Singapore - AllanBakes

Unless you live in the West Coast or have a very good reason to be in that part of Singapore, you probably would not venture to The Village Centre on South Buona Vista Road. The building still looks neglected although Harry's has opened up on the ground level, right next to Cold Storage. I was there in the day time but am guessing things might liven up in the evenings..

Looking for a coffee joint, there were only 2 listings on the mall directory - conveniently next to each other. Great, we love options! Of course, when we get to level 2, and then there was one. One had shut down!

So we peek into AllanBakes.. ok, the stuff looked decent even if there were local influences. I was really looking just for a good cuppa but the desserts looked enticing enough. I ordered a Lingonberry (lingon what??) cheesecake and a gula melaka cupcake.

According to Allan, the Lingonberry is from Sweden and a quick check with Wikipedia confirms that the Lingonberry is a staple in Scandinavian cuisine. Like most berries, it is a tad tart though not overly so. And so, the Lingonberry cheesecake which Allan bakes is a nice balance of cream cheese, cut through by the fresh acidic qualities of the Lingonberry making it easy to down and not too heavy like most cheesecakes.

The gula melaka cupcake is actually the Singaporean "wa-ko-kueh" flavoured with palm sugar - one of my favourite sugars in the world. Palm sugar has a flavourful sweetness from the coconut where it's from but without the heavy (sometimes oily) aftertaste of the coconut.

As for that cuppa I was looking for, Allan serves an aromatic Gingko flavoured coffee which his friend roasts and he will only sell limited quantities and only if regulars so demand. The coffee was served with sugar and milk added, and although I like my coffee without sugar, I did not complain because it was such a fragrant blend that what's a little added sugar in the system. Plus, it was a nice combi which I liked enough to order a second cup of.

Now that I have discovered AllanBakes, I will drop into the Village Centre more often than the once-in-10-years I've done, and sample more of his goodies. Even if I don't, the good news is that Allan caters!

Check him out at Allanbakes.com