Loola’s By Awfully Chocolate

Had desserts and drinks here with a colleague and the 2 desserts (Coconut Tart & Floating Island)!we had were delightful! Our drinks (Mango Ale & Lychee Rose Sparkle) were also both a visual pleasure and a treat on the lips!
Just don’t be in a rush to dine here or your experience will be marred!

disappointing desserts at this offshoot of the famed awfully chocolate brand at the esplanade theatres. looks good, tastes not-​so-​good is happening alarmingly frequent nowadays — and it’s even sadder when desserts are the object of discussion. when you have chocolate and sugar and butter floating about in a little baked good, it’s depressing when they don’t end up being good. how can that even happen!
these were lackluster — very, very unimpressive. they weren’t too terrible to eat, but most certainly not worth the price nor the wait. it’s a pity, because the café itself is lovely — conducive for intimate conversation, spacious enough for comfortable seating.
I wonder if we went in expecting too much — they have a large menu full of adjectives and interesting pairings, and it’s awfully chocolate right? I mean — the owner gave up a lucrative career to sell chocolate cake — so she must know her sweets. reality did quickly deflate our hopes too — much like their soufflé.
supposedly a green tea pistachio riser of roast ground pistachios, green tea soufflé and a vanilla bean emulsion — copied in full here so you see the sort of false advertising — this was really just a sweet omelette and lots of air. no matcha flavour, and no discernible pistachio presence — when we asked, the waiter came back after ‘consulting the chef’ that the flavours were to be subtle. I would argue they were so subtle as to be non-​existent.
we hopped on the waiter’s rather enthusiastic recommendation of their loola’s floating island — crusty meringue, loola’s brownie, brandy flambé and a vanilla bean infused sauce. the good thing: enough salt in the brownie to bring out the chocolate and entertainment in brandy on fire; the bad: dry-​almost-​crumbly brownie encased in a too sweet meringue surrounded by a pool of sweet sauce. I had thought it would be too sweet — and it was.
but at the end of it — the food was just sad. I’m not wiping this place out entirely — I thought it was aesthetically-​gorgeous (much like its desserts). it was a calm, serene sit-​down place good for post-​dinner, and the space is modern industrial; very pleasing to the eye and really good for a bit of chat.

Before I say –anything-​, this is an important tip: do NOT, I repeat, DO NOT go to Loola’s for a pre-​concert/​pre-​theatre meal. They’re ill-​equipped to handle crowds, and you likely won’t get your food in time. Service standards plummet, the kitchen is clearly overwhelmed, and you start wishing you’d eaten elsewhere.
That’s what happened to me last night before the Rachael Yamagata concert, but I’m still giving Loola’s three stars for two reasons.
1) The service team tried pretty hard. There were three staff members running the floor in a full restaurant. They were a little overwhelmed. They became a bit forgetful, but they took our upset-​ness and complaints quite seriously. When we sent back our Hoegardens because they were flat, she came back later and said the tap in general was being problematic, and that they’d charged us Hoegarden prices for any of their other beers (which were more expensive because it was Happy Hour). They informed us 30 minutes after we ordered that they were out of a main course, we (with a lot of disgruntled looks exchanged) that we wouldn’t be ordering anything instead because we just didn’t have time for that. They offered us a free vegetable-​mushroom quiche to make up for that.
Basically it felt like the staff were being overwhelmed by a crowd they weren’t quite prepared for, but they were trying their darnest best to make up for their own shortfalls. And you can’t really fault that.
Except maybe they need to pay more attention to the Esplanade performance schedule.
2) I’ve been to Loola’s 3 times before last night, and while service is never spectacular, it’s a decent enough experience that I’ve been back more than once. The soufflé omelette is indeed INCREDIBLY FLUFFY, the Eggs Benedict is competently done, the Roasted Squash salad, while not a salad, is a tasty platted of roasted and fried squash, mushrooms, bread and bacon. And obviously everyone loves the desserts. My oxtail stew was a little underwhelming, with the portion being a little bit on the small side, and one of the pieces being more bone than meat, but big picture? You’re generally able to have quite a pleasant meal there.
Just don’t go before a show. :/

Terrible service and average food.
I visited loola’s on a weekday night (past 8). With only a few guests, you’d expect service to be great but it wasnt the case. We had to wave frantically to get the server’s attention for our orders, remind them to refill our water and ask for clean cutlery for dessert. Which seems ridiculous.
It didn’t help that I found a piece of foil and plastic in my dessert, which we highlighted to the server who said ‘I’ll inform the baker’ before disappearing. I wasn’t bothered by this since the service was already poor.
The mains were overpriced but the dessert was all right. I don’t think I’ll be returning anytime– there are better cafes with better food and service.

Went there late evening for dessert and the place was practically empty. Ordered the Loola’s (by awfully chocolate) Floating Island and Lemon yoghurt cake with ice cream. I don’t really know too much about desserts but my friend who did claims that the meringue was disappointing and didn’t taste like how she expected it to. The lemon yoghurt cake was also not up to expectations.
The ambience was good though, probably due to it being almost empty. Total bill with GST and service tax came up to be around $ 30+, which is expected for a restaurant like this but the food didn’t really satisfy.
I might return to try the chocolate dishes and the famed omelette though, I guess we should have stuck to something with chocolate in it since it is by Awfully Chocolate after all.

Sinful, rich and death.
These three things are closely related to one thing. Chocolate. Yes, Loola’s By Awfully Chocolate serves one of the best choco dessert. I love chocolate and despite it being kind of sweet, I didn’t mind the extra calories for it’s really yummy and mouth-​watering.
I didn’t go there for the mains, mainly because my friends and I associates it with Awefully chocolate, and chocolate are usually the desserts. Please, definitely will recommend those with chocolates in it, like the chocolate larva cake. The brownies are not too bad too!
It can be rather crowded at night, especially when a show or play is over at the theatres, there will be a surge of people walking in for their late meals and after-​session chats.

IT’S SO FLUFFEH I’M GONNA DIEEEEEEEEE! Okay slap me for saying this super act-​cute line from Despicable Me, but what I’m trying to say is: Loola knows how to get FLUFFEH.
I didn’t want to have any mains initially but Mr Nice Guy convinced me to get a complete meal; especially since we were first-​timers there. We were ushered in by waiters (Filipinos I think) who were cutes with impeccable service. They did not falter when we questioned them about the sauce and types of veggies in the salads.
We had the bread & butter platter (which came with pesto, chutney and butter); the bread was crisp and buttery, be careful though, they fill you up really easily. Starters — the Portobello Benedict — it was one poached egg on top of a huge-​ass mushroom and veggies at the bottom. The egg was runny and it tasted, well, egg-​like. The Waldorf salad was reasonable, refreshingly tangy; I liked the dried cranberries. And now, the best part… It was listed on the menu under ‘All-​day breakfast’ as Soufflé Omelette — THE FLUFFLIEST OMELETTE IN THE WORLD.
When it arrived I gushed ‘OOOHH’, quite embarrassing but a dish like that is meant to draw reactions. When you cut into it the whole thing doesn’t go ‘wheezzze’ like a deflated balloon, the rest of it remains fluffy. And it tasted great. SOFT EGG AND OMG CHEESE. What could be better?
We concluded the meal with a chocolate cupcake. Well, it’s awfully chocolate, and the fudge was what you’d expect — ultra thick and concentrated chocolate. Yummeh. ;)
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A friend suggested Loola’s for dessert, and I wasn’t disappointed by the sweets they churned out. The chocolate brownie was thick, thick, thick. It was extremely rich and worth the money; paired with the scoop of vanilla ice-​cream, the brownie only tasted better than it already did. However, I’d have preferred the brownie to be hotter, which would have made the combination more delectable.
The hazelnut crumble was also really good in terms of flavour: the layer of hazelnut rested solidly yet delicately on the chocolate layer underneath. The chocolate ice-​cream that came along with it was dependably good — after all, Loola’s is the child of Awfully Chocolate, so we shouldn’t be expecting anything less, should we?
Ambience was rather nice for a weekday evening, with warm lighting and spaced-​out seating. We paid $ 7 per person for two desserts shared amongst four people — a decent price given the quality of the dishes. I would certainly return for the desserts!