Katsu Teishoku For those whom have been keeping an eye on the happenings of the local F&B scene of the late, one would probably have come across an establishment named Cafe Gyoen that had been mentioned a fair bit in the past couple of weeks. Located at 55 Serangoon Gardens Way, Cafe Gyoen is located in the Serangoon Gardens neighbourhood — one can find the establishment along the same row of shophouses that Apollo Coffee Bar, Meng Meng Roasted Duck and Pow Sing Restaurant; the unit which Cafe Gyoen occupies is the same one that used to house the now-defunct location of Isshin Machi. The cafe occupies quite a decently-sized shop space; this also means that the tables are set with a comfortable space in between so that patrons to get a sense of privacy of their own away from other diners. The space is decked in a way that can be described to come with a Japanese vibe — simple and modern with the large use of white and wooden elements and further spruced up with plants that gives it a bit of zen. A further area leading up towards the washroom also incorporated a Japanese railway theme with the area mimicking that of a Japanese bullet train and comes with signages replicating the same that can be found at Japanese railway stations; that being said, the acoustics of the space can be a little lacking for some considering how echo-ey the space was. Being an establishment with a Japanese theme, the menu at Cafe Gyoen features dishes spread across sections such as All Day Snacks, Teishoku Sets, Small Plates, Noodles, Donburi, Curry Rice and Maki Rolls. Beverages available at Cafe Gyoen includes espresso-based specialty coffee, drinking chocolate, Japanese teas, as well as a section dedicated to “Cool Stuff” that includes various Spritz and a Strawberry Matcha Latte — just to name a few.
One of the highlights at Cafe Gyoen would probably be their offering of Teishoku Sets — whilst there are a number of Japanese-inspired cafes that are located at several locations around the island, the availability of Teishoku Sets at Cafe Gyoen is something that seems to provide quite a bit of character to this dining establishment to say the least. For those whom are not aware on what a Teishoku Set is, it is essentially the Japanese term for a “set meal” that usually sees a “balanced meal” coming in a single tray / platter. Cafe Gyoen offers several types of Teishoku Sets on its menu, and the one that we had opted for would be the Katsu Teishoku — there is no description on its menu indicating the elements that would come with their Teishoku Sets, though it can be observed from our order that it would come with the Katsu that we had opted for, Onigiri, some cooked greens dressed in a Goma dressing, Shibazuke (i.e. Japanese pickles) and a bowl of soup; it does seem that the Katsu Teishoku also does come with a saucer of Tonkatsu sauce on the side. The entire Teishoku Set felt a little lacking to say the least; in fact, there were only two elements that we truly liked here — the Onigiri and the bowl of soup. For one, the Onigiri does come with a good texture; the rice being sticky enough for a good bite with a slight sweetness that sushi rice usually comes with from the use of rice vinegar, salt and sugar; meanwhile, the bowl of soup was rather interesting as well. Rather than going the route of serving up a bowl of Miso Soup, they had went with the soup that usually comes with Udon instead that provides a cleaner tasting, savoury note; the soup also coming with kelp that further adds on to the umami factor, and with something to chew on.
The rest of the elements did feel a little lacking in terms of its execution and flavours — the Katsu that was supposed to be the main star of the show here felt a little dry and a felt a little bland to say the least; could definitely work with a little bit of salt for a better flavour though dipping it into the Tonkatsu sauce that provided a sweet and savoury note does help things a little The Tamago also fell short of the typical sweetness and notes of dashj that one would find with the Tamagoyaki that other establishments served up; the dollop of sauce also did not really help in lifting up the flavours of the Tamago in particular. Meanwhile, even the spinach that comes rolled and dressed with Goma dressing was a little uninspiring — came a little too wet, with the Goma dressing having been diluted a little from all the wetness from the spinach. We had also tried other dishes such as the Mentaiko Sake Maki, which is from the “Maki” section of the menu. While the portion size of the Mentaiko Sake Maki was worth commending considering how the maki roll was rather thick, it was one that lacked finesse and came with a slight mismatch of expectations that its namesake suggested. It can be observed that the Mentaiko Sake Maki comes with Aburi Salmon Sashimi that has been drizzled with a “Mentaiko Mayo” over the top, while the roll interestingly comes with Ebi Tempura and chunks of cucumber rolled within. Truth to be told, the Maki Roll was loosely packed; the rice lacked structural integrity with the rice falling apart as one picked a slice of the roll using the chopsticks — the rice also came warmer than what one would expect out of typical sushi rice and definitely lacked the mild sweetness that sushi rice usually comes with. While the Ebi Tempura comes decent with its crisp golden brown beaded batter and was not greasy and the salmon being reasonably fresh, the “Mentaiko Mayo” felt like a slightly diluted spicy mayo — the usual creamy, umami note of Mentaiko Mayo being oddly missing and the same could also be said about the usual smokiness from the Aburi process as well.
Even the drinks could be described as disappointing to say the least — the Milk Cloud (Iced Americano) tasted like a weak latte with a cream cloud layer that lacked density and sank into the drink fairly quickly, while the Orange Americano (Iced) felt like heavily citrusy with the orange juice slightly overpowering the notes of the weak Americano here. On first look from its exterior and interior furnishing and fittings, Cafe Gyoen does seem like a promising concept that had spent quite a fair bit of effort especially in the outfitting of its interior to provide patrons a environment that is calm and peaceful — there is some effort placed in making the establishment look the part considering how they even do have the instagrammable corner around the area where the washrooms are at which admittedly would make for a good spot for photos. That being said, the establishment seems to fall rather flat when it came to their food offerings — we are not quite sure if this was due to the fact that we had made our visit there on their very first weekend of operations that also was a long weekend that comprised of a public holiday as well; while it can be somewhat attributed to teething issues where the staff are also getting used to the crowds that are visiting the establishment on the day of our visit, the food quality is generally rather poor for the price range that they are listed for. The Teishoku Sets at Cafe Gyoen are priced from $18.90 to $29, while other individually-sized dishes such as their noodles, Curry Rice and Donburi items are priced from $11.90 to $25.90; the Maki Rolls are also listed from $17.90 to $24.90 — prices of which that one can get properly executed Japanese fare of similar type at other dining establishments even within its vicinity. It does seem that Cafe Gyoen does have a fair bit to look into as they smoothen out their operations over time …
