I've always been tempted by the desserts at Podi (Raffles City basement, Singapore), but hadn't had the chance to try them until recently. The verdict on desserts is mixed, because I only tried two.
The first one was the cinnamon honey cake, chosen because I hadn't tried the cinnamon-honey-hazelnut combination before.
And I was impressed! What I first noticed was its nice crusty layer on top, which was like a finely-crushed honey graham or digestive crust. The official description said "biscuit", so I'm not sure what they used. But it tasted like the digestives cheesecake base pastries.
The cake itself was moist. I especially liked that there were ground hazelnuts in the cake, ground fine enough to blend with the cake but still large enough to give a nice grainy texture. The honey cream cheese was also done well, and although the honey flavour was buried in the rest of the cake, I could clearly taste the cream cheese.
The hazelnut and cinnamon flavours were both prominent and very complementary.
Overall, it was rather perfect, and I thought the price was very reasonable for its quality and creativity.
The other item I tried was the pandan coconut cupcake. Now I must admit that I am biased against cupcakes because I often find that they are not worth their price in gastronomical quality... someone recently convinced me that it was mainly the aesthetics of cupcakes that inflates their price. Well, be that as it may, I don't think aesthetic appeal has to come at the expense of quality...
Anyway, firstly, pandan coconut cake is a relatively normal flavour. But I hadn't seen it as a cupcake very often, hence I wanted to try it out.
It did look very pretty, and the green cream atop a nicely-browned cupcake with a clear green hue was very inviting.
However, I was disappointed from the first mouthful. The cream was too sweet, and the flavour, whether pandan or coconut, was hard to discern, possibly drowned out by the sugar. The cream also felt rather greasy on the palate. So it came across to me as pure sweet grease, which was kinda gross.
As for the cake itself, I liked that it had a refreshing saltiness to it. I guess coconut and salt go quite well together. However, despite the strong green colouring, the pandan taste was not strong enough, at least to my liking. Furthermore, the cake was a bit dry and crumbly... almost like it had been kept in the fridge overnight... which is completely possible.
I suspect that Podi may not be as popular for its cupcakes, so its turnover for those items is lower, hence their lower quality. Aside from the cupcakes, I was also disappointed by their earl grey tea, which had close to no bergamot flavour... at least, the last time I tried it, which was a number of months back. Still, it is worth visiting for its interesting cakes. I have also had proper meals there before, and they were all good.
The first one was the cinnamon honey cake, chosen because I hadn't tried the cinnamon-honey-hazelnut combination before.
The hazelnut and cinnamon flavours were both prominent and very complementary.
The other item I tried was the pandan coconut cupcake. Now I must admit that I am biased against cupcakes because I often find that they are not worth their price in gastronomical quality... someone recently convinced me that it was mainly the aesthetics of cupcakes that inflates their price. Well, be that as it may, I don't think aesthetic appeal has to come at the expense of quality...
Anyway, firstly, pandan coconut cake is a relatively normal flavour. But I hadn't seen it as a cupcake very often, hence I wanted to try it out.
However, I was disappointed from the first mouthful. The cream was too sweet, and the flavour, whether pandan or coconut, was hard to discern, possibly drowned out by the sugar. The cream also felt rather greasy on the palate. So it came across to me as pure sweet grease, which was kinda gross.
I suspect that Podi may not be as popular for its cupcakes, so its turnover for those items is lower, hence their lower quality. Aside from the cupcakes, I was also disappointed by their earl grey tea, which had close to no bergamot flavour... at least, the last time I tried it, which was a number of months back. Still, it is worth visiting for its interesting cakes. I have also had proper meals there before, and they were all good.
Found these cakes interesting? Explore more unusual cakes here!
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