OLLA Spcialty Coffee (The Woodleigh Mall)

($7.50) Not that nice tbh 🫠 but it's quite weird tbh as I just felt that it's quite vegetal taste. They got a variety for tea based latte but I still wanted to try their other flavour such as hojicha latte

Creamy Beef Rigatoni was good except it could do with more meat. My serving had more fat than meat.

With the developments going around at Bidadari, Woodleigh has pretty much seen a rejuvenation of the entire area over the years — The Woodleigh Mall being one of the most anticipated openings for the residents living in the HDB flats in the area. The Woodleigh Mall brings upon the residents in the area a plethora of dining options — apart from familiar fast food establishments and casual dining restaurants that one can find in other neighbourhoods, The Woodleigh Mall does boasts of some very interesting F&B options within the mall; this does not only include establishments like Tiong Bahru Bakery which had seemingly been making a bigger presence in the heartlands in recent years, but also other notable F&B establishments such as that of VeganBurg as well. One of the tenants that had received much attention for the opening of its new outlet at The Woodleigh Mall is Olla Coffee — having its first brick-and-mortar cafe in Sunset Way, the opening of their The Woodleigh Mall location is their second outlet. Decals on the window at their Woodleigh Mall outlet proudly proclaims that Olla Coffee they are the Home of the 2022 Singapore Barista Champion — Olla Specialty Coffee having come a very long way from its days of being a mobile coffee cart to having a physical location — their Sunset Way location had also expanded to a neighbouring shop unit as well several years after it had first opened. Olla Coffee is decked in a rather similar look at The Woodleigh Mall as with their Sunset away outlet, though one pretty obvious difference is how there is a wider use of wooden elements at their The Woodleigh Mall location; their The Woodleigh Mall location also comes with outdoor seating that actually blends in well with the setting that of the mall as well. As with Olla Specialty Coffee at Sunset Way, the outlet at The Woodleigh Mall serves up hot food — these are split into Brunch and Lunch sections on the menu, while a small variety of Waffles are also available as well. Beverages available at Olla Coffee at The Woodleigh Mall includes espresso-based specialty coffee and filter coffee, as well as a variety of teas and special concoctions like the Matcha Shakerato.

Having skimmed through the menu available at Olla Coffee for an item on the lighter side, we found ourselves going for the Creamy Mushroom Scrambled Eggs that is listed on the Brunch section of the menu. According to the menu, the Creamy Mushroom Scrambled Eggs features elements such as scrambled eggs, sauteed mushroom and parmesan flakes on a slice of rye sourdough. This was actually a pretty comforting brunch item as much as it sounds like so on paper; on first look, the sautéed mushrooms does come with a cream element that is drenched atop that the scrambled eggs and rye sourdough toast — an aesthetically indulgent item to have for brunch. Digging into the dish, we found the rye sourdough to be pretty on-point; the rye sourdough here perhaps bordering close to being chewier in both its crust and the bread. The fluffy scrambled eggs here are pretty much comforting to the extent of which comfort food should have been for a lazy weekend breakfast — the eggs being runny and sufficiently flavourful on its own, but enhanced by the creamy mushrooms that came above it. The sautéed mushrooms featured Shimeiji mushrooms that provided an earthy and bouncy touch to the dish, whilst the cream further enhances the dish by providing a creaminess that binds all of the elements together — the slight saltish-ness from the parmesan flakes helping to elevate the dish further. The best way to enjoy the Creamy Mushroom Scrambled Eggs would be to have all of the elements in one mouthful, while mopping up all of the cream from the sautéed mushrooms at the bottom of the plate with the rye sourdough — a wholesome and hearty brunch item that is not particularly heavy to have.

Despite being one of the newer names to have entered the local coffee scene as compared to some of the veteran ones that have been in the business for longer, Olla Coffee has come a fairly long way from where they had started. There are many home-based businesses set up during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic that have positioned themselves to become establishments with a physical presence, but Olla Specialty Coffee’s growth from a mobile coffee cart to a physical shop space at Sunset away actually pre-dates the pandemic. They had also managed to substantially expand their business over time; from that small, almost hole-in-the-wall nook to a cafe that manages to not only serve up well-pulled cuppas and waffles, but also that of hot food to provide their patrons with a one-stop brunch option with specialty coffee still being very much their main focus. It is needless to say that the folks of Olla Specialty Coffee had also garnered a loyal following throughout the years at Sunset Way — the establishment being often seen with a huge crowd occupying both its indoors and outdoors seating especially on weekends. The opening of Olla Coffee at The Woodleigh Mall signifies yet another new chapter for the folks of Olla Coffee — we are also glad to find that the quality of the food does seem on par with that at Sunset away, though the staff do seem to be still getting used to operations here especially considering how patrons to its The Woodleigh Mall often arrive in big groups; not quite easy to manage with its seating space that seems to cater to smaller groups. Still, we are pretty stoked about the folks at Olla Coffee making its expansion with the opening of a new outlet; a spot that residents around Bidadari and Woodleigh will appreciate having near their doorstep for good specialty coffee around their ‘hood!