Isetan Scotts Food Hall is quite small but it is a vibrant and interesting place to explore. Located in the basement supermarket, there is a bakery and a pastry section where colourful products are beautifully presented. If you are on a tight budget or on a strict diet, don’t go there. We stumbled into Isetan Scotts Food Hall and spent more than we should and ended up eating more than we could afford.
The renovated Isetan Scotts supermarket has food galore – besides grocery, there is an abundance of food which you can eat there and then. It has pop up F&B stores, live kitchens and sampling stations. There are also dedicated stores offering Japanese delicacies. You can enjoy soba at Dashi Bar or bentos of Hokkaido seafood and Kagoshima pork from WA-Dining. Sake is served at Kaku-Uchi Sake Bar and freshly squeezed juices are available at Yaoya Fruit Juice Bar.
We already had lunch when we walked into Isetan Scotts Food Hall. We really should not be eating anymore that day. However, being shallow and weak-willed, we could not resist the attractive offerings. We will show you pictures of who and what led us to temptations.
Johan Paris & mini J
Johan Bakery was originally from Paris and the first Japanese shop opened in Ginza Mitsukoshi in 1983. Today, Johan Paris has a chain of stores all over Japan. In Singapore, Johan Paris opened its first outlet in Westgate and has been popular for its chocolate bread and corn bread.
The aroma of freshly baked bread at Johan Paris was alluring but we were strong and managed to resist the temptation to buy. Then we saw mini J – on display were small enticing mini canele, mini cheeses cakes and other minis. Those minis should not have too many calories, we said to ourselves. So we bought mini cream puffs and mini cheese mochi ($3.60 per 100 gramme or about 4 pieces).
We ate a few of the minis and brought the rest home. The mini cream puffs were good with nicely baked light pastry and delicious cream. The cheese mochi was unremarkable.
Chateraise
Chateraise is a Japanese Patisserie with a wide array of colourful cakes and confectioneries. Some of their products on display at Isetan Scotts are imported from Japan and others are made with fresh ingredients from Japan, including milk from Hokkaido. Their fresh cream cakes and double cream puffs are popular; so are their baked cheese tarts, which are baked fresh in small batches.
Our resolve not to indulge was wearing thin but we managed to restrict ourselves to buying just 2 small items from Chateraise – a Chestnut Bun and a Fried Dough Cookie Bun (about $2 each).
The ingredients of the Chestnut Bun included white kidney beans, chestnut paste and honey. The Fried Dough Cookie Bun was something more complex – brown sugar, adsuki bean, yam, raisins and caramel went into the little bun. Both the buns were very enjoyable.
Matsuzo Potato
Matsuzo Potato is a specialty shop which transforms ‘Satsuma Imo’ or Japanese Sweet Potato into colourful edible works of art. Its signature item is the giant “Sweet Potato” ($3.30 per 100g) – where a sweet potato is hollowed out and then filled with a concoction of sweet potato, egg, milk and butter, before it is baked till the skin is brown and crisp.
When we got to Matsuzo Potato, all our resolve was gone. We even succumbed to the fallacy of “spending more so that we could save more”. We were easily tempted to buy the combination box for $16.
The combination included the giant “Sweet Potato” and 5 other pieces. One of them looked like a sushi roll. It was in fact wrapped in chocolate. They all tasted about the same. The dominant taste was that of the delicious creamy sweet potato. The toppings and other ingredients did add some variety and complexity.
Our favourite was the one with raspberry stripes – it was laced with rum.
Our visit to Isetan Scotts Food Hall turned out to be quite a feast for the eyes and the palate. Matsuzo’s sweet potatoes were especially beautiful and delicious. Chateraise ‘s pastries were interesting and sweet. We have to head back to Isetan soon – to buy new clothes on account of our expanding waistlines.
Isetan Scotts Supermarket
Shaw House
350 Orchard Road
Singapore 238868
Opening Hours:
10.00am to 9.00pm (Sunday – Thursday)
10.00am to 9.30pm (Friday, Saturday & Eve of Public Holidays)
Nearby MRT Station : Orchard
The Ordinary Patrons
a Singapore food blog by ordinary people looking for places to eat
Share this:
Discover more from The Ordinary Patrons
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.