Half Nian Gao Waffle with Melon Milk Gelato Had been going around the Lavender neighbourhood fairly recently and spotted the opening of a new ice-cream parlour within the Crawford Lane / North Bridge Road area. Taking over the former premises of the now-defunct Holy Cow Creamery outlet there (they are still in operations at their Yishun location), The Neighbourhood Cafe is a new addition to the area. The Neighbourhood Cafe had actually did quite a fair bit after taking over the space; the most obvious change being in the shop facade which now sports a clean-looking aesthetic with the use of a neon signage that aids to capture the attention of passers-by. Within the space, the interior of the cafe is decked with furniture and fittings of wooden accents; this would include the floors and the counters — there are also changes made to the dining furniture, as well as the use of pastel pink paint for its walls. We did notice that some of the marketing collaterals around the establishment that seems to draw a relation between The Neighbourhood Cafe and Creme by Lele Bakery (located at Hougang Avenue 1). Being primarily a gelato parlour, The Neighbourhood Cafe focuses very much on their gelato and waffle offerings; there is actually quite an extensive selection of waffles offered at The Neighbourhood Cafe that includes variants of thin waffles and Belgian waffles — there is also toppings such as Nian Gao, Chicken & Waffles, various spreads and a Ham N Cheese variant to choose from.
Nian Gao waffles have since become a little more common in Singapore following the popularisation of the item ever since it was introduced by the folks at The Better Scoop; those folks also serve up one of our favourite renditions of Nian Gao Waffles around the island as well. It is needless to say that noticing it on the menu at The Neighbourhood Cafe, we had decided to go for just that — it is interesting to note that The Neighbourhood Cafe does offer their Belgian waffles in full portions and half portions; this applies to all variants with different toppings as well. Our order was for the Half Nian Gao Waffle with Melon Milk Gelato. The Nian Gao waffles at The Neighbourhood Cafe seems to be done a little differently from what we expected it to be; the Nian Gao seemingly being whipped into the batter which resulted in a soft and chewy waffle that honestly wasn’t quite to our preferences. This is particularly so when one notes that the texture of the Nian Gao Waffles comes lacking of the crispness on the exterior; a bit of a mismatch considering how the Nian Gao Waffles did come with a waft of buttermilk fragrance that one would expect for a standard waffles. The sweetness of the Nian Gao seems to be well managed though; not overly sweet, whilst the chewiness of the Nian Gao also did not result in the Nian Gao getting stuck in between the teeth. We opted for maple syrup to be drizzled around the sides of the waffle; a classic combination of flavours here. The Melon Milk Gelato was mostly fine; definitely carried evident notes of rockmelon amidst the creaminess — there were some ice bits within the scoop of ice-cream, though we didn’t find those to be particularly bothersome.
During our visit to The Neighbourhood Cafe, we had also given the Flat White a go. This was largely decent though perhaps the espresso shot was a little over-extracted; the acidic notes of the coffee was particularly evident when the cuppa had managed to cool down over time. Overall, The Neighbourhood Cafe does feel like another gelato parlour that is “just another gelato parlour”; whilst the offering of savoury food does help in a way to provide a more holistic menu to appeal to the patrons looking to settle all their cravings in one location, the offerings does seem to be lacking of a stand -out — the quality of the food that they have to offer can also be described as pretty average at best as well. Whilst being a spot that would be convenient for residents in the area to park themselves at for a leisurely cuppa and scoop or gelato, it does take quite a little bit of convincing to make The Neighbourhood Cafe a spot to make an out-of-the-way visit for.
