Toast Box (Tiong Bahru)

Probably one of the openings that is being mentioned quite a fair bit around this week would be that of the opening of Toast Box Coffee House — Toast Box may be a name which many would find familiar considering how they are a brand by the BreadTalk group and do have countless of outlets operating all across the island. That being said, the opening of Toast Box Coffee House still bears quite a bit of significance for the brand, considering how Toast Box Coffee House is a slightly different concept than the other Toast Box outlets that we are familiar with after all these while. While there are other outlets of Toast Box that have incorporated a nostalgic theme that already brings a different vibe to their other standard concepts (think the Bras Basah Complex location that had taken over the former premises of the now-defunct Music Book Room), Toast Box Coffee House attempts to be a whole new concept that not only offers exclusive menu items that are unavailable at other Toast Box locations, but also houses an outlet of First Street Teochew Fish Soup within the same premises; a little bit more of a casual eatery with a Nanyang-style focus that also has table service (hence the inclusion of 10% service charge). Toast Box Coffee House takes over the former premises of the now-defunct Old Tiong Bahru Bak Kut Teh; located at the ground level of the iconic art deco-style pre-war flats at 58 Seng Poh Road. Decked in a style that brings back those vibes of the colonial times, the interior decor should not be unfamiliar to those familiar with the Toast Box brand name. The menu at Toast Box Coffee House is being segmented into categories such as Thick Toast, Sandwiches, Traditional Toast, Asian Delights, Breakfast (only available from opening till 11am), Cakes and Kueh — beverages served up at Toast Box Coffee House includes the usual Nanyang-style Kopi and Teh, as well as concoctions like Honey Lemon, Homemade Barley etc.

We weren’t actually too keen on giving Toast Box Coffee House a go at the start; that being said, we are typically suckers for Nanyang-style coffee houses that has a strong vibes of Hainanese eateries in the colonial times. This, coupled with the fact on how Toast Box Coffee House does offer a menu that includes exclusive items not available at other Toast Box locations (vis-a-vis Toast Box at Bras Basah Complex, which is no different from a usual Toast Box outlet apart from the theming) was what made us really compelled to give Toast Box Coffee House a go. One item which caught our attention very early on whilst reading about Toast Box Coffee House from the few social media posts that have went up online was the Old School Hainanese Pork Chop Rice — we had been looking for Hainanese-style Pork Chop Rice all around the island; a form of Western food that had one point of time vanished from the menus of most eateries except a few in Singapore, though had seen somewhat of an uprising with modernised establishments starting to serve their own interpretation of the dish. The Old School Hainanese Pork Chop Rice was actually quite decent here — we weren’t expecting much considering how we have had varying standards of food whenever we dine at Toast Box, but we actually found this to be pretty palatable. At $9.80++, the Old School Hainanese Pork Chop Rice comes with deep-fried breaded pork chop that is drenched in that all-familiar red sauce that is accompanied with peas, onions, pineapples and lychee with a mound of rice by the side and a sunny-side-up on the top.

Thought that the pork chop was done pretty well; it does seem to have been tender used to achieve a good and consistent bite — the cut of meat being on the leaner side of things as well. The only gripe in terms of the “heritage” that it was lacking of is the use of panko crumbs rather than crushed soda crackers for its batter. The sauce does come with a tangy and savoury note — itself seemingly being a concoction of ketchup and Worcestershire sauce that is much in accordance to what we grew up knowing it as; the sauce is also thickened enough for a consistency that is considered sufficiently dense. One thing that we did note about the sauce was that is a little different from what we had expected was the note of sweetness from lychees that it also carried — makes it taste somewhat closer to the Heng Hwa-style lychee sweet and sour pork as a result and thus not as “authentic” as we would like it to be. Meanwhile, the sunny-side-up here comes with a fully cooked yolk; something to note for those whom are into eggs with a molten yolk. Whilst we usually wouldn’t comment on this, we were glad that the bed of rice was cooked just about right — at least this wasn’t hard or undercooked which we had experienced at some other Toast Box locations before. We had also given other items like the Kueh and the Traditional Black Sesame Toast a go during our visit as well; we were actually quite impressed with the qualities of their Kueh offerings. For the Traditional Black Sesame Toast, the inclusion of butter helps to gel the black sesame spread and the toast together though we weren’t a fan of the inherent savouriness the butter brought; also thought it could be a little sweeter to provide a balance of flavours. Prices of the hot food at Toast Box Coffee House are a little bit on the high side when compared to mom-and-pop eateries around its vicinity; the cheapest item priced at $5.50 being the Small Curry Chicken with Prata, while the priciest is the Old School Hainanese Pork Chop Rice at $9.80. Will be interesting to see how things will pan out for Toast Box Coffee House in the future.red to mom-and-pop eateries around its vicinity; the cheapest item priced at $5.50 being the Small Curry Chicken with Prata, while the priciest is the Old School Hainanese Pork Chop Rice at $9.80. Will be interesting to see how things will pan out for Toast Box Coffee House in the future.