Toast Box (Ngee Ann City)

Have passed by the Ngee Ann City some time one week back and noticed that the Toast Box outlet there had seemingly opened albeit silently, taking over the former premises of the now-defunct Heavenly Wang location there. Made a mental note to head down there and it just so happened that we actually ended up making our visit there on the same day that they were hosting their media tasting event (iykyk). Toast Box really needs no introduction here, though the reason why their Ngee Ann City outlet had stood out to us in particular was mostly in its unique decor theme. While we are all pretty used to the mostly white colour theme and the rustic decor that Toast Box uses to replicate a colonial era look and feel, it seems that Toast Box has decided to switch things up with their Ngee Ann City location — there is a serious old-school canteen vibe in its interior with splashes of blue, green and orange; it wouldn’t be too wrong if one would say that they are in fact replicating the vibes of Colbar situated at Whitchurch Road at this location. To further bring it to the desired theme, they had even added vintage knock knacks such as cartons of glass-bottled soft drinks that really brings back a sense of nostalgia. With all that going on in its theming, Toast Box has also introduced some new and outlet-exclusive items on top of their usual line-up of mains at their Ngee Ann City location — this includes the Asian Yuan Yang (seemingly a platter of Roti Prata, with mini bowls of Laksa and Curry), Bak Chor Ramen and Char Siew Ramen, as well as the Thick Toast Experience Set where it features thick toast sliced in cubes that comes with Hainanese Kaya, Nonya Kaya and Peanut Butter for one to dip the toast cubes into. There is also some interesting additions to the beverages menu here — think the Kopi / Teh Sago, and the Waterfall Kopi / Teh as well.

Let’s just say that we aren’t quite fans of Toast Box’s hot food on a regular occasion; it is probably a concept that we would have quite a minimal chance of heading to — that being said, the Toast Box Coffeehouse concept at Tiong Bahru did manage to impress us against their usual standards when we had made our visit when still new, and we are glad to say the same about Toast Box’s location at Ngee Ann City as well at this current juncture. Toast Box offers two outlet-exclusive ramen dishes at Ngee Ann City; that being said, patrons would have to make do with the Bak Chor Ramen coming as a dry noodle, while the Char Siew Ramen is served only as a soup noodle dish — we went with the latter reworked our usual preferences since we aren’t too much of a fan of prawns that comes with their Bak Chor Ramen. The Char Siew Ramen comes with clear soup, ramen noodles, a sunny side-up, stalks of greens and slices of Char Siew — whilst we were not looking forward to having the soup, the clear soup did impress us with how clean-tasting it is; one that is just hearty and comforting with a pretty homely feel without feeling particularly greasy despite all the other elements that came with it. The ramen noodles might sound odd on paper; that being said, we liked how these came with a bit of a bite and without any underlying notes of lye that yellow noodles would have carried — the choice of noodles used being a thoughtful choice for both texture and flavours of the entire dish itself. The Char Siew comes thickly sliced; likely using pork shoulder(?) considering how it carried a firm texture with a good bite — slightly sweet without carrying any undesirable porky stench. While the sunny side-up featured a fully cooked egg yolk, this addition brings the dish an even more comforting feel since for how it gets pretty close to that of the Hong Kong Gong Zai Mein 港式公仔面, while the stalks of Kai Lan provides a refreshing crunch and gives the dish a good balance against the other elements overall.

The Black Sesame Toast was an item that was introduced as an outlet-exclusive dish at Toast Box Coffeehouse at Tiong Bahru; thus being said, the item has since found its way to the regular menu at Toast Box. Coming with the usual toasted white bread that Toast Box typically uses for their traditional toast dishes, the white bread does come crisp with a slightly charred exterior. That being said, our sentiments of the item follows that of our experience of the same dish at Toast Box Coffeehouse when they first opened their doors — there wasn’t sufficient black sesame spread slathered throughout; either that or the blocks of butter ended up overwhelming the roasty notes of the black sesame here that resulted in a sinfully buttery toast that fell short of the black sesame aroma that should have been the main star here. An item that we were really looking forward to to have was their Waterfall Kopi — this is Toast Box’s very first attempt to serve up the Malaysian-style iced Kopi with the recognisable and Instagram-able overflow aesthetic. Counter staff did inform us that the default version of the Waterfall Kopi, if unspecified, comes at a sweetness level of Siu Dai (less sweet); we went with the original level which seemed quite right to go against the slightly heavier-bodied Kopi here — while it still lacks that super thick body of Iced Kopi served up at modern Malaysian-style Nanyang Kopitiam establishments in particular, this is quite a respectable attempt by Toast Box of the same. There is always a mixed point of view when it comes to the value proposition and quality of Toast Box’s offerings against places that serve similar fare — we are just going to state that the sets featuring individually-sized mains are priced from $11.20 to $15.70 which also includes a small slice of cake and drink on the side. No matter how one feels about Toast Box though, it is certainly refreshing to see the approach taken for their Ngee Ann City location — one for those whom are curious to check out.