NOM – Bistro & Bakery

Nom is the sound made when eating but NOM – Bistro & Bakery, located on the 1st floor of recently-renovated Macpherson Community Club, stands for "no other meaning". By the same people behind Yesterdae, which closed last August to prepare for the move to this bigger space at Paya Lebar Way, NOM is a bistro and bakery. Just a stone's throw away from Circuit Road, it was rebranded with an expansion of repertoire and has been opened since February this year. Bright green steel structures with circle design, reminiscent of concrete circles that frame staircases at void decks, stood out against a neutral palette of outdoor furniture and deck-like wooden panels. The same green structure can also been seen in the air-conditioned indoors with white walls, tables and chairs. With concrete floor instead, mirrors are strategically located to mimic the repeated column structure designs at void decks. There is also an old-school-inspired mini dragon slide in the clean and brightly-lit space.

Yesterdae Revisited

Saw friends upload pictures of cakes in rainbow colours on Facebook and have been intrigued since. While it is visually pleasing, not many places sell rainbow cakes due to the time and effort required to painstakingly and patiently bake layer by layer. In fact, one of the places that used to sell rainbow slices cited resource crunch as the reason for pulling it off the shelf. And ordering a whole cake is not cheap. So when rainbow slices are back for the month of December at Yesterdae, there was no way I was going to miss it. Comes in chocolate or cream cheese frosting, I ordered the former and made a mess removing the two overlapping pieces of plastic wraps as one was not tall enough. This helped keep sides of the cake exposed to air from drying up. The sweet and rich chocolate was well-balanced by the cake where every layer tasted the same as no artificial flavour, just colouring, was added. Nothing to shout about or fault except that it got too cloying towards the end possibly due to the butter.

Update: The café has been rebranded as NOM – Bistro & Bakery.

Yesterdae

After my waste of caffeine intake at Dean & Deluca (oh, and did I mention that the double macchiato came in a paper cup?) and being let down by the macchiato at &Made by Bruno Ménard, was recommended to try the coffee at Yesterdae. Tucked away in a quiet HDB estate near the PIE where traffic jams are the norm during peak hours, the café is simply furnished with bright colours (blue and green walls and chairs) against the mostly neutral palette. Together, different tables and chairs gave the place a laid-back charm with shelves of books and magazines to while away lazy afternoons. There were coasters, potted plant and tissue box on every table with outdoor seating separated by an all-glass frontage. Interesting details include the water dispenser in the form of a mini beer-barrel, a retro-looking clock and telephone reminiscent of yesterday (pun intended).