La Marelle Cafe

When I first stepped into La Marelle, I thought a Candy Crush bomb exploded in it. Located on the second floor of a shophouse at Bagdhad Street (near Arab St), the bright airy cafe was adorned with colourful walls decorated with cloud and raindrops motifs, flowery paper lanterns, whimsical decorations and merchandise for sale. We were immediately transported to the La Marelle world for children the innocent child in us.

I went to La Marelle twice actually. The first time I was on my own, and the second time with two friends. It was surprising to find La Marelle rather empty on a weekend afternoon on both visits, which makes it a great place to hide from the over-populated cafes and hot weather.

Iced green tea latte ($6.50+)

Not for the cult fans of Starbucks' green tea latte. La Marelle's green tea latte was less sweet but I could still taste the matcha powder. A cool refreshing drink on a hot afternoon. 3.5/5

Americano ($6.50+), Latte ($5.50+), Earl-grey tea ($4.50+) (clockwise from top)

The drinks were average and nothing to shout about.

Bonjour Singapore ($14.90+)

My friends ordered the Bonjour Singapore, which comprised of a butter croissant, grilled chipolata sausages, scrambled eggs and a side salad.

Something funny happened when my friend was ordering at the cashier. She asked to have the egg sunny-side up.

Cashier asked the cook if he can do sunny-side up.

Cook replied ok ... but after a few seconds, he asked, "How to cook sunny-side up?"

Erm.. that doesn't sound assuring

Anyway in the end, she just told the cook to do it scrambled style.

We were joyous when the scrambled eggs were successfully produced. Although they made it, they were not fluffy enough. As for the croissant which is supposedly their speciality, we could only say we had better ones. It would be better if the croissant was warmed before serving. The salad dressing was too sweet.

a Lait et Olio ($14.90)

I didn't know how to pronounce the name so I could only point it on the menu to the cashier. Basically, it's spaghetti tossed in aglio-olio style and served with turkey bacon and cherry tomatoes. I find it too oily. There was too much olive oil until I could see a patch of it beneath. The turkey bacon was not bad though but would be better if there was more of it :P 3.5/5

Crumble cheesecake ($8.20+)

Hmmm quite expensive for a cheesecake. But actually it is more than a cheesecake. The top layer is made of sweet crumble topping that is dusted with sugar icing. The cheesecake beneath was creamy and cheese-intensive. But the thing is the crumble doesn't stick to the cheesecake and so I ate them separately. I love the presentation which had little pink, red and white sugar hearts sprinkled on top of chocolate syrup. 4/5

Service was great and La Marelle was run by friendly Muslims who appeared to be relatives. No service charge but there is GST. Free wifi was available (ask cashier for password).

Although the mains were a little over-rated and just average, I think La Marelle is still a good place to escape from the crowded malls on a weekend. Just go for the desserts instead of the mains.

Address: 25A Baghdad Street Singapore 199664