Tea Break at Tiong Babru Bakery

Tiong Bahru Bakery, as the name implies, began its flagship branch at Tiong Bahru, Eng Hoon Street. Today, I visited its second outlet at 252 North Bridge Road #B1-11 / 12 Raffles City Shopping Centre, Singapore 179103 and the number to dial is 6333 4160.

Actually it is really easy to spot, this outlet. The simply furnished bakery cafe with its clean-cut pale tones and brick walls is situated around the fountain at the basement of Raffles City Shopping Centre, and occupies a long expanse of space. I was expecting this casual, relaxing cafe to be crowded since I was there around lunch time, and have heard that it is extremely popular. Surprisingly, there were plenty of seats.

It was my first visit there, and I was awed at the display of pastries, wondering what to have. Everything looked delectable - look at the gigantic buns and croissants! All of them look so fresh and inviting, it was a dilemma making up my mind.

And this display of buns and sandwiches all stuffed to the brim with goodies such as smoked salmon, vegetable, tuna, ham and cheese etc. There are many types of bread to choose from as well - whether one prefers focaccia or bun. 

Finally, the mouth-watering section of desserts - pandan flan, financiers, muffins, cakes nad tarts. My stomach was growling and I took such a long time making up my mind I was kind of blocking the others in the queue. I blame it on my teabreak companion, *Sidney, who did not ease my difficulty in making a choice.

Eventually, I settled for the much-raved about Squid Ink Bun, the black beauty amongst a sea of whites. The bun was sweet, fluffy, flakey and fresh. Clapsed between the buns are vegetables - crispy and sweet in its refreshingness; the thin slice of parma ham added a delicious salty overture in tune with the smoked salmon flanked across the expanse of the vegetables within. The entire combination was just mouthful after mouthful of delicacy.

I washed down the delightful bun with a cup of Cappuccino - a little disappointed that this is rather bland and lacks the aroma of good coffee. No doubt, it was still a steaming cup of beauty that made for a satisfactory accompaniment to my food. I was hoping to be able to wolf down a dessert item but I could not, sadly.

We spent SGD$15.00 each on our teabreak treats.