When the Fabulous Baker Boy first announced its closure back in July 2020, there was a lot of sadness in the social media air. Even people who actually haven’t been there before joined in the ‘sharing’.
For fans of Chef Juwanda Hashim’s bakes, yes, he is back fabulous again at Aliwal Arts Centre – a short walk from Arab Street.
The bakery cafe used to be located at Fort Canning.
Walking in, I found this a sufficiently large space to host small groups of families and friends. Pink is in the air, with all the staff decked in baby pink with neon lighting at the back which shined “Big Love”.
Chef Juwanda Hashim’s (more affectionally known as ‘Ju’) has always baked one of the best cakes in Singapore.
His cake style is classic layered, known to be moist, with some interesting experimentations in terms of frosting.
Signatures include Valrhona Chocolate Cake ($9.50), Nutty Monkey ($9.50) which is a banana coconut cake, Raspberry Lemon ($9), and Green Tea Praline ($9.50).
I spotted a Big Lub Carrot Cake ($9.50) which was labelled “Voted No.1 By Daniel’s Food Diary” (Where’s my commission? LOL).
Back then (in 2014), I thought that their Carrot Cake slice was dense yet moist, complete with walnuts, cranberries, desiccated coconut, with the lead item of hand grated carrots.
The vanilla cream cheese frost was light and sweet, topped with coconut flakes. Totally a joy to savour.
Some of the cakes are cheekily named, such as a 10-layered butter torte hazelnut praline cake called “The Hossan Leong” ($11).
I went for the Better Midler ($9.50), with layers of earl grey sponge filled with earl grey swiss meringue buttercream, lemon emulsion and topped with blueberry swiss meringue buttercream.
Being a fan of classic tall cakes, I thought it was sufficiently moist and enjoyed the fruitiness of the blueberry. The earl grey flavour could have been more pronounced, but overall still a delightful slice.
The café features wholesome and hearty brunch fare such as Good Ol’ Eggs Benny ($14 or $16), BBQ Beef Grilled Cheese Sandwich ($20), Corn Bee Hash ($24), and Uncle Jimmy’s Fish and Chips ($22).
The TFBB Fried Chicken And Waffles ($24) contained buttermilk chicken soaked in garlic marinade, served on a whole waffle, and a side of Chinese pear and purple cabbage slaw.
While the waffle was pleasantly crispy, I thought that the chicken meat was to the dry side, and needed to drizzle more maple syrup over.
This is a happy place with delicious cakes. Happy to have you back. Stay fabulous!
The Fabulous Baker Boy
Aliwal Arts Center, 28 Aliwal Street, #01-01, Singapore 199918
Opening Hours: 9:30am – 6pm (Tues – Sun), Closed Mon
Other Related Entries
LUNA (Amoy Street)
Sinpopo Brand (Katong)
Kki Sweets (Seah Street)
Flourfields
Tarte by Cheryl Koh (Raffles City)
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