Trung Nguyen Coffee

In the ‘Singaporean layman’s’ world of coffee, there are few countries whose local coffee are as characteristically well known as Vietnamese coffee. This coffee chain plays on that fact, bringing Vietnamese drip coffee to the masses… with a few twists.
At our virgin visit, we tried the ‘creative 2′ coffee, which is meant to be a light roast, the caramel twist ice blended and two cakes. The coffee was presented in a little apparatus, and we were instructed to wait 5 minutes for it to finish dripping. The result was a very aromatic coffee that tasted flavoured, but was much darker and more bitter than we’d anticipated. The caramel swirl was not bad, although the ground coffee bits tended to get in the way, in my opinion.
The cakes were quite tasty but the textures were not ideal. The chocolate ganache was dark but hard like chocolate instead of creamy, while the cake was extremely dry. The mint flavour pulled through though which improved the overall experience for a mint lover. The cheesecake was far too hard as well probably from refrigeration and the crust was soft so there was not much of a difference in texture for the cake. Overall, the tastes were above average but the textures were rather unfortunate.
Situated in a mall that seemed designed for food, I would have expected more from this café especially at tea time. In total, the meal costed about $ 22 which is slightly more than the other cafes around it but mostly because majority had promotional tea sets. For the experience of the Vietnamese drip coffee, it is worth a try, but I don’t think I would likely return a second time.

Hands up, those who like their coffees thick and sweet. I know I do — subtlety’s overrated here. We went for the Legendee offer — drip coffee (choose between hot/​cold and milk/​without milk) and a cake/​muffin/​pie for $ 9.90. Seemed like a pretty good deal, and we tagged on a caffe latte for myself.
The sweet waitress at the counter brought the drip coffee over and explained how it worked — «it’s like chocolatey milo but lesser civet coffee taste», she said. Well, she lied. This was possibly the most potent coffee I’ve ever had, and boy did I like it. Served over ice, the kick was lessened somewhat, but still, it looks like I won’t be sleeping tonight.
The carrot cake that came with the drip coffee was ok, not too dry but neither was it moist. It was ho hum, and the cream cheese topping was a little on the runny side. My caffe latte had really good, smooth foam and was very fragrant. It was a pity that the coffee was way too milky and thus weak. Still, I’m not complaining because the drip coffee had enough caffeine for both drinks. And then some.

Trung Nguyen Coffee is a Vietnamese café that is located at the basement of I12 Katong and specializes in Vietnamese coffee. Other than that, they also serve other hot and cold beverages, cakes and pastries. It is a spacious yet cosy and brightly lit café in the middle of the basement, where one can quietly enjoy a cup of specially brewed coffee.
Although the staff taking my order seemed like he was new and learning, he was polite about it. Wanting to experience a touch of Vietnamese flavor, I ordered the traditional Vietnamese drip coffee, where the coffee came in a metal strainer structure and I had to wait for my coffee to be strained drip by drip. This created much anticipation and an illusion that the coffee was great, since it is said that good things have to be waited for. The end result was pleasant, the coffee was a tad bitter but just the way I like it.