Instead of having my usual economical bee hoon downstairs, I decided to be more atas and check out the all-day breakfast at The Fabulous Baker Boy @ The Viridian Art House along The Foothills Of Fort Canning Park. Why The Fabulous Baker Boy specifically? Well, the name sounds fun (well, agreed that it’s kinda gay) and I do wanna have a fabulous Sunday!
For those of you who don’t drive, Fort Canning Park Foothills is easily accessible through a linked bridge from Liang Court. Stroll along the scenic concrete path along the NPark Offices and you will soon see the cafe right at the end.
Not known to many of the younger Singaporeans, the very spot where the cafe stands used to be the canteen of the former River Valley Swimming Complex. The cafe conserved the wall and floor mosaic tiles from its nostalgic 1970’s.
Bulk of the cafe sitting spaces are outdoors which makes it quite a ‘hot’ chill out place during the day. This was really a pity because I really loved how they spruce up the area with recycled pellets and the bright pink chairs. Nevertheless, I know where to bring my BFFs for post dinner coffee and cakes.
While you are at the open area, remember to check out some of the items on sales. Have anyone in mind for this watch?
For those who can’t take the blazing noon time heat (like me), you either have to call and reserve your table a few days in advance or keep your fingers cross. There are 2 table tops and a long side table in the air-conditioned area. Thankfully, we managed to secure one of the round tables. Overheard the owner sharing with his other customers that the kitchen behind the ‘Keep Calm’ wall used to be the swimming pools male changing room. What an incredible change of use!
The staffs were amazingly friendly and attentive. Coffee & tea were promptly served within minutes after we have made our orders. That’s my cappuccino. I played around with the foam before realizing that I have yet to snap a photo. It looked a lot better and tasted wonderful. Here’s to a lovely Sunday.
Both our orders were served together. Great job on the service! That’s my friend’s order of TFBB Champion Breakfast ($23.00) – a really heavy brekkie which consist of 2 poached eggs served on a toasted brioche, roasted rosemary potatoes, garlicky mushrooms, swirly sage chicken sausage and 2 chicken chipolata (to replace a side of beef bacon as he does not take beef). Despite his usual big appetite, he did not manage to clear his plate. The portion was just too huge. If you love sausages, you can make them yourself using some of the best sausages stuffer too.
I opted for Towkay Ng’s Egg Benedict ($11.50). Not sure why I kept calling it Towkay Neo, was there a Mediacorp drama with Towkay Neo previously? Anyway, mine was a much smaller breakfast with 2 poached eggs served on a toasted brioche, sauteed spinach, roasted rosemary potatoes and an Italian version of a Hollandaise. The treatment of the eggs was perfect but I am not that excited about Italian Hollandaise. It’s a significantly watered down version of the original hollandaise, doesn’t taste as sinful.
As much as we would love to try Today’s Special, our stomach had absolutely no more room for more.
Still, we went over to their cakes counter to check out their offerings. The Ab Fab Red Velvet Cake (Single $9.00, Whole 9″ $90.00, Cupcakes (by the dozen) $4.50) looks absolutely stunning! Plus they use only valrhona chocolates to bake it.
Their Green Tea Almond Praline (Single $7.50, Whole $75.00, Cupcake (by the dozen) $4.50) – an almond praline butter torte is filled and covered with a delicious swiss meringue Macha butter cream looks equally desirable.
My weekend brunch at The Fabulous Bake Boy was well almost fabulous. Looking back, it felt really silly for us to patronize a baker without trying out their cakes. Hmm.. there is a flaw in the entire experience. How can the Fabulous Baker Boy not allow their diners to literally have their cake and eat it?
For starters, the portion of the breakfast could be made slightly smaller and re-priced appropriately. Alternatively they could also consider having smaller sampler version of the cakes? Of course, in order to entice patrons to return for more of their cakes, their mini cakes’ standards have to be consistent.
I also noticed that the staff strength was not at its optimal, they were a little over-staffed that afternoon. Typical traditional business owners will often frown upon such scenarios as redundancy and execute horrible lay-offs to minimize this. Despite being able to enjoy immediate cost savings in the short run, such a move will damage the business reputation, lose valuable resource knowledge, demoralise employees and discourage loyalty in the long run.
On the other hand, smarter managers who value their loyal staffs will grab the ‘spare time’ to train their staff on other functions of the operation so that the staff can be easily re-deployed to other functions or outlets to ease bottlenecks. The unions have been advocating for this for years – adding value to their staff through training and different exposures, and in so doing, allowing them to do more and earn more. Through further development of their staff capabilities, it may not come as a surprise if the work processes at the cafe gradually evolves to become easier, smarter and can be done faster, helping the café to generate higher customer turnover.
The higher profits can be reinvested in creating new menu offering to draw more customers, retaining good staff by raising staff wages and benefits, or expanding the business to include custom cake orders and delivery services. Ultimately, valuing staffs can potentially bring greater value back to the business.
Overall, I love the cafe concept, the all-day breakfast and the look of its cakes. This cafe is worth checking out when the sun is down. I promise to be back for their cakes! If you are thinking of paying a visit, check out the full cafe information:
The Fabulous Baker Boy
Address: #01-15, The Foothills @ Fort Canning Park, 70 River Valley Road S(179036)
Operating Hours: 11am – 6pm (Tues – Thurs), 11am – 11pm (Fri), 10am – 11pm (Sat) & 10am – 5pm (Sun). Closed on Mondays
Telephone: +65 66948336
Fax: +65 66948335
Email: [email protected]
Facebook: Thefabbakerboy Fan Page
Twitter: fabbakerboy2012
Instagram: thefabulousbakerboy
You may also like to check out my posts on other delicious food places here
