Late night dessert at Wimbly Lu

With our cooking adventures taking our kitchen by storm, I was normally exhausted on a weekday night. However, Kenneth sure knows the way to lure me out on a weekday night, lol! When you put cafe + chocolates + near your place in a single sentence, that was enough for me to throw in the towel & head out!

I first found out about this place from lil bro. A chance incident when we sent lil bro to meet his friends at this cafe & we sort of lost our way circling round the estate trying to find the place. When we finally got to the location, I was surprised to see the street bustling with life in a private housing estate! It was a miniature version of Holland V at night. Thinking that lil bro was out drinking (I had to report to mummy dearest somehow), I googled "Wimbly Lu" and surprise surprise, this was a chocolate cafe!  

 

Check out the vintage beetle that has become an icon for this cafe, even incorporating it into their logo. In fact, their logo reminds me of a pumpkin carriage from Cinderella. 

With a name of Wimbly Lu, I was surprised to find that the cafe was jointly created by owners Lim Wee Bin & Lucinana Tan, who decided to swap their 30yrs (combined) TV production careers for a "kitchen" life.

Kenneth & Meiqin reached before us & was given a table for 4. Just as we pulled up in front of the cafe, Kenneth called and he was contemplating of leaving & filled me in on the details. So the drama unfolded .... Kenneth & Meiqin were asked to move to a smaller table of 2 pax in the midst of their appetizers. The staff wanted to take back the table (of 4) to cater to a bigger group. They claimed that since their friends (me+Leecher) were not here yet, Kenneth will have to move to a smaller table first. Naturally, Kenneth was upset as they were already halfway through their appetizers! He tried to reason with them, stating his displeasure, but end up still had to give up the table. When I arrived (5 min later), I had to stand around the 2 pax table that Kenneth & Meiqin were now sitting at while they prepared another 4 pax table for us. We then moved (utensils, food and all) to the new table. Basically, Kenneth had a change of 3 tables within the span of 15 min. While they were extremely apologetic about it later, but I think the night's mood was more or less dampened.

 

At least they offered to change a brand new soup for us. I had a taste of the mushroom soup ($5, for soup of the day) and it was good! Definitely nothing that came out from the campbell can. 

They certainly redeemed themselves with their tasty food. Not a lot of cafes are able to nail both food + desserts successfully, but I guess Wimbly Lu is one of the few that managed to do so. Chicken & Mushroom Baked Rice ($10) was tastefully done too, which I was tempted to try out this dish in the kitchen!

 

with Kenneth & Meiqin :)  

 

with the dearest, of course!  

Glass-roofed dining area, which leads to a small neighbourhood playground and park at the end. I'll definitely love to head back during day time again :) 

A peak into their kitchen (for making desserts)!  

Most of their decorative items were handmade, which added to the personal touch.

Koppaberg Cider, strawberry & lime flavour ($12). It was a refreshing drink & I like the fruity taste, though strawberry definitely empowered the lime flavour.

Leecher went for iced chocolate with Baileys ($10.50). This was a very watered down version, no hints of Baileys at all. It felt like drinking melted Walls' ice-cream.

Since they are famous for their chocolates, we just had to go with everything chocolatey! First up, we have Rocky Roads ($5). This was extremely nutty, though it was rather difficult to slice up the portion for sharing. A lovely start :)

Rootbeer Cake with Vanilla ice-cream ($6). Who would have thought of putting mixing rootbeer with cake? A mouthful of cake & you have rootbeer + chocolate exploding in your mouth. Pair it with vanilla ice-cream to neutralise the sweetness.

A cuppa for Kenneth, I'm pretty sure he will have difficulty falling asleep that night, lol! 

Waffle with ice cream, topped with chocolate truffle ice cream and drizzled with chocolate sauce ($8.50). This was what I came here for! Crispy waffles served warm, always a pleasure to eat it with chocolate ice-cream! There are a couple of ice cream choices available - rum & raisin, salted caramel, honey cinnamon, milo, cheesecake and (boring) vanilla.

Even though we encountered the unpleasant incident earlier, I guessed the staff pretty much made amends later on. Overall, I would still head back to this cafe to try out their other homey items on the menu, but .... I'll make a reservation next time! 

Wimbly Lu
15-2 Jalan Riang
Singapore 358987
Tel: 6289 1489
Opening Hours: 1pm till 10.30pm (Tues-Fri), 9am till 11pm (Sat-Sun)

Sunday Brunch: Benjamin Browns

 

The initial plan was to go cycling at East Coast Park before adjourning to The Garden Slug for brunch. However, Leecher sprained his back & we had to cancel our cycling outing & headed to a new cafe that Pris recommended ~ Benjamin Browns. 

 Just as we were heading out to town, it started to pour heavily. Both EK & Kenneth were caught in jam along CTE. We had the foresight that CTE will be jammed pack, so we took KPE > PIE instead.

 

Our reservation was for 12.30pm, but due to traffic jam + finding parking lots, we only managed to reach at 1pm. Thankfully, the lovely staff still hold our reservation for us. 

 

When I was here last Xmas with EK & Pris, I did not notice this little cafe that was hidden at a corner. Perhaps they just ventured into Forum Shopping Mall not long ago or I could have missed out entirely :)

The open concept made the place looked bigger than it really was. While I adore the dainty display of desserts displayed out on the counter, the decor gave me mixed feelings - Antoinette-ish feel with the array of cakes on one side, Coffee-Bean-ish type of feel on the other side. Kenneth came shortly with Meiqin & echoed my feelings, lol! 

 The coffee bean-ish type of counter.

 
Seeing doubles?

 
Camwhoring while waiting for the rest to come.

 

My hot chocolate ($7) came with a heart ♥

 

I'm easily impressed by all the latte art that I've seen so far, be it the standard heart or fern etc. As I'm a non-coffee drinker, I can only look @ Leecher's latte art whenever he ordered coffee. So, I got rather excited when my hot chocolate came with a heart! Now, I finally have my own "chocolate" art :) 

 

Leecher's latte order ($4.90)

 

We were famished, so we went ahead with brunch first. If you had been following my Cafe trails, I'm quite consistent in my brunch orders, lol! I had Royale ($17), which consisted of poached eggs on toast, hashbrowns, tomato, smoked salmon & salad. I'm normally skeptical about toast, as I'm not a fan of thick toast. The eggs sat on top of a slice of homemade raisin bread, which was extremely soft and chewy. Honestly, if I had to rank my best eggs benedict thus far, I think this would be in the Top 5 spot.

 

Leecher decided to head for main course & ordered Wagyu Burger ($22). Looked like someone can't wait to attack, but rule of thumb - pics first, lol! 
 

Spot the friendly manager in the mirror :) 
 

As soon as Boss EK arrived, wine will appear on the table. Kenneth's first food in-take of the day - red wine.

 They conveniently excluded us from drinking, knowing that we are not a fan of red. Here's a warm welcome to Meiqin, the newest member of our group :)

 Check out her bling bling nails! I love to have her set of nails, as long as it means I'm off any house-work duties, heh.

 Orders for the rest of the group ~ Mushroom soup ($14), Seafood Alio Olio ($19), Carbonara ($17) and Fish & Chips ($19). Judging from the amount of leftover food, I concluded that the best 2 items are Wagyu Burger & Royale, since we polished off every thing on the plate.

 

Cappuccino for both Kenneth & Meiqin. 

 Always fun to hang out with them, though we bicker all the time, lol!
 

Desserts time! Kenneth had the privilege of choosing desserts for everyone. 

Leecher being extremely sensitive to the camera, lol! 

   

Lemon Meringue Tart ($5.90) with 6 rochers ($12) & Chocolate Truffle Cake ($6.90). My personal preference goes to rochers, which was a hit with everyone. Lemon Meringue Tart tasted extremely sour while chocolate truffle cake was a disappointment.

Apple crumble ($6.90) was apparently one of their top sellers, with only 2 slices left. Hmm, I beg to differ - the crumble tasted as if it had been left in the open for too long & was kinda dry. Oreo cheesecake ($6.90), on the other hand, was the best of the lot. Not because it was really yummy, but due to the rest being not-so-yummy.

Ending the post with the lovely girlfriend, fiancee, wife, lol! 3 different stages in life.

Benjamin Browns

583 Orchard Road #01-20/21 

Forum The Shopping Mall

Singapore 238884

Tel: 6887 4117

Opening Hours: 10am till 10pm (Daily)