1 caramel

Spent a lonely Sunday afternoon outside by myself sipping tea and reading, one of those days when my thoughts are too distracted to sustain any kind of intelligent conversation with anyone. The place is 1 Caramel, one of the newest patisserie in town. Operated by the people behind Rochester Park, it's located at the ground floor of the rather pretentiously named apartment building called The Luxe. I have always lamented the dearth of good patisseries in Singapore, especially since Canele went the way of Bakerzin (Baker's Inn sounded so much better, sigh...), expanding into this mass market bistro chain, with the quality going down south. Good patisseries should just concentrate on making good cakes and 1 Caramel seems to be doing.

The rain was pattering on the road outside as I sat in the cafe, a brief respite from the heat of the past few days. The place was small and cosy, pretty quiet for a Sunday afternoon, probably due to the rain, not that it's a bad thing. Awashed in the dim diffused glow of the grey weather, the space was clean and sleek with a slight hint of self conscious trendiness. On the inner most side was a tall glass display cabinet, stretching from waist height to the ceiling, displaying the variety of cakes available for the day (too many to count with my ten fingers!). On the other side of the space, was a row of tables, with a long cushioned bench backed onto the full glass store front. The chairs on the other side of the tables looked like augmented country style chairs, white but with very high back rests. In the centre of the space was a long marble counter with brushed stainless steel legs, probably the best place to sit at but was quite underutilized, being filled only when the normal tables were taken up.

I first ordered the red miso souffle with yuzu ice cream, Expecting something rather savory and being somewhat skeptical of what I would be getting (I had in my mind the image of a chunk congealed miso soup), I was pleasantly surprised by how light the miso flavour was. The miso gave the otherwise plain souffle a hint of saltiness which melted with the sweet aroma of the miso. The savory-sweet souffle was served with yuzu ice cream, which provided a nice contrast with its temperature and citrus notes.

I later ordered a slice of the red velvet cake, which is an American southern classic. I know of another place in Singapore that makes it, though the cake and that place had been rather disappointing as a whole, but that's another story. 1 Caramel's version comes as a confection of deep red sponge layered with dark chocolate fudge (instead of the usual buttercream or butter roux icing) and cherry ganache which gave the cake a nice tarty twang.

While the double dessert did not cure my moodiness and the rain continued to pour as I walked out of the cafe, I left feeling certain that I will be back soon, as certain as the sun appearing after the rain clouds clear.


1 Caramel
#01-01A, The Luxe
6 Handy Road