PIPES by Hattendo - Cafe with Sandos, Coffees and Cream Buns

Just a stone throw away from Outram Park MRT is PIPES by HATTENDO, a Japanese cafe by day and a bar by night. Best known for its specialty coffee beans, PIPES is a brand new concept by Hattendo International that features not just their signature cream buns but also the Hattendo Roasting Gallery where you can customise your brew.

Hattendo also has another concept stall at Tanjong Pagar Centre, called Hattendo Cafe, famous for its cream buns. PIPES brings these famous cream buns together with good coffee and their Japanese sandos; what more can I ask for? Located at Dorsett Residences, it is not uncommon to see Japanese regulars patronising the stall, which was definitely a stamp of approval for me.

Although their coffee roasting gallery was not open to the public when we were there, PIPES’ expertise in coffee is obvious in the wide selection of beans they offer. There were easily more than 10 types of coffee to choose from, and you can even customise the roast level. We went for the Brazil Geovane Miranda beans filter coffee ($6.50++), city roasted. The black coffee was finely filtered to a thin smooth coffee, with notes of citrus fruits which gave it a rather sour lingering taste.

We paired the coffee with their classic Custard Cream buns, but if you can’t make up your mind about what to order, they have a list of suggested bun-to-coffee pairing you can try! I guess we are not the only ones with issues making decisions…

Not to be confused with a cream puff, their home-made cream buns ($2.70++) are soft and fluffy, literally a soft bun stuffed with delicious cold custard cream. I thought it was ingenious to pair soft buttery buns with thick cream, but some of us might prefer the crust from conventional cream puffs that give different textures in a single bite. On the other hand, I liked that the airy and empty bun absorbed the cream and balanced out the sweetness. Between you and I, I like both!

The star of the visit for me was the Nitamago Sando ($14++). In fact, I chanced upon their sandos on Instagram and that was all it took to lure us there. The Nitamago Potato Salad is a sando with ramen eggs paired with homemade potato salad and truffle oil. The ramen egg yolks were runny and oozed out with a light squeeze, like an additional sauce for the potato salad. The potato salad was drizzled with the truffle oil, so the whole thing was extremely flavourful and melted in my mouth as I took a huge bite.

The toast was something else altogether. The bread was so fragrant even on its own that we knew there was something special about it. Indeed, like their cream buns, the Syokupan is handmade with 100% Echire butter. It tasted and smelled good, almost like it was marinated.

This is not my first time here and I find myself craving some PIPES’ food on a random weekend brunch. Although the food is on the pricier side, they serve up good quality food which is a great pick-me-up on the days I feel like treating myself.