Cafe Gyoen Matcha Bar (Club Street)

Scrolled through social media on the phone and got to learn about the new opening of Cafe Gyoen along Club Street; there’s some action happening along Club Street in the F&B scene of the late — the same street would also be seeing the opening of the very first Singapore outpost of Gelato Messina some time later as wells Cafe Gyoen is actually located at the other end of Club Street that is away from Gelato Messina; in fact, Cafe Gyoen is actually close to the Ann Siang Hill side of the road, making it somewhat closer to the general area around Maxwell MRT Station along the Thomson-East Coast Line as opposed to Telok Ayer MRT Station along the Downtown Line. For those whom find the name Cafe Gyoen familiar; yes, these are the same folks that are located at Serangoon Gardens which is noted for the Shinkansen-esque fittings that are located around the walkway towards the restroom. Cafe Gyoen is actually in the midst of shifting out of its premises at Serangoon Gardens with the opening of their Club Street location — the Club Street location also does seem to embody the growth of the brand ever since its establishment at Serangoon Gardens. While the interior of the cafe at their Serangoon Gardens felt a little less curated, one can definitely feel the slightly more upmarket decor at their Club Street location — this also seems to bring their brand closer to the other F&B establishments that lines up along Club Street around it as well. They have ditched the slightly basic look for one that is more chic and refined; one can see the obvious use of wooden furniture and fittings matched against quaint-looking ceiling lamps — all matched with white walls and concrete floors with the lighting coming with a slightly yellowish hue that isn’t too harsh to the eyes and sets the ambience of the dining hall. The dining hall does feature a mix of proper dining tables, high tables and counter seating — the area seems to have been split into two sections where the zone being situated at the front of the space right after the entrance do seem to cater to smaller groups of diners and seemed more intimate, while the zone where the counter and espresso bar is more brightly-lit with tables that seemingly accommodate for bigger groups of diners. Individual diners are also likely to get allocated to the counter seats around the espresso bar and counter area as well. Building up on what Cafe Gyoen has already been in offering at their Serangoon Garden location, the food menu at Cafe Gyoen’s outlet at Club Street is split into sections dedicated to Japanese Teishoku Balanced Meal, Donburi, Sharing Plates, Noodles, Sandos and Sweet Pairings. Beverages that are seemingly highlights at Cafe Gyoen would be the range of Matcha that they have to offer, though Cafe Gyoen also does serve up a range of espresso-based specialty coffee as well as non-coffee beverages as well.

Truth to be told, we aren’t quite fans of Cafe Gyoen’s food offerings when we had previously made our visit to their Serangoon Gardens location when they had first opened their doors there. Whilst we had given one of their Japanese Teishoku Balanced Meal a go previously, we decided to opt for something else and found ourselves going for the Foccacia Katsu Sando which is an item that is being listed in their Sandos section of the menu. Cafe Gyoen describes their Focaccia Katsu Sando to come with elements such as deep-fried pork loin, cabbage and toasted Focaccia bread based on what is mentioned on its menu. Other elements that it comes with includes a saucer of Tonkatsu sauce on the side, while the Sando itself also comes with a drizzle of salad dressing and mayonnaise. In an era where most establishments seem to be making their own Focaccia, Cafe Gyoen’s Focaccia Katsu Sando does seem to be feeling a little generic; whilst it is being mentioned to come toasted, we did feel that the Focaccia felt akin to that of a typical bread offering where the bread wasn’t quite as light and spongey nor did it come with a crisp texture on the browned surface as well. The Focaccia also seemed to have absorbed a fair bit of the salad dressing and mayonnaise, with the Focaccia turning a little soggy after being left around the table for a while. Whilst the cabbage does come with a slight savoury zing from the dressing with a bit of a creaminess from the mayonnaise that binds it together with the other elements that makes the Sando. The deep-fried pork loin does come with a light and crisp batter that comes in a beautiful shade of golden-brown without feeling particularly greasy, though we did wish that the slab of pork could be less dry and tough overall.

During the same visit to Cafe Gyoen, we had also managed to try their Houjicha Burnt Cheesecake that is being listed in the Sweet Endings section of the menu. This is one of the two burnt cheesecakes offerings that Cafe Gyoen has to offer; the other one apart from the Houjicha Burnt Cheesecake would be the Matcha Burnt Cheesecake. The Houjicha Burnt Cheesecake does seem to come in a two (2) tier format where the upper layer does come infused with the Houjicha-infused cheesecake layer, while the bottom layer features the plain cheesecake itself. Whilst creamy and velvety smooth in its texture, we did feel that the texture and flavours of the cheesecake layer for the Houjicha Burnt Cheesecake that we have had does seem to align closer to that of a New York-style cheesecake instead, though the Houjicha layer does come with a hint of roasty tea notes with a bitter undertone that one would typically associate with Houjicha. Interestingly, the Houjicha Burnt Cheesecake also does seem to be served with an extra dollop of cream on the side — this does help to neutralise the tastebuds whenever things gets a little heavy due to the nature of item being a cheesecake; light, smooth and fluffy that also complimented the cheesecake pretty well.

We found ourselves going for the usual cuppa during our visit to Cafe Gyoen at their Club Street location. The Fakt White is surprisingly well-pulled with a smooth creama; the cuppa carrying a medium body with an earthy and roasty flavour profile which we found to be pretty easy to drink. We hadn’t been too impressed with Cafe Gyoen when we had first made our visit to their Serangoon Gardens location when they had first opened their doors back then — we do recall them having teething issues with their service and the food did feel a little lacklustre back then. Whilst we still do think that there is some room for improvement when it comes to their food offerings, we did feel that the rendition of Cafe Gyoen is slightly more refined than back then; the brand does seem to have progressed a little ever since they had made their debut in the local F&B scene, and this is still something that we would think is worthy to give them due credit for. Prices of their individually-portioned main dishes in the Japanese Teishoku Balanced Meal, Donburi, Noodles and Sandos section of the menu are between the range of $16.90 to $29.90; the lowest-priced dishes being the Zangi Don from the Donburi section of the menu and the Tofu Cold Soba and Creamy Mentai Udon from the Noodles section of the menu, while the priciest would be the Wagyu Tataki Beef in the Japanese Teishoku Balanced Meal section of the menu — a little high-priced though still quite in line with what they had been charging at their Serangoon Gardens location. For fans of the brand, their Club Street location would be an interesting one to check out how they have grown in their F&B journey in the local food scene.