LR Boulangerie has been quite a low-key establishment all these while; situated at Valley Point Shopping Centre, they are probably best known for their French breads and pastries, as well as their entremets and their bear-shaped financiers. Having opened the now-defunct CROCO at 8 Empress Road that was a co-branded establishment serving up LR Boulangerie bakes as well as Coffee Plus’s specialty coffee (yes, the same Coffee Plus that is located a stone’s throw away at Queen’s Road), they have since converted CROCO into a LR Boulangerie outlet in early October 2022. Serving up croissants and cakes, their outpost at Empress Road offers a much more limited variety of bakes as compared to that of their original outlet at Valley Point Shopping Centre — their Empress Road outlet seemingly intended to be run as a takeaway kiosk despite having a dine-in area limited to high tables and chairs. Interestingly, LR Boulangerie’s outlet at Empress Road also retails a variety of curated groceries — think dried pasta, truffle oil, sea salt and more; they also do serve up specialty coffee as well.

Looking into the display fridge which has all the various cakes available for the day, it is noted that the range of cakes being sold at LR Boulangerie’s Empress Road outpost consists of mostly mousse cakes in plastic containers — we found ourselves going for the Tiramisu, which is described to come with elements such as sponge cake, coffee syrup, mascarpone, mousse and cocoa powder; pretty much the very same components one would expect in a typical Tiramisu. Digging into the cake, we found that the Tiramisu was a pretty decent one that was within expectations — no doubt there seems to be a lack of ladyfingers and alcohol (probably to make it kids-friendly) with the Tiramisu here, but the Tiramisu does come with quite good proportion of each element; the mascarpone and mousse layers didn’t come too heavy, but provided a creamy texture that seems to be able to gel the coffee-soaked sponge together with the whole cake. The texture of the cake is pretty consistent, while the coffee-soaked sponge comes with just quite enough kick from the coffee syrup without being too heavy-handed. The cocoa powder dusted atop on the Tiramisu provides that bitter undertone that finishes off everything nicely.

LR Boulangerie has been known for their quality in the French viennoiserie that they serve up since their days at Valley Point Shopping Centre — the re-branding of CROCO as another outpost of LR Boulangerie certainly enlarges their footprint; an expansion of their business to a new neighbourhood that is also big on bakes and pastries considering that Bakery Brera is also located here. Whilst the selection of items available at LR Boulangerie is somewhat limited at their Farrer Road outlet, we do wish that they could perhaps expand their selection of cakes that are available here (perhaps in small quantities in terms of inventory count) that could potentially entice more patrons to give them a try at this new location. The Iced Black that we have had here is pretty decent — likely to be brewed using beans roasted by nearby Coffee Plus at Queen’s Road which had been part of LR Boulangerie’s coffee programme since their days at Valley Point Shopping Centre if things have not been changed since. Given how Bakery Brera has already been much of an established brand within the area, it would be interesting to see if LR Boulangerie could serve well as an alternative option to Bakery Brera for the residents here — a space that we might likely be revisiting if they do expand their offerings just a little.