Keong Saik Bakery 恭食烘焙坊 (Singapore, SINGAPORE) ★★★☆☆

Located in the heart of Chinatown, Keong Saik Road is enjoying quite an exciting run of late thanks to its award-winning bars and modern eateries. To soak in the buzzing atmosphere of its striving food scene, I decided to arrive a little early for my dinner at Burnt Ends.

Keong Saik Bakery (恭食烘焙坊) was the first shop I dropped by when I arrived at this famous eat street in Singapore.

Every Asian city seems to have at least one of these East-meets-West or Traditional-Meets-Modern bakery cum dessert cafe. For Singapore, it's Keong Saik Bakery.

A retro style cafe with nostalgic vibes highlighted by all these wooden tables, chairs and stools.

Sor Hei (SGD$4.0) is Keong Saik's signature pastry (left), a black and white pastry with chocolate chips nestled within multiple layers of pastries almost like a croissant.



Another signature item here is their cruffin, a hybrid of muffin and croissant. They come in different flavors including milo, matcha, burnt cheese and matcha burnt cheese.



Burnt cheese looked like a very interesting choice but I decided to go with the one with the best Singaporean twist, Milo.



For a cruffin to be considered tasty, it should have a crispy, flaky exterior of a croissant and the doughy centre of a muffin at the same time.



And this is where Keong Saik Bakery's Milo Cruffin (SGD$4.50) failed to impress. Yes, the crust was flaky and crispy enough, reminiscent of a delicious croissant but the centre was a little hollow. I do like the runny ganache made with Milo Kosong Gao though.

I thought the idea was great but the execution was far from perfect. That doesn't mean I won't be back for more (kaya toast and burnt cheesecake) on my next trip though.

Food Rating: 5.9/10
Price: $$$
Address: 41 Keong Saik Road, Singapore
Closest Metro Station: Outram Park / Chinatown
Tel: +65 6909-3199
Website: keongsaikbakery.oddle.me
Opening Hours: 7:30am - 5:00pm (Mon), 7:30am - 8:00pm (Tue - Fri), 8:00am - 8:00pm (Sat - Sun)