Cuisine: Pastries / Western
Address: 350 Joo Chiat Rd, Singapore 427598
Nearest MRT: Paya Lebar MRT (Circle / East-West line)

Tigerlily is one of the new cafes around Joo Chiat area. The brunch items are worth skipping, according to my friend, because the brunch items are quite small. For example, he tried the Monsieur Kim and it only came with the sandwich, without other sides. It would have been nicer to have a side such as fries or salad to make it more filling. The Big Breakfast is a better option if you want a typical American style breakfast with eggs and it is filling.

Inspired by the delicate beauty of nature, Tigerlily forages the robust produce of each season to curate pastries baked with equal parts refined techniques and radiant flavours.

A heaping scoop of classical French methodology with a pinch of Asian persuasion, Tigerlily embodies a rosy marriage of timelessness and fresh harmony of flavours. Every bake is bloomed fresh daily in limited quantities and is perfectly envisaged to enjoy, whether with a quiet cup of tea or shared among friends and sprightly festivities.

With a wide range of pastries and cookies available, it seems like you would like to try everything on display. These are two bottles of speculoos cookies that are available for takeway.

Under the sweet pastries, this is the Maple Pecan Cruffin ($6). Perfectly flaky croissant-muffin hybrid piped with maple pastry cream, toasty pecan praline and a crunchy crown of caramelised pecans. A cruffin is an interesting mix between a croissant and a muffin, giving it a flaky texture yet not too dry.

For savouries, we have the Blue Cheese and Walnut Tart ($6). It is a funky festive tart with creamy mascarpone, honey and scatters of walnuts and caramelised onions. Finished with a classic Christmas whiff of Stilton blue cheese. Even though we were sceptical about the strong, pungent taste of the blue cheese, but in this tart it turned out fine and not overpowering surprisingly.

This is the Kouign Amann ($4.50). This traditional pastry from northern France is made with sugary crust and caramelised edges. I still prefer the Tiong Bahru Bakery version, which is less dense and less sugary.

The other savoury tart we had is the Mushroom Bacon Quiche ($7). It is a warming quiche centred with a medley of bacon, wild mushrooms, caramelised onions and gruyere cheese. I love how the cheese melted into the other ingredients and the onions provided a slight tinge of sweetness to the pastry. Again, this savoury quiche did not disappoint and the tart base had the right amount of thickness and buttery taste.

Under the Entremets, we tried the Pistachio Marimo ($10). It was the most expensive dish that we ordered with regards to its petit size. It is an all-round pistachio fun of homemade pistachio praline, frangipane, crispy feuilletine within a pistachio mousse ball. Perhaps due to the premium ingredients used, especially the pistachio, which is why it commands a higher price. I would not order it again because once put in the mouth, it was a strange medley of mousse and I could not really taste the pistachio in the praline.

Overall, we liked the ambience of this tiny cafe and its savoury stuff perched in a cozy corner of Joo Chiat. You could have Vietnamese food and then hop over to Tigerlily for some desserts. The small bites in the window-front really remind me of the typical pastry and bakery shops in Paris, France. It is surprising that this cafe managed to pop up after the circuit breaker and open a physical store. Judging from the queues on weekends, the novelty of this cafe is still there and people are keen to try out this cafe.