Cafe Explorer: Plain Vanilla at Joo Chiat

03/11/2022

It’s been months since we visited the newly opened Plain Vanilla at Joo Chiat. Plain Vanilla has been one of the cafes that grew up together with us. It is also one of the very first cafes we visited years back when cafe hopping become a trend. Now this locally grown cafe had already a few branches all around Singapore. We got to visit the newest branch at Joo Chiat.

Once you reach the cafe, you are been welcome by a full glass of bakeries. In terms of interior design, the colour tonality of the interior is similar to its revamped Tiong Bahru outlet. Think of patches of red walls, wooden furniture, and indoor plants – it is a very cosy ambiance. The space is split into indoor dining and backyard space with a skylight over the yard. Although it’s a little warm, we enjoy seating outside when we intend to stay at a cafe for a period of time.

It’s not the first time we dine in Plain Vanilla, we always enjoy their bake, especially the cupcakes. On this trip to the Joo Chiat branch, we got ourselves two desserts the Apricot Galette and Caramel Truffle Tart. Apricot & Pistachio Galette ($5) the sweetness of apricot blends well with the roasted pistachio. It has a flakey crust with is good to my liking. Salted Caramel Truffle Tart ($8), start to eat from the center of the tart, you will then be surprised with the runny salted caramel. Don’t worry it will be sweet as it matches well with the dark chocolate of the tart.

Other than the bakeries, they also serve a Breakfast menu (8 am to 3:30 pm) and Brunch menu (11 am to 3:30 pm), with the likes of toast, granola bowls, Eggs Benedict (S$22), Smashed Avocado Toast (S$22) and even handmade pasta. We also ordered some drinks to enjoy with our dessert Summer Fruit ($7) and Piccolo Latte ($4.5). The coffee here is by Allpress, one of our favorite New Zealand coffee roaster brands. We also like the fact that they have free-flow sparkling water as an option for their drinks, while it required us to pay a small amount of fee for it, it is totally worth it!