88 Cafe (Marina One)

One of the establishments that we had been looking forward for its opening would be that of 88 Cafe — we had been passing by their hoardings at the basement of Marina One for quite a while and the establishment had faced a number of delays in its opening; pretty glad to see it finally opening its doors to the public. For those whom are not aware, 88 Cafe is an establishment by the same folks behind 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist — yes; the very same folks whom have first started out within a coffeeshop at Tyrwhitt Road before expanding its operations (and eventually moving) to a location along Lavender Street. There is also another outlet that this folks run at China Street as well. 88 Cafe is a bit of a slight shift of concept from the typical 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist stores out there; these folks can be found in the same area as where Feng 丰 is within Marina One, and instead of being a standalone Hong Kong-style roast meat stall on its own, 88 Cafe operates more like a food court featuring a handful of different stalls that has yet to go into operation when we dropped by 88 Cafe during their very first day of operations. This is probably their largest outlet till date; the stalls operating within 88 Cafe includes that of 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist itself, 88 Cafe, 88 Specialty Pork Noodle (coming soon) and a Marina One Nasi Padang (coming soon) based on the signages hung atop each of the stall units. The entire unit sees the use of mosaic-esque wallpapers around the counters, while the furniture and fittings feature wooden accents — the flooring being one that sees tiles coming in a shade of terra-cotta; all these do add up to a rather warm look that still looks pretty coherent to the eye. There are quite a number of dine-in seatings available that suits various group sizes at 88 Cafe; all of which featuring the same cushioned dining chairs that is a plus over stools that such establishments tend to opt for. Much of what 88 Cafe has to offer as an entire establishment during its initial days of operation is largely similar to what is being offered at both the 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist locations at Lavender Street and at China Street, though it is noticeable that there are is a more extensive selection of sandwiches and beverages that is being offered at 88 Cafe in Marina One.

A trip to 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist isn’t complete if one doesn’t give their Hong Kong-style roast meats a try and what better way to give more of their offerings a try by going for their Premium Char Siew Wanton Noodle which already comes with their Premium Char Siew and soup wantons by default; those whom have previously visited 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist would also have raved about their Roast Pork as well — and this is how we found ourselves going for the Premium Char Siew Wanton Noodle with an additional portion of their Roast Pork as well as Lava Egg. Despite the somewhat long queue on the very first day of operations, the queue does seem to move rather fast; even the noodles are cooked for quite a short period of time and collection was almost quite instant after the order is being made. As with how their dishes typically look, the cuts of meat that came with our order do come pretty thick. Giving the noodles a quick toss before digging in, the noodles here do come packed with a savoury note with a spicy kick for those whom have opted for chili to be added to the noodles — the kick of spiciness being one that tickles the tastebuds for those whom are tolerable to slightly lower than moderate levels of spiciness; we have always found their sauce mix for the noodles to be a little more heavy-handed especially given the way they serve their meats however. The noodles were still pretty springy despite the amount of sauce being served with the bowl of noodles; moving on to the meats, we did find that we had a preference towards the Premium Char Siew as compared to the Roast Pork. The Premium Char Siew here is immensely tender and gelatinous — melt-in-the-mouth whilst one can still feel some of the fibres of the meat at the same time; all that with a slight hint of sweetness from the barbecue surface on the exterior that carries a bit of bite. This would definitely work more in the favour for those whom prefer fattier cuts of Char Siew generally. In retrospect, the Roast Pork does feel like it comes slightly leaner than what we recalled it to be, though the meat is still considered rather soft though towards being almost slightly mushed that we aren’t too much a fan of. With that being said, the Roast Pork still comes with that biscuit-like crackling skin that the Roast Pork from 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist is particularly notable of. The Lava Egg does come with soft, formed egg whites whilst coming with molten egg yolk within; other elements that can be found within the same bowl includes Baby Nai Bai which provides a fibrous crunch that is a break away from all the meats and noodles, while one can also find small morsels of crispy pork lard at the bottom of the entire bowl. The wantons that comes in the accompanying bowl of soup were pretty worthy of the mention as well; not only were they generously packed with meat, but we had also noted the use of water chestnuts within that helps give it a little bit of a crunch amidst the firm bite of the meat; all wrapped in the smooth and silken dumpling wrapper.

During our visit to 88 Cafe, we had also given the Kaya Butter Toast a go as well — this would be from the 88 Cafe stall which also does serve up other interesting sandwiches such as that of the Premium Smoke Bacon and Scrambled Egg Sandwich, as well as all the beverages that are being served at 88 Cafe as an establishment. The Kaya Butter Toast at 88 Cafe comes in the form of two slices of toasted white bread coming with Kaya spread and slabs of butter in between that is being sliced into half to form two equal-sized pieces; we did admittedly find the presentation of the dish to be actually quite neat compared to some variants of the Kaya Butter Toast that we have come across from other establishments. It is noted that 88 Cafe uses Nonya-style Kaya for its Kaya Butter Toast offering; the Kaya coming with a green hue that hints of the use of Pandan. That being said, we did find that the ratio of Kaya and butter here leant slightly towards that of the latter which is also salted, while the white bread does come with a crisp, brown and crusted surface whilst being soft and light in general. Not the best Kaya Butter Toast that we have come across for sure, but still pretty comforting nonetheless. Meanwhile, the Kopi (Hot) here is one that seems to be quite a strong cuppa being all roasty, though also one where we found that the level of sweetness is being pretty much held back; our preference would be for it to come a little sweeter but still quite a decent local
brew overall nonetheless with the ratio of coffee to milk being pretty well-managed overall. Given the lack of variety of dining establishments serving up local Chinese fare within the Asia Square / Marina One area, the opening of 88 Cafe has been something that the office workers in the area have been pretty excited about — this is not forgetting how the brand has already established itself as a name synonymous with quality Hong Kong-style roast meats over the years since their early days at Tyrwhitt Road. That being said, we do feel that 88 Cafe would likely be a once-in-a-while treat for us given the heaviness of the meats and noodles in general — we are however looking forward to the opening of the other concepts soon such as that of 88 Specialty Pork Noodle which may bring a different dining experience away from the traditional offerings associated with 88 Hong Kong Roast Meat Specialist all these while. Prices are a little steep with rice dishes featuring one meat starting at a price point of $6 onwards; most folks might find themselves paying around $8 to $9 for a meal here — not that unexpected given the building which they are located in, and still worth considering as a lunch option for the office workers here considering the relative prices of food from other dining establishments within the area.