68014538
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: Holland Village (CC Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 7am - 11pm

Direction: 
1) Alight at Holland Village MRT station. Take Exit B. Walk straight to destination. Journey time about 3 minutes. [Map]

Lewin Terrace @ Fort Canning - An Autumn In Japan

Lewin Terrace at Fort Canning is introducing their Autumn, seasonal Sho-Mi menu starting from the month of September to November. Executive Chef Keisuke Matsumoto will be featuring ingredients native to Japan during the Autumn season, in his exquisite Japanese-French fusion dishes.

Homemade Bread & Original Soya Butter

Freshly baked breads with rich creamy butter are invariably served in any French restaurants. Brought to us in a mini haversack, the buttery aroma of their homemade breads was mouthwatering. With the bottom filled with warmed pepples, the mini haversack was a live oven, toasting the breads for a good one hour.

Amuse Bouche 3.8/5

Our Amuse Bouche showcases Chef Keisuke's delicate mind. Despite their tiny frames, they seems to have the ability to trickle each of my taste buds, especially the Hokkaido scallop crowned with caviar and bound to a crunchy tapioca chip using mascarpone cheese. The chemistry between the ingredients was unexpected. The sweet corn mousse in egg shell is really cute, with crunchy popcorns for textural contrast.

Spanish Red Urchin/ Smoked Tofu/ 10 Years Miso / Fried Green Beans 3.5/5

The highlight of this dish is the creamy Spanish Red Urchin that spread across the tofu. Judging from its tanner body, it does have a deeper oceany taste than usual, hence supporting it with tofu is just apt. Smoked in situ, the mild tasting homemade tofu acquired a smokey flavour which was accentuated by savoury aged miso. The fried green beans was slightly chewy, that adds an interesting bite to the crunch.

Mushroom/ Prosciotto Blancmange/Coffeebeans 3/5

Traditionally, Blancmange is a sweet dessert, commonly made with milk or cream and sugar thickened with gelatine. However, over here, we had it paired with savoury mushroom base. Somehow I relate it to a thick mushroom soup. Instead of having the usual croutons, I have a chewy Prosciotto Blancmange. I appreciate the potency of the mushroom base but overall it was a little cloying for me.

Hokkaido Crab/ Japanese Apple/Gazpacho/Yuzu Jelly, Celery Root Cube 4.5/5

Perhaps the richness of the previous dish is to prepare our tastebuds for the Hokkaido Crab, with texture and flavours of the other end of the spectrum. We were served a plate sprayed with sherry liqueur, invigorating our senses before tasting the next dish. Along with sweet, crunchy Japanese apple and celery root cubes, the delicate beautifully encased within its shell and a layer of sweet, tangy yuzu jelly. You may choose to eat it as it is or plate it onto the dish given. The tomato gazpacho was tangy with a spicy edge. It was like a virgin mary mocktail that fire up the overall taste.

Amadai/ Black Truffle/ Koshihikari/ Seaweed 4.5/5

My favourite dish for the night is the Amadai. What makes this dish so delightful is not simply because of the premium fish used but the risotto at the bottom. Made using Koshihikari, which to some is the crown jewel of Japanese short-grain rice. It is noted for its sweet nuttiness. Being slightly sticky, it gives the risotto the desired texture. Served like Japanese tea rice, I was curious as I would imagine the risotto losing that wonderful stickiness and flavour. That, surprisingly, was taken care of. The rice had been prebaked. Just imagine eating the burnt rice at the bottom of the claypot but with the accompany of a broth that was enriched with the goodness of the buttery Amadai.

Another interesting element is that the broth was prepared in a syphon manner to achieve the desired flavour.

Japanese Wagyu Steak in Nippon-Rossini Style 4/5

Japanese Wagyu Steak is one of their signatures here. Rossini Style, as I read was invented by the great French chef Auguste Escoffier for the Italian composer, Gioachino Rossini in the 1800s. It is characterised by the decadent foie gras terrine and Japanese mushroom paste truffle atop. Putting the extravagance aside, what I appreciate is the Nippon aspect, using autumn ingredients - yellow & red beets, roasted yam and onions.

Passion Fruits/ Mikan/Lychee 4/5

To clear our palate for dessert, we had a refreshing Passion Fruit Slurpee made with mikan juice and lychee jelly. I love the eco friendliness of drinking directly from the passion fruit itself.

Before our dessert, a basin of burnt old leaves was presented to us to showcase the significance of our dessert, roasting sweet potato over old dried leaves collected around their living spaces.

Yaki-Imo 4/5

Underneath the stalk, crafted using fried sweet potato chips and chocolate, was perhaps how it feels like being in Japan during autumn. The cold salted caramel ice cream was like a cool breeze against the warm, sweet and comforting sweet potato mash, made simply with just egg and cream. It's interesting to see how Chef can overturn a ordinary root into something so captivating.

Small World 4/5

Opening the box of Small World is like unveiling a box of chocolate - you never know what you are gonna get. What steals our heart was the honeyed chewy Canelé and the bitter-sweet green tea mousse.

Among all the stunning dishes, do not miss out this bowl of unassuming looking cookies. Bring the bowl near you, and allow your mind to be sooth by the fresh, orangy fragrances of the tea leaves, comprising rooibos and oolong. Not only you get to smell it, you get to eat it as all these wonderful fragrances has infused into the buttery cookies.

I enjoy all the small details that was being incorporated throughout the evening. From presenting the sweet corn eggs in an enclosed wooden box before unravelling them, like discovering a golden goose egg, to burning of old leaves, which instantly instilled in my mind a image of them roasting sweet potatoes over them back in their homes in Japan, I don't just get to taste the autumn dishes, I almost get to feel what it is really like to be in Japan at this time of the year.

This Wakon-Yousai menu is $118, with Wine Pairing $120(6 Glass).

Written and photograph by Si An. A girl who is allured by travelling, loves the feel of freedom, smell of the rain and the aroma of fine coffee and food. Note: This is an invited tasting.


Lewin Terrace
21 Lewin Terrace
Singapore 179290
Tel: +65 63339905
Facebook
Website
Nearest MRT: City Hall (EW Line, NS Line)

Opening Hours:
Daily: 12pm - 3pm, 630pm - 11pm

Direction: 
1) Alight at City Hall MRT station. Take Exit B. Take left onto North Bridge. Walk to the traffic light junction of North Bridge Road and Coleman Street. Cross the road towards Peninsula Plaza and continue walking towards the junction of Coleman Street and Hill Street. Cross the road to the central fire station. Continue on Coleman Street until Singapore Philatelic Museum. Look out for the metal gate before the museum, turn left in and take the stairs to destination. Journey time about 15 minutes. [Map]