Fore Coffee (The Cathay)

It has since been a while that Fore Coffee had been established their existence in the Singapore F&B scene with the opening of their very first outlet at Bugis Junction. With The Cathay having recently gone through its revamp and opening their doors to the public, it seems that Fore Coffee has also found new digs in the revamped The Cathay. Taking up a shop space that is located outside of the mall, Fore Coffee is the only tenant that is located within the un-air conditioned space at The Cathay. The space is decked in a manner that follows closely to what Fore Coffee’s outlet at Bugis Junction was being set out to be; the use of white as its main colours gives the establishment a clean look, but there is also a constant use of greenery and wooden furniture and fittings to also give a look that makes the brand feel close to nature. There is a decent number of dine-in seating within the Fore Coffee outlet at The Cathay — the tables here mostly catering for both pairs as well as groups of four (4) pax. Fore Coffee is a brand originating from Indonesia; similar to the likes of other coffee chains such as Kenangan Coffee and Tomoro Coffee which also exists in the local F&B scene here; key offerings at Fire Coffee would be their espresso-based specialty coffee line-up, which comprises of items segmented into sections such as Signature, Americano Series, Coffee, and Single Origin Espresso of the Week — other beverages that Fore Coffee offers would include the lineup of Refreshers, Iced Frappe, Teas and Non-Coffee drinks. Just like the Bugis Junction outlet, Fore Coffee also does serve up a line-up of bakes and pastries that are stocked in the display shelf at the counters, with the line-up comprising of a mix of both savoury and sweet bakes to go along with their beverages.

Looking through the various bakes that Fore Coffee offers in its display chiller, we thought that the Cempedak Crumble Tart was an item that stood out to us considering how Cempedak (I.e. small jackfruit) isn’t a particularly common ingredient to be found in the making of desserts here — the one time we vaguely had seen the use of cempedak in a dessert would be the Cempedak Crumble Cake from The Dessert Party in Tampines. We were glad that the Cempedak Crumble Tart is being served warm here, though the tart didn’t felt exactly that fresh. For one, the layer of crumbles lacked the crusty bite that we were looking for in a typical crumble tart offering; it felt like the crumbles had absorbed the greasiness of butter and was a wee bit mushy for our liking as well. The tart base was also a tad soft and limp, though one can find some shreds of Cempedak that gives the item a little bit of its sweetness. Meanwhile, we also had the Iced Gula Aren Latte — one of the signature beverages that is listed on Fore Coffee’s menu; this was also something that we have had previously when we visited Fore Coffee during the days when they had first opened their doors in Bugis Junction back then. For those whom are unfamiliar with Gula Aren, this would be a type of palm sugar that is much similar to the Gula Melaka / Gula Jawa / Gula Apong that some would also be more familiar with; the Latte itself was a cuppa with a light body and a nutty and earthy flavour profile — a cuppa that is relatively similar to what one would expect from such quick service specialty coffee establishments that has been popularised by Luckin Coffee over the years. The addition of Gula Aren adds a very light hint of an earthy sweetness that subtly lingers at the back of the tongue in the finish. Whilst other similar establishments such as that of Kenangan Coffee and Tomoro Coffee have been a little bit more aggressive with their expansion plans in Singapore, Fore Coffee is one establishment that seems to have expanded at a much slower pace; the opening of their outlet at The Cathay seemingly being a calculated move after seeing how things have been with their Bugis Junction outlet. Would we be seeing more Fore Coffee outlets in Singapore someday though? Only time will tell!