9Toast @ Dhoby Ghaut

the place to get your hands on the honey-glazed shokupan toasts, filled with stretchy injeolmi mochi for that perfect chewy bite! Pair it with their honey-glazed sandos—packed with flavour and sure to wow your taste buds. And don’t forget their delicious drinks, like the Purple Haze Latte and Black Sesame Drink, to complete your meal. A perfect spot for anyone craving sweet, savory, and refreshing treats all in one!

- Same taro and purple sweet potato paste was generously covered around the sides of the cup, blending in harmoniously with the creamy milk!

- Not too sweet with a slight graininess of matcha powder 🍵
- Ratio of matcha to milk was acceptable.

- I liked how the buttery bread slices were toasted till crunchy crisp, though the former was less so than this.
- With honey and milk injeolmi as well but topped with strawberries 🍓

- I loved the paste that’s combined with purple sweet potato and taro, naturally sweet with mild earthiness, thick and smooth yet not surfeiting!
- Sandwiched in between the toasts was milk injeolmi which had a liquidy mochi-like consistency with roasted soybean powder giving fragrant nuttiness 😋
- Enjoyed the light milk cream on the side which provided saltish notes.

Got to know about the new 9Toast that seems to be a pretty new addition to Singapore Shopping Centre whilst scrolling through social media one day — Singapore Shopping Centre is quite a forgotten spot in town considering its location along Clemenceau Avenue; this is the same building which also houses the original location where L'éclair Pâtisserie had first started. 9Toast, much like L'éclair Pâtisserie, is located along the exterior of the building, with the shop unit similarly facing out of the building towards Clemenceau Avenue as well — itself being situated just a few units away from L'éclair Pâtisserie. A space that is decorated simply but with a bit of style; the tall windows and ceilings of the space helps in bringing in natural light from the outside into the cafe; the cafe itself is being decked in wooden furniture and fittings that are matched against white walls and white tiles. While one side of the cafe is lined with bench seating that one can rest their backs on the wall and comes paired with smaller circular tables, there are three (3) proper dine-in tables with cushioned seats; two of which being suitable for groups of two pax, while the remaining table is suitable for a group of four pax. 9Toast is still on its soft opening phase when we made our visit to the cafe on a weekend morning; this also meant that they were serving up a slim menu that features only Honey-Glazed Toasts as well as Iced Artisan Drinks of the menu — the menu is peculiarly more drinks-centric, considering how there are more beverages listed on the menu as compared to the three varieties of Honey-Glazed Toast available.

Skimming through the menu that 9Toast has to offer, we decided to go for the Purple Haze Honey Toast amongst the other different variants of Honey-Glazed Toast which they have to offer; other Honey-Glazed Toasts available in the soft opening menu at 9Toast includes That’s So Cheesy and the Original. The Purple Haze Honey Toast is being described on the menu to come with elements such as Purple Sweet Potato, Taro, Milk Injeolmi, Honey and Milk Cream. Prepared only upon order, the toast takes a short while to be served to the table; the way it is presented on the plate sees the honey-glazed toast sandwiched with a thin layer of Milk Injeolmi in the middle — honey is also seemingly drenched on the toast, while there is a scoop of mashed purple sweet potato and taro that accompanies the honey-glazed toast. The Milk Cream comes in a separate pitcher on the side, allowing patrons to pour in the Milk Cream to their own desire. Best eaten when it is still hot, the honey-glazed toast is crusty and crisp on the exterior, we liked how the toast does not feel particularly dense, yet carries a rather apt hint of floral sweetness from the honey that was easily detectable. For those whom are not familiar with what Injeolmi is, Injeolmi is actually Korean rice cake — this can be described to carry a light hint of milkiness, but not as dense or sticky as what a mochi would have been; quite easy to have. The scoop of mashed purple sweet potato and taro comes in a shade of purple; the mix of the two ensured that the flavours were not particularly heavy on sweetness — instead focusing on the earthiness of both root vegetables. The sea salt milk cream that came on the side was pretty similar to that of a cheese cream / sea-salt cream macchiato that one would typically get at a bubble tea specialty shop — the consistency is a little more foam-like, bearing a slight saltish-ness that provides a bit of contrast of flavours to the toast.

We had also went for the Black Coffee Macchiato — the Black Coffee Macchiato is described on the menu to come with elements such as Black Coffee, Sea Salt Cream and Cocoa. Interestingly, the staff had mentioned that they had used roasted coffee beans that are typically used in local-style Nanyang Coffee — the slightly darker blend is said to be specifically chosen to match up against the slightly saltish note of the sea salt cream that provides better integration of the two elements as opposed to using coffee beans typically used by cafes serving up specialty coffee instead. We also noted that the coffee also carried a smoother, buttery mouthfeel apart from the roasty note it has to offer — all that while not being sweet like what a typical cup of local-style Nanyang Kopi is. 9Toast at this current juncture during its soft launch phase does seem to lack the variety of dishes that one would expect out of a cafe; that being said, their honey-glazed toasts does seem to be Korean-inspired, and does definitely satiate the sweet tooth’s craving without being overly sweet. With their current selection of honey-glazed toasts being priced well below $10, 9Toast does make for a decent quiet spot to hang around for a light meal or a dessert to share — all that whilst having an intimate catch-up session with a friend.