Going in with the thought that this is a "Tai Tai" [Rich lady] hangout area, I mean with the Gucci, TODS, and Raoul and staring at you in one place, it tells how high class this place can be, BUT is the food any good?

There was an Italian food place, Ding Tai Fung and Thai Express, then there was "MY MUM'S CUISINE!"

The ambiance of the place is decorated with nostalgic items like old chinese vintage posters of girls in cheongsams, old partitions and some other items which I can't remember but your mom or your grandmother would have an immediate kinship if they laid their eyes laced with history on them.

Besides the decor, the old chinese vintage feel tries much to imitate an old coffeeshop with their utensils, cutlery, tables and chairs to a certain detail, liken to those way back when they have booths which will have the customers face directly at each other. I love those times.

The service was prompt and sincere. All the waitresses look like they are mothers themselves, I wonder was it purposefully done to give of that maternal care which accompanies the name of the place.

I ordered:
1) Hotplate Beancurd
2) Hainanese Pork Chop
with a bowl of rice and iced barley drink

I love beancurd very much however the first taste of momma's beancurd turned my vibrant love for it into a nonchalant standstill of brain activity. I was like chewing into card board, wait, cannot be card board cos there is the gravy, okay WET card board. It was bland and limp. Yes LIMP, as LIMP as a Mas Selamat [A terrorist that walks with a limp] I mean it has to be firm and the gravy got to be tasty. If mum is going to cook this for dinner tonight I will be running away from home.

Then came the saving grace from the Hainan Islands, I mean this is a dish that travelled by ships with the hainanese immigrants in the past, coming to Singapore seeking new hope and new life...ah the HAINANESE PORK CHOP. Well hope and life definitely came into the palette of my taste buds when I put a piece of their pork chop into my mouth, it was crisp and partly soggy from the tomato based gravy. This is a feat that many food places that I visited failed to get the concoction right, besides YET CON of SEAH ST. I think this dish is really a seller and to me, it should be a dish included into the heavenly realms as I just sat there and enjoyed every piece of it. Yummy! Mum's got it right with this dish and made me a fan of hers.

Home Made Barley was surprisingly authentic, not like those that mix it with syrup and all. Good detoxing agent after mum's pampering of pork chops and soggy card board.

Advice: There is chef recommendation page in the menu, I suspect that those are the foods that they cook really well and the rest sub-standard. My beancurd was outside of the recommendation but it was my personal fave so I courted a taste bud death. I might be wrong in this as it is my own personal theory because I was looking around my table and mostly people order from the recommendation page! Darn it...should have observed my surroundings earlier! Also saw lots of people ordering beef kway teow. Might be good so I am going to try it the next time I am there.

The price is pricey but I mean, if you eat at "Tai Tai's" hangout, what you expect? If you want to go a notch higher, you can bring your Ferragano fork and spoon with Anna Sui's chopsticks perhaps to make the meal a PARAGON experience.

I have to give 10/10 for the decor and ambiance as it allows you walk into a surreal Victorian cum Elizabethan age old room of a castle. The solid colors of gold, black and dirty yellow blend perfectly with the accompany of arranged fountains and magnificent mirrors. They also have attentive and charming hosts that comes to any food service you need.

However when it is time to take an order, 2 things happened:

1) They were out of cheese cakes
2) They explained "hard" to allow me to come to terms that they have a rule that every customer that comes within their premises must order an item of their menu.

Now here is the problem. They are named the "CheeseCake" Cafe! Granted that they are out of cheesecakes! But to force a rule like this on a customer that perhaps comes from the other side of Singapore just to be there for their cheesecakes makes the place comparable to a PIRATE INN. I mean the most polite way to tell a cheesecake lover that walks into a cheesecake joint like this, is to waive that rule away. I understand that rule is meant for perhaps customers who just don't order anything and takes up the glamorous seats and the expensive smell the decor breathes out but what of those that are genuine cheese cake lovers?

This rule only gives me the impression that the owners only have the dollars in their sights. With the price tag they are putting on the cakes, if their cakes are really that good, I don't mind falling into their trap BUT with no cheese cake as the bait, please waive that rule to save yourselves from horrid impressions.

As you can understand till this point of the review, I did not have any cheesecakes! But I was force to get a drink. They aren't famous for drinks but I have to say it is only trying to be a wannabe classy beverage that leaves to much peppermint leaves in my mouth and only honey to speed up my possibility of having diabetes.

Advice: Go there ONLY when they have cheesecakes or when they waive that ridiculous rule! Perhaps that Elizabethan place influences monarchy onto the owners to have that inflexibility. Lucky I still have my head! God save the Queen they say and I say God save the Cheesy Queen.