Old Hen Coffee Bar

Hadn’t been to Old Hen Coffee Bar for quite a while — wasn’t really in our mind to drop by but got reminded about their existence whilst passing some streets to head to where we originally intended to head to and decided to divert ourselves back to this familiar spot again. Seems like these folks had switched up their seating layout a while ago; gone was the wooden communal table and the wooden high table that once provided the window seating that faces outside of the cafe — a cushioned bench seating can be found backfacing the window, with the tables now better accommodating to patrons that swing by in pairs instead. Notwithstanding those changes, there is still a sense of familiarity within the space that stayed recognisable over all these years; not sure if we are getting old, but revisiting those places that we have frequented in the past just brings back some calmness of simpler times that we have had in the days that we visited these places.

Old Hen Coffee Bar has always been a spot that is best know for their bottled cold brews ever since they have started operations — their cold brew bottles having changed a number of times over the years, but their branding on their bottles had still remained to be fairly recognisable and even iconic over the years. Turns out, they had just introduced their new Honey Oat Latte bottled brew during our most recent visit there; a dairy-free beverage, the Honey Oat Latte features honey sourced from The Rare Honey Company — we had also previously visited Goldies at Stirling Road, which is a cafe run by The Rare Honey Company that also retails their raw honey in-store as well. For those familiar with Old Hen Coffee Bar, their Cold Brew White has been noted to be a sweetened beverage — the flavours also being rather consistent over the years; whilst most places serve their bottled Oat Cold Brews without any added sweetness, the Honey Oat Latte sees that familiar level of sweetness coming from the addition of honey. We recalled the floral aroma of the honey in the offerings at Goldies to be rather evident and the same could be said about the Honey Oat Latte — these same notes run at the back of the tongue as the finishing notes to the coffee. Considering the level of sweetness of the Honey Oat Latte though, the grainy notes of oat milk are not quite as obvious here as compared to the unsweetened Honey Oat Latte that we had tried elsewhere — the cuppa still carrying more of a nutty note amidst the sweetness which we felt to be rather balanced. Definitely one to go for those whom are ardent fans of Old Hen Coffee Bar’s bottled cold brew coffees, and would probably suit those whom have a thing with their Cold Brew White!

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Old Hen is a quaint cafe hidden in a row of shops that is a short distance away from Farrer Park MRT, and they specialise in their coffee as well as baked pastries. However, as we were visiting in the evening, we decided to get something lighter and we ordered a matcha latte instead. We could taste a slight bitterness in the matcha-based drink, although this was largely overpowered by the milk in the drink. Would have loved it if the matcha flavour was more pronounced. The drink was priced at $6, which was a pretty standard price for a hot drink at a cafe.

We love the insides of Old Hen though, and we thought that the use of the fan covers and fan blades to decorate the lighting in the interior was really special. The interior decorations gave off a pretty chill old-school vibe and it would be nice to have a conversation over coffee here. That being said, there is a time limit of 1 hour for dining in though.

Absolutely loved this. The teacake was soft and sufficiently moist, and there was a generous amount of walnuts for a good crunch. There was a good spice profile in this, that of cinnamon and nutmeg. There was a warm, earthy taste to the cake itself, which was further perfected by the slightly saltish cream cheese. This helped to balance the slight brown sugar sweetness which overall made this a wonderful delight to eat.

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Chocolate hazelnut ganache on the teacake was so decadent. The teacake itself was layered with a biscuit, which gave a super good crunch together on top of the hazelnuts. As someone who does not have a penchant for sweet things, this did not feel too sweet, until after a while. Nonetheless, for anyone who is buying this, you’re expected to be greeted with a rich, chocolatey experience.

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Creamy and smooth matcha milk that was slightly on the milkier side. Matcha taste was apparent but somehow I felt like this was on the pricier side.

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