South Bridge Road does seem to have been quite the spot for new cafes to sprout up recently — the area has seen the opening of cafes of the likes of DAWN, KURA Patisserie and most recently, September Coffee in recent times. Whilst September Coffee is one of the latest openings situated at the Maxwell / Chinatown side of the road, Pomme is one of the newest additions to the side closer to Raffles Place, City Hall and Clarke Quay, being located closer to where Dopa Dopa’s very first outpost is situated. Being a patisserie and cafe concept, Pomme takes up a shophouse with a facade that comes with a dash of Art Deco influence; the interior however is what one would have expected out of an establishment of its type however — think an interior design that is supposed to be minimalist and clean with the large use of white colour elements from the walls to the floors, as well as for the furnishings and fittings. Visiting Pomme during their soft launch phase, Pomme serves up two different menus for its lunch and dinner service; the lunch menu served between 11:30am to 2:00pm features a variety of pasta and mains (such as that of the Spanish Shakshuka, Seabass etc.), while the dinner menu available from 5:00pm till closing has an emphasis on pastas, small plates and big plates — the starters section of the menu, as well as the patisserie items such as the entremets, macarons and other cakes are available throughout the entire day. Beverages available at Pomme includes specialty coffee (only available during lunch service), artisanal tea, tea by pot, milks, ades and alcoholic beverages (only available during dinner service) such as cocktails and wines.

Being a cafe with a patisserie element, it is needless to say that one would be likely to give their intricate and dainty entremets a go. Between the various cakes that are available at Pomme during our visit, our favourite of the lot was the Pomme — the cake that bears the namesake of the cafe, which also means the word “apple” when translated from French to English. Shaped just like an apple, the Pomme consists of elements such as Green Apple Mousse, Apple Compote, Calvados Caramel. Cracking open the exterior shell, one would notice how the green-hued shell of the Pomme is in fact a white chocolate shell that encases all the elements mentioned in its description within. Slicing down the Pomme further, the different layers start to reveal themselves — the Green Apple Mousse surrounds the insides of the cake which is filled with the Apple Compote and the Calvados Caramel in the middle; sitting at the bottom is a flat pastry base that is almost similar to that of a tart. Having a taste of all the elements together, this felt like a Apple Pie-inspired entremet given the elements involved; the white chocolate exterior provided the Green Apple Mousse within a hint of sweetness amidst the light note of the said fruit in the mousse. As one moves on further into the cake, the mix of the Apple Compote and Calvados Caramel provide for that familiar hint of cinnamon-spiced caramalised apple where it’s just a wee bit earthy from the slight booziness; yet carries that different dimension of sweetness from the apple and caramel, with the Calvados Caramel being all thick, gooey and dense like how it should be. Overall, a rather well-executed entremet that is bound to be popular for those who are all in for the ‘gram — something that worked well for our tastebuds as well as it did for the eyes.

Having tried Pomme on two separate occasions; once for their Day Menu and the other for their Night Menu, we did seem to have a preference for their latter over the former — the former does seem to be more conventional considering how it consists of pasta dishes and commonly-found mains in general. We did however find their Night Menu to be more interesting — one of the items which we really loved was the Nasu Dengaku which was a dish listed on the “Small Plates” section of the menu that features eggplant that is marinated in a blend of miso and mirin, and finished on a binchotan (i.e. Japanese Chcarcoal) grill. We also found the two cakes which we tried on two separate occasions to be relatively well-made; apart from the Pomme which we have described in the previous part, we also have had the Manguǒ which is a wordplay on the English word “Mango” and the Chinese pronunciation of the same (i.e. 芒果 máng guǒ) featuring Mango Mousse, Mango
Compote, Lemon Curd and Lemon Jelly. Overall, Pomme does seem to have what it takes to stand out within the saturated local F&B scene; patisseries that offer well-executed cakes that are worth the ‘gram are still considered quite a rarity, though we do wish that Pomme would be able to maintain the standards of their cakes and perhaps make some slight tweaks to the items off their Day Menu to further provide for a stronger impression overall. Still, Pomme is a spot that avid cafehoppers should probably add to the list of to-visit places; a good stopover for catch ups as well as a destination for dates with fancy cakes to end the meal with.