L'etoile is star in French, and I think it's quite an apt name for this new rising star, a French-themed Japanese café housed in a two-storey shophouse at the junction of Owen Road and Dorset Road. As it was the owner's intent to settle on an off-the-beaten track (read: ulu) location, having a GPS device with you on the first visit here is highly advisible.
While the first floor of the café has a relatively modern setting that looks like a random page torn off from an Ikea catalogue, its second floor is entirely a different world. Imagine you have a grandfather clock, a vintage typewriter, as well as a Singer sewing machine as your coffee table.
The medium-roasted blend supplied by Highlander Coffee suited my tastebuds pretty well, as I could probably tell from the excellent cup of Cappucino ($4.5) I had.
Their Ciabatta Smoked Duck ($6.9) was more than decent.
Juicy smoked duck and soft ciabatta.
Stunning murals handpainted by the owner and friends.
Retail space in case you wanna take home something to please someone.
Service was warm and sincere. Despite being short-handed, we had the friendly barista repeatedly came up to the second floor and offered to fill up our glasses.
L'etoile (Facebook)
160 Owen Road
Tue – Sun, 9am – 8pm
Closed on Mondays
6298 2872
lovely interiors. its the interiors that is French themed? or menu?
ReplyDeleteJoyce
Hi Joyce, thx for dropping by.
ReplyDeleteI had a chat with owner Yvonne, apparently the cafe was inspired by the French cafes in Japan when she was there. while i can't recall seeing anything familiarly French, my guess will be their pastry selections, which I didn't get to try
Oic. Again, this is one of the cafes that u made me feel like going.
ReplyDeleteU mean there have been cafes that I made you otherwise not feel like going?
ReplyDeleteHaha, just kidding. I really love this one. Its upper floor is practically vintage galore with items mostly donated by owner's friends and relatives. I even have a friend now secretly working on an ROM plan there after seeing the photos.