Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier

Along Eng Hoon Street and beside the Orange Thimble Cafe, a new French Bakery has open it's doors to the delight of folks living in Tiong Bahru. If you read today's lifestyle section, the only section worth reading in The Straits Times nowadays, you'll find out that this bakery is a collaboration between The Spa Espirit Group and Gontran Cherrier. Chef Cherrier has his own boulangerie in France, write his own books and even appear on TV show for bread baking. It's just a matter of time that folks found out that he's a suave and charming French guy and start packing the bakery just to catch a glimpse of him. It seems like the Spa Espirit Group has a hit on the area. The group co-own The Open Door Policy in Yong Siak Street and now, Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier at Eng Hoon Street. Like many folks who read today's newspaper, we visited the bakery to 'kay poh' (be nosey) and bought a few bread home for tea time. With all these hype, Tiong Bahru is beckoning to me to relocate back to the vicinity.

From outside the bakery there's the bread showcase to lure you in. The word "Showcase" literally means for show casing only. Freshly baked bread are only sold over the counter in the bakery. If you'll like to enjoy fresh bread in-house, there are some tables and chairs scattered inside the bakery. A Synesso Expresso machine is there to churn out your favorite gourmet coffee to go with their fresh bakes. Heard rumours that guys from Forty Hands are behind the espresso machines.

Grab your bread over the counter!

Here's a graphical moment when you are deciding what Forty Hands coffee suits  your bread.

Here's the pile of Olive bread that I shot with an iPhone through the glass case that protects any accidental dripping of saliva onto these fresh bakes that smell so wonderfully alluring.

For a French Bakery, the baguette is a sure thing to be sighted. There were a few variety like the plain, sesame and the squid ink baguettes nicely sticking out of a wooden crate near the counter at the end of the queue at the fresh bake counter. I spotted some sandwiches at the counter if you'll like some. As for me, I'm taking home a few fresh bakes to go with coffee later.

This is by no means a piece of charcoal. It's part of a loaf of Squid Ink Baguette (S$4) that I tore off.  This baguette has a peppery, slightly piquant and mostly savory taste. I really like it on it's own.

Tiong Bahru Bakery's Chocolate Croissant (S$3.20). This was not the typical croissant that I recognise. The layers looked too obvious. HY love it for the extra crisp on the outside and can feel the layering that goes all the way inside. 

While HY loves her Chocolate Croissant. I like it plain with the plain Croissant that I topped up with extra butter provided at the far corner from the entrance. Gontran's trademark croissant layers made this style uniquely his. At the moment, this is my favorite croissant.

The bakery's Olive bread (S$4) is so much smaller than the baguette but cost the same. It's soft, airy and had a good amount of olives in big bits. The mouthful got intensely savory when I hit the portion clustered with the olive bits.

Look at the big bits of olive near the surface of olive bread.

Fabulous Bread and Coffee aside, there's plenty of babe watch!

56 Eng Hoon Street #01-70

Singapore

Tel: +65 6220 3430

Opening Hours:

8am~8pm

Closed on Tues.