The HDB neighbourhood of Bukit Merah has a strong heartlands vibe, so the quaint bakery, The Bakery Chef does appear to be of a totally different league of establishment there. The only common thing this place has with its surrounding shops: it is crowded. All the office workers in the vicinity are flocking to there for tea-time. So for me, I cannot really enjoy the ambience there though I admit that if it is less crowded, the place makes a good chilling hide-out due to the cosy environment of dim lights and dark wooden furniture. The service is quite okay, no major misgivings, but obviously suffers from the huge influx of crowd where the staffs are more into getting the basics done: get the cakes ready for serving/takeaway and taking care of payment, rather than going the extra mile for genuine great service. So go there at off-peak hours if you are not into jostling with the crowd and clamouring for the attention of the busy staff.
Now onto the most important part: the cakes! It is impossible not to fall in love with them on first sight due to the meticulously done, beautiful, graceful swirls of cream with a crown jewel of a cute, pretty flower adorning the top of the cakes. A beautifully made cake always heightens my expectations, and the Rainbow cake and Praline Delight have met mine. Yes, I like to judge my food by its looks—especially in the case of Rainbow cake where the beautiful soft pastel colours entice me to get my hands on it, rainbow cakes from other bakeries have stark, darker colours that do not appeal to my eyes—though take note that I will not hold back on my less than stellar comments if the taste does not match up to the appearance.
If I need to trudge all the way down from the east to The Bakery Chef in the west, it is only for the Rainbow Cake. The beautiful layers of sponge are unbelievably soft and moist with light hints of butter, going in perfect harmony with the light, mildly sweet yet still buttery cream. The level of sweetness is just enough to enhance the blissfulness of indulging in this dessert, yet not overpowering the light creaminess of the ingredients. This is the cake I will get to impress others with both the taste and the looks. Or for the pleasure of my own taste buds and eyes.
As for Praline Delight, it is a wonderful, sinful creation imbued with the rich taste of hazelnuts, cream and mild chocolate. The variations in the texture from crunchiness, cakey to smoothness of the mousse add dimensions to the taste, exciting the palates. In fact, in terms of taste, this cake does not lost out to the Rainbow Cake in any way. The reason that I will not specially go down there to get it (though I will definitely buy a slice while there to get the Rainbow Cake) is simply because there are equally good hazelnut chocolate cakes in a bakery that is nearer to my place, not that near, but is at least not in the far-flung west. As for the Chocolate Guanja, I think this will appeal to the dark chocolate lovers. However, the overall taste does not wow me. While the addition of crunchy bits in the cake serves to take things up a notch, I feel that this cake is mainly about mousse only. I do like mousse cakes a lot, but a huge slab of dark chocolate mousse—does not help that the chocolate has a slight tannic taste—proves to be too overwhelming for me.
Now planning on when to go down again to buy the cakes ...
My Thoughts: Very Nice!
This bakery had shifted to Havelock Road
