The husband and I headed to Marina Square for Lady M’s mille crepes but didn’t expect it to be closed that day. Since we already had lunch and was just looking for desserts, we settled for St. Marc Cafe which I recalled was featured in the local tv food programme, Snack Attack <<超级小吃赞>> a long while back and its croissants drew a lot of raving reviews.
Saint Marc Cafe is a Japanese chain that serves up freshly brewed coffee, daily baked breads, ice creams, parfaits and more. Its first cafe opened in Tokyo in 1998 and it has over 300 outlets in Japan now.
One thing that I like about most Japanese eateries is that there is always a display of wax food replicas to represent items on their menus and it’s just fun looking at all these pretty pieces of art while deciding on what to order.
Saint Marc Cafe is best known for its signature chococro (‘chocolate croissant’) which is made of the ‘best blend of Ghana Beans and finest Ecuador beans’ (dark chocolate) wrapped with a flaky and buttery croissant dough.
From left: Chococro ($2.40) and Matcha Daifuku Chococro ($2.60)
And here’s what we ordered.
When I took one bite of the original Chococro, I was expecting it to ooze chocolate custard but the ratio of filling to crust was just miserable. Even though the chocolate was supposedly made from the finest cacao beans, the taste was no where near finesse. I thought the chocolate tasted weak, like it had been diluted with too much of other ingredients so its consistency was quite thick. However, the croissant dough itself was really good. It was rich in butter flavour without being too greasy and it was light, flaky and airy inside. Definitely one of the best croissant doughs I’ve had in Singapore. Even though the Chococros were put out on bread shelves for self-service, they were warm and crispy.
The Matcha Daifuku Chococro consisted of the original crispy croissant filled with matcha custard, chocolate, red bean and mochi (sticky rice cake). I actually preferred this to the chocolate one because I could taste the sweetness of the soft red beans, the bittersweet fragrance of the matcha and the chewiness of the mochi that gave different textures with each bite.
If Saint Marc could come up with plain croissants without any filling, I’d probably get more so I could enjoy them with tea. The croissant dough was amazing but the fillings were truly forgettable.
Matcha Milk ($8.80)
This was decadence in a sundae glass. My type of ice kachang. Matcha flavoured shaved ice topped with vanilla soft serve with a drizzle of condensed milk and a side scoop of red bean. There wasn’t any sugar syrup in the shaved ice so it was full of lovely bittersweet fragrance of the matcha. I liked my every spoonful to have a bit of everything so all the flavours just complemented one another. Best thing about this, it wasn’t too sweet. The ice cream and condensed milk were good enough to sweeten the dessert subtly. You’d have to be quick to eat this before the bottom melts and becomes watery.
Besides its desserts, I thought the cafe was a good spot for students to study or for anyone who just wants to chill out with a tablet or laptop because it has these long tables with power sockets that you can charge your devices with. Next time, I’d be back with my gadget, order a drink or dessert and enjoy a leisure afternoon break.
St.Marc Cafe
6 Raffles Boulevard
#02-105/184/185 Marina Square
Tel: 6338 8606
Website
Opening hours: 10.00am to 10.00pm daily
Great review, thanks for sharing. Makes me want to visit the place too. There is this map called CafeSG that lets you find all the local cafes in Singapore! Super useful for cafe hopping and to discover new cafes near home and workplace.
http://cafesg.bigspoon.sg/
Hope to see more reviews from you
The map certainly comes in handy. Thanks for sharing.