The Flour Department is one of those names that we have heard of for quite a while — these folks have been around for a while. Previously located at Hong Lim Complex (its former premises now occupied by Bullock Cart Coffee), The Flour Department had made a name for themselves for the bakes that they have to offer — these folks have pretty much garnered a loyal following for their bakes, which also sees them doing pre-orders usually announced at the start of the week so that patrons can make self-collection for dine-in or takeaways during their operating hours from Wednesday to Sunday. After having moved out of their Hong Lim Complex premises, these folks have found new digs at Everton Park — these folks had taken over the former premises of the now-defunct gelatolabo x Glass Roasters location there. The entire space still looks largely familiar, though an extensive paint job has been done by the folks of The Flour Department to give the space a look unique to their own with the splashes of pink used throughout the interior and facade. The Flour Department runs on a seasonal menu; this means that its line-up of bakes is constantly refreshed and is announced on a weekly basis. It is also worth noting that we had about visit to The Flour Department during the soft launch phase of their Everton Park operations; aside from the sweet and savoury bagel sandwiches as well as the various bakes that they are offering, they do have the intention of serving up beverages as well when they move into their official opening.

One thing that we have noticed about social media postings about The Flour Department of the late after their opening of the Everton Park location is their line-up of bagel sandwiches — there is a lineup of both sweet and savoury bagel sandwiches here; an example of the former being the Black Sesame Tangyuan Strawberry Peanut Butter Bagel, while an example of the latter is the Cheesy Scramble Eggs Chicken Katsu Bagel. Considering how they had only opened for the day during the visit we had made on a public holiday, there was a limited variety of bagel sandwiches available — there also did not carry the full range of baked that are listed on their website for the week as well. We found ourselves eventually going for the Matcha Cookies Bagel Sando with Pistachio Praline Basque Cheesecake, considering this was one of the items that were immediately available. The menu on their website describes the Matcha Cookies Bagel Sando with Pistachio Praline Basque Cheesecake to come with elements such as a matcha cookie crust bagel, house-made French pistachio praline, and burnt basque cheesecake. While it is rather difficult to manage expectations of how the item would turn out given the elements that the item feature, the item does seem to have proven (at least in our opinion) to be a little bit too ambitious and perhaps, unnecessarily complex. Each element in its own is well-executed; we did like how the Matcha Cookies Bagel Sando does coke with a crusty cookie layer that isn’t too thick and is almost akin to the buttery, crusty layer that one can find on a Hong Kong-style Bolo Bun — that being said, the notes of matcha seemed to have been largely overwhelmed by the flavours of all the other elements that come in between in the Bagel Sando.

The texture of the bagel itself made the item perpetually messy / difficult to have; the bagel being dense and chewy (we are also more of a fan of bagels that are chewy but also has a firm bite from a crusted exterior, which this one lacks), which oozes out all the soft elements in between — also requires some effort to chew apart. Meanwhile, the house-made French pistachio praline felt like a thick, creamy and rich peanut butter that is mixed with pistachio to achieve an added note of pistachio nuttiness atop the peanut butter’s own flavours, and while the burnt basque cheesecake is quite a good one being all smooth, creamy and rich on its own, it felt rather unnecessary to say the least. All in all, the Matcha Cookies Bagel Sando with Pistachio Praline Basque Cheesecake was a creation that felt like a constant assault of heavy-flavoured elements to the tastebuds with too much complexity that just didn’t necessarily integrate with each other — something that was a little difficult for our tastebuds to appreciate these days (probably growing a little too old for this too). Considering the popularity that they enjoy, we think that our experience with the Matcha Cookies Bagel Sando with Pistachio Praline Basque Cheesecake was probably in large part due to our preferences; maybe a revisit on a separate occasion trying their other items might prove a difference in time to come!