Caffebene, THE Korean’s best coffee brand has finally set its foot on our shores. After having over 1,500 stores worldwide, including America, Myanmar and Malaysia, it’s finally OUR turn!
Besides being known for their exceptional cups of coffee, Caffebene also offers a wide range items made from the authentic Korean Caffebene’s recipe, with tweaks to suit our tastebuds, such as Bingsu, Belgian Waffles, Italian Gelato and Honey Bread! Also, only unique to our little island, is the Gourmet Takeaway food selection such as salads and wraps! How healthy!
This international coffee chain giant would definitely be attracting throngs of crowds with their opening on Wednesday (18 November) at the biggest shopping mall in Singapore, Vivo City!
The Place
Clean, sleek, industrial, yet homely with the brown and wooden hues. The wooden hues definitely resembles the Caffebene outlets in Korea! A lot of effort has been put in to preserve the style, yet they managed to inject some industrial elements in their design with the various railings just to give it a brand new spin!
If you’re wondering where Caffebene is situated at in the HUGE Vivo City mall (which I always get lost in), it has replaced Haagen Daz, and sits in between Sushi Tei and TCC! Perfect location because you should be able to spot them after coming up from the escalator!
This 60-seater cafe also includes al-fresco seating, ah, that means MORE NATURAL LIGHTING AH!
Of course, with every caffebene outlet comes with their signature clock, and their first outlet in Singapore is definitely not an exception!
The Menu
I didn’t manage to get a nice picture of the menu because they were all printed behind the counter, and they apparently didn’t have a solid menu for me to snap, I apologize for the low quality menu pictures. EH BUT BETTER THAN NOTHING RIGHT
Drinks Menu (If you squint you still can kinda read them)
Waffle and honey bread menu
Even though they don’t have a solid menu, they do have these pretty realistic looking menu. Like who needs pictures when you can see the exact item from the counter hor. l
Prices are inclusive of GST and there’s no service charge despite the great service! So.. SHIOK. What you see is what you pay!
Okay now you guys must be really excited about how the food fared! Do note that I had these items before their official opening, and of course, the recipes are all under RnD. I’m sure they will take in the various feedbacks and comments to suit our tastebuds better! I hope lah!
The Food
Where should I start? Hmm..
1) Soba Noodles ($9.90)
Let me start with their soba noodles because this is exclusive to Singapore! They also offer wraps and salads, but we went for their soba noodles because I love soba noodles. HAHA! Well.. This was a pretty decent bowl of soba, and the sesame sauce is always a welcome addition.
However, I thought the soba priced at $9.90 is a little exorbitant, because… $9.90 for cold noodles.. A bit.. Not worth it. Maybe they could take a leaf out of One Man Coffee’s rendition? Or just top it up with some protein to make it more worth its price.
2) Garlic and Cheese Honey Bread ($13.90)
SQUEALS. THICK TOAST OMG! Another one to add on to my list! And a SAVORY ONE AT THAT.
This is probably my first time having a savory thick toast and I APPROVE. This was yummy, garlicky bread topped with cheese!
Crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside! But each cube can get a little plain when you get into the middle because there’s no garlic nor cheese there. Maybe they could smear a slight layer of garlic spread within the toast or just melt cheese within those cubes to make it more sinful, and also… INSTAGRAM WORTHY with that CHEESE STRETCH!
Damn. I think I should be a chef. Or continue blogging at 2.30am for these yummy ideas that I won’t usually think of. HAHA! Anyway, that’s the end to our savories, I wish there were more options though!
3) Tiramisu belgian waffle ($10.90) Apparently you have a choice to go for a normal waffle base or a HAZELNUT WAFFLE BASE. JUST GO FOR THE HAZELNUT.
This tiramisu waffle was YUM. SO GOOD. I like. And the hazelnut base gave the additional crunch! My partner commented that it was a little too hard though, but it felt fine for me! It’s either she had grandma teeth or I have teeth made of steel (that’s what they say about all stubborn people 😉 HAHA). But i honestly thought it was okay! A little on the chewier side but YUM!
4) Caramel Cinnamon Bread ($12.90)
A pretty decent think toast, with caramel drizzle, it’s perfect for sweet tooths! We thought this had the same problem with the other toast about the “plain-ness” in the middle of the toast! Probably needs some buttering for more flavors in this one! Otherwise, it would be a perfect dessert!
5) Green Tea Bingsu ($15.90) – Single
A single portion is good for 2-3 to share, while the double portion which costs a whooping $5 more, is good for 3-4 or slightly more!
Tip: Do mix the cream well into your bingsu to give it a smoother finish, and also a stronger flavor. Our initial mouthfuls of ice were a little bland, but we realized that hte cream atop was layered with matcha cream! So we just mixed everything up and it tasted pretty good!
6) Misugaru – $6.50
This is THE drink of Caffebene – THE multigrain KOREAN drink, but it may not suit everyone’s tastebuds! What this drink has is FIVE kinds of grains – black sesame, black bean, black rice, brown rice and barley. Seriously, I feel healthy just reading it already. I would suggest getting this in the hot version, although I got it cold, because I can imagine the hot one being much more comforting with that malty taste!
We tried their mocha as well, and I liked it. I guess, Caffebene is gonna be my next hangout if I have any work to do! I wanted to say study but I realized that, I AM GRADUATING SOON. So.. Yeah. NO more studying *CRIES*
Closing Remarks
Being new to the Singapore market, there were some hits and misses in the offerings of Caffebene, well.. AT least from what we’ve tried. I enjoyed my experience nevertheless as the ambience was really something quite different from what we have in other cafes, and the coffee and TOAST! Haha!
I’m pretty sure that Caffebene will soon adapt to the Singaporean tastebuds, and find ways to tweak their recipes to satisfy us! Nonetheless, brace yourselves, A CRAZY SNAKING QUEUE will be formed on Wednesday, their official opening day!
I can’t wait to go back to try the other items from their menu! 😀
How to get there?
VivoCity
1 HarbourFront Walk
#02-150
Singapore 098585
Opening Hours:
Daily; 8am to 10pm
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