Everyday I’m Wafflin’
If you’re looking for a place to have dessert with friends after a night along Tanjong Pagar, I would highly recommend 5 The Moments over the more wildly popular joints Apiary or Hvala especially on Friday and Saturday nights. There were long queues snaking out the doors of Apiary, and Hvala had a 30 min wait time - plus they close at 9.30.
5 The Moments, on the other hand, was crowded but had a few tables available. They also open till late.
The waffles here really took me by surprise! There were a few options available but we went for the charcoal one, and the wait time wasn’t very long (<5mins). The waffles were truly crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside - really good! We chose the Honey Chrysanthemum and Valrhona Manjari ice cream to share and I really enjoyed both these flavours. The chocolate definitely stole the show in my opinion as it was rich, bittersweet, and a true chocolate lovers dream. The honey chrysanthemum wasn’t my choice, but it had a lovely hint of floral fragrance balanced with a light hand of honey. This served well as a palate cleanser when you’ve had too much chocolate (if that’s possible 😂).
Bet you wouldn’t expect to find good waffles at a tiny coffee specialty shop nestled in this quiet Sunset Way neighbourhood. I was very very surprised by how amazing these waffles were. They were the perfect texture, crisp on the outside and airy light inside. The pandan taste was subtle but still discernible. However, the show stealer was definitely the gula melaka ice cream which is apparently made by the owner’s friend. It’s not too sweet, but carries the flavour of gula melaka really well. It’s also very creamy!
Service was friendly and warm, and we enjoyed the matcha lattes very much. I’ll be back for not only the drinks, but the waffles too!
Ordered the waffles with two scoops of ice cream ($9.80). After much consideration, we chose the dark chocolate and Mao Shan Wang (Premium flavour, +$0.80).
The waffles are made to order, so you have to wait for a while as the waffles are prepared on the waffle iron. It’s worth the wait though. The waffle textures are on point, crispy on the outside, yet soft and fluffy inside.
The ice cream here is also awesomely creamy and rich. They don’t melt that quickly, so you have time to savour the flavours at your own pace. The Mao Shan Wang comes at a premium but it’s well worth the extra $0.80 if you love durian because this was chock full of durian flavour. It’s made with real durian, and I was even chewing on real durian flesh in some mouthfuls! We all had durian breath and burps after finishing the ice cream. Still blown away by how good their rendition of Mao Shan Wang ice cream is! The Dark Chocolate is one for real chocolate lovers. It’s got bittersweetness, and one taste is enough to land you in chocolate bliss.
Beans & Cream plays it quite safe with their ice cream flavours, and you probably won’t see crazy innovative combinations here, but these people know their ice cream and do them well. Definitely recommended for some good ice cream and waffles in the heartlands!
Very small and homely gelato shop in a quiet HDB neighbourhood manned by two elderly ladies. The mastermind behind Alfero is an Italian that truly takes the gelato business seriously. They have an explanatory board detailing the difference between gelato and ice cream. Alfero has a wide selection of flavours, and apparently supplies their gelato to many hotels and eateries islandwide. The staff are very friendly and warm, and even patiently described each flavour to us and encouraged us to try all the flavours before deciding on what we wanted on our waffles. It was really hard to choose but we finally ended up with pistachio, black sesame and dark chocolate.
The waffles were made fresh and topped with our ice cream of choice before adding maple syrup and chocolate. I love the care and effort gone into the written message! The waffles were warm and crisp on the outside, while chewy on the inside. Not the best waffles I’ve had, but the gelato is the star of the show here. All three flavours (and many others in their display cabinet) were so good! I can’t even decide which is my favourite. The gelato was luxuriously creamy on our tongues, and were packed with flavour. They weren’t too sweet either. I was tempted to buy some tubs to bring home with me but i was worried they’d melt. Alfero is an underrated gem of a gelato shop that definitely warrants another visit!!
My absolute favourite waffles ever!!! This was the longest I’ve ever seen the queue here as there were 5 people ahead of me on a Friday night but the auntie is very efficient in preparing the tutu kuehs and waffles so everyone gets their orders as fast as possible.
Crispy, with a chewy soft interior and generous amounts of gooey peanut butter make this the best treat ever. A must-buy every time I’m around the area!
This is one monster dessert consisting of three layers of waffles (including a red velvet and blue velvet waffle), large and mini marshmallows, whipped cream, a choice of chocolate sauce or maple syrup, and four scoops of ice cream of your choice. The waffles are only prepared when ordered, so you can be sure to get warm, soft and chewy waffles with crispy exteriors. I don’t think there was a difference in flavours in these three waffles, probably just a matter of colouring but this is an instagrammer’s dream for sure. Not a fan of the whipped cream or marshmallows as they just made this dessert a lot sweeter than it needed to be but it did make it look prettier. Unlike what’s depicted in the TSL video that keeps looping in the cafe, the marshmallows are not toasted, which was a bit of a disappointment as they weren’t melty or gooey.
For the four scoops of ice cream, we went with: chocolate, coconut, earl grey and black sesame. All of the ice cream flavours were really good, with the exception of coconut which paled in comparison to the others as the coconut flavour didn’t come through although I could taste some grated coconut inside. The chocolate one wasn’t too sweet, while the earl grey ice cream was fragrant and very aromatic. My favourite of the four was the black sesame which was fragrant and not too sweet.
This is a dessert meant for sharing with friends and family, and be sure to eat it fast because the ice cream melts and causes the waffles to become soggy! I wouldn’t necessarily order this again but I’m curious to try their sweet potato waffles because their waffle textures seem to be on point. Also, the ice cream here is good too so I’ll definitely be back!
What a let-down after a great brunch at Toby’s Estate. The waffles are just a Belgian waffle with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, berries, berry compote and chocolate sauce. The waffle wasn’t even warm, and it felt like pre-made Belgian waffles that lacked any trace of fluffiness or crispiness. It was just dry and hard. I didn’t like the berry compote this was served with as it caused the already disappointing waffle to get soggy the longer it sat in the bowl. This definitely doesn’t deserve to be on their favourites menu. Shouldn’t have wasted calories or money on this and opted for the French Toast or something else instead.
The cereal waffles comprise of freshly made buttermilk waffles topped with hazelnut chocolate ice cream, cornflakes, bananas, and drizzled with salted caramel. We added on a scoop of Sea Salt Caramel ice cream and ended up with two huge ice cream scoops that practically covered the whole waffle - no wonder they charge $6 a scoop. The ice cream to waffle ratio is very off. There’s too much ice cream to waffle, but the great thing is that though the ice cream is very fine, it doesn’t melt that quickly. Both the ice cream flavours were on point as well. Even if you’re not a chocolate lover, the hazelnut chocolate ice cream could still be one to consider. The nuttiness of the hazelnuts balance out the chocolate flavour, and it comes across as a milky scoop of Nutella. The Sea Salt Caramel had a distinct roasted caramel taste, which was sweeter than the hazelnut chocolate, but mellowed by the sea salt. The saltiness wasn’t overpowering though, and it was still easy to appreciate the caramel. As for the waffles, they were decent but nothing that screams awesome. Not nearly crispy enough on the outside for my liking, these waffles are more chewy, but to each his own. Having tried the roasted cornflakes at Atlas Coffeehouse, the cereal here fell short. They tasted like regular Kellogg’s cornflakes. Too thin and a bit too soft to add much crunchiness. Felt that the caramel drizzle was too thick and sticky.
Overall the waffles at Craftsmen make for a good dessert if you happen to be there, but not good enough to travel there solely for.
Apiary serves up some delicious looking flavours I really had a hard time deciding what I wanted even after sampling a handful of flavours. Decided to get some unique scoops instead of the more common flavours like chocolate or black sesame which are available at more ice cream parlours. Opted for these to be served on a charcoal waffle! The waffles took a few minutes to prepare but they were gorgeously crisp on the outside, and soft on the inside. They’re really dark black, unlike some charcoal waffles that tend to be grey. Topped with three colourful scoops of ice cream and chocolate sauce plus honey on the side, the waffles at Apiary sure make a pretty picture.
Ice cream flavours:
- Matcha (Hvala)
Sucker for last scoops or portions, so when the staff said this was the last scoop we caved. Rich matcha flavour, not sure if this is just made from Hvala matcha powder or whether it is the same ice cream served at Hvala. Either way, this will satisfy matcha lovers as the matcha flavour is very prominent, and there’s even a bitter aftertaste. This flavour was replaced immediately after with houjicha.
- The Apiary
Almost everyone trying flavours asks the same question: what’s The Apiary? Turns out it’s a honey base with cacao nibs. It’s one of their signatures and popular flavours. A bit on the sweeter side, but quite nice with the waffles and matcha ice cream to balance it out. Also enjoyed the crunchy cacao nibs in the ice cream.
- Blue Milk
Another one of their popular flavours, the Blue Milk comes in a pretty pastel blue shade. Some might be turned off by the colour, but I thought it was nice. It’s quite a mild ice cream, but it goes well with the waffles.
Compared to the ice cream at Creamier, the scoops at Apiary don’t melt as quickly. The waffles at Apiary are also a different style so it’s not that fair to compare them, but they are able to hold their own ground as they’re crispy on the outside, soft on the inside. I’m also really impressed with how dark their charcoal waffles are. However, I feel that Apiary doesn’t seem to offer as wide a selection of ice cream flavours as other ice cream parlours at any one time, and the flavours that we tried today, though good, weren’t delicious or unique enough to deserve a reorder. I didn’t see pistachio available, which was a bit disappointing. Still, I might be back to try their black sesame flavour with the brioche bun though, so hopefully that fares better.
I’m such a sucker for waffles. Before Belgian styled waffles became the in-thing, all we had were local waffles slathered with your choice of spread, freshly made on waffle irons at HDB bakeries. I grew up on these, and they always bring me back to my childhood years.
While I succumb to buying Prima Deli, Mirana, Dora Keiki, or other bakeries’ waffles from time to time when I have a craving due to sheer convenience, the one waffle I can never pass up when I’m in the area is from Queensway Lau Tan Tutu Kueh. Even after a full meal, I’ll make space for these waffles because they are just that good. They have three outlets - the original at Queensway, one at ION Orchard, and one at Chinatown Point (which I always patronise). The stall at Chinatown Point is manned by a friendly auntie who always has a smile on her face and truly endeavours to make delicious waffles.
The plain waffles are $1.50, while the peanut butter waffles that I always order are $2. There’s also the option for 2 fillings at additional cost. The waffles are lovingly made to order, which ensures they come fresh hot off the waffle grid every time. Unlike many other stalls, this auntie patiently waits for the waffle crust to crisp up. She doesn’t rush things, so you get a perfectly browned waffle exterior. Meanwhile, she’ll also try to sell you the other stuff on the menu - the kueh tutu, cup corn, curry fish balls, tea egg, etc. But seriously, as much as I want to help this lovely auntie out, I only made stomach space for the waffles.
What makes this the perfect waffle is the perfectly crispy exterior, with a soft, fluffy and chewy interior. Many places either undercook the waffles, resulting in soft and unsatisfying waffles, or overdo the crispiness, making even the interior crunchy and losing the fluffy soft texture of the waffles. The icing on the cake comes when your choice of spread is slathered generously on the hot waffles. I love it when the peanut butter melts into a gooey mess and drips into the paper carrier. A hot mess for sure, but this is one I love to bits.
To be honest, if you gave me a choice between these or the cafe-standard waffles, I would pick these every damn time. Comfort food at its finest and most affordable! 💕
In addition to serving up coffee, non-coffee drinks, bingsu, and cakes, Coffeesmith serves up waffles too. This was actually recommended over the Pistachio Chocolate cake by the cashier staff, and we decided to go for it.
The waffles here are actually a lot better than I originally expected! They’re served warm, crispy on the outside while remaining very fluffy and soft on the inside. This is a refreshing change from waffles that tend to be too crisp to the point that there’s no cake-like interior and you end up with just a crunchy waffle throughout. It’s also served drizzled with some honey/maple syrup (?), whipped cream and berry sauce on the side. While the syrup was a nice addition for some flavour, the whipped cream and berries didn’t do much for me. In fact, the berry sauce was way too sweet for my palate and I didn’t use it. In all, Coffeesmith offers some pretty good waffles and, although not the best, they would make a good choice for days when you need a quick waffle fix in the dead of night when other dessert places have already closed.
Level 9 Burppler · 1321 Reviews
Always biding my time to my next meal. Everything in between just serves to kill time.