Bad reviews are always challenging to make, with almost no incentives given that it won’t go viral (which is the goal of content creation). However, I had a pretty abysmal and disappointing experience at Cafe Gyoen Matcha Bar at Cross Street and thought to share.

For fairness to every establishment that I review, I purchase a range of items. For Cafe Gyoen Matcha Bar, I ordered 2 different drinks, 1 main, 1 sando and 1 dessert. This is completely based off my opinion.

Background of Cafe Gyoen:
It started out in the Serangoon Gardens cafe era, where it went viral then for its train-themed cafe and design in 2024. The menu was rather similar to what they have now based on what I’ve seen on Google reviews for their Serangoon Gardens cafe era.

Disclaimer: I did not visit during this era, and am unable to make comparisons.

Food items I tried from Cafe Gyoen Matcha Bar, prices (before service charge) and verdict:

  1. Drinks: Hokkaido Latte Float ($10.50) and Dirty Matcha Latte ($8.50) – 3/5
    I am a fan of authentic matcha but the matcha tasted watered down, as compared to the ones I’ve tried in other local cafes and even in Uji. Ice cream on the Hokkaido Latte Float was nice, and a great redeeming factor.
  2. Main (Japanese Teishoku Balanced Meal): Shio Tori Chicken ($19) – 3/5
    I like the plating of it and the individual components. I really enjoyed the onigiri and tamago. The chicken was not bad too. However, I find that the chicken was rather thin, and overall, this affected the tenderness of the chicken.
  3. Sando: Egg Mayo Softshell Crab Sando ($21.90) – 1/5
    I was initially excited to try this as it uses a Focaccia base instead of the usual shokupan, which is true to their fusion concept. However, I felt that the components didn’t gel well together (everything was dense and heavy to bite, and a shokupan would’ve helped).Furthermore, the Softshell Crab portion was rather little. If I were to assemble all the bits of softshell crabs together, there wasn’t a lot in my sando.
  4. Sweet Pairings (Desserts): Matcha Burnt Cheesecake ($8.0) – 1/5
    The two tone Matcha Burnt Cheesecake didn’t do much justice to the faint Matcha. Particularly, I felt that the cheesecake overwhelms the matcha layer and I could only taste the matcha layer when I eat it separately.
  5. Total damage including service charge: $75.24
    They do not charge, or perhaps absorb GST, and for this, I got to give it to them. I also like that they serve water at no charge.

Video coming soon

While I like the vibes of the cafe, I felt that crowd management can be better to improve the experience. I was seated near to the door, of which many takeaway customers and people in the queue waited almost right beside me.

Overall, I hope that they will improve. For now, this is somewhere I will visit only when convenient and when I am nearby, but I don’t find it worth the queue.

Address: Cafe Gyoen Matcha Bar, 87 Club St, Singapore 069455