Mia Eats: Kumoya Singapore Themed Pop Up Cafes (Honest Review)

 From Miffy, to Snoopy, Care Bears, Tokidoki, Sesame Streets, We Bare Bears and very recently, Rilakkuma and Gudetama X Bad Badtz Maru. 

The plethora of different themed pop up cafes at Kumoya Singapore, how many have you gone for? 

How many should you go for? 

After having gone for 3 of their different themes (and 4 times, in total), I guess my answer to the question above is probably, ONE. Just once, if you're planning to visit just for the food. Well, at the very least, for my personal experiences with Miffy, We Bare Bears and GudetamaXBad Badtz Maru, I came to realise that they've adopted a 换汤不换药 (changing name without changing content) approach to their menus. 

Anyhow, let's see how the latest Gudetama X Bad Badtz Maru theme at their Jalan Klapa branch looks like! (Previous We Bare Bears and Miffy ones were lost/deleted as they're too long ago...). 

Unlike the other two themes I've visited, this time round they've local-fied the characters, simply by making them "speak" Singlish. 

While I have to say, "sian" is indeed very apt for Gudetama....

Perhaps "mai kancheong" would also be a better fit for Gudetama too? 

I have to say, out of 3 of the 4 times I've visited Kumoya, I've eaten the same dish that has taken on the appearance of a different cartoon character. And that's the steamed bun (mantou) burger with fries and side salad. 

And I have to say, the We Bare Bears and Miffy (not pictured) ones were slightly cuter as they're white and looks so much more squishy and fluffy. 

The taste of the mantou burgers were alright, pretty tasty, to be honest. But effectively, they're all seriously lacking in quality proteins (the meat fillet/patty they give in between the buns were MISERABLE, my palm size at best) and just out to fill you up with cheap carbohydrates (the WBB ones even had yet another smaller, PLAIN steam bun as a side. Can you believe it?!). 

Likewise for J's "breakfast platter" at the Gudetama X Bad Badtz Maru theme, her platter came with TWO thick toasts (rather well toasted, though) along with a tiny dish of scrambled eggs, two strips of rolled up bacon and a small/medium sausage. 

The HB went for pasta for both of my visits with him (WBB & Miffy). There's pasta available on their menu for all 3 themes I've visited, and frankly speaking I won't order them. Well, they're definitely decent plates of pasta, but by now we all should know that Kumoya is charging a "premium" price for the sheer IG-worthy cuteness of their dish plating/decor. But the cuteness and IG-worthiness of their pastas always pales in comparison to the other dishes available on their menu. This is also the reason why I'm always getting their mantou burgers whenever I visit, they're easily the cutest and most IG-worthy mains on their menu. 

And face it, if you're dropping by Kumoya, you're most probably #eatingforinsta, yes? No judgement here. 

And if you're visiting Kumoya, you absolutely MUST get their desserts/fancy drinks because they're always #toocutetoeat <3

This time round, we ordered their chocoball dessert, which is a white chocolate (coloured yellow, duh!) shell with a rojak of sweet treats hidden inside. Brownies, oreo cookies, butter cookies, marshmallows, diced fruits, fruit loops and a generous dollop of whipped cream welcomed us when we broke Gudetama's head with the small mallet that came along with the dessert. This is DEFINITELY meant for sharing, as it is SOOOOO CLOYINGLY SWEET. If only they can dye dark chocolate yellow to introduce some pleasant bitterness to cut into the overall sweetness; or perhaps just do a Bad Badtz Maru version of it to allow for a dark chocolate ball instead. J and I easily took twice as long to finish this 1 dessert together, compared to the time we took to finish our individual mains. Our chit-chatting aside, the surfeiting sweetness of this dessert just makes you need to stop for a rest, for the jerlakness to wear off, before you can get back to it again. 

For both WBB and Miffy, HB and I went for their fancy waffles as our dessert. And I shan't deny that I really loved them! Their waffles, although not exactly the best waffles I've ever eaten, were still crisp on the outside and fluffy in the middle, with a slightly sweetness to it. Likewise, for the chocolate ball, it's still meant for sharing though, looking at the ridiculous amount of sweet treats they pile on top of the waffle. 

So my final verdict, will I go back to Kumoya again? Hmm, who knows?! Maybe they'll launch a Disney collaboration next (hardcore Disney fan here!) and I'll definitely be dropping by again!

But to revisit for the actual food, nope. Why? Because you don't eat the same thing twice when doing it for the gram. 

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Pompompurin Cafe [Halloween Theme]

Yes, I finally visited Pompompurin Cafe, all thanks to Sa's special treat for my birthday! 

We visited on a PH, at an off-peak timing of 3pm, and there was still a queue, albeit a short one. Special request for the booth seats will require a longer wait as there really isn't much booth seats available and the cafe doesn't set a time limit as to how long their patrons can stay in the cafe. 

They've already changed into the autumn setting by now, but when we're there it was still the Halloween theme! 

The entire cafe was just filled to the brim with cuteness. 

Love Love Hot Marshmallow Latte

This has got to be the cutest coffee I've ever drank. Can someone tell me if the white female dog is Cinnamon Roll? 

Coffee wise, it's just pretty average coffee (hence you can say it's overpriced) but the cuteness (and IG-worthiness) kind of makes up for it. Anyway, be sure to NOT stir the marshmallows into the coffee, because they're jam filled kind. It's better that you eat them instead. 

Bacon Mushroom Shoyu Pasta

I actually cannot remember the actual name of this pasta (and google came up with nothing!) but there's definitely both 'bacon' and 'shoyu' inside. 

Although not eye-widening fantastic, it was definitely above mediocre for a pasta dish. The spaghetti wasn't too hard nor too soggy, and the bacon slices added a nice savoury taste to the pasta. Well, it's near impossible to go wrong with bacon, agree?
I didn't try out the salsa sauce (served in the cute pompompurin mini-mug) but ate the toasted baguette plain. They were good enough as they were. Yes, I'm totally a bread person.

BBQ Spare Pork Ribs with Rice

This dish is definitely more IG-worthy compared to the pasta, but slightly lacking in comparison at the taste factor. 

The spare pork ribs has the strong 'pork smell' which they've failed to mask over with their BBQ sauce. They're also quite mediocre in terms of the tenderness factor, as I've definitely tasted better. The rice, in order to attain the cute Pompompurin-sitting-in-a-cup look, was made slightly soggy and 'mashed up', like a lontong (malay rice cakes). 

Well, 10 out of 10 for IG-worthiness, but barely a 5 for the taste factor. 

Banana Caramel Pancakes

This scores like 11 out of 10 for IG-worthiness, no?

Although hardly comparable to those popular souffle pancakes that's oh-so-fluffy and light, this is still a decent pancake with top-rated cuteness, and quite a huge price tag as well. They're rather generous with the whipped cream and banana slices though, for we had to 'shift' the white whipped cream aside to minimise our empty calories intake. The banana whipped cream, although still too much, was pretty good though. 

Pompompurin Cafe has now started their Autumn Theme and they're located at 

Orchard Central, #04-08

For more information, visit their FB HERE

Till then,

Mia Foo

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Mia's Review: Fullhouse Signature

In my SHM's Cake in a Jar post, I've mentioned about dining with the girls at an awesome pretty place, and so here it is! 

We went to Fullhouse Signature at Clarke Quay! 

I never got the chance to visit when they're still at Rendezvous Hotel and was really glad to be able to arrange for a meet up with the FP girlies here. 

 Even their menu is so cute! The whole picture just oozes coziness and happiness. 

 And this was what made us burst into laughter as we seated down at our table. That poor dove is dying! T.T 

And I really don't know what's gotten into me that day, I kept calling them pigeons. *rofl*

This dove is looking much better at the other lamp. 

 Peppermint Tea - about $6.90 - $8.90

I can't remember the pricing very well now because I didn't bother to remember them, thinking that such a cute themed cafe with even the PR personnel stationed in MUST have a very detailed website, which I can just link to. But apparently not.

My apologies for assuming too much. 

This tea is like my 3rd or 4th choice off the drink list because they seem to have nothing much available that I want. I was eyeing the yoghurt mixes initially but they weren't available.

The tea basically tasted like peppermint tea (duh!), and tasted stronger in comparison to many other cafes as they're not using teabags but dumped a generous amount of tea leaves into the tea pot. The mini candle at the base of the pot really did keep my tea hot throughout my 2 hours of dining time there. 

The only problem was, I really wished they'll provide a more standard sized tea cup rather than the dainty sized, masak-masak tea cup that only holds one mouthful of tea at a time.

Braised Lamb Shank - $29

Sorry for the blurry photos, I didn't check on them until it was too late and I didn't notice that the restaurant's lightings were too dim to take good pictures on default camera settings. 

Anyway, yeah their mains were pretty much on the pricey end. My lamb shank might appear as a monstrous size but it's really just because of the bone. The actual amount of meat you get is at most just a little bit more than a lamb chop, I will say.

But out of our 4 mains for the day, mine was the BEST! That is, provided you're not anti-lamb. :) 

The meat was cooked to perfection. It was so tender and succulent that I need just a slight tug from my fork to separate the pieces of meat from the bone, which gets easily chewed down even with minimal chewing. It was also well braised to give every bite a full savoury flavour, with a very slight hint of sweetness that might have gone unnoticed. Even their tomatoes were awesome, served prettily on vines and absolutely fresh, tart and juicy. 

The only thing lacking in this dish is the gravy for mashed potatoes. It might seem sufficient in the picture, but actually it's not enough at all. Plus, the mashed potatoes has a very strong milky taste (that reminded me of baby throwing up milk, yikes!) , which makes it less pleasant to the taste buds without the addition of gravy to it. So yup, this is one of the rare times you'll see me having leftover mashed potatoes in my plate.

That's Dresden's Ribeye Steak - $39

Yes, very pricey steak indeed, considering both the quantity and quality. I believe Dresden asked for medium, but it came totally well done and rubbery. That's $39 down the gutters, imo. 

ps. there's obviously even less gravy here for her mashed potatoes. 

SL's Chicken Chop - $25

Another one of the better dishes we had for the day, but then again $25 for a chicken chop is still on the extremely pricey end. A bite of it hints of tenderness and peppery savoury goodness. I won't say it's money well spent, but it was definitely a good eat.

Angie's Salmon - $29

One sentence from Angie will sum up the review for this dish: This taste like what I cooked for myself, at home.

Definitely not untasty (Angie is a good cook), but definitely not worth the price tag. 

Now for more picture spamming....

 Two dying doves here... *rofl*

Don't ask me why there's a bathtub here in the middle of nowhere. I do find it a little out of place too. And there's actually a row of bride's gowns at the opposite corner. But I reckon that's to fit in to the wedding theme of this corner. 

 Yes, you can go into the big birdcage and take some pretty photos!

And as you can see, Fullhouse Signature's theme is actually pretty 'garden wedding' imo (though they might not have that intention in mind) and I personally think that this is an awesome place to hold a small scale dinner for a very small group of close friends and relatives after ROM.

However, for frequent dining, I'm afraid it's not going to make it to my list of must-revisit because of the price and food quality. 

IMO, it will be brilliant if they will focus/expand on their dessert menu. What's more to ask (from us girls) than to have an amazingly pretty cafe with cute looking desserts (that hopefully aren't horribly overpriced)?

Fullhouse Signature is located at

3A Clarke Quay, River Valley Rd #02-04 Singapore 179020

Tel: 6338 0885

For more information, visit their FB page HERE.

Till then,

Mia

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