Sunday Folks, Singapore

Address:

44 Jalan Merah Saga, Chip Bee Gardens #01-52, Singapore 278116

Opening times:

Closed on Mondays

Tuesday to Fridays from 1pm to 10pm

Saturday & Sunday from 12noon to 10pm

Website: http://sundayfolks.com/

Our honest review:

Accessibility to cafe by public transport or motor vehicle is good. It takes about a 5 to 7 minutes walk from the nearest MRT(Holland Village). If you drive, there is a public car park just behind the café or you could also parallel park along the road fronting the café. Despite that I went around 3pm on a Thursday, I still had to queue to get a seating. I am indeed surprised that the cafe is full house on a weekday office/school hour. There were 3 groups in front of me so luckily the wait was not too long!
The "waiting for a seat" only took a return trip from Sunday Folks to Da Paolo Gastronomia to buy a scone, so that should be about 10 minutes top?

Interior of the cafe

Upon entering the café, you are immediately welcomed with a very strong waffle smell in the café. To me, that is a good thing when a café smells of good food, especially the smell of freshly cooked waffles. The café was quite big and spacious, probably able to fit 70-80 people, if my approximation is right. A really friendly staff, having known that it was my first time here, waited on me and took pain to slowly explain to me what is their specialty here, types of waffles, and how to go about ordering them. I have to say that that their service was impeccable despite the café was packed full of customers. Even though the place was packed full with customers, I only waited for approximately 15-20 minutes to have my waffles served to me.

Double-stacked waffles topped with roasted pistachio soft serve with roasted pistachio toppings

Double-stacked waffles topped with roasted pistachio soft serve with roasted pistachio toppings

Obviously, as always, the waffles gave great aesthetic pleasure to the eye due to the colours of the strawberries, blueberries, maple syrup and hazelnut sauce. I ordered the roasted pistachio soft serve with roasted pistachios on top. They were very generous with the amount of soft serve they gave, as all I can see is spiral and spirals of soft serve on top of my waffles. I also liked the idea that they did not put the soft serve directly on top of the waffles but on a round biscuit which is perfectly hidden by the soft serve. This means that the waffles do not get soften from the soft serve.

I really enjoyed the soft serve a lot and felt it was one of the better pistachio flavoured soft serve/ice cream I’ve ever tried. The nutty taste was so strong, but yet having the smoothness and creaminess of the soft serve. In addition, the roasted pistachio toppings added a stronger pistachio taste and crunchy texture to the soft serve. Only one thing was that the soft serve melted too quickly. Not sure if Singapore was too warm or it is just that the soft serve reaches its melting point really quickly. I did not exceptionally like the waffles and I felt that they could be about 30 seconds longer in the waffle machine so that it will have the outer crispiness while still having a soft interior.

Price: I’ve ordered a double-stacked waffle topped with roasted pistachio soft serve and roasted pistachio toppings that cost me $12.90. The price is inclusive of GST and there is no service charge. If I’m not wrong, they have raised the price from $11+ previously. Overall, my willing-to-pay-for-waffles line is $10 and thus I would find this slightly pricey. However, for the amount of soft serve they gave, and that it was quite delicious, I would come back here to patronise if I ever feel that I had spare cash and wanted to spend on a good dessert place. Next time, I would probably just order the soft serve in a cone rather than on the waffles.

Hatter Street Bakehouse & Cafe, Singapore

Address:
Block 212, Hougang Street 21, #01-333, Singapore 530212

Opening times:
Everyday from 1pm to 10pm
Dinner break from 6.15pm to 7.15pm

Website: http://www.hatterstreet.com/

Our honest review:
Accessibility is a piece of cake for me (never fails to think about food ... hahaha) considering that I reside close-by. Nearest MRT would be Kovan and it is probably about a 5-10 minutes walk. The entire store has a pretty cute and interesting theme of Alice in Wonderland: theme-related pictures artistically splashed across all walls and curio displays too. Store itself probably could only seat 20 people inside and about 5-10 people outside. The ambience is nice except their air-conditioning was really bad. It is same difference (just as hot) seated inside as seated outside.

We had about a 20 minutes wait before getting the waffles which I guess wasn't too bad considering we went on the late  Sunday's afternoon. The cafe only serves waffles and desserts such as tarts and cakes. We ordered only 2 waffles out of the 3 that was offered on the menu. The girl at the counter was egging us on getting their rainbow cake, which she claimed was really good and limited as they do not make it everyday. However, I personally felt that the colouring was way too intense and probably very amateurish looking. It does not look any bit appetizing. I could even see the layers of the sponge were really dense. I chose my own visual judgement than to waste my calories on it.

Chocolate ice cream waffle with chocolate sauce

Chocolate ice cream waffle with chocolate sauce

Pandan ice cream waffles with gula melaka sauce

Waffles here are slightly different from other cafes. These waffles are called Liege waffles. They are indeed way smaller in size than to the normal circular waffles that, I think, most cafes offer. We were first served the chocolate ice cream waffles. The chocolate ice cream itself was really bad. It lacked chocolate-y taste to it to the point I think it is having a real identity issue. The waffle were overdone and that it just turned out crispy only but could hardly even taste the waffle itself. The ice cream was so bad that we had to shove it aside because it could not justify the calories.

Then the pandan ice cream waffles with gula melaka sauce came. It was much better than the first one. I must say the pandan ice cream was really unique with a real strong flavored taste to it. You would not be able to smell its fragrance, but the taste probably took it all. This time the waffles were crispy on the outside and much softer in the inside, with buttery taste that complimented really well with the pandan ice cream. The gula melaka sauce was really the cherry on the top. It was sufficiently sweet to hold hands with the pandan ice cream perfectly.

Price: Both waffles cost SGD $8.90 each and I thought it was really decent pricing considering how I have worked in a cafe which sold waffles at >$10. But do consider that the waffles here are smaller than regular circular waffles.

Having both waffles coming 5 minutes one after another and having a completely difference in both waffles shows how inconsistent their waffles could be. Maybe I am unlucky, maybe it is them, I don't know. But for sure, I will never order their chocolate ice cream ever again. I'm not too sure if the chocolate ice cream were handmade by them as chocolate is a very common flavor all around the world. But if it is, they ought to taste it and buck up. I'll definitely recommend the pandan ice cream waffles with gula melaka. But only that.