Simple Cafe 簡單。- NEW Hidden Taiwanese Cafe With Japanese Desserts At West Coast

11:18 PM | Labels: asian cuisine, asian food Recipes, asian recipes, DanielFoodDiary.com, eating in singapore, Singapore Food, singapore Food recipes, singapre Recipes

The newest addition to NEWest (pun unintended) is the 15 seater-space, Simple Cafe 簡單, with a Taiwanese vibe.

Other food places in the same NEWest building at West Coast Drive include Pizza Arc, Hakata Japanese Restaurant, Bird Folks, Igokochi Dining Bar, Lazy Lizard, Lotus Garden Restaurant, Kim Eng Chicken Rice, Los Jefes Tacqueria, Springleaf Prata Place.

With a few years of experience as home bakers after graduating from the now defunct-Le Cordon Bleu, Tokyo, ci0owners Sheryl and Maisie have decided to open a brick-and-mortar shop.

Another friend of theirs will be the in-house barista.

The trio wanted to provide a straightforward and fuss-free space where people can enjoy a sweet treat in their homely and cosy space.

There is a certain charm to their simple interior, decked in wooden furniture pieces (zen mode on) in a compound with tall ceilings and hanging bespoke lights.

Can I say that I love their Chinese songs playlist which reminds me of Taiwan?

Now, I really do miss the time when we get to sing KTV.

(On that note of Taiwanese-sounding names, you can also check out Moments’ 木萌, September 玖月, Teabrary 小茶識, Katasumi Koohii 一隅珈琲, and well… R&B Tea 巡茶.)

With a specially curated menu completely different from the ones available previously for home bakes, their pastries are simple (like their name) and not complex such as Berry ($8.50), Bassion ($8) – this is not a spelling error, Mocha ($8), Mont Blanc ($9), Creme Caramel ($6), Pear ($6), Bagel (Original $3.50/ Blueberry Cream Cheese $4) and Vanilla/ Pandan Donut ($4.50).

I will say that the pastries are on the smaller and dainty side, mainly to target the Japanese crowd staying in the area.

The Berry ($8.50) is my favourite, a strawberry shortcake with alternating layers of fresh cream, strawberry bits and sponge cake.

Do not judge a book by its cover as I was initially skeptical about its look, totally covered with cream (scream calories).

And it turned out that the fresh cream was the highlight, light and fluffy without feeling jelak (rich), similar to the ones I had in Japan.

Even the design of the pastries are simple, and I had trouble choosing one that is the most IG-worthy – Bassion ($8), a combined name for Banana and Passionfruit.

The Passion is a tart made of a layer of fresh whipping cream on top of the passionfruit curd, banana compote, banana sponge in a tart crust.

Perhaps there are just too many good tart shops around, this tart base turned out not as refined, slightly dry and brittle and lacks the buttery fragrance.

The citrus punch from the passionfruit and subtle banana did complement well with one another though.

The Mocha ($8) is worth a mention, a strong and intense chocolate cake with a cookie crumble base and a Dollop of espresso cream sprinkled with cocoa powder.

The chocolate infused with espresso is strong and intense, with texture almost like a brownie and not cloyingly sweet.

Their drinks menu is extensive, ranging from Espresso-based drinks in both Black ($5, Iced $5.50) and White ($5.50, Iced $6), Mocha/ Chocolate/ Uji Matcha ($6, Iced $6.50) to Tea ($5, Iced $6) such as Roasted Oolong, Osmanthus Oolong, Peach Sencha, Earl Grey and Japanese Sencha.

Using PPP Coffee’s Throwback 2-beans-blend from Brazil and Guatemala, the espresso based drinks have a chocolatey and nutty taste.