The Marmalade Pantry

The Marmalade Pantry
55 Fairways Drive

2 Orchard Turn
#03-22 ION Orchard

http://www.themarmaladepantry.com.sg/


Not As Good As I'd Hoped

(Ratings: On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 = Worst and 10 = Best)
Overall: 4
Ambience & Setting: 7
Food & Beverage: 4
Service: 5
Value for Money: 3
Spent about SGD $36 per person.


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The Marmalade Pantry first opened its city outlet in 2009, enticing diners with its 'modernist larder' concept, which promises fresh, healthy and tasty food that is prepared quickly. Drawing rave reviews, especially for their creative and pretty cupcakes, pastries and cakes, I was left feeling confused when I experienced poor food and poor service at The Marmalade Pantry during a recent visit... perhaps it was a bad day for them.

Ambience at The Marmalade Pantry has an elegant colonial charm, with fine tableware and colours of black and white offset by gold and wood trimmings. Love the open concept of the city outlet, perfect for people watching and relaxing. But the cramped floorspace means less privacy, and you can easily listen in on the next table's conversations.

During my visit, I received below average service at the The Marmalade Pantry. First, it was difficult to attract staff's attention, even though the restaurant wasn't packed. Second, they forget to serve my dessert after I asked for it, and I had to remind them again. On the plus side, staff did offer greetings when I stepped into The Marmalade Pantry, and food was served quickly.

Service during a subsequent visit didn't fare any better. Staff again forgot the dessert order after being reminded. Worse, there was no staff on standby even though the restaurant had opened, and the Brunch menu and several desserts wasn't available on a weekend morning. These were finally made available 1 hour later.

I'm rather ambivalent about the food at The Marmalade Pantry. While I commend the use of fresh ingredients, and the beautiful plating of dishes, the actual execution of the dishes fell flat. For a upper-range cafe with higher than average prices, I expect better quality and skill than what I got, as such, I feel that The Marmalade Pantry is not value for money.

Portions sizes are decent enough for one person. I think the desserts at The Marmalade Pantry stood out for me as well, very pretty presentations, with good taste, though some are overly sweet. Overall, I would probably only recommend The Marmalade Pantry for desserts, not for main courses.


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The aggressive looking Lemon Meringue Sponge Cake (SGD $8) has a sweet, airy, and light meringue that shatters easily, revealing the soft cake within. The cake is somewhat dry, but stands out for its zesty lemon cream that is a burst of flavour in the mouth.

Lemon Meringue Sponge Cake

The Granny's Apple Cupcake (SGD $4.80) features granny smith green apple slices, spiced with cinnamon sugar, topped with decadent cream cheese frosting. Lovely and sweet, with a nice textural contrast with the crunch of the apples and smoothness of the frosting.

Granny's Apple Cupcake

The Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake (SGD $8) may look plain, but the richness is evident in each bite. Smooth in texture, the flavour of the cheese and caramel is intense, cut through with a hint of the sea salt. Pretty good!

Sea Salt Caramel Cheesecake

The Mocha (SGD $6.50) was decent at best, but slightly higher priced, with a somewhat muted chocolate flavour. The coffee shot is pretty strong though, but I wouldn't visit just to drink their coffee.

Mocha

I loved the Peony Jade White Tea (SGD $7), with its light body, delicate floral aroma, and sweet fruity taste of lychee and passionfruit, with a slight bitter finish. Excellent choice for an afternoon high tea session!

Peony Jade White Tea

The Wuyi Keemun Black Tea (SGD $6.50) is intense with smoky, earthy flavours of wood and herb, with a slight sweetness of dates, yet very little bitterness. Warm and comforting.

Wuyi Keemun Black Tea

The Bananas And Berries Hotcakes (SGD $16) is served with a medly of berries (blueberries, strawberries) and honeycomb infused butter. The problem was the poorly cooked pancakes, which were limp, dry, and slightly tough in texture. Not satisfiying or tasty at all, in fact, The Marmalade Pantry received several complains about the poor quality of this dish from diners that day. Avoid!

Bananas And Berries Hotcakes 01

Bananas And Berries Hotcakes 02

The Seared Scallop And Prawn Fettuccine (SGD $24) was actually good. The fettuccine pasta was cooked well, and the seafood of scallops and prawns were plump, meaty, and fresh! However, the tiger prawn bisque sauce tasted similar to the Prawn Noodles soup you'll get from your local coffee shop, making this a fusion style dish, with Italian and Singaporean influence. Also, I felt the stock was too intense, and the aroma of crustacean was so overpowering the table next to ours could smell it. I had a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that I was eating something that tastes like a Singaporean Prawn Noodles soup.

Seared Scallop And Prawn Fettuccine 01

Seared Scallop And Prawn Fettuccine 02

The Chicken Arrabiata Linguine (SGD $24) features marinated chicken, sundried tomato, garlic, chili padi, parsley, tomatoes, and linguine pasta. The taste of the tomato sauce is rather muted, not as intense or as fresh for my liking, though there is sufficient to marinate the chicken, which was dry. Could have been slightly more spicy too. Average at best.

Chicken Arrabiata Linguine 01

Chicken Arrabiata Linguine 02

The huge slice of Fluffy Coconut Cream Cake (SGD $8) is sufficient for 2 people, though the coarse vanilla and coconut cake was dry instead of moist. This was relieved somewhat by the sweet and fragrant coconut infused cream frosting, with a subtle taste, and the texture of dessicated coconut meat on top. Decent dessert cake.

Fluffy Coconut Cream Cake 01

Fluffy Coconut Cream Cake 02

The Pandan Kaya Cupcake (SGD $4.80) was created to celebrate Singapore's National Day by resident pastry chef Louie Moong, and features a soft, moist, pandan and coconut flavoured cupcake, topped with a swirl of coconut meringue, with a dollop of kaya / pandan coconut egg jam at the center. Good, although she felt it was overly sweet.

Pandan Kaya Cupcake 01

Pandan Kaya Cupcake 02

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