Buzzed Coffee Bar

Bloom Coffee’s recent closure in the past year at its Upper East Coast Road premises can be seen as a little bit of a loss especially for the Easties; a space that was known for their Japanese-style Sando as well as their specialty coffee, Bloom Coffee is a spot that resonates well with the cafe-going crowd. That being said, the closure of one chapter of the space is the beginning of another — just like how the now-defunct Bloom Coffee had taken over the premises of Stamping Ground Coffee that came before it, the space that Bloom Coffee had occupied has since seen a change of tenants; the space is now occupied by yet another cafe serving up specialty coffee named Buzzed Coffee Bar. Much of the interior space still remains the same from its days when it was occupied by Stamping Ground Coffee especially in terms of layout; the counter being situated slightly deeper into the space with the same spiral staircase that can be found at the back of the space — the space also being decked in mostly furniture and fittings that comes in wooden accents as well. The folks of Buzzed Coffee Bar also painted the interior walls blue — supposedly so as to give the space a their own character with the use of what seems to be their theme colour here. A cafe that serves a different menu during lunch and dinner service, the hot food that are served up at Buzzed Coffee Bar features a variety of croissant sandwiches and all-day sides, while the dinner menu is split into categories such as salad, pasta and sharing plates. Available all-day apart from the side dishes would also be the desserts; all of which being displayed at the counter such as brownies, financiers and a Shio Pan. Beverages includes espresso-based specialty coffee and filter coffee, while Chai, drinking chocolate and matcha beverages dominates the “Non-Coffee” section of the menu. Other non-coffee related drinks include tea and soft drinks, while there is a long list of alcoholic beverages that includes beers (both on tap and craft beers), cider, cocktails, wine, Rosé, bubbles and hard liquor.

Considering the really limited selection of items which they have to offer for brunch, we found ourselves settling for one of their croissant sandwiches. What we found slightly more impressive here that we have had than the croissant sandwiches was the Charred Broccoli. Described in the menu to consist of elements such as broccoli florets, salt and Parmesan cheese, the Charred Broccoli does somehow remind us of some familiar dishes that are conceptually similar which we have had from the now-defunct Sin Lee Foods and the now-defunct Gyoza Ya. Indeed, this was one dish that came with broccoli florets that have been flame-torched to give it that crisp texture and smoky flavour that makes it taste so good on its own; the sprinkle of salt lifting those notes even further to help enhance the flavours, while the shaved parmesan cheese gives further textural complexity and a further dimension of savouriness overall. The only qualm we have had with this dish is how the greasy the pieces are the bottom felt; it does seem that the grease from the broccoli florets were not entirely drained off at the point of time that it was served — this resulted in the oil puddling at the bottom of the bowl with the pieces at the bottom soaking the grease up.

For the Gravlax Croissant that we have had, the croissant sandwich features smoked salmon and cream cheese based on the description of the item on the menu; the Gravlax Croissant also comes with a side of potato chips on the side as well. This wasn’t supposed to be a game-changer based on the nature of the item, though there is nothing that really stands out here that impressed us particularly — we also felt that the cream cheese element wasn’t that particularly detectable either. The Piccolo Latte that we have had was well-pulled; one that interestingly carried a lighter body than the Flat White which we also had, and a cuppa that came with an earthy flavour profile in general. Of the three flavours of the Financiers which we had opted for (Earl Grey Almond, Lychee Rose, Sea Salt Chcolate), the Lychee Rose stood out the most to us with the evident floral notes it carried. It does seem that Buzzed Coffee Bar has its focus set more on their beverages menu; and especially so in their alcoholic selection — perhaps their dinner menu may be different though there was nothing much to shout about their brunch menu. It would be interesting to see how Buzzed Coffee Bar would fare in the long run considering how saturated the coffee scene is in the East; that being said, Upper East Cost Road might be considered a little away that might do just about fine for them.