Chezcake Bistro · Joo Chiat's Well Kept Secret · Singapore Cheesecake Wonderland

After our lunch today in Joo Chiat, we adjourned for our usual coffee and cakes. Walking down Joo Chiat road, we stumbled upon Chezcake Bistro and quickly stepped inside to escape the stifling humidity and heat outside.

Humble Chezcake Bistro is right next door to trendy Common Man Coffee Roasters. But, it turned out that low profile Chezcake Bistro is a "hidden" cheesecake paradise for cheesecake lovers (me included).

Restaurant name: Chezcake Bistro

Address: 189 Joo Chiat Road, Singapore 427460

Tel: 6346 6466 ☎ 9755 6697

Hours: 12:00 noon - 10:00pm (Mon off)

Chezcake Bistro is a little space, air conditioned, simply but comfortably furnished. The centrepiece is a large display chiller with several cheesecakes inside. There was a steady stream of customers whom friendly chef-owner Cannice Lee warmly attended to personally.

Chezcake Bistro reminded me of those quaint little mommy run cheesecakes shops sprinkled around New York City, the capital of cheesecake. I fondly remember Eileen's Special Cheesecake and Two Little Red Hens in Manhattan. Then, there's the Junior's Cheesecake chain original shop in Brooklyn.

Chef owner Cannice Lee was in F & B since her teens, financing her tertiary studies by working in restaurants and is passionate about cooking and baking. She realised her dream of owning her own restaurant when she opened Chezcake Bistro in 2006 in Joo Chiat.

Cheesecakes is Chezcake Bistro's core offering making up over half of its business. Chezcake Bistro also serve savoury dishes like pastas, pizzas and burgers as well as offer Chinese, Korean and Thai private dining by Cannice.

Cannice has been tirelessly researching and developing new cheesecake flavours even before opening Chezcake Bistro. She now has over 100 types of cheesecakes under her belt, and counting.

At any time, twenty different types are available in the display chiller and all are personally hand crafted by Cannice.  Cannice even has mao shan wang durian cheesecake which she makes on order 🎗 MSW lovers please note!

We had Rum & Raisins, Lychee Martini, and Ondeh Ondeh cheesecakes with coffee.

Chezcake's cheesecakes are set on a moist crumbly crust made with McVitie's digestives biscuit and butter.

I was totally delighted with all three cheesecakes. On first bite, it has a home made feel different from mass produced cheesecakes. I like how the sweetness of raisins and rum jazzed up the gentle savoury, sweet, tangy taste of cream cheese. The lychee and martini was also sweet but with a different profile and moistened the cream cheese.

The ondeh ondeh cheesecake is yet another example of how Singaporeans bring food here and give it Singaporean characteristics like what we did to Hainanese chicken rice and kueh of all kinds. So, cheesecake gets the same treatment. The ondeh ondeh cheesecake was sweetened with grated coconut flesh, gula Melaka palm sugar and subtly perfumed with pandan leaf juice.

Does Cannice have a cheesecake with the now ubiquitous butterfly pea? 🤔

I am so glad to have stumbled upon Chezcake Bistro. Next time I am in the Joo Chiat area and need a chill spot to cool my heels, I know where the coffee is nice and the cheesecakes are wonderful. Chezcake Bistro's hand made cheesecakes are reasonably priced too at $7 to $8 a slice (Mar 2022 prices).

                  

Written by Tony Boey on 17 Mar 2022