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Criollo Cocoa Cafe (Closed)

3.5

3.5

13 Reviews

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

|

30

Somerset

$11 - $20

Burgers and Sandwiches Café

4

1

0

cptslowyeo

Level4

479

32

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Located right at the escalator landing of the second floor of Orchard Gateway is Criollo Cocoa Cafe. You cannot miss it! They pride themselves with providing comfort food all day, hence they serve breakfast items throughout the day.The second you walk in, you are greeted by all the beautiful cakes and sweet treats that are indefinitely screaming for your stomach space! Even though these cakes were not on our food tasting menu, we had no choice but to ask for some, as the cakes looked so perfectl

Located right at the escalator landing of the second floor of Orchard Gateway is Criollo Cocoa Cafe. You cannot miss it! They pride themselves with providing comfort food all day, hence they serve breakfast items throughout the day.

The second you walk in, you are greeted by all the beautiful cakes and sweet treats that are indefinitely screaming for your stomach space! Even though these cakes were not on our food tasting menu, we had no choice but to ask for some, as the cakes looked so perfectly delicious!

The menu is very simple and clean. It would help if the cafe highlighted their best sellers, or their signature dishes. Since it is a cocoa speciality cafe, I was delighted to see frozen hot chocolate. I haven't had that since I left the states!

The seats in the cafe are well spaced, giving tons of personal space for each group of diners. Something that is not always available in cafes that are set right in the busy district of Orchard Road. I really appreciate them not squeezing tons of tables together.

A great window view of the busy Orchard Road. One of the owners, Mr Lam mentioned that he and his business partners enjoy "people watching" and hence they picked this exact unit. I totally like the idea of sipping a drink, and just observing the hustle and bustle of Orchard Road.

1. Big Breakfast $12 (Promo price till end of June 2015)/$16.90 (Regular Price)

First up was 2 scrambled eggs, served with chicken sausage, sauteed mushrooms, bacon which could be substituted for turkey bacon, hash brown, toast and fresh fruits in sweet yogurt. The BIG breakfast was highlighted by the BIG and very long chicken sausage, it was juicy and had a slight smoked after-taste. Everyone agreed that the fresh fruit in the yogurt was delicious and a much healthier option for a big breakfast. For $12, you get quite alot on your plate!

2. Portobello Burger $12.90 *highly recommended*

Portobello Burger

It's been a long while since I had a portobello burger. I'm a mushroom lover and from one mushroom lover to another, just order this! You will not regret it! The mushroom is so juicy and tender. The toasted brioche bun was executed perfectly, the bun was crispy on all the edges and paired nicely with the grilled portobello.

3. Seafood Laksa Pasta $16.90

Seafood Laksa Pasta

It's always nice to see a slight Singaporean twist to an Italian favourite. The laksa sauce was very distinctive but it was a tad too spicy for myself, as I normally do not eat spicy foods. The prawns and squid rings were fresh and I enjoyed it!

4. Mixed Grilled Platter $18.90

Mixed grilled platter

Usually, when I order a grilled platter, I would expect a lavish amount of grilled meats to clog my arteries. However, at Criollo Cocoa, it wasn't the case. There were just 4 sticks of meat, all of which tasted okay, not fantastic. My favourite part of this dish, wait for it........ the COLESLAW!! No kidding, I cleaned my plate of the coleslaw!

5. Chocolate Waffle $9.90

Chocolate Waffle

Being a cafe that is named after the source of chocolate, we couldn't wait to try their chocolate waffles and ice cream. The cafe definitely spends some effort into presenting their dishes and the chocolate waffle was no exception. I really liked the chocolate gelato. It was 100% pure chocolate, one of the best gelato I've had in a long while. The waffles were the crispy kind and you could taste the chocolate in the waffle. For $9.90, this is one of the best value for money/good quality waffles in town! The ice cream was so good, that we had no choice by to ask the owner, if we could try more ice cream flavours.

6. Malt Cake $6.90

Their cakes are supplied by Pies & Coffee and they are mouth watering! The malt cake was very dense with pure malt and chocolatey goodness. It will take more than one person or even two, to finish this slice of cake. Do not let it's size fool you!

7. Earl Grey Tea Cake $5.90

Earl Grey Tea Cake

I've tried several earl grey tea cakes and though this is not the best, for the money, it's easily twice the size of what other cafes offer at the same price! Not to mention, it still satisfied my earl great tea cake cravings! Thank You Mr Lam!

The cake is moist, not gerlat and most of all, not sweet. So you can slowly devour this cake bit by bit and not feel guilty!

8. Lychee and Coconut gelato $3/scoop

Lychee and Coconut ice cream

We were blown away by the goodness of the chocolate gelato, as such we went on to try their coconut and lychee flavours. The lychee had real lychee fruit in the gelato. It tasted good, but the winner goes to the coconut ice cream. I'm not a fan of coconut, but this is by far the most perfect gelato flavour I have tried. It's not sweet, but yet addictive. It doesn't make you reach for a glass of water to wash down the sugar at all.

This cafe has a hidden secret! They have a gelato machine right next to their ice cream counter. There's no advertisement or illustrations saying that they make their own gelato, after which they throw away unsold gelato after 10 days. Since the ice cream is churned by their machine, there's no preservatives, hence the 10 day life span. The vanilla gelato notably has visible vanilla beans in it! Which truly won me over!

The cafe is nett priced which is a plus! Especially in the downtown area, where majority of the cafes charge service charge and GST. So, please help yourself to the utensils.

I would like to thank Reka, OpenRice and Mr Lam for inviting me to this food tasting. Prior to this food tasting I had not visited Criollo Cocoa and now I am convinced that I'll be back here frequently for their delicious gelato and food offerings!

Nett Priced. Home made gelato is a must try!!

(The above review is the personal opinion of a user which does not represent OpenRice's point of view.)

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DETAILED RATING

Taste

Decor

Service

Hygiene

Value

Date of Visit

2015-06-04

Dining Method

Dine In

Dining Offer

Tasting Event

Recommended Dishes

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