The Flow is a small commercial mall along East Coast Road, located between Roxy Square and Katong Square. Occupying one of the mezzanine style shop units of The Flow is Ambling Turtle, a cafe inspired by Katong colourful Peranakan heritage.
Katong is a Turtle
According to Singapore infopedia, Katong was a species of sea turtle that is now extinct, and Tanjong Katong is Malay for “turtle point”. The name of the cafe at The Flow pays homage to the rich heritage of its neighbourhood and Ambling Turtle wants to remind “everyone to slow down and occasionally take an amble along your path, to savour the beautiful stories (and tarts and kuehs) that life has to offer”.
Ambling Turtle at The Flow
Ambling Turtle is located at the front of The Flow facing East Coast Road. The space is compact but it has a mezzanine dining area. The interior design is eclectic. There is a mix of stylish and modern with a cosy indoor garden deck look. It exudes a homely vibe.
Menu of Ambling Turtle
The menu is fairly concise. It offers essentially croissants with a variety of Peranakan-inspired filling, waffles, tarts, desserts and beverages. An online menu is on its website (link below).
In addition to what are on the menu, there are cakes and pastries in the display cabinet.
Croissant & Pie at Ambling Turtle
We had dinner at Ambling Turtle recently. We tried their their Satay Chicken Croissant ($10), Pulled Beef Rendang Croissant ($10) and Chicken Pie.
The Croissant dishes were mini croissants served with archar and satay or beef rendang. The croissants were well baked and had flaky crusts. The chicken satay with luscious sauce tasted like they were from a good traditional satay stall. The beef rendang was tender with complex taste and delightful fragrance.
The chicken pie looked like the usual chicken pie with pastry crust. However, the filling was curry chicken. Close your eyes and take a bite of the pie and you could easily imagine that you were eating a curry puff from Old Chang Kee.
Coffee & Tarts at Ambling Turtle
The Ambling Turtle is both a cafe and a bake shop and its signature tarts come in various interesting flavours and look pretty.
We had tried various flavours of the tarts of Ambling Turtle. Two of our favourites were the Yuzu Cheese Tart ($7) and the Pulut Hitam Tart ($6.50). The tarts have buttery cookie crusts. The Yuzu Cheese combination of sweet, tangy and creamy was delightful. The Pulut Hitam Tart using just sweetened glutinous rice as the main ingredient was an unusual but interesting variation.
On the whole, we thought the tarts were nice.
We liked the coffee. Both the white and black coffee were expertly made and tasted the way we expected good artisan coffee would.
Life in the slow lane
It has a relaxing atmosphere, an interesting variety of food for all day dining and good coffee. The prices are reasonable. Whenever you want cafe fare but don’t want to be in a crowded bustling place, you may want to amble along to the cafe at The Flow. Ambling Turtle can indeed be a nice place to stretch one’s legs and take things slow – to savour one’s coffee with delectable light bites and relish life in the slow lane.
Ratings:
Food: 3
Service: 3
Value: 3
Atmosphere: 3
Overall Rating: 3 TOPs 
Ambling Turtle
66 East Coast Road, #01-01 The Flow
Singapore 428778
Opening Hours: 9 am to 6 pm
The Ordinary Patrons | Real Dining Experience of Ordinary People
an independent Singapore food blog
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