I hope I’m not getting boring and predictable. I’ve now been to all 3 branches of this new Korean coffee place – Tom N Toms. The latest one was at VivoCity where I encountered ugly Singaporean behaviour. You know the jar of liquid sugar they place at the coffee bar for customers to use? This inconsiderate man actually took the whole jar away to his table and never returned it. I waited. And I waited. I thought he might realize that other people in the cafe might want a little sugar in their drinks but oh no, he wasn’t at all bothered.
The Korean girl at the counter with retro black glasses was so cute. I just loved her Korean accent when she spoke English and she was really sweet and friendly too. She patiently gave me a small cup of sugar when I asked for a little sugar. She too didn’t want to confront that awful man. I wonder what the other customers did, for their very strong bitter iced coffees.
The other Singaporean girl (I can always tell from the accent which I own too) at the counter was very polite too, but the poor girl looked a little sad. I guess it’s sad to have to work on a Sunday. I just thought she had a great face for a painting and I hope she didn’t mind me capturing her fleeting expression. Maybe someone will give her a job as a face model and she won’t have to work Sundays anymore!
Anyway the next time I go to a Tom N Tom’s, I need to remember that they provide free flow of ice water – there’s a huge thermos at the counter and luckily the rude man didn’t take that away as well. The drinks we ordered yesterday were not too great so I ended up sipping on my water. My partner had the green tea with crushed ice which he said tasted it bit like green tea ice-cream (I don’t really like green tea ice-cream but you might) and I had the iced milk tea which I found very dilute (made with 2 Lipton teabags – I guess I like my tea Indian style made with real tea leaves – full-bodied and milky). I would suggest sticking with coffee, if you’re finicky like me.
Trying to add variety to our life, we decided to go with the apple cinnamon stuffed pretzel. This was a mistake too. It tasted similar to the apple pie at McDonald’s and I couldn’t taste the lovely pretzel, overpowered by the caramelized apple. The apple cinnamon was as good as it looks but I guess I was craving for the taste of the pretzel. Next time I will just stick to the plain cinnamon pretzel or the original pretzel which is slightly salted. Those are so good! I love their freshly baked pretzels which are steaming as you get them. You can read about my previous visits to the branches at Far East Plaza and Icon Village.
Another lovely thing are the magazines they provide for you to read. Loads on interior design which I love browsing. The warm decor here is great too and the place wasn’t very crowded either. I don’t like crowded cafes very much. They take away from the relaxation factor.
This is what the place looks like from the outside. I snapped these shots of the inviting decor when I passed by last week and saw that the coffee joint had finally opened.
I have yet to try out Tom n Toms even though I’ve passed the Tanjong Pagar one.
That branch is the nicest and the cosiest (it’s not too open like the one at Vivo)