The Awfully Chocolate Experience Cafe (Wisma Atria)

One of those brands that probably does not need an introduction these days would be Awfully Chocolate — the brand is founded in Singapore since 1998, and is also one that is pretty much commonly found in shopping malls across the island; the brand also runs Sinpopo as well. Whilst the Katong location of Awfully Chocolate is the flagship outlet that operates with a restaurant-style concept, its locations within shopping malls have been a mix between retail stores and dine-in cafes that offer a different experience from its Katong location emphasising on cakes and beverages. The brand had recently opened their latest outlet in Wisma Atria — located at level 3 of the mall, the Awfully Chocolate outlet at Wisma Atria is located right across from the outlet of 海底捞 Haidilao there. This is the very first location of Awfully Chocolate where they have re-looked into their dine-in cafe-cum-retail operations — at the front of the store, passers-by can have a view of the various plated desserts that they have to offer at this outlet; there is also an entire shelf of chocolate bars stocked-up for retail that one can grab-and-go as well. Hiding behind the retail shelf is the dining hall; unlike most Awfully Chocolate locations which feature a black-and-white interior decor scheme, the Wisma Atria location is decked in a refreshed look that features a large use of shades of brown involving elements of stone, marble, leather and wood for a more upscale and contemporary look. Considering the number of changes made to their dine-in operations at their Wisma Atria outlet, there is also a outlet-exclusive line-up of menu items available here to bring a different Awfully Chocolate experience to its patrons — the menu is segmented into sections dedicated to the Singapore Chocolate Experience, The Chocolate Raclette Wheel and hēi ice cream — all that aside from a selection of cakes which one can also find at their other locations; the beverages menu is further separated into sections such as The Awfully Chocolate Cacao Tea Series, Iced Cacao Tea Series, The Original Blend AC Hot Chocolate, Chilled Dark Chocolate, and a line-up of espresso-based specialty coffee as well.

One clear move with Awfully Chocolate’s Wisma Atria outlet is how they are attempting to fuse what the brand has successfully explored with Sinpopo Brand into the Awfully Chocolate experience — this is strongly felt particularly in their offerings under the Singapore Chocolate Experience and their hēi ice cream creations; the former being heavily based around the Kueh offerings that Sinpopo had introduced earlier during the opening of its TANGS Plaza location and expanded further on in recent times, while the hēi ice cream line-up at Awfully Chocolate at Wisma Atria sees their usual hēi ice cream served in parfait form where parfaits were also introduced into Sinpopo Brand at Tampines One. With our usual interest in Kueh, we found ourselves going for the Cocoa Kueh Dadar — a twist to the standard Kueh Dadar that Sinpopo had been offering for quite a while. The Kueh Dadar sees a cocoa-infused crepe featuring pastry cream, coconut and Gula Melaka — we found it interesting how the folks at Awfully Chocolate consistently plates the elements that the item comprises of beside the items itself; probably a way to allow patrons to better understand what they are having. The Cocoa Kueh Dadar is well-filled with pastry cream and Gula Melaka-infused desiccated coconut; there is definitely an earthy sweetness with a slight coconut-y fragrance that one can detect in the Cocoa Kueh Dadar, all that while the cocoa-infused crepe carries a slightly bitter undertone that lingers in the finishing notes of the dessert. The addition of pastry cream being something that seemingly adds a neutral note to ensure that the Gula Melaka-infused desiccated coconut gels with the cocoa-infused crepe.

The 100% Awfully Chocolate Muah Chee is another item that felt inspired from the Warabimochi offerings that Sinpopo Brand has to offer, though this seems to be made slightly differently nonetheless with the use of 100% Premium Dark Chocolate and coated with peanut soil — it comes with chocolate sauce and more of the peanut soil on the side. Coming with a pair of chopsticks on the side, patrons can toss the Muah Chee into the chocolate sauce and peanut soil; apart from the soft and chewy (but not sticky) texture of the Muah Chee, the highlight for us would be the chocolate-y, sweet, nutty and umami notes from the peanut soil that provided a crunch — very addictive. We had also made a subsequent visit where we have had their Goreng Pisang hēi and Vanilla Sundae from the “hēi ice cream” section of the menu; this essentially comprises of two scoops of Awfully Chocolate’s signature hēi chocolate ice-cream that is accompanied with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream, as well as caramel, cinnamon and Singapore-style tempura bananas — the other dish on the menu featuring the Singapore-style tempura bananas would be the Pisang Pisang from the “The Chocolate Raclette Wheel” section of the menu which had been mentioned quite a fair bit on social media posts on the establishment. This seems like Awfully Chocolate’s version of a Banana Split with a local twist; of particular note would be the Singapore-style tempura bananas that seems to replicate that of Goreng Pisang, though comes in a format where the banana is all chopped up before being coated with a batter and deep-fried. We liked how the fried bananas were crisp on the exterior with a batter that isn’t too thick, while they were also free from grease. The hēi ice-cream itself is a rich and decadent chocolate ice-cream flavour which would likely appeal to chocolate lovers, while the inclusion of a single scoop of vanilla ice-cream helped to balance the flavours out.

We had also given the Cacao 180 from The Awfully Chocolate Cacao Tea Series a try; essentially a by-product from the making of chocolate, cocoa tea is being made by double-roasting cacao husks — Awfully Chocolate serves up quite a number of variants of Cacao Tea which includes the Cacao 160, Cacao 170 and Cacao 180; we were told that the difference is in the temperature that the cacao husks are being roasted, and the Cacao 180 is the most intense due to it being roasted at the highest temperature amongst the three. Whilst carrying the aromas of cocoa in its scent, the Cacao 180 carries quite a tea-like flavour with a very clean finish; a very guilt-free beverage which they had also claimed to be caffeine-free and antioxidant-free as well. We aren’t folks whom would be this intrigued with the Awfully Chocolate brand; whilst they had been a brand that have been around in the local F&B scene for quite a while, the entrance of more artisanal bean-to-bar chocolatiers such as Mr Bucket Chocolaterie and Lemuel Chocolate have made Awfully Chocolate felt less relevant in the competitive F&B scene in Singapore — their offerings have also been a little stagnant for its dine-in offerings for quite a while. It is certainly refreshing to see how Awfully Chocolate has tried to reinvent their brand’s experience with the way that they approach chocolate, which incorporates the use of local elements with their expertise from running Sinpopo, as well as looking into some of the things that such artisanal chocolatiers have done and incorporating it into their offerings. Prices of the dishes at Awfully Chocolate’s Wisma Atria location are however on the higher side, though none of the items on the menu are priced above $19 — the numbers do add up quickly when one orders more than one dessert item per pax though. Still, Awfully Chocolate does seem to be pretty successful in creating a new dine-in experience with its brand that is worth checking out nonetheless.