BakersField & Co

For those whom have seen the name of the dining establishment that we are about to write about below in the photo that depicts the facade of the shop and found it familiar — yes, this is pretty much the revival of that same Bakersfield Sandwich Bar & Patisserie that was once situated within Innovis @ Fusionopolis 2 just a short walk away from one-north MRT Station on the Circle Line just a number of years ago. The folks may have shuttered their operations at Innovis @ Fusionopolis 2 quite a number of years ago, but they have since made a return to the F&B scene after taking a hiatus of more than a couple of years. This time, they have found a new home in The Rail Mall, which is a short walk away from Hillview MRT Station along the Downtown Line — their space is located within the same stretch of shophouses where one can also find other establishments such as that of an outlet of Yuba Hut, an outlet of EAT and an outlet of The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf; their immediate neighbour being Maeklong Kitchen that had moved in to The Rail Mall just a couple of months back. Bakersfield & Co is more cafe-like in its current iteration as compared to what it was before; there is more emphasis placed in its interior decor with cushioned seating and wooden tables for its dine-in furniture — there are also couch seats as well as neon lighting within the cafe that mimics the decor of trendy cafes as well. The menu has also seen a bit of a change from those days as well; now serving up All Day Breakfast, Mains and Sides, they do offer a variety of dishes such as pasta and poached eggs on toast apart from sandwiches; there are also a variety of dessert waffles, gelato, pastries and cakes for those whom are looking for a light bite. Beverages available at Bakersfield & Co includes coffee, tea and special concoctions involving fruits with soda that is categorised as “Bakersfield Specialities”.

We were initially thinking of going for dessert only during our visit made to Bakersfield & Co after dinner (we had dinner at Maeklong Kitchen next door). One of the items that had caught our attention whilst skimming through the various items that are being stocked in their display chiller were the cream puffs. As it seems, Bakersfield & Co had decided to go for a bit of an adventurous route with their cream puffs — rather than serving them with sweet pastry cream, they had went the route of serving their cream puffs in a savoury format; this would essentially mean that they were supposed to be savoury puffs, since the cream is somehow dropped in their rendition of a savoury cream puff. There were five flavours to pick from; we found ourselves settling for the Spicy Gochujang Fried Chicken Savoury Cream Puff since this was the variation that seemed to go well the best — other flavour combinations include that of the Ham & Corn, Crab Dip and Tuna Rissous, just to name a few. For the Spicy Gochujang Fried Chicken Savoury Cream Puff, it seems that the savoury cream puff is served in a format similar to that of a burger — this meant that the cream puff pastry is used as replacement of the standard burger bun in the Spicy Gochujang Fried Chicken Savoury Cream Puff, while tomatoes, lettuce and Spicy Gochujang Fried Chicken were sandwiched in between. It is well-noted that the pastry for the cream puff that is used in their savoury cream puffs were similar to that of the pastry found in custard cream puffs sold in old-school bakeries in the heartlands — this made the savoury cream puff “burger” feel somewhat lighter on the palate with an airy and spongy texture as compared to that of a standard burger bun. The rest of the other elements are rather run-of-the-mill though, the Spicy Gochujang Fried Chicken came crisp and well-coated with the Gochujang sauce that adds a sweetness and a bit of spiciness that tantalises the tastebuds — those whom are good with moderate levels of spiciness should find this rather manageable.

Visiting Bakersfield & Co only for their pastries and bakes, we did feel that this comeback of Bakersfield did not seem to quite the same as the Bakersfield Sandwich Bar & Patisserie that we have read about during their days at one-north despite being by the same folks. Whilst we did not make a visit to Bakersfield Sandwich Bar & Patisserie when they were still operating from one-north previously, what we had experienced at Bakersfield & Co did seem vastly different from what we have heard about Bakersfield Sandwich Bar & Patisserie back then. There isn’t anything wrong with Bakersfield & Co offering more simple forms of sliced cakes over the intricate and dainty entremets which they had been featured for serving up in the past, but we felt that there was general lack of finesse and attention to detail in the items that we have had. The Banana Cake was one which we felt especially confused with; while the Banana Cake does come with actual slices of banana that have been sliced into half on the top. While the Banana Cake comes with a crisp, somewhat caramalised layer on the top which was rather interesting, we felt that the cake layer beneath was a little too dry for our liking — it did not help that the banana was also a little too ripe and tasted a bit “green”. That being said, we are not sure if they would do better with their main dishes — we had not given those a try during our visit, and it would probably not be fair for us to comment on things that we did not have as well. Prices of the mains at Bakersfield & Co ranges from $10.90 to $16; these prices are considered to be somewhat affordable in the local cafe scene in current times where cafe food often starts from the high-10s to somewhere near the 30s. That being said, we do hope that the folks behind Bakersfield & Co be able to look into their recipes to make for the changes required; it would be interesting to see how Bakersfield & Co will go from here.