Lee's Confectionary. HDB Cafe & French Patisserie Worth a Journey to the West until Jurong

Lee's Confectionary is a walk-pass kind of nondescript HDB shop lot place but once you discovered it, you will want to tell your friends, if not jio them to go over. The decor is bare bones minimalist, the coffee is pretty good but the stars here are the fine handcrafted French style cakes. If you are a cake person like me, you will be making excuses to journey to the west until Jurong.

Restaurant name: Lee's ConfectionaryAddress: 343 Jurong East Street 31, #01-59, Singapore 600343Nearest MRT: 10 mins from Chinese Garden stationHours: 12:00 noon - 6:00pm (close at 10pm on Fri & Sat) Weds off

I didn't discover this place, Ben brought me here. Ben knows me well and he thinks I will like this place but he was wrong..., I mean I absolutely love this place (not only like). I like things that are understated, low key but let their products shine through and speak loudly for themselves. Lee's Confectionary is like that and impressed me so much that I came back on two consecutive days. Boomer uncles and aunties like to hangout at hipsters cafes over coffee and cakes between heavy bouts of old school bak kut teh, bak chor mee, kway chap etc.

My usual cafe coffee is a flat white nowadays. Not too much milk, the Arabica blend was aromatic and tasty with not too much bitterness and no sourness (which I dislike in my coffee). I won't describe the cakes in detail, but we all enjoyed all of them. Anyway, chef constantly tweaks his cakes, so you are going to have something different when you come. But, some things won't change. The hand crafted cakes are prettily designed and put together beautifully. They are flavourful with layers of sweetness but not overly sweet. There are chocolate, fruit, floral etc flavours depending on the cake but always blended well with the sweetness. (All cakes were priced at wallet friendly $8 each. New cakes are created all the time, so you will see other cakes different from these when you come here.)

Cube. Chocolate brownies and Valrhona Alpaco chocolate caramel cream encased in hojicha chocolate mousse. Special "crunchies" at the side.

Dale. Orange paste, matcha ganache, matcha sponge on reconstructed tart base.

Jiao. Banana compote, salted caramel and whipped white chocolate with Madagascan vanilla beans ganache on soft banana sponge cake and capped with a butter cookie.

Madu. Honey and caramel core, embedded within lightly whipped Horlicks cream on a crumbly Honey Joys base.

Pigo. Pistachio almond spongecake, pistachio cream and fresh mango on a tart shell. This one I didn't like that much as I don't like even a bit  sourish things one. The ladies love this though.

Lime Tart. -- ditto -- Yeah..., over two days, we tried every cake they had 😋

The man behind all the beautiful cakes and pastries is 30 year old Lee Yin Quan. After National Service, Lee worked in Daily Scoop, an ice cream parlour. He then enrolled in a 3 week pastry course At Sunrice Global Chef Academy. However, Lee wasn't accepted into a longer programme. So, for the next few years Lee continued working in various cafes and restaurants. With his savings and help from his parents, Lee left for Paris in 2016 for a 2 year pastry chef programme at Ferrandi Paris culinary institute. The two-year programme included internships with master chef pâtissière Nina Métayer in two Michelin starred-Le Grand Restaurant Jean-François Piège, and master chef pâtissiere François Perret in Ritz Paris. It was a bold move as Lee doesn't speak a word of French before leaving for Paris. The programme was conducted in English but the internships at the restaurants were all in French. When he returned to Singapore, Lee's mother inspired and supported him in launching his own patisserie. Lee worked 14 hour days and didn't take a salary until he returned his mother's loan. Lee's Confectionary located in a quiet corner in Jurong East took off to a smooth start with business picking up steadily. He now has a growing loyal fan base. Now, add me and my friends 😄 Lee's personal preference is for savoury flavours, so his cakes and pastries are not too sweet. He also likes to use seasonal ingredients, so his menu changes constantly according to the seasons. Lee is careful about not wasting food and is always curious if any customer does not finish his cake. So, he works hard and strives to ensure that his cakes are so good that customers will leave nothing behind 😋 Yeah, I cleaned my plates. Now you have the reason to go to Singapore's wow wow west for Parisian inspired hand crafted cakes and pastries. Bon appetit 😋 Source: zaobao Johor Kaki is the best Malaysia food blog in 2013, and best Singapore food blog in 2013 and 2014. Date visited: 2 Aug 2020