Manfred ThamCafe Review: Wednesday Cafe
After removing your shoes at the door and plopping yourself down on a large cushion, you’ll sink right into the Wednesday Café’s cosy and incredibly home-y ambience. The 4-month-old café has a pervasive aroma of pastries baking in the oven and freshly brewed coffee, lulling us into a state of ease.
Wednesday café is owned and run by Jane Tan, 23, and Charmaine Teo, 25, a former proof-reader and magazine editor respectively. It offers an “anti-café” concept where customers pay for the time spent in the café instead of individual prices for the food and drinks. It costs $12 for the first hour and $5 for every subsequent half hour (students get a nifty discount for the first hour at $9.90) or you could drop $35 to spend a whole day there.
The 2 friends originally intended to start a cat café after they grew tired of working in media but had their plans thwarted with the opening of many other cat cafes before theirs. Thus, the two young entrepreneurs decided to go with a different concept. That being said, the café does have 2 resident felines, both pets of the proprietors.
Wednesday Café displays a rather modest spread of homemade pastries and desserts for customers to help themselves to. Jane and Charmaine don’t stick to a stringent menu, choosing to bake whatever catches their fancy.
The M&M cookies are not particularly eye-catching but belie a subtle buttery-ness. Their red velvet cookies are a let-down though as it was bland.
The signature Speculoos Cookie Bar is a treat with its rich peanut tang complimented by the malty filling sandwiched in between. Surprisingly crunchy with a thick stickiness, it is quite a dessert.
Their cupcakes are not to be sniffed at either. Wednesday Café has one of the best salted caramel cupcakes we’ve ever had, with a subtle saltiness and the actual flavour of caramel instead of just sugar’s sweetness. The unique Nasi Lemak [fragant Malay rice dish cooked with coconut and pandan] cupcake is an unexpected must-try as its rich, chewy dough and sweet Sambal [chilli sauce made with shrimp paste] filling really tastes like the iconic dish.
However, our personal favourite is the tuna omelette quiche. We have a soft spot for savoury treats and this little pie hit the spot after all that decadent sweetness. A shame that it’s a little too salty.
Wednesday Café has a spread of thick, sticky sweet treats that are a nightmare for our braces but heaven for our tongue. You’ll definitely need one of their tart, frothy cappuccinos (they use BonCafe grounded coffee powder) or Dilmah teas to wash them down. Their drinks are decent but are the usual café fare except for their well-known homemade pink lemonade, which is thoroughly refreshing after the indulgent sweets.
All in all, despite its somewhat camouflaged location at Tanjong Katong Road next to a bird shop, Wednesday Café offers a unique experience, especially if you’re looking for a place to laze away an afternoon with your friends.
Just one thing: Bigger utensils please? Your little forks are too tiny for our manly hands!
[xrr rating=3.5/5 display_as=textstars label=”Our Rating:”]
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Information:
Address: 220 Tanjong Katong Road
Contact Details: (+65) 6247 7760
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WednesdayCafeSg
Instagram: https://instagram.com/wednesdaycafesg/
Opening Hours: 1pm – 10pm (Weekdays and Weekends)
Photos courtesy of Renald Loh
Read the rest of our food series!