Niche Boulangerie - Your homely neighborhood cafe!
I know many people out there dream of opening their own cafe. I don't mean cafe tycoon or restaurant city where you get to effortlessly open one outlet in your iPad or whatever mobile device you have. Pardon my lengthy story line since both partners of this cafe are people whom I personally know, decided to take the plunge and open a cafe at Toa Payoh.
Starting a food and beverage company is definitely not an easy task since everything has to be planned right from scratch. From renting a space to designing the interiors to settling the troublesome and problematic AVA, it took more than a month and also longer than expected. It was a draining experience, the amount of commitment, effort as well as stamina needed for Niche Boulangerie. Thanks to my friends, I personally get to experience the thrill of working in a cafe! Anyway, despite the hectic production, they produce the following products fresh from the oven almost daily, in their really cramp and small kitchen. If you were to visit them, Melvin's mum, a really nice lady in her seventies could be spotted helping him run the front of house. His pretty wife would often drop by the cafe in the evening after her full time job to help out too.
Anyway, let me introduce some of his niche products available daily, unless they run out of stock. Most of these pictures were taken from my instagram.
Starting a food and beverage company is definitely not an easy task since everything has to be planned right from scratch. From renting a space to designing the interiors to settling the troublesome and problematic AVA, it took more than a month and also longer than expected. It was a draining experience, the amount of commitment, effort as well as stamina needed for Niche Boulangerie. Thanks to my friends, I personally get to experience the thrill of working in a cafe! Anyway, despite the hectic production, they produce the following products fresh from the oven almost daily, in their really cramp and small kitchen. If you were to visit them, Melvin's mum, a really nice lady in her seventies could be spotted helping him run the front of house. His pretty wife would often drop by the cafe in the evening after her full time job to help out too.
Anyway, let me introduce some of his niche products available daily, unless they run out of stock. Most of these pictures were taken from my instagram.
Herb Brioche ($1.50) - These buns are just pure buttery goodness. I have seen many aunties and uncles from the neighborhood dropping by in the morning, just to grab some for their breakfast. You could make your own delicious sandwich with these at your convenience.
No Nonsense Chocolate Brownie ($3.50) - Really affordable based on their size, these slabs of walnuts topped chocolate brownies are baked perfectly for chocolate lovers. It is towards the slightly choco-bitter and fudge type which goes well with ice cream!
Bacon and Cheese Scones ($4.00) - Shaped like gold bars, these unusual scones were as precious as gold. You would not want to leave any crumbs remaining on your plate because they were that yummy and not overly dry. Do not worry if you do not have a savory palette as there are also honey + cinnamon and cranberry + orange scones too!
Banana Nutella Muffin ($2.50) - Another popular choice that often sold off fast would be the Banana Nutella Muffins. For every production of these muffins, he would use 100% fully ripen pure banana flesh to make! No artificial banana essence or flavoring at all. I can vouch for it since I helped in his kitchen before. Besides being natural, the muffins are ultra moist and fluffy too. Sometimes other muffins such as carrot, berry, etc, are also available.
French Apple Tart - Sweet almond paste filling and tartness of the granny smith apples really compliments well in that tart shell. Also goes well with a scope of ice cream!
Macarons - Alright, macarons could be rather uncommon in here since they focused more on other productions instead. A batch is normally gone within 2 or 3 days.
Black Diamond - Purely chocolate indulgence.... (I forgot the descriptions..)
Red Velvet Cake - Not the usual chocolate sponge with red coloring. The sponge itself is made with almond paste, making it substantially delightful to munch on, pairing well with the light and rich cream cheese frosting.
Strawberry Cheesecake - Using baked method and not the easy chilled way, the size of this cheesy goodness is huge enough for 2 to share.
Mango Tart - Freshly diced mangoes with vanilla cream in tart shell.
There are also home made lasagna available for lunch/dinner that comes with salad. Really reasonably priced too.
The Kampung Chicken Pie is also made in limited amount, usually on weekends and would be wiped out rather quickly. I had one for my dinner before and it was really filling. Everything is made in house, including the filling and pie shell.
See what I meant when I say it is overloaded generously with ingredients such as chicken, mushroom, carrot and broccoli.
Anyway the menu is usually not fixed and sometimes there could be new creations and seasonal desserts. The variety of items has since increased and do check out their facebook page here for more information.
They do customized cakes and even orders for any sort of parties too!
Address:
- 128 lorong 1
- Toa payoh unit 1-833
