Adding on to the ever-growing café community in the Botanic Garden’s vicinity, is the newly opened Elixir Boutique Roasters at Serene Centre which specialises in single-origin beans, different roasting styles and craft coffee-centric cocktails. Yes, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you, you saw it right, coffee cocktails! Aside from offering quality brewed coffee, is one of the few cafes in Singapore (or maybe the only one) that currently offers coffee cocktails & mocktails. The cocktails & mocktails served at Elixir incorporates different components of coffee, including the bark of the cherry tree which produces the coffee beans. To accompany their coffees, a focused food menu is also specially created to complete your dining experience at Elixir!
Let’s start with the house-roasted coffee offered at Elixir. Just like normal cafes, a basic coffee menu (lattes, flat white, espresso, etc.) is offered at Elixir, but here’s the catch. You can choose the coffee beans you want! Elixir offers about 3 different types of coffee beans (changes from time to time) for you to choose from. Whether you favour a more acidic note or something with a darker note, I believe Elixir has what you’re looking for! When I was at Elixir, the single origin coffee beans from Guatalama, Columbia and Bali were available. If you need some recommendations, feel free to approach their friendly barista!
For their coffee cocktails and mocktail, currently three different cocktails and one mocktail is offered in menu. The cocktails are crafted lighter than usual, so that you can savour them over lunch and still hustle through the rest of your day!
To start things on a lighter note, we have the mocktail, Black Smoke Rising. This is a concoction of Expresso and Indian Tonic infused with mixed smoked spices consisting of wild cherry bark, cinnamon, star anise and black peppercorn. This drink was rather easy on the palette. You can taste the sweetness and fizziness of the tonic water, subtle taste of the expresso and the fragrance of the smoked spices which enhances the drink on a whole. The spices are smoked and infused on the spot. I definitely do feel fancy drink this mocktail!
Moving on to the “real” deal, coffee cocktails.
First, we have Killer Queen. It is made with Dissaronno Amaretto, Homemade Cascara (dried skin of coffee cherries), Syrup, Egg White, Fresh Lemon Juice. To describe this drink, it tastes like Pipa Gao due to the distinct taste of the Amaretto. I mean if we can accept Pipagao bubble tea, why not in our cocktails eh? This cocktail might taste slightly weird at first, but the taste will definitely grow on you after each sip.
The second cocktail is called Stormbringer which is made of a dark rum, Guatemala Antigua Single Origin Cold Brew Syrup & Ginger beer. Anything with rum and ginger beer, count me in! This taste quite similar to the mocktail, Black Smoke Rising, with a like alcohol kick to it. It is sweet and fizzy thus giving off a similar vibe to Black Smoke Rising. I would recommend this if you do not want a very overpowering alcohol taste in your cocktail or you want something light out of the three cocktails offered.
Saving the cocktail with the strongest alcoholic content for the last, it is called the Same ole’ situation. It is a blend of bourbon, house-infused bitters and gula melaka. This screamed straight up hard liqour to me as the bourbon taste was very strong and you can’t really taste the gula melaka. If you like your booze strong, this cocktail is for you!
Now for the food items, Elixir has an all-day breakfast menu and a lunch menu served from 11am onwards. I had the pleasure of trying out five of their signature dishes two from the breakfast and three from the lunch menu.
From the breakfast menu, there is the Truffle Eggs Prosciutto. This hearty toast consists of grated truffle, fresh prosciutto, scrambled eggs, market leaves and a thick brioche toast. This is a very classic breakfast item, simple yet delicious! The scrambled eggs were moist and creamy, and the prosciutto provided the dish toast with the right amount of saltiness. The grated truffle was very subtle and did not overpower the whole dish. Also, as a thicker cut of the brioche bread was used, each mouthful of the toast felt very substantial. What’s not to love about a good old toast!
Another item on their breakfast menu is their Brûlée French Toast. I must say, Exlir has gotten their toasts right! I love this sweet toast and it is definitely highly recommended! The Brûlée French Toast is carefully put together with the same thick bioche toast, seasonal fresh fruits, candied bacon and Chantilly cream. This toast is crisp on the outside from the torched Brûlée layer (which adds a nice crunch), and soft and fluffy on the inside from the egg coated bread. The candied bacon was a nice touch to this dish as bacon bits was sprinkled lightly over the toast and it helps to cut through the sweetness from the toast and fresh fruits as well providing a nice balance.
For their lunch menu, Elixir offers both local flavours and western, mainly. Starting with a local dish, it is the Wagyu Beef Cheek Rendang. The Wagyu beef cheek is marinated in the chef’s special rempah served with a side of achar (pickled cucumbers), keropok and free flow of butterfly pea coconut rice! The beef cheek was tender and the rempah was very flavourful. Overall a very wholesome dish and it has been a popular dish among the diners so far!
Another item on their lunch menu is Carbonara with Onsen Egg (cream free). This variation of Carbonara stays true to the traditional Italian method of preparing this popular pasta dish. Instead of using cream sauce as the base, the hot pasta is tossed in a mixture of raw eggs, grated cheese and a dash of black pepper to create the creamy coating on the pasta. A tip when having this dish is to have it immediately while it is hot.
Lastly, not forgetting about our vegetarian friends, there is the Grilled Halloumi. The grilled Halloumi is topped with kale, Kenya beans, charred scallions, lemon preserved, baby corn with drizzles of tahini aioli. Although this dish is vegetarian, it does not lack flavour at all. The Halloumi was not very salty (it has a slight spongy/ chewy texture, which I personally enjoy) and the nutty tahini sauce complemented the fresh vegetables. The sugar-preserved lemon slices add a nice surprise to this dish, providing some sweetness. Elixir sure likes to have the sweet and savoury play in their dishes.
As a whole, Elixir is a new café worth trying out! Offering never seen before coffee cocktails and mocktails, coffee and good food, you are sure to be in for a treat! Also note that Elixir only opens till 4pm daily (except Wednesday). As in the evening, the place transforms into Fat Belly, a steakhouse that pride itself in delivering the ultimate alternative steak experience. In place of traditional cuts of the steak, Fat Belly offers a rotating menu of alternative cuts that are lesser-known to the common diners.
Elixir Boutique Roasters
Address: 10 Jalan Serene Serene Centre #01-03A Singapore 258748
Opening hours: 8.30am – 4pm daily, except Wednesday
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elixirboutiqueroasters/
