New Deli Bakery is one of those names which we have been hearing for quite a while in the local F&B scene — these folks have pretty much seem to have come a long way since the birth of the brand. Starting out as a home-based business from the start, New Deli Bakery had at one point of time been located in MacPherson Mall — the location being more of a production kitchen for them. They had since moved into a small shop unit within Blk 462 Tampines Street 44, occupying a small shop unit right beside the outlet of New Hawa Restaurant there. With this move, New Deli Bakery does seem to position themselves more towards a takeaway concept that welcomes walk-ins — there is actually a small dining space within the shop just right beside the entrance comprising of one dining table with three dining chairs for patrons whom wish to have their bakes in-house. The space of New Deli Bakery is decked in a way that is industrial and more for functionality — the space sees white walls, concrete flooring as well as metallic furniture and fittings; all that with an open-concept kitchen space where one can view the kitchen right up even from the entrance. Being a bakery that seemingly has a focus on French Boulangerie and danishes, New Deli Bakery does offer various pastries such as croissants, Kouign Amann etc. that are displayed prominently at the display cabinet facing the entrance; they also do retail loaf cakes, bread loaves and granola which are being stocked up on a separate shelf. New to New Deli Bakery would be their beverage offerings, which comprises of espresso-based coffee, drinking chocolate, Matcha and Houjicha drinks.

Skimming through the items that New Deli Bakery have to offer durian our visit made there on a weekend afternoon, it seems that the item that have caught our attention almost immediately was the Houjicha (Roasted Matcha) Kouign Amann. One can say that the Kouign Amann is a pastry that has been popularised in the past number of years (and probably thanks to establishments like Tiong Bahru Bakery), though a flavoured rendition — much more one that sees the use of a tea-infusion, is still rather rare. We did recall having one Houjicha Kouign Amann some time back from Matchaya, and truth to be told, the one from New Deli Bakery definitely put Matchaya’s rendition of the same dish to shame. We recalled Matchaya’s rendition of the Houjicha Kouign Amann being one that was just uninspiring to say the least — a Kouign Amann that saw the dusting of Houjicha powder to be called a Houjicha Kouign Amann. At New Deli Bakery, the Houjicha Kouign Amann sees the Houjicha element being fully infused into the danish — the Kouign Amann itself was light and crisp, yet gradually becomes slightly more dense without being overly buttery and sweet as one gets closer to the middle of the pastry. There is always a hint of sweetness with the Kouign Amann just like how we would have expected it to come with, though it does seem to hint more of a note closer towards condensed milk than caramel; each bite ends off with a distinct roasty and bitter undertone of the Houjicha that makes it oh-so-good — definitely a Houjicha Kouign Amann that turned out the way that it should have been. Apart from the Houjicha Kouign Amann, we had also managed to give the Homemade Salted Caramel Latte a go; we usually aren’t into flavoured lattes but this really just hit the spot with its good balance of sweet and salty notes — exceeded our expectations for a spot that seems to specialises in their bakes more than specialty coffee. Needless to say, a spot that is worth checking out, and one that residents around its vicinity would be excited to have in their ‘hood!