Brotherbird Coffeehouse: Famous Mochi Doughnuts Reopens at Bali Lane
This year has seen some promising new entrants to the cafe scene, as well as the reopening of some established players, like the Bali Lane staple by the name of Brotherbird Coffeehouse, famous for their mochi doughnuts, soft serve ice cream, and interesting croissants of many flavours— mentaiko prawn, lemon meringue, or matcha chocolate croissants anyone? PS. Flavours are constantly updated and you can stay up to date on their website for the latest flavours!
The new two storey shophouse has gone for a sleek industrial look, common in many cafes these days like LUCID and Glass Roasters.
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The tiled wall behind the counter on the ground floor adds a little dimension to the proceedings, in the same way the greenery does on the second floor.
Behind the glass display is where you’ll find their renowned croissants, which was probably wiped clean by the time I visited, as evidenced by the empty counter.
Brotherbird has obviously managed to gather quite a fervent fanbase, as we had to wait about 20 minutes just to get a table for two.
Majority of the seating capacity can be found on the second floor, with diners packed fairly tight, in the way most shophouse cafes have to be due to the narrow layout. At full capacity, the second floor was genuinely quite noisy.
There are savoury items on the menu if you’re looking for a hearty brunch too, such as Eggs Benedict (S$21), Rigatoni Bolognese (S$18), Smashed Avocado Toast (S$18) and Chicken Stew and Croissant (S$21), just to name a few.
However, we decided to go for their signature desserts, namely the Signature Mochi Donut (S$15) and the Fried Croissant (S$15), both topped with their famous soft serve.
The Signature Mochi Donut was the better of the two we had, as the mochi was not too sweet. The crushed almond and salted caramel sauce that glazed the donut helped balance the sweetness of the ice cream and mochi combination.
Both dishes had the soft serve sit atop a sole biscuit, which surprisingly did not get soggy quickly despite the melting ice cream.
The Fried Croissant on the other hand, is deep fried with cinnamon sugar and served with a side of raspberry coulis. Some might find this a little too sweet but I was actually disappointed most with the croissant. The croissant was a lot paler in colour than what I expected, and tasted a little under baked. And while you’d expect any croissant to be airy, it was borderline hollow. While this would work for their other croissants infused with flavourful fillings, it did not quite work here as it was literally empty. Perhaps these are done as part of a mass bake for their other croissants?
All things considered, should I return for future visits, I would definitely like to try their interesting flavours of croissants as well as their savoury dining options.
Beyond that, it is a genuinely beautiful space, just incredibly noisy— but with their famous menu offerings constantly making the rounds on Instagram, it’s not hard to see why Brotherbird packs in the crowds the way they do.
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WHERE | 32 BALI LANE, SINGAPORE 189868
