After a satisfying dinner at Din Tai Fung, Hubby suggested that we stopped by Caffe Bene for a bingsu (Korean shaved ice dessert) because it deserved a ‘second chance’, lol. Well, he said that because ever since we had a bingsu at Cafe Insadong (it had ceased operation on 31st December 2016), we totally shunned it for more than a year as we aren’t big fans of super-sweet stuffs. So…I reluctantly agreed and told Hubby to be prepared to polish off a whole bingsu on his own ‘cos it might be too saccharine for my liking, lol.
Anyway for those of you who aren’t familiar with Caffe Bene, it’s actually the largest coffeehouse chain in South Korea. There is an outlet in Singapore too which is located at VivoCity. Caffe Bene specialises in coffee, Belgian waffles, Italian gelato, bingsu and smoothies.
Caffe Bene
Lot J3-13, Level 3
Johor Bahru City Square Shopping Mall
106 – 108 Jalan Wong Ah Fook
80000 Johor Bahru, Johor
Malaysia
Opening hours: 10.00am to 10.00pm daily
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/caffebene.asia/
Website: http://caffebene.com.my/
This was the Green Tea Tower Bingsu (RM16.80) in single portion which was big enough for 2 persons to share. The tower consisted of matcha-flavoured shaved ice on the bottom, followed by matcha ice cream, red beans, huge dollop of whipped cream and various toppings like whole cashew nuts, chopped walnuts and sliced almonds.
I liked the matcha ice cream that was thick, smooth and creamy. Had a strong matcha fragrance too. Everything else was good except that the red beans were overly sweet. Thank goodness the other elements weren’t similarly sweet so you could still strike a balance of flavours by combining the red beans with the ice and ice cream, etc.
Surprisingly, the hubby didn’t need to devour this whole thing on his own, haha. Pretty good and I wouldn’t mind coming back for it. Shall try a different flavour next time.
We also ordered the Garlic & Cheese Honey Bread (RM18) which was basically thick toast with a firm cheese layer on top followed by a generous squeeze of creamy nacho cheese that probably had honey in it. The bread was crispy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside.
It was well buttered all over, including between the gaps/lines and the bottom too. Salted butter was used so it was very fragrant. Hubby said it wasn’t buttery enough but I thought it was just right, otherwise it would be too oily and cloying. Couldn’t taste any trace of garlic though.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t any service charge or GST so prices indicated above were nett.
In Singapore, these two items would have cost us about SGD30 but we only paid SGD11 here after currency exchange. That’s a steal! ??