Got to learn about Takara House located at Haji Lane; these folks houses M.Patisserie within its premises — these folks should be fairly easy to find, considering how they are located towards the side of Haji Lane closer to North Bridge Road right opposite HYGGE. Both Takara House and M.Patisserie are located on the second level of the shophouse, with Takara House being a retail concept specialising in vintage fashion accessories and clothing. The entire space of Takara House is decked in a vintage setting; some elements being quaint, while others being antique — some part being retro almost to that of the cowboy-era in American history. There is also a slight Japanese flair that one can feel from the decor — the entire vibes of the space befitting to the items that they retail. M.Patisserie operates from the tiny kitchen area behind the counter of the store; the cafe also does have a small dine-in space that is located nearer to the windows facing out towards North Bridge Road which mostly comprises of low stools and coffee tables that sits two (2) pax each. There is also a couch seat that is set against the window closer towards the counter; the dining table being of a slightly taller height as compared to the coffee tables that one can find at the main dining area. A patisserie at heart, M.Patisserie serves up a rotating menu of cakes, tarts and financiers — these folks do post on Instagram the bakes that they are serving up for the day. Apart from the various bakes, M.Patisserie also does have a couple of beverages on its menu; this does involve espresso-based specialty coffee and a limited range of teas and other beverages.

Amongst the few tarts that they have to offer during the day of our visit, the Lemon Meringue Tart was the one that caught our attention — perhaps so considering our slightly preferences for sour-ish dessert tarts. M.Patisserie does not describe on the various elements that are included in their bakes on the description cards or on the menu, that being said, it can be observed that the Lemon Meringue Tart comes with the standard elements such as the meringue as well as lemon curd that sits atop a tart base. Slicing through the tart base of the Lemon Meringue Tart, we felt that the tart base does hold up the weight of all of the elements atop very well; the tart base does not feel soggy nor have absorbed all of the wet elements above it — all that whilst still being firm and disintegrating neatly wherever we had sliced down being cookie-like and without crumbling into a mess. The lemon curd itself does come smooth and also pretty tart with a fair bit of zing; not too sugary and does come with a bit of contrast from the use of lime leaves and lime zest. To compensate for the level of tartness from the various lemon and lime components, it does seem that the meringue comes in a proportion larger than that of the typical lemon meringue tart served elsewhere — the meringue being light and fluffy with a very lightly sweet note that neutralises that balances out with the lemon curd.

During the same visit, we had also given their Pistachio Matcha Cake a go. The cake can be observed to have come in three distinct layers with the top layer being the one coming with the lightest hue of green and also being of a mousse layer, while the the bottom-most layer bears the darkest shade of green within the cake. There is definitely some level of thought placed into the design of the cake in terms of both flavour and texture — one can definitely still detect the light whiff of pistachio nuttiness in the top two layers of the cake; the layer with the lightest hue being one that carries a smooth texture without being gelatinous like how some mousse cakes from other establishments tend to be like. As one moves further down, the second layer does seem to come with an element similar to that of Feuilletine where one can detect a bit of a light crunch amidst the mousse. The heavier notes come from the bottommost layer; the bitter undertones of matcha of this layer adds a contrasted finish to the light nuttiness from the layers above, while the firmness of the cake which is similar to that of a flourless chocolate cake also helps to make for a firm base for the wetter layers that comes above it.

We also managed to give their Citrus Blossom a go — this would be a tea-based beverage which sees the use of elements such as grapefruit, strawberry, lemon and lime. It is also served as an iced beverage. We did feel that the brew or the tea wasn’t as strong as we would have liked, while the flavours of the fruits weren’t really infused into the tea either. Takara House and M.Patisserie are pretty complimenting concepts that seems to provide a wholesome experience for a retail-cum-cafe concept where the themes of both concept does not come across as clashing — there is a whole zen vibe going on with the entire space while one sips on tea and soak into the vintage / retro vibe that they intend to create. That being said, we do feel worried that there might be a time where the cafe aspect of the concept may overshadow its retail operations — after all, the space of Takara House isn’t exactly made for queues to form like how a cafe would typically be like. Those whom are concerned with prices might also wish to note that the bakes from M.Patisserie does come at a steeper price point than usual — most of its offerings being priced beyond $10; may be a little exorbitant for some but the quality does make up for the price point as per how some other patisseries do. There really aren’t many establishments that carries the vibe and character that Takara House / M.Patisserie does — a creation of a lot of heart, soul and attention placed into the finer details that brought the concept to life. Definitely a spot to be added to the to-go list to check out what they are all about!