Thought it would be interesting to try out this specialty pie place, succinctly named Pies & Coffee. The $12.99-per-pax-coupon brought us to Rochester Mall, a short walk away from Buona Vista MRT and just across the very impressive-looking The Star (must say this whole area is completely changing in landscape now!).
This place was pretty empty for a weekday night. Lots of seating space but mostly outdoors so we decided to dine al fresco.
Quite a selection of both savoury and sweet pies. Our voucher entitled us to a pie, a drink and a scoop of gelato of our choice. This place kind of operates on a self-service basis, so you place your order at the counter and collect your food after the UFO-saucer beeps/makes a noise.
{ Chicken Cheddar Pie ($8.95) }
Contemplated quite a bit on which savoury flavour to get, but settled on Chicken Cheddar for something more 'familiar'. However it needed a lot more cheddar going - it was just generically creamy and wasn't particularly memorable. The pie crust.. wasn't quite what I expected. It's a lot denser and more buttery (I was reminded of shortbread!) than what I would usually enjoy from the 'typical' meat pies I'd lived on for a couple of years back in NZ. It really fills you up.The pastry/crust to filling ratio seemed a bit disproportionate, and that also didn't really help. I somewhat struggled with the pie alone and had to give the most of the mash (which seemed a bit out of place?) a miss.
{ Duck Confit Pie ($9.95) }
Not the most glamorous shot! I felt similarly about the pie pastry itself - it seemed a lot more buttery (think American biscuits) instead of being flaky and crispy (think puff pastry) like I expected. The result is a much denser pie crust which fills up your stomache more than the filling - while it really should be the other way around. That and the dollop of mash really filled me up.For the duck confit in particular, have to say there was nothing 'french-style-duck-confit' about it, but it's duck leg meat for sure! Taste wise was quite ok, and got better after some ketchup. And once again - tiny tiny tiny plates!
For me the mango gelato was a nice palate cleanser of sorts, I guess, from the heaviness of the pie. Quite nice and refreshing especially while seating out on a humid evening.Overall, this place is a pretty nice concept for something a little bit 'different' (a place exists if you ever crave gourmet, densely-crusty pies). However I won't be writing home about the pies - if more than anything, the location is a just a tad more interesting than the food, to be honest.
Sadly, I would get my fill of food from the supremely well-stocked The Star just across the road, and maybe walk over here for a nice quiet cup of coffee if you don't mind the humidity.
Rochester Mall
Main website : http://www.piesncoffee.com/
HGW Link (59% recommended at time of writing) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Pies___Coffee__Rochester_Mall_/
Rating (out of 4) :
No comments:
Post a Comment