The Fabulous Baker Boy

With a name like that, is it any wonder that this cafe located at the foothills of Fort Canning Park is crowded all the time? The place is pretty unique. For one, do you remember the old River Valley Swimming Complex? After the River Valley Swimming Complex was abandoned in 2003, the place was left pretty much disused, until the pools got filled up in what is now known as The Foothills Fort Canning Park. The Fabulous Baker Boy is situated at the Viridian Art House building, which was the former canteen of the swimming complex!

If you’re visiting Fort Canning Park for some exercise, you might like to give yourself a treat at the end of your walk by having a cuppa and some cake at The Fabulous Baker Boy. In fact, that was exactly what we did several Saturdays ago. I know it sounds like a total waste of the exercise if I were to be eating cake directly after, but look at it this way. I’m going to have cake and coffee ANYWAY, so shoving in some hill climbing and brisk walking just before I eat my cake can only be a GOOD THING.

The only thing is, it can get crowded on the weekends (like which cafe isn’t full house on weekends these days) so brace yourself for a long wait or no cake after the walk. Oh, it can get a little hot here as there is no air-conditioning.

Let me tempt you with some pictures of the cakes first. They look so darn luscious I want to have a piece right now as I’m typing this! This here is their Nutty Monkey cake which retails for $85 per cake or $8.50 per slice. 2 slices ”free” if you buy the whole cake. Cakes are getting really expensive these days!

Another of their cakes, the Sugee Brandy cake. These days, there are as many cake flavours as there are ice cream flavours, although I haven’t heard of a sweet potato ikan bilis cake yet, like I have for ice-cream.

Eggs Benedict (2 poached eggs served on a toasted broche, Scottish smoked salmon, roasted rosemary potatoes and an Italian version of a Hollandaise) $16

I couldn’t resist ordering the eggs benedict again as usual. I was quite amazed at how round they are. I wonder if they use a special holder to keep the egg in place. It’s hard to go wrong with Eggs Benedict, and this was pretty good, although I thought the chef was a bit heavy handed on the hollandaise sauce or the Italian sauce. Couldn’t really detect the difference in the sauce though. I liked the roast potatoes, which were nicely done, but I think I would have preferred some greens too.

Blueberry Pancakes $11

The Partner can never resist Blueberry Pancakes. Neither can I to be frank, but I love eggs too. Can someone do half pancakes and 1 eggs benedict? That would just be fantastic. These pancakes were not served with blueberry sauce. Instead, the numerous blueberries were cooked together with the pancake, which is a really nice way to enjoy the blueberries as they are hot and bursting with flavour. Syrup was also drizzled onto the pancakes, but I think I would still prefer additional blueberry jam or blueberry compote instead of plain old golden syrup. But still, the pancakes were very enjoyable as they were fluffy and nicely browned.

Spiced Apple Cider Pancakes $10.50

My parents ordered the Spiced apple Cider Pancakes. These pancakes were not as good as the blueberry pancakes because the apple flavours were to mild to be fully appreciated. More apple could have been used, or once again, some apple puree or something on the side should have been given.

Iced Latte and Flat White $5.40 each

This was the original turnstiles leading into the River Valley Swimming Complex

Didn’t manage to try the cakes even though I was oogling them badly. Apart from the Nutty Monkey and the Sugee Brandy, there were also Green Tea, Salted Caramel Chocolate and Carribean Lemon. Looking at these pretty cakes makes me want to whip out my baking apron and electric whisk again!

Don’t confuse The Fabulous Baker Boy with The Fabulous Baker Brothers, which is a TV cooking programme, albeit a very cool one too. Juwanda’s the baker boy in question here. The Fabulous Baker Boy does take reservations, can’t understand why though as they seem to be perpetually full during peak hours. If you want to make a reservation, you have to call a few days in advance though. The Fabulous Baker Boy is located directly opposite Liang Court Shopping Centre, and is about 10 — 15 minute walk from Clarke Quay MRT Station.

Visit other interesting cafes located within Singapore’s Parks and Gardens.

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The Fabulous Baker Boy @ The Viridian Art House

The Foothills, 70 River Valley Road, #01-15 Singapore 179037