Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express (Raffles Xchange)

The Central Business District has been pretty buzzy ever since the turn of the new year, with quite a number of F&B establishments that had been opening up especially around the Raffles Place area. Apart from the new F&B establishments which we had mentioned at CIMB Plaza, it does seem that there is also at least one new opening at Raffles Xchange within Raffles Place MRT Station. Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express had recently opened their second outlet — the original concept being Marie’s Lapis Cafe that is situated at Blk 537 Bedok North Street 3; the opening of Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express also marks the very first concept that the brand is operating within the Central Business District. Being a brand with a Peranakan flair, Marie’s Lapis Cafe is an establishment that is best noted for its creativity behind their Kueh Lapis (or rather, Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis Legit, considering it is the “Thousand Layer Cake” that we are referring to) with their variations of the said cake it several different flavours — that would be aside from the various other Peranakan home-style mains and side dishes that they have to offer. Despite being an “Express” outlet, Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express does have a decently-sized dine-in space that is themed with a bit of Peranakan influence; think mosaic-esque floorings with wooden furniture and fittings matched against white walls — almost half of the space is dedicated to the kitchen and the ordering counter. Being an “Express” outlet however, Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express offers a slightly condensed version of the menu that Marie’s Lapis Cafe offers; there are only the Ayam Buah Keluak, Beef / Chicken Rendang, Prawn Sambal and Mee Siam to choose from for the mains — the meat dishes would also come accompanied with rice. For desserts, Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express offers a variety of Peranakan-style Kueh as well as Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis Legit; the latter however only being available in a square cut instead of being in slices. For beverages, Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express offers Nanyang-style Kopi & Teh, as well as Nitro Tea and Coffee.

Given how Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express is positioned as a fuss-free, quick service eatery, the ordering process for Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express is done via a self-service kiosk located at the counter where one can make payment via credit / debit card. That being said, it is noted that some of the items on the menu are not being listed in the self-service kiosk; such items can be ordered from the counter directly with the cashier and payment can also be made via QR code. Considering the nature of Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express, patrons would also be expected to self-collect the orders once their order number as indicated on the receipt is being called out via the screen that is located at the back of the store; it is also well noted that Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express uses disposable ware for all of the items that are being served up at the establishment. Skimming through the menu for what Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express has to offer, we found ourselves going for the Chicken Rendang — something which we are definitely more familiar with. For the Chicken Rendang; the item comes accompanied with a serving of blue pea-infused rice; the plate of rice also coming with a rectangular slab of steamed omelette, as well as being topped off with coriander and a slice of chili padi for the aesthetics. Digging into the Chicken Rendang, we found that this was perhaps our favourite part of the dish — the meat itself was juicy and tender; it also comes with a prominent hint of spices that was being used in its preparation process. We also noticed how the Chicken Rendang wasn’t spicy; something that should go fairly well even for those whom have a lower tolerance of spiciness since the main focus was seemingly on the spices used in the cooking process here. That being said, we would probably be happier if they provided metallic utensils rather than disposable utensils here — this would probably allow us to enjoy the chicken as much as we would have liked to finish it cleanly.

When it came to the rice, it was interesting to see how the blue pea-infused rice is done with a garlicky note almost akin to that of Hainanese-style chicken rice; the only distinction here being the texture of the rice being a little less moist than that of Hainanese-style chicken rice. It is undeniable that the rice came with an incredibly vibrant blue hue from the natural colours of blue pea flower, and while the texture of the rice was mostly still decent, we did have a small clumped up portion of rice hidden somewhere in between in a corner. We really were not a fan of the rectangular slab of an omelette that came on the side; so much that we rather that they make do without it — this seems to be prepared way beforehand and its stone cold temperature against the warm Chicken Rendang was a really stark contrast that stood out like a sore thumb. It also felt a little too neat and tasted rather bland apart from a slight seasoning of salt that just made it feel particularly weird. The Kueh Salat was actually rather decent; considering the price of $2.50 of which they had charged for the Kueh Salat, the Kueh Salat here comes in a slab that would be a little bigger than the usual rectangular-shaped ones that we are used to seeing being sold in bakeries and market stalls elsewhere. The Pandan mousse layer felt close to having an aptly sweet Kaya, with the glutinous rice layer coming with a slightly blue hue being coloured by blue pea flower; the glutinous rice layer being moist, sticky and chewy whilst not sticking to the teeth — all that bringing a variety of textures to the Kueh Salat.

When it came to the Kopi, the Kopi was lacking a really robust body that we were expecting with Nanyang-style Kopi being a little watered down somewhat. Overall, our visit to Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express was one with both hits and misses; one thing that was rather stark to us was the lack of Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis Legit slices that are offered here – considering how Marie’s Lapis Cafe has been known for their Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis Legit offerings, perhaps it would be wiser for them to showcase their strengths; offering them in squares that is a little big for one to consume post-meal at a price that almost matches that of their mains just felt a little counter-intuitive to introduce their star items to their patrons. Prices of the mains at Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express starts from $8.80, with the lowest-priced items being the Mee Siam; the priciest dish is set at $17.90 being the Beef Rendang that also comes with the blue pea-infused rice — the Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis Legit in squares comes at a price tag of $13 irregardless of the type of flavour it is. Perhaps it is still early days for Marie’s Lapis Cafe Express when we made our visit for lunch on a weekday, and they might still be figuring out on what exactly works to suit the office folks in the Central Business District. That being said, we do look forward to giving them a try again if they are ever serving up their Kek Lapis / Kueh Lapis in regular-sized rectangular slices like how other establishments would; we are certainly still curious on what they are all about with their specialty item that forms part of the namesake of the brand.