SIN: Hoshino Coffee

Can you handle both maple syrup and 'matcha' sauce together?

Hoshino Coffee was established in Japan in 2011. Having more than 200 outlets in the Land of the Rising Sun, it's renowned for its hand-drip coffee and soufflé pancake. Following its success, it opened its first overseas outlet in Singapore in 2012, though I'm not sure which is the very first one out of the ten branches that we have across the island at the point of writing.

I visited the branch at Holland Village, where I happened to meet one of my ex-students. I guess it wasn't entirely surprising given that he lives in that area.

Chicken Soup with Yuzu and Ginger S$6.50

Taste: 8/10

For a start, I wanted to have something that could warm the body and soul on that rainy day. I opted for a bowl of chicken soup, especially since the word yuzu (a species of aromatic Asiatic citron) on the menu caught my attention. I relished the hearty soup that had an alluring aroma of yuzu and ginger. There was an adequate amount of chicken, which was pretty succulent.

Salmon with Wasabi Cream Sauce Spaghetti S$16.00

Taste: 6.5/10

Here's one of the two specially recommended dishes. First of all, I have to say that the spaghetti was a tad overcooked, so it wasn't that springy. I'd prefer the cream sauce to be thicker, but it was quite rich nonetheless. While I found the salmon to be fresh enough, they could be more generous with the wasabi mayonnaise. Pika's advice: Complete your meal with a serving of Mini Salad or Mini Soup for S$2.50, or get both by topping up S$4.00.

Omu Soufflé Curry Rice S$17.80

Taste: 7.5/10

I also had a taste of the other specially recommended dish, which was good, but not fantastic. I'm not going to deny that the omelette sitting atop short-grain rice was fluffy, but it was actually not so eggy in terms of taste. As for the beef curry dusted with parmesan cheese powder, it was pretty thick and sweet.

Matcha Pancake Soufflé Style (Single) S$16.80

Taste: 8/10

The dinner ended with a freshly baked soufflé pancake that was moist and had a melt-in-the-mouth quality. It was topped with green tea ice cream, whipped butter and sweet black soybeans.

Given the option between maple syrup and honey syrup in a separate jar, I chose the former, although I didn't really use it since there was already a lot of green tea sauce, which was decadently fragrant and sweet enough for my liking.

Melon's Rating

Taste: 7.5/10

Ambience: 7/10
Service: 7/10
Overall: 7/10

I'm interested to try the hand-drip coffee next time.

Hoshino Coffee

118 Holland Avenue

#02-02 Raffles @ Holland Village

Singapore

(Mon-Fri: 10.30am - 10.00pm;

Sat-Sun: 9.00am - 10.00pm)

http://www.hoshinocoffee.com.sg/m/

*Prices quoted are subject to 10% service charge and 7% GST.

Have a nice meal,

Cliff(y)