The East is blooming with new cafes, and I’m taking slow and progressive steps to visit them one at a time. My most recent one was at Tigerlily Patisserie, a bakery-café which started as an online bake-box business.
Greeted by floral and pastel-themed interiors, I was livened up by the botanical designs and the splash of yellow-orange against a deep forest green along a wall. Surprisingly, the café was fully packed at noon on a weekday, with a line forming in and outside the premises.
We had some coffee and realized it was on the mild side – my Oat Mocha ($7.50) tasted more like a hot chocolate. The Oat White ($6) was just as mild.
Then Maxine, the owner and head chef, brought out 2 sandwiches to start our meal proper. The Salmon Tzatziki ($14), with ingredients of house-cured salmon gravlax, dill tzatziki, avocado slices and citrus segments between homemade ciabatta bun were light on the palate and made a refreshing appetizer.
Not just your ordinary homemade grilled kimchi cheese sandwich, the Monsieur Kim ($15) has kimchi and Parma ham sandwiched with a trio of grilled cheeses that made a great combination – brie, comte and caiocavallo. It felt like an elevation of a simple breakfast dish.
Moving on to the pastries and desserts which I was most excited about, we first had the savory Tomato & Artichoke Tart ($7) – made with heirloom tomatoes baked atop tomato concasse and with pickled artichoke hearts.
As for the Yellow Peach Danish ($8), while I wished that the danish puff pastry would be airier with flakier layers, the seasonal yellow peaches were soft, mildly sweet, and perfect for summer.
An IG-worthy signature of Tigerlily is the Beehive ($11). Have fun smashing the beehive – within which you can find lemon, thyme and litchi honey jelly, a lemon sponge and honey parfait encased in yuzu mousse. I would recommend to eat the inner layers together with the yellow shell (made of white chocolate) as some may find the combination of ingredients within to be on the sour side.
Personally, I preferred the Pink Guava & Pear ($10) to the Beehive. This terrazzo-inspired dessert (matching the terrazzo designs of the tables) has pink guava cream and jelly with cubes of fresh pears encased in elderflower liqueur and pear mousse. Loved the sweet-tart, tropical flavors.
Overall, I was impressed by the intricately presented pastries and desserts and would love to try the rest on my return visit – the Forest Berry Taco, Mochi Blondie, Garlic Herb and Cream Cheese Babka… which were unfortunately wiped off the display around 1.30pm when I ended my meal.
Heartfelt thanks to Teresa and Maxine for hosting us.
350 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427598
Tues to Sun, 9am – 5pm
+65 8887 0988
Foodography: A Singapore Food Blog 