‘A New Beginning’ – Popular Muslim-Owned Fluff Bakery Reopens Under Different Name
We joke with our editor that it feels like we’re playing a game of cat and Mouss when trying to get hold of Mouss Kamal, 49, for this story. After all, it takes us three days to reach him and coax out the answers for this interview.
But perhaps we should have expected it, because Mouss must be one of the busiest people in F&B at the moment. Over the past half a year, the owner of OG coffee and brunch spot Penny University has overseen a five-month renovation of the cafe’s Wisma Geylang Serai outlet. As a partner in the wildly popular but now defunct Fluff Bakery at North Bridge Road – which used to supply Penny University with baked goods – he also had to deal with the closure of Fluff last September. “It has been tough for a couple of years now and we just can’t keep afloat anymore,” the bakery posted on social media at the time.
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Photo: Fluff Bakery
Out of that closure something new is rising out of the metaphorical oven, though. Together with Fluff’s founder and baker, Nursyazanna Syaira Mohammad Suhimi, 39, and her husband Ashraf Alami, 45, Mouss has launched Big Mouth Bakehouse within the premises of Penny University’s Wisma Geylang Serai store (hence the renovation).
The homey 20-seater cafe soft-opened in late December for two days to test its menu – a combination of focaccia sandwiches and sweet and savoury bakes like flatbreads, scones and waffles, alongside Penny University’s signature coffee – and officially debuted earlier this week.
“Now it’s really a true collab between Penny and the Fluff founders – in the sense that we coexist in the same space and run the menu and service together. Previously we were simply supplying [goods] to each other,” shares Mouss.
“Rising unsustainable business costs and the need to reinvent”
He calls the decision to close Fluff and reopen it as Big Mouth Bakehouse the result of a “combination of rising unsustainable business costs and the need to reinvent ourselves”.
When we ask him to clarify industry rumours that Fluff closed to escape its debts, Mouss explains: “We closed down and opened as Big Mouth because, yeah, of course there were some issues with the business before. And we felt the need to reinvent. But Fluff is not running away or writing off bad debts. Most of the suppliers we’re working with for Big Mouth are the people we’ve been working with for more than 10 years. They’re still supportive of us, and we’re clearing the outstanding with them; still servicing the payment arrangements.
“Sometimes when other businesses close down, they go through liquidation and that doesn’t work out the best for all parties because there isn’t enough money to pay everyone. We didn’t want to go down that route, so we thought about how best to turn it around. And we felt the best way was to come up with a new concept that’s more current. Hopefully when things pick up, we can clear what was outstanding in the past.”
Photo: Google Maps/Chun Wui Tan
Why they didn’t reuse the Fluff brand
Not reusing the Fluff name (which may have made sense, since its fan base includes nearly 100K followers on Instagram) was intentional, he adds, because “it’s an entirely different concept”. “The menu has evolved in so many ways. And we have dine-in now. It’s a new beginning, new ideas, with a new partner set-up too.”
At the adorably named Big Mouth, everything is made fresh daily and served as part of a rotating menu. Mouss says Syaira came up with the name because “all the bakers including herself are very chatty and there's always a lively energy while they work in the kitchen. So it's more like a name that describes the team”.
New bakes but no cupcakes
While it’s early days yet and customer patterns are still under study, he notes that some of the star items include the focaccia sandwiches (like a Thai Beef Salad version for $12.50), the Honey Butter Brioche Toast ($5.50), and the Matilda chocolate cake ($8).
For drinks, he recommends the Muddy Espresso ($6.50) and the Espresso with Milk made “using really good Colombia coffee” ($4). Non-coffee drinkers can partake of specialty drinks too, like the Lychee Oolong Tea with Sea Salt Foam ($8) and the Jamu Cooler ($7.50), starring homemade jamu sorbet and perendjak tea from Indonesia.
It’s good news, especially for a location where there aren’t currently many halal places that serve specialty coffee and fresh bakes. The revival of a business that so many Singaporeans remember fondly is also a rare bright spot in a struggling F&B landscape. Still, Fluff fans craving a taste of their favourite treats shouldn’t get their hopes up just yet. Says Mouss: “For now, no cupcakes.”
Big Mouth Bakehouse is at #01-06 Wisma Geylang Serai, 1 Engku Aman Turn, S408528. Open Tue to Sun from 9am to 6pm. More info via Instagram.
Photos: Big Mouth Bakehouse
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