Hip French Crepe Cafe By Folks Behind Punch & Ronin Coffee Joints Opens At Raffles Hotel

Just a day after Ronin’s closure, Vincent is launching his latest concept: a French crepe cafe-cum-boutique called Gather, which soft opens today (February 1).

It takes over a spacious corner unit formerly occupied by Empire Cafe and Ah Teng’s Bakery at the newly-revamped Raffles Hotel. “Coincidentally, my surname is also Teng. This place should be called Ah Teng’s Creperie,” jokes Vincent. “I like to do a new concept for each cafe [I open], and this was three years in the making.”

Vincent had the idea to open a crepe-centric cafe in Singapore after visiting Au Temps Jadis, an obscure but highly raved-about French creperie run by a Japanese boss in Tokyo’s Shibuya neighbourhood. “I spent some time with the owner Taku, learning how to make crepes,” he says, though he’s quick to add that he only picked up “a little bit” of the lauded crepes’ recipes.

Gather serves a selection of sweet crepes like Fig & Camembert ($16) and savoury buckwheat flour crepes, which originated in Brittany and are called Breton galette in French. The galettes are bigger than the dessert crepes, and stuffed with hearty fillings like gooey-yolked eggs, Italian prosciutto, minced chicken and gruyère cheese.

Other than crepes, you can also order sandwiches, and baked desserts like Portuguese Tart ($4), Flourless Chocolate Slice ($10) and a classic slice of Cheesecake ($10). If you miss Ronin’s coffee, you can also enjoy the same cuppas at Gather, like an Espresso ($4) and Mocha ($8) brewed on a Slayer espresso-maker. Two types of mildly alcoholic ciders from Normandy cider-maker Eric Bordelet are offered here too (from $16 for 330ml).

Don’t go looking for Ronin V2.0 here. Where Ronin was sultry and enclosed, Gather is its perky sibling who likes space, sunlight, designer furniture and rattan chairs that hint at Raffles Hotel’s colonial roots. And since you're at a cafe in a six-star hotel, the service is naturally posher than a regular coffee joint's; a waitstaff takes our orders at our table and serves us our food like we are in a restaurant.

The best seats in the house are at this atas marble-and-cork table by Copenhagen label Frama, which can fit seven pax (a quick Google search informs us that the table costs EUR8,050, or S$12,205, which can buy you about 3051 espressos at this cafe).

The nice table can’t be tapow-ed home, but Gather has a small retail corner stocked with more portable cool knick-knacks from indie brands, including Japanese fashion label Cosmic Wonder and luxury home fragrance company Apotheke. It will cost a significant amount of your ang pow haul, though (a watch from Japanese brand Nejicommu, for example, will set you back by $330). The selection of goods changes approximately every three months.

It all sounds very Kinfolk, so we’re not surprised to see a rack of monochromatic dresses beckoning customers to completely immerse in the Kinfolk lifestyle too.

The food

This buckwheat galette comes with ham, cheese and an egg, but that’s where the French rule ends. Instead of simply folding the round crepe disc on four sides to cradle an exposed, sunny side-up yolk like the typical galette, Gather’s riff is prepared in a slightly “Japanese way” (according to boss Vincent), a la Tokyo creperie Au Temps Jadis’ version where the crepe is precariously flipped over to shroud the yolk in a gruyère-and-cheddar blanket.

Being the cafe’s very first customer (we dropped by undercover), we suddenly understand why our crepe guy look so nervous at the open concept kitchen, as he pours an extremely thin layer of eggy batter onto the billig (the griddle used for making crepes) and spreads it around with a wooden rake. You need a sleight of hand faster than Li Nanxing in The Unbeatables to toss the galette without making egg yolk rain all over the kitchen counter, all while the batter cooks within seconds on the hot grill.

Our galette is earnestly delivered to our table, dusted with paprika powder and looking just the slightest bit burnt and terrified (a version we had tried in Paris was much bigger, and griddle-kissed to a light golden brown). But it does make the flimsy, fragile crepe crispier than usual, so it holds its parcel of lean ham, melted cheese and the trouble-making egg that yields a gloriously golden oozy yolk when we cut into it. Worth all the nerves after all, and more gourmet than the usual cafe fare of avocado toast.

We love a good Crêpes Suzette, the performative French dessert where a chef flambées a freshly-made crepe tableside with caramelised sugar, butter, orange zest and liqueur. But mercifully for Gather’s crepe-making staff, they don’t have to whip up this order in front of customers. Our crepe is crowned with a pat of Bordier butter and a drizzle of caramelised sugar, lemon juice and confectioner’s sugar. It is simple and comforting, the pancake chewier and less crispy than a galette as wheat flour (instead of gluten-free buckwheat flour) is used.

Among the three sweet crepes on Gather’s menu, this one intrigues us the most. It comes artfully plated with plain crepes stuffed with bits of deeply funky camembert and carefully-placed splotches of handmade fig jam from Melburnian label Jam Lady Jam. An extra wedge of camembert preens beside the crepes. It reminds us of a fussy dessert served with fanfare after a fine-dining meal to impress, though not necessarily satisfy. We much prefer the homelier crepes (see above).

Ronin may be physically gone, but its coffee lives on at Punch and Gather. Our milky iced coffee is brewed with a triple blend of Brazilian, Indian and Sumatran beans and a tad more acidic than what we are used to at Ronin, but still full-bodied and fragrant. Straws are provided only upon request.

Crepes are not commonly served in Singaporean cafes (they are also notoriously difficult to get right), but Gather bravely takes the plunge. We could taste the first-day jitters in its crepes, so hopefully the food improves after the staff settles down. We’re glad that we can sip on the same soul-lifting, lovingly brewed coffee here, even though Ronin has closed. Gather is also one of the more affordably-priced eateries at Raffles Hotel, so you can still treat yourself to a high SES experience even if your 2020 fengshui forecast says otherwise.

#01-12 Raffles Hotel Arcade, 328 North Bridge Rd, S188719. Open daily Mon-Sat 8am-10pm, Sun 8am-6pm. www.gathershop.co.

PHOTOS: YIP JIEYING