Boufe, Tanglin: Hipster Cafe but Likable and Easy Like Sunday Morning

By Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow on January 14, 2015 • ( 2 Comments )

Food:
(a) Brunch menu from 10am-3pm. 6 items only. Standard café fare, nothing interesting, but they executed the dishes well.

We were stupid to get two similar items, croque madame ($19) and eggs benedict ($16): both came with homemade bread, eggs and ham. The hollandaise sauce for eggs ben was balanced, not too tart, not too bland. So was the cheese for croque madame, piquant, not sharp.

Barista Aloysius Lee recommended the smoked salmon freshly baked croissant ($19). Other items: Big breakfast ($21), French toast ($14), truffle baguette ($17).

(b) Dinner menu 6-9pm. 6 items. Fish & chips ($18), pastas ($18-$22), beef stew ($26), duck confit ($22).

Coffee: From 3 beans, Brazilian, Javanese, and Ethiopian. $4-$6.50. Smooth, not bitter at all, with a hint of chocolate. One of the better coffees I had in Singapore, comparable to Jewel and Common Man. I don’t believe in single origin beans.

Desserts: All breads, cakes, tarts, macarons are baked inhouse.

Skip the strawberry shortcake ($8), the only thing I didn’t like at Boufe: not moist nor light enough.

Macarons ($3.30) were ok.

Lemon tart ($5.50) was very good, very tart, and almost as good as Carpenter and Cook’s. It lost out to C&C because I noticed this café aims for a middle ground, so the tart wasn’t as extreme as C&C’s, and hence, didn’t have as much personality.

Service: When I asked the server what the coffee was, he went to ask the barista who came to have a passionate chat with me on coffee.

But in general, the café employs servers who are school kids and quite blur (but polite). Need some training. William said, “Stop asking the poor waiter questions. He’s just a kid. He looks frightened of you. Don’t traumatize him.” Hey, what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

However, the boss saw us waiting for the food for some time, went to hurry the kitchen, and sent us complimentary macarons. The boss rocks.

Pros
-Food was rather balanced and delicious, and would please majority of people.
-Great location (if you drive). Nestled among greens within Phoenix Park where Spruce is, a leisurely feel.
-Awesome décor. Sunlight bathed the whitewashed café of marbled tables and white tiled walls. Clean lines, chic and elegant.

Cons:
-Limited dishes. Standard café fare without surprises or highlights.
-So hipster it makes me want to do something violent. Boufe = a portmanteau of “boutique” and “café.” Should be pronounced as “bu-fay” as in “buffet”?

Verdict: Obviously, the owners know what they are doing: good food and coffee, priced similarly to other cafes, great décor and ambience.If there is a song to describe Boufe, it’s Lionel Ritchie’s “Easy like Sunday Morning.” This is one of the better new cafes I’ve been to lately. It will get wildly popular. We paid $58.10 for two persons.