Nesuto Patisserie - tea and cakes at Tras Street, Tanjong Pagar

If you are deciding whether to go Nesuto Patisserie to try their famous cakes, the answer is a simple one – yes. This minimalist cafe in Tanjong Pagar serves those beautiful looking cakes that are light and yummy. The kind that we have come to expect from good Japanese-French patisseries. But there is one thing you need to know before you head over to Nesuto.

Nesuto Patisserie is a pleasant place by any standards. Like many similar bakery cafes, there is a display of beautiful cakes and pastries. What made Nesuto stand out was the friendliness of the two young ladies in attendance. Even though we have never met before, we were made to feel welcome and at ease.

Now for the one thing that you should know. Nesuto does not serve coffee. Which is unusual for a cafe that only sells cakes as food. We are not usually tea people and so that discovery came as a disappointment. The young ladies tried to give us directions to a coffee place down the road where we could buy takeaway and bring them over. But our laziness was stronger than our fondness for caffeine. It was easier to just drink tea at Nesuto. Here are some pictures of the sweet things in the display.

Here are pictures of the Nesuto Patisserie whole cake menu and tea list. The prices of the whole-cakes range from $78 to $85 before customisation.

We tried two food items and two types of tea. We had the lychee oolong and oriental beauty teas. Each pot costs $9. Both were light and pleasant. We preferred the lychee oolong. An hourglass timer was provided so we could ensure that the tea was steeped just right.

We learnt a new word that day at Nesuto. An “entremet” is a multi-layered mousse-based cake with various complementary flavors and varying textural contrasts (Wikipedia). We had the pretty cassis peanut entremet ($9.80). The stone shaped dessert had different types of taste and textures. I was sad to have to share this.

The Le Mmm ($9) was a more conventional chocolate cake. Nice but not as unusual as the pink thing. The chocolate flavour was not as dark as we thought (or hoped).