Recently I chanced upon this cafe in Bukit Timah called Kara Cafe Dessert & Bar. I've seen it a few times on social media and it looks very similar to this place called Looksee Looksee at Bugis, aesthetic wise. It also looks like a place that is very female friendly, which means that it's great for pictures and the food looks absolutely Instagrammable. Also fun fact: Kara Cafe is a flagship cafe from a well known frozen yogurt chain Sogurt. Bet you didn't know that!

I went down with my bf and his family on a weekend, and it wasn't very crowded (to our delight). There were a few families there - mostly with kids who went crazy for the yogurt. The other tables were taken up by couples and girlfriends, and there was even one group celebrating a friend's birthday.

It was raining the day we visited so the lighting was rather dark. If you visit on a sunny day, I be the photos you take there will look splendid AF.

Here's the Kara Cafe Dessert & Bar menu:

The Salted Egg York Pasta With Soft Shell Crab (S$22) was my order and I liked it. It was a little diluted, but the salted egg yolk taste was on point and the soft shell crab was flavourful though salty. Portion wise, I give the dish 5-stars because other places would give much less of the soft shell crab.

The Wagyu Meatball & Creamy Truffle Pasta (S$23) was alright but still quite diluted like the previous pasta. However we weren't sure if the wagyu was authentic wagyu, or at most it could've been wagyu of a very low grade. I mean if the meatballs are the highlight of the dish, you'd expect it to taste delicious. The meatballs were a little dry and meh, but to call it 'bad' would be harsh. My boyfriend rated the dish a 6.5/10.

My sister ordered the Pork Belly Miso grain bowl (S$16) with kakuni braised pork belly, soft egg, ramen crisps, cucumber, edamame salad, miso cream and nori. I have to be honest, the grain bowl didn't look very appetising, but the taste was alright. This dish had a mix of different textures from the crunchiness of the ramen crisps to the gooey egg and chewy pork belly. My sister also said that the pork belly was delicious!

The bowl was quite hearty since it was served with garlic japanese rice. You can opt for quinoa instead of rice, if you'd like.

Another great grain bowl was the Aburi Mentaiko Salmon (S$16) with cooked salmon flakes, mentaiko, mayonnaise, mozzarella cheese and a soft onsen egg. I loved this one because it had everything I love in a dish. The runny egg made the dish super creamy, and the mentaiko was obvious without being overpowering. This one had to be one of my favourites!

We also ordered the Classic Grilled Cheese (S$11), a simple dish with cheese (duh) and sweet pickle relish. This toast was great and was really cheesy; you could pull the cheese super long and it wouldn't break. It was quite filling too.

Most of the dishes were alright, but there was one that was very questionable, which was their soup. I can't remember what soup it was because it wasn't on the menu, but it was this tomato-ish soup that tasted really, really bad and was extremely diluted. No one had more than a sip of it (unless it was to figure out what the heck the ingredients were).

To wash down the awful taste of the soup, we also ordered one of their Speciality Teas (S$7) which was served in a pot. For their teas, they have choices of Earl Grey, Jasmine Green, Green Mango Peach, Chamomile Citron, and Cucumber Mint among many others. The teas were great and very refreshing!

Personally, I feel that the food is okay, but not the best. There are some good dishes, though the taste is not mind blowing, BUT it's worth noting that some cafes have terrible food, so I still appreciate that the food here was at least above average. I don't mind visiting again because they do have many interesting items on the menu that I'd like to try, and hopefully those dishes taste a lot better!

Thanks for reading this review and see you next post!

Address: 617 Bukit Timah Rd, S269718

Telephone: +65 6468 8940