Eating is Singapore’s national hobby, and with places that are trying to outdo one another with creative, colourful and wacky food ideas, there’s never a shortage of food options for one to choose from. Never settling for anything less than extraordinary, Singaporeans’ palates are one of the most discerning, especially when it comes to the sweet spot. We made two-afternoon stopovers at French-Japanese Café, Miam Miam, and the 3-month old baby of blogger-baker Jessica Loh, Shiberty Bakes.

Getting Our Yum Yum On at Miam Miam

The French undoubtedly know their pastries well. With several outlets around the island, you’re never far from the possibility of enjoying a wholesome meal at Miam Miam with their savoury mains. Finish off your dining experience with gratifying desserts that’ll give you major cravings!

Valrhona Chocolate Soufflé + Earl Grey Latte (with vanilla essence)

Having tried this soufflé before on a previous personal patronage, we instantly fell in love with it. It’s hard to find quality soufflés in Singapore, regardless of flavour. So when you come across one that hits the mark, it’s quite unforgettable. The texture is creamy and fluffy at the same time, with the rich cocoa flavour coating your entire palate in every spoonful. Best consumed when warm, the molten centre is quite literally a chocoholic’s heaven. We were honestly a tad sceptical about how fitting a milk-based tea drink would complement this decadent dessert, but surprisingly, the latte wasn’t as heavy as we thought. The earl grey aroma came through pleasantly and cut through the richness of the chocolate considerably. Sadly, we couldn’t detect any vanilla notes, but we’d like to believe it’s due to the overwhelming cocoa profile.

Caramelised Banana Pancake + Darjeeling Tea

These pancakes are like none other. They have the consistency of soufflé and are quite ‘puffy’ when cut right through. Due to this textural difference, the increased ‘airiness’ of the pancakes allows it to soak up all the vanilla ice cream goodness on the plate, along with the sweet nectar of caramelised bananas. Rightfully so, this dessert was perfectly paired with a warm tea that had a relatively muted flavour profile. It aided in toning down the overwhelming sinful mix of sweetness that we were experiencing, and a quick respite before moving on to the next wicked creation.

Famous French Toast + Fruit Tea (with strawberry, oranges and sour plum)

We’ve tried this classic dessert before, and although it does the job of being a French toast, it lacks depth and crunch. Perhaps it’s a personal preference, but we reckon it would do much better with a generous sprinkling of cinnamon and a lot more time in the heat to allow the sugar to caramelise. It comes with a side of maple syrup, which gets the toast all moist but texturally, it sure is a let-down. It’s no surprise that the fruit tea makes for a refreshing break from the heat as well as the dessert, especially with the sourness of the sour plum creating a contrasting flavour to the finish. In terms of marriage, it does a pretty decent job of providing a disparity between sweet and sour, making the pairing more palatable as a whole.

Address | Bugis Junction, Westgate, Tampines One, Waterway Point
Operating Hours | Everyday, 12 pm – 9 pm (Closed on Mondays)
Order now: Miam Miam (Waterway Point)

Shiberty’s Brilliant Bakes

Located in the serene and quiet area of Owen Road, Shiberty Bakes’ vibe is clean and fresh. Upon entering, you’re hit with a sense of homeliness with its strategically placed ‘Instagram corner’ for diners to capture their creative flat lays, in hopes of showing off Shiberty’s beautiful creations.

Matcha Black Sesame Cake + Earl Grey Tea

The first mouthful of the cake hit us with an immediate waft of green tea aroma. The cake was not as light as we’d expected but we were welcomed with the familiarity of the smokiness of green tea. Personally, we love drinking green tea, but would totally understand if this cake puts off some people. It’s pretty potent, and if you can appreciate the tad tartness and smoky aroma that comes with the territory of combining matcha and black sesame, you’ll love this one. For such a dynamic dessert, a drink as mellow as earl grey tea makes a good pairing, by playing on the bitterness as a balance for the sweetness in the dessert.

Churros Waffle (with cinnamon sugar, toffee lashings, hazelnut and sea salt caramel ice cream) + Iced Rose Tea

It’s super hard to find great waffles in Singapore, by personal experience. Our preference for these checkered creations is one that’s crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside (much like how we love our roti prata!). Most times, the texture’s all wrong, and the batter is flat and bland. These, thankfully, blew our taste buds away, even without the frills of the ice cream and scattered toppings. It had exceptional contrasting texture while the cinnamon sugar coating wasn’t overdone. The Oreo crumbles and toffee bits definitely elevated the dessert, and we felt the sea salt ice cream allowed more of the flavours to gel better than with the hazelnut. One sip of the iced rose tea instantly reminded us of Bandung – without the condensed milk. Don’t get us wrong; we mean that in a good way, as it was fragrant and created an odd yet friendly match with the churros waffle. It contributed a floral end-note to a very potent dessert, which might be just what many would need after numerous forkfuls of this crazy delicious dessert.

Classic Toast (with berries, maple honey, sea salt caramel & vanilla ice cream) + Chocolate Hazelnut Milkshake

At first look, this giant toast is intimidating, to say the least. We so wanted to fall in love with this one, just like we did with the churros waffles, but unfortunately, it only held the potential to be great. We did, however, love how crispy it was around the edges, with the core remaining soft and fluffy. We were made to understand that the Classic Toast is more suited for those who like their desserts dressed down and simple, which we can totally get behind. To make up for the lack of frills, we slurped up a milkshake that’s bound to send you spiralling down to a mad sugar crash! It was pure molten chocolatey goodness that was milky and smooth, and if it weren’t for the several plates of desserts we’d already attempted to polish off, we would’ve inhaled this one too.

Address | 46 HDB Owen #01-277
Operating Hours | Everyday, 12 pm – 9 pm (Closed on Mondays)
Order now from Foodpanda | Shiberty Bakes