Toby’s Estate food review

Toby’s Estate

Address: 8 Rodyk Street #01-03/04, 238216

Directions: Take bus 51, 186 from Chinatown MRT station, then alight at Hotel Miramar and cross over the Singapore River to the other bank. The cafe is located along the river, just minutes away from Grand Copthorne Hotel and Zouk nightclub.

Toby’s Estate is an Australian cafe that set up its first flagship cafe and roastery in Singapore, the first branch to open in Asia, outside of Australia. It occupies an old warehouse along the river and for a piece of interesting history, these warehouses contributed to the economic growth of Singapore more than 50 years ago as it depended on entrepot trade. Today, the old warehouse still retains this bit of historical facade, but the inside is embodied with new meanings of capitalism and appreciation of coffee culture.

Interior of Toby’s Estate cafe

The interior of the cafe has a minimalistic design, with black colour being the main theme. There is a large pipe and roaster and on Tuesdays, the cafe would roast the entire week’s coffee beans using the machines. Apparently, Toby’s Estate supplies roasted coffee to other markets in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam and Indonesia. Being famous for roasted coffee, Toby’s harvests its coffee from several countries including Ethiopia, Uganda, Brazil, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico. The array of coffee on the menu spoils the visitor for choice.

We visited during lunchtime and the cafe was not so packed. We did not need to wait to be seated and were allocated two seats along the long table which is located in the middle of the cafe. We had Seoul Burger, Maki roll and Iced chocolate. The burger was delicious as it was a fusion of East and West; the taste of the sour, slightly spicy kimchi went well with the marinated pork that was sandwiched between two slightly toasted sesame buns. The fries that were served with the burger came in a generous portion, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. The Maki rolls had an interesting taste as the smoked salmon gave it a slightly salty taste to balance the enoki mushrooms which are usually tasteless. I had expected something Japanese wrapped with rice, but this deep fried snack was an unusual twist to the typical Japanese maki. This dish was accompanied by homemade achar made from strips of radish, carrot and cucumber. Lastly, the iced chocolate drink was pretty normal, but a good thirst quencher on a hot day. Since Toby’s Estate is famous for your brews, you should try their coffee if you come here. As for the service, I think the staff were very efficient in topping up our water and clearing the plates. They were very friendly and attentive to the customers.