Caffebene Singapore, Popular Korean Coffeehouse @ Vivo City

The Korean wave of eateries continue here in Singapore with the opening of Caffebene, a popular Korean coffeehouse chain that is based in Seoul, South Korea. It has now arrived at Vivo City, serving Korean bingsu, Belgian waffles, Italian gelato, honey bread as well as beverages choices.

I still remember the first time I visited Caffebene was in Seoul was about two years back. Back then, I still had no idea what bingsu was but we still went ahead with it. Now that it is in Singapore, of course I had to try it once again since it has grown over 1,500 stores worldwide.

The order process is slightly different here, your queue number will be flashed on a TV for self collection instead of the usual buzzer that they used. Other than that, the menu is similar to that in Seoul.

Heard good reviews about their Rice Cake Waffle $8.90, indeed it did not disappoint (at least to me). A huge slab of rice cake topped on a plain Belgian waffle, together with glutinous rice flour. The waffle is fragrant though heavily dense, while the rice cake adds a chewy texture to the overall dish.

Another flavour from the waffle selection, here is Tiramisu Waffle $10.90. If you love cocoa and something really sweet, you will definitely like this.

Of course not missing out their Bingsu since it's their main item at Caffebene. We had the original one, Pat Bingsu $13.90 which is the traditional Korean shaved ice. It is topped with walnuts and a huge scoop of azuki beans, as well as a rice cake. The shaved ice at Caffebene is slightly coarse as compared to other Korean bingsu stalls, most of us prefer the fine ice though. Overall tasted quite bland.

The other highly raved item that we tried, here's Garlic & Cheese Bread $13.90. There were 2 choices of honey bread to pick from, besides this there is also the Caramel Cinnamon bread. The garlic toast at Caffebene is slightly dry though rich in garlicky flavour, then drizzle with cheese sauce. This savory toast is overall decent, probably not worth the steep pricing though.

Another alternative if you prefer something sweet instead of the savoury toast like before. Here's Caramel Cinnamon Bread $12.90, the cube of toast is topped with whipped cream and drizzle over with caramel sauce and cinnamon. Decent though not the kind of toast I would like to have.

We also tried the Sweet Potato Latte $6.50 which is something different from the usual flavored lattes but unfortunately it tasted rather tame in reality. Overall the items at Caffebene are probably worth trying once, with hits and misses. I'm pretty sure there are better bingsu and bread toast out there.

*UPDATE as of March 2016

This time I had the privilege to try Caffe Bene's newly launched Snowflake with 5 over flavours to pick from. As Choco Snowflake isn't ready for launch, we tried the rest of the 5 different flavours.

For something simple and not too complicated in flavours, you may want to go for Milk Snowflake $17.90. As simple as it is - fine snowflake drizzle in milk with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and azuki paste at the side. Honestly, this bowl of ice flakes at $17.90 is pretty costly.

A flavour that I recommend to have among the 5, Misugaru Snowflake $16.90. It's a Korean inspired flavour as Misugaru is a Korean traditional grain powder, made of a combination of 7 to 10 different grains. Accompanied with cubes of azuki rice cakes at the side, this is a crowd pleaser.

The next flavour we had is the Strawberry Snowflake $18.90. Topped with generous chunks of strawberries and cranberry slices, this was decent though refreshing with the sweet strawberries.

Yet another common flavour I would say, Blueberry Snowflake $17.90. The shaved ice at the bottom is blanketed over with blueberry sauce, almond slices and a scoop of blueberry ice cream. Another sweet option for children besides chocolate, I would suggest this for being less heaty.

Lastly, we had the Nutty Coffee Snowflake $19.90. This bowl of shaved ice is covered in chocolate, coffee powder and assorted nuts. Overall, it tasted mediocre and doubt it is worth the value. For almost 20 bucks, I would suggest going for waffles and the honey toast instead.

Caffebene Singapore

VivoCity, 1 HarbourFront Walk
#02-150, Singapore 098585

Tel: 6635 1778

Opening Hours: 8am-10pm daily

http://caffebene.com.sg/

https://www.facebook.com/caffebenesg/