...to deserve this kind of service.

I typically read prior reviews of a F&B outlet before penning my thoughts to understand if my experience was an exception or the norm. In this case, the previous reviews did not make mention of service (before being given water without asking) so I shall.

My wife and I were meeting a few friends for drinks and, by default, dinner as well. Coffee Club and its peers never struck me as a place to dine, so I was a little perturbed to begin with.

Since my friends arrived earlier, the waitress was taking the drink order for them while my wife and I had just received the menu. As she slipped to our side to take our order, I politely asked her to give us a minute to go through the menu. That was the first sign of trouble. That unmistakeable and dreaded black face of service staff. Which surprised me because there was hardly anyone else in the cafe. I tabled this thought to our friends and we found a myraid of reasons to explain her rudeness. Ok, forgiven for now.

I later found that other 2 service staff to be pleasant and well-mannered. They were attentive, patient and unflustered. That particular waitress, whom I shall not name, however, continued to wreck havoc on our otherwise hilarious evening.

My wife's order was wrong and when we brought it to her attention (frankly, i was trying my best to avoid her by this time, but there was no other staff around). She then gave us an incredulous look, like we were looking for trouble. She then took the dish and we watched agape as she stormed to the table and visibly, although not audibly, complained to whoever was in the kitchen. She must have known we could see her, unless this was her first day...sigh.

Now onto the food, which frankly was lousy to start with and made worse by a ruined appetite.

Wedges. At $7, it was sparse and unremarkable. Not worth it.

Burger. $10.90. Overcooked (i knew something was wrong when I was not consulted on doneness) and bland (salty but no flavour). But on the bright side, it perplexingly came with the same amount of wedges as served on the $7 plate.

Dory Gremolata. $13.90. Soggy tasting fish. Gremolata? As far as I know, that doesn't mean flabby breadcrumbs. On the bright side, the mash with sausage was delicious.

My friends ordered drinks and a salad but I can't comment on those, beyond the fact that the parmesan basket was limp and tasted stale. My latte was flat and my wife felt it tasted strange. I don't agree that it was strange but it was sub-par for a $5.50+++ cuppa.

Coffee - fail.
Food - fail.
Service - pls see me after class.

Coffee Club @ Holland Village is located right at the end of Lorong Mambong, the street that is the heart and soul of Holland Village. Having live in Holland when i was young, the street has since undergo many transformations, and i think most of the shops back then are not there anymore.

After reading Coffee Club’s website, i then realized that they had actually opened their first gourmet coffee house in Holland Village in 1991. But to be honest, i didn’t have any memories of Coffee Club back then.

Today Coffee Club has 21 outlets island-wide, and this is actually the first time i’m stepping into Coffee Club. Can you believe it? Well i been to Coffee Bean, Starbucks, but not Coffee Club.

And i have not went to The Coffee Connoisseur (TCC) before either, looks like a visit to TCC is on the cards.

The interior of the Coffee Club at Holland Village is relaxing, and looks great for a chill-out place. Thats exactly the reason that prompted my friend and i here.

There’s also al fresco area for those who like to stay out of the air-condition.

Iced Mocha ($6.90)
My friend had the iced mocha, like i mentioned previously in the Cedele post, i’m not a big fan of mocha, i rather spend the money on desserts, but my friend find the mocha to be all right.

Vienna Chocolate Cake ($5)
This, is what i’ll spend on my money on when i frequent coffee houses and cafes. Seriously i wont spend 6-7 bucks on a cup of coffee, partly because i don’t drink much coffee also. I love desserts, give me desserts everyday!

The Vienna Chocolate cake by its account, isn’t that great, there’s nothing special about the cake, well except its chocolate.

But to be fair, at 5 bucks a slice, it is really quite worth the money if you often have cravings for cakes, like me.

Total Bill was $14 for one mocha and one cake after the 17% you-know-what. The ambience of Coffee Club at Holland Village branch was excellent for a chill-out place, my friend and i were there chatting for about two hours, and there wasn’t much crowd around.

The menu for their main course looks tempting, in the dollar sense its quite reasonable. But i’m quite skeptical about the quality of the food in coffee houses. We’ll see how it goes then. Maybe when i’m low on budget, i’ll give their mains a try. Until then, chill-out!

You are always welcome to visit ladyironchef for a full-up on this trip. Whatever written herein are my genuine feelings expressed in words that may be subjected to my personal distortion or biasness. Feel free to furnish me with comments, may it be positive or negative : )

” Chill, chill, chill-out! “

I am exceedingly boring. I come here so often I should just invest in Coffee Club stock options should they ever decide to list.

But anyway if I haven't mentioned before, one fantastic thing about Coffee Club is tt it's one of those places tt almost always has seats, even if most of the other restaurants at Holland V are packed with queues. Best of all - it opens till late (I think I've mentioned this before already).

And the ambience is always comfortable, and the service is usually decent. Since there have been a lot of complaints abt coffee places tt make it a point not to serve iced water, at least Coffee Club serves iced water promptly and without you having to ask them.

So far, I like the baked pastas here. I've come to realise that the Alfredo - which is the baked pasta with ham and cheese in a cream sauce - is very decent. If you like ham and cheese the way I do, you simply cannot go wrong with this. If you want something lighter, you can try the crepe champignon if you like mushrooms. It's not bad too, but I personally feel tt pricewise, you're better off with the alfredo.

And now tt they've revamped some of their dishes, the caesar salad has been upgraded to being presented in a parmesan bread bowl. Tastewise it's still the same of course, although I notice tt they do not pack on the dressing as much as they used to - which is a very good thing because the last time I suffered from a dressing overload. If you don't like salads for your starters, the calamari is not bad as well. Nice and squid-like, I suppose.

As for desserts, while the fresh fruits fondue is pretty worth it, IMHO, the other desserts aren't all tt bad either. My bf ordered the apple crumble, which he liked, and I got the white chocolate parfait with raspberry sorbet. As always, very nice presentation. Comes in the form of a small white round cake of white chocolate cream and ice-cream, with a filling of raspberry sorbet. Makes me realise tt really sweet and creamy chocolate can go well with icy tangy raspberry. Quite interesting, but only if you like your dessert really sweet, as I do.

With its own on-site coffee roasting facilities in its flagship gourmet coffee house at Holland Village, Coffee Club took the coffee culture by storm and set a new standard in the industry in 1991. However, even with 21 outlets today, this flagship outlet remains close to my heart, even as a non-coffee lover. I like the impeccable service and aromatic coffee there and recently, its newly launched menu gave me more enticement to visit this place. I gave the NEW Banana Butterscotch Latte ($6.20) a try and what you get is an interesting blend of a very rich and sweet latte that is of acquired taste. Don’t get me wrong, the coffee was still aromatic, but I find the butterscotch flavour too overwhelming and with the addition of the banana in it, the drink was just too sweet for my liking – perhaps someone with a sweeter tooth will appreciate it better!

The NEW Spice Chicken Wings ($8.50) marinated with lemon juice was a delight. So much so that we devoured it within minutes. The skin was well marinated and the savoury & sour combination was truly pleasurable. The only flaw was that the greens that accompanied with it was all dried and wrinkled, and the texture was too rough for consumption – the least I expected was some olive oil drizzled on it – as I found out later that they only served salad dressing to their specialty salad dishes.

Thankfully, the NEW dessert in town saved the night – Chocolate Delice ($7.00), consisting of bittersweet chocolate mousse with chocolate syrup drenched over it and vanilla ice cream on a base of crisp, flaky puff pastry accompanied by crunchy Valrhona rice crispies, this dessert is a winner in many ways. Presentation wise – it was brilliant, taste wise – the chocolate mousse is beyond description, one simply has to taste it to know what I mean. If one enjoys Bakerzin’s signatured Warm Chocolate Cake, then this cold dessert is the one for you!

By the way, does any coffee expert around know how to pronounce the coffee “Ethiopian Yirgacheffe” served in Coffee Club?

You can view the all photos and other reviews @ His Food Blog.

have alwayz loved the atmosphere of the place. been there twice and i'm really in love with the place already. service has alwayz been pleasant and prompt. which made me come back for more. =D

during the second visit back with friends we ordered from their revamped menu. =D a apple crumble and white chocolate parfait with berry sauce. a cup of earl grey with a scoop of vanilla and a glass of goldleaf class white wine. =D

the apple crumble was crunchy with the sprinkle of nuts and the ice cream by the side. but the white chocolate parfait was even better. sinful but it was the ultimate indulgence. =D

drinks were alright. but i guess it was adventurous of me to drink the wine by myself since no one else was interested. =D

a good place to laze especially during the night. =D