After seeing pictures of this interesting themed cafe, I decided to visit it to try out the food with my wife. We went on a Wednesday night, and it was surprisingly quiet. We were the only customers in the restaurant for the two hours that we spent there. The staff were busy chatting among themselves, as they were clearly bored. But when we asked the waitress to top up water or to help us take photos, she gladly did it for us.

The selection of Western dishes, artisan desserts, confections, and drinks was sufficient – some with ethereal-sounding names like “Arendelle”, “Amnesia Blend”, and “Fairy’s Garden”. I had used my voucher to redeem a set meal for two, so we were restricted to the food items that we could choose. Our set meal included a soup, drink and a main course. For the main course, it was either sous-vide chicken breast with pesto cream pasta or crab meat aglio olio.

The seats in the cafe had various elks and moose prints. There was also an image of the train waiting to depart. The restaurant had full glass windows so passers-by can peer inside to get a glimpse of the decorations.

For the drinks, we had a choice between Eternal Garden or a fruit soda drink (not on the menu). I liked the concept of serving the drinks in a beaker and measuring cylinder, much like the potions class seen in Harry Potter. For the Eternal garden, it was black tea with natural rose petals and smooth floral sweetness, served in a Hedwig-like tea strainer. The cold drink was some syrup and soda, nothing much to rave about. The most popular drink on the menu is the “Goblet of Fire” drink, which is literally lit as you sprinkle some cinnamon powder into your drink. I have seen pictures of that on Instagram, but taste wise the reviews gave it a 5/ 10.

The wild mushroom soup was commendable. It had lots of mushroom bits in the soup. It was rich but not overly creamy.

When the main course arrived, we could smell the pesto sauce. The sous-vide chicken breast meat was quite bland. They sprinkled some Brussels sprouts and sunflower seeds on the top. I did not like the sprouts as they tasted raw. The pesto sauce was alright but after a few mouthfuls I got sick of the sauce. Ultimately I still managed to finish the dish on my own.

As for the other main course, which is crab meat aglio olio, it looked quite different from the picture shown on the menu. It was slightly spiced and the crab meat was shredded too much such that we could not taste the crab meat. It was not so meaty and the spaghetti did not soak up the chilli sauce. We were also disappointed with this dish as it did not taste like Italian food but more like a Chinese dish.

The designer of the cafe made use of the newsletter format to present some of the popular dishes on this poster.

If you are an avid Harry Potter fan, you would know the four houses – Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and Slytherin. It serves as a nice backdrop for taking photos.

There was a clothes rack with robes, scarves and broomstick for patrons to wear the costume and take some funny pictures. We love the concept of dressing up and not paying a fee to rent the costumes.

Sitting at the table with the Sorting Hat and thinking which house will I be sorted into? The Sorting Hat is a sentient hat at Hogwarts that magically determines which of the four school Houses each new student belongs most to. These four Houses are Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. The Sorting Hat originally belonged to Godric Gryffindor, one of the founders of Hogwarts.

According to an online quiz, here are my results.

What’s Your Hogwarts House Percentage?

You Are 39% Gryffindor, 22% Ravenclaw, 20% Slytherin, and 19% Hufflepuff!

Just like Hermione Granger, you were ultimately placed in Gryffindor, but the Sorting Hat seriously considered putting you in Ravenclaw. You are a natural born leader, often taking control of the reins from others whose recklessness or dedication to facts and knowledge clouds their judgment. You are intelligent, but acknowledge that there are more important things in life, and therefore aim to use your intelligence and determination to fight for what you believe to be right. Your slight compatibility with Slytherin house suggests a determination to succeed, though not at the expense of traits from your more dominant houses.

At another shelf, there are pet owls in cages, as well as a variety of wands in all sorts of shapes and sizes. We had a good time casting spells on each other using the different wands and playing with the paraphernalia. There are also some books for reading, of course related to wizarding and magic.

The verdict? I would not come back to this cafe again even though the props and decoration are really nice. The food was average and catered more to photographs/ the ‘gram than taste. The ambience of the cafe felt empty without any other customers. I suppose the cafe would have better business during the weekend.