It was definitely difficult to find Toby's Estate on my first visit and I had to resort to using my GPS although I had looked up the place a couple of times. One of the reasons was that it was on the far side of Clarke Quay, so I ended up trekking quite a distance to get here. However, despite all the fatigue, I found my visit here most fulfilling. Out of all the cafes I have visited thus far, I would have to say that Toby's Estate is my favourite by far when it comes to their coffee. Sadly, their location makes it rather inconvenient to get to, and hence I am unable to visit this place as much as I would like. I wouldn't go so far as to say that Toby's Estate is still a gem waiting to be discovered, but it's definitely a place for coffee lovers to make a pilgrimage to as I believe they serve the best coffee in Singapore.
There is a large common table that is perhaps the centrepiece of the cafe, and this table is usually filled up during peak hours. Although some may find it slightly comfortable to be sitting in such close proximity to strangers, it is done with the hope that people can literally make conversation over coffee. The cafe is adequately bright for one to bring in a book to read and also for one to bring his or her Macbook for some work. The weather was rather hot on the day that I was there, otherwise, I might have been tempted to sit outside and enjoy the breeze. That being said, being able to enjoy the smell of freshly-ground coffee is something preferable to me.
As you can see in the picture below, they have a cake set which allows you to have any slice of cake paired with any of their drinks for the price of $10. Not sure if this is still on at the moment, but it's a good bargain for good quality coffee and a decent slice of cake.
Toby's Estate coffees come in standard sizes, and I had the luxury of trying more than one drink (I came in for late brunch and stayed until tea-time). As you can see, the latte art here is pretty impressive, and the drinks are housed in clear glass for you to see the layers within the drink (not sure if its visible in the pictures below). Quite a few people can be spotted with a cuppa in hand and chilling, and I would definitely come back here JUST for their coffee, even if there was nothing else on offer.
Their food isn't too shabby either, although I had a bad experience with the poached eggs here. Mine were slightly overdone. Also, I felt that the dishes were a bit too dry and salty, but that's just my personal opinion. Their 2 best selling breakfasts - Eggs Royale and Toby's Breakfast are listed below for your viewing pleasure.
Eggs Royale
Eggs Benedict - Poached eggs and smoked salmon with Hollandaise sauce on toast. I like that they made the effort to decorate the plate - very few cafes bother with that. The Eggs Royale looked so delicious I could barely wait to tuck in, but alas, pictures first. Heh. I would have liked the smoked salmon to be stronger flavoured, and I found the poached eggs overdone (like I said before) but it might have been a once-off incident. Oh did I mention that Toby's Estate uses white farm eggs so they certainly taste different.
Toby's Breakfast
Big Breakfast here we go again. Espresso bacon (something new here!), greens, cherry tomatoes, wild mushrooms, poached eggs and toast. Their bacon is seasoned with espresso so it's definitely unique! However, the flavour isn't incredibly strong to put off those who do not like the coffee taste so much. Think coffee pork ribs. The greens didn't come with dressing, which disappointed me. I would have preferred a light dressing. The wild mushrooms aren't to everyone's taste for sure, as we're used to having portobello mushrooms in breakfast sets. However, I laud them for daring to be different. The toast was normal, but I would say it was a couple notches above average.
A nice touch at cafes, water is served in glass bottles. However, it's slightly different here. Kudos to the management for purifying the water on site as part of their commitment to reducing carbon emissions and also eliminating waste, thereby saving energy. Water tasted purer than your normal dispenser water, and don't worry, it's free of charge.
The chocolate mousse cake and the oreo cheesecake were both decent, but I wouldn't say they were great. It's definitely challenging to provide all-round quality food that would satisfy everyone, but objectively I would have to say that their desserts are their weak points. The chocolate cake was a bit mild to my taste, and definitely too dry. This was fine when it was paired with the mocha I ordered of course, but still, hmm. The oreo cheesecake also had too little oreo flavour so I didn't enjoy it as much. It too, is rather dry, which spoilt it a little for me as I expected the texture of the cheesecake to be smoother. However, Both cakes are okay when taken with a drink.
Their mochas are one of the few mochas I've had where the coffee still has a more prominent flavour than the cocoa. There have been many instances where the drink becomes reduced to a drink that tastes like milo with a hint of coffee, but not here at Toby's. Like I said, I stand by the statement that they serve the best coffee in Singapore and hence their coffee still shines even when taken in such a way.
Look out for the quirky Alkaaf Bridge and you know you're on the right track to finding Toby's Estate. It's definitely a nice place to start your day, or to hang out in the afternoon. It has a really chill vibe and the place isn't too noisy. I reckon it'll be pretty romantic at night, with it being by the riverside. Toby's is definitely one of my favourite cafes overall at the moment, and tops my list for places to go for coffee. If you're a coffee enthusiast, you MUST COME here and give it a try. Having their food and cakes are optional, in my opinion. Like their coffee? They do sell their own blend, called the Rodyk blend so you can enjoy their coffee from the comfort from your home. Highly recommended!
Expect to pay: $5 for drinks, $20 with food.
#01-03/04
8 Rodyk Street
No comments:
Post a Comment