The Workbench

Went there with family… Wife, me and 2 kids.
Serving portions for chicken soup and lasagna were small… Too small to feel full… The chicken soup was nice, but could have been a bit more generous with the soup.
Overall, pricing was decent but the food was very average.
Won’t be heading back as there’s simply nothing special or memorable about this place.

Small café tuck in a sleepy neighborhood. Awesome air conditioning, making it a great hideout from the hazy and hot weather.
My friend have been wanting to check out this café for ages, finally we made it happen. It’s located in between AMK and Bishan MRT, tucked underneath a HDB block amongst the mom-​and-​pop shops, salons and medical clinics. Given its kinda obscure location, it’s probably heavily reliant on the residents living within the area, students and the café-​hoppers.
They offer the usual coffee selections and a small list of bites such as waffles and pastries. Affordable pricing for a café of such size and location, but still a premium when compared against the next door kopitiam.
We went for the waffles with ice cream which if I didn’t recall wrongly was $ 7.5. Placed the order and paid at the counter before we got ourselves seated, the waffles was served to us. Tasted good, just as how I expect a waffle and ice cream to taste. Nothing much to rave about.
A decent café but nothing memorable that would make me visit again.

Located in between ang mo kio and Bishan MRT, very close to Bishan Park is Workbench Bistro. The owners used to own a café at East Coast Parkway.
It was Mother’s day and the café had families with young children probably from the neighbourhood. One year ago, I could count the number of hipster cafes in the Ang Mo Kio region, now it’s hard to decide which café I want to visit within a 5 km radius of my home.
They have a wide variety of ice cream flavours. Notably, I was excited to try their baileys and black sesame, however the baileys was a tad too sweet for my liking, and went with black sesame instead.
Their tagline at this café, is «practical food creation» going alongside the «workbench» name. Indeed, their food offerings are simple, practical and can definitely meet majority of the hipster crowd palate.
1. Waffle with black sesame ice cream
I loved that the waffle was crispy! The second I got up to the ice cream display and asked if I could try some of the ice cream flavours, the young lady asked if I would be ordering waffles. I said yes and immediately she switched on the waffle iron before letting me taste the ice cream. I was like Oh yay!~ Time to warm up the waffle maker!
The ice cream itself was great! I love black sesame ice cream and sometimes, it can be done wrong and this was perfect. Many a times, black sesame ice cream tends to taste powdery and burnt. Not this one, it was sweet, but not overly sweet. It wasn’t creamy but still smooth.
Most of the all, the waffle stayed crispy even after the ice cream had soaked through the waffle.
2. Buffalo Wings
If you love Tabasco sauce, you will love these buffalo wings. Unlike most cafes serving fried chicken wings, these are spicy wings! Do help yourself to the water by the corridor of trashy magazines.
The ambience was nice and they were playing Christian music in the background. The layout of the whole café is very «practical» and maximizes the area too.
With more and more choices for ice cream and waffles in the Ang Mo Kio district, I think workbench bistro needs to find a niche area to shine in.