Hello there, lovelies!
We’re back today to review a newly opened, amazingly pungent durian café called DurianBB. It’s located in Crawford Center, right beside the highly popular Tolido’s Espresso Nook. So… finish your lunch at Tolido’s and then hop straight over for some creative desserts, yeah?
Okay, before we begin, I’m going to admit. I’m not a durian person. Never was, and probably never will. Which is why when Milly and Kiki said they had a café to bring me to and then showed me the name of it, I squinted. Really, extremely hard. Because how in the world am I supposed to talk about a durian café when I don’t even like durians?
When we first got to the café, my nose was overwhelmed, and it immediately wrinkled. Durians. Durians everywhere. From the plushies sitting in the claw machine (they were heckin’ adorable, I wanted one so badly), to the souvenirs and collaterals at the side, DurianBB offers a full, holistic durian experience. Want to be assaulted by durians? No problem just come here.
The plushies look like they’re in pain and I love it. Reminds me so much of the mushrooms in Maplestory, when you whack them and they go cross-eyed.
Anyways, we sat down and was shown an extensive menu. And let me just say – they have something for everyone, even for those who don’t like durian. Like me.
For drinks, from left to right, Kiki got a DurianBB Signature MSW Milkshake (S$8.80), Milly got a Soursop Peach Soda with Lychee Bursters (S$6.80) and I had the Raspberry Lemonade Soda (S$6.80).
We started off trying the drinks first – for you to know and gauge, Milly and Kiki both dislike overly sweet drinks. As for me, I love my drinks as sweet as possible because diabetes doesn’t exist whaaaat-
The DurianBB Signature MSW Milkshake has small bubbles in it, like bubble tea, and you know that they use actual durian, because there are durian chunks in it. “It’s very fragrant,” says Kiki, as she sips nonchalantly on it. “Wah, damn smelly,” I said, brows wrinkling in agony.
They really packed on the flavor profile with this. It’s creamy, smooth and thick, with the durian and milk blended to perfection. It’s not overly sweet, both Kiki and Milly say – it’s perfect for them. And they love durians. So take their word for it, over mine.
Milly went for the Soursop Peach Soda with Lychee Bursters – and this was the drink that really made my brows shoot up in amazement. “Mm what mm,” said Milly after seeing my reaction. “Got so good meh?”
Honestly, yes. It’s sweet and refreshing. Out of all three drinks, this was probably the one that suited my palate the most. They even give a blue syrup for you to pack on the sugar if you want; Milly didn’t – but then again, the drink really didn’t need the sugar syrup – because it’s sweet enough on its own.
Milly: “Yummy, lorh.”
The Raspberry Lemonade drink that I had was – for the lack of a better word – crispy. It wasn’t sweet, which came as a surprise to me, because I thought that all drinks like these would be really sweet. It was tart and refreshing, and provided a good accompaniment to the durian cakes that we had, cause I could wash it all down without feeling jelak from all the sweetness.
From left to right, we ordered Boom, a MSW Mousse Cake (S$9.80), I’m Burnt, a St. Sebastian MSW Cheesecake (S$8.80) and On De Ball, a MSW Onde-Onde dish (S$7.80).
Honestly, I’m more of a taste over looks kind of girl – I love my delicious food, and usually don’t care much for pretty food. Like, who cares about how pretty it is when it’s bad in your mouth? I get super upset whenever I eat food that’s not to my satisfaction – I feel like I waste calories and stomach space over it when I could be eating something better, y’know?
But when we saw the dessert stand in the café, we immediately started squealing over how bloody aesthetically pleasing they are. Move over, fancy shmancy restaurants with immaculate and impeccable plating, DurianBB’s in town. They have a dish called Mousetrap, which is a No-Bake MSW Cheesecake, and good lord. I love the look of that dish so incredibly much. It’s so heckin’ adorable!
And look at the Onde Onde! I don’t know about you guys, but I usually fish my Onde Onde out of a plastic box and chomp on it (while squatting beside the road in my asadi slippers). I’m just kidding, but you get my drift. I’ve never seen Onde Onde served so delicately and gorgeously before – it felt like such a pity to eat it.
But we did, anyways. The Onde Onde was the first dish we had – we went from durian gao-ness of mild to strong.
First thing Milly and Kiki said after eating it was “Wow, the skin’s really thick. It’s a bit hard also.” Me? I didn’t even notice. Y’know, too busy contending with the taste of durian in my mouth and all. But I’m going to be honest with you – the Gula Melaka in this dish tempered the taste of the durian and made it palatable. Did the flavors marry together well? It’s a happy union, with kids that can probably make up two football teams, and the overall effect wasn’t overpoweringly overwhelming at all.
Both Kiki and Milly said that the durian taste would be too mild for someone who loves durian, but I would say it’s good because I wasn’t gagging on the taste of durian and could actually appreciate the taste of it. Apart from the thick skin, this dish is quite the bomb. The biscuit crumble and fresh fruits also provided for an escape from the taste of durian. I didn’t even notice there was durian puree dotted on the dish until I swiped some biscuit up and grimaced at the taste of it. Hey, durian lovers, at least y’all know that y’all are getting your monies worth.
Afterward, we had Boom, the Mousse Cake, which was supposedly stronger in durian taste as compared to the Onde Onde. My brows and nose immediately wrinkled when eating it, and I thought I would be done after one bite, because it’s overwhelmingly durian. But… after a few seconds of staring at it and feeling the taste of it in my mouth, I gave in to temptation and snitched another bite.
Fresh out of the fridge, it has the consistency of melt-in-your-mouth ice cream. Milly and Kiki were saying that it’s a bit too hard for their liking – cause it’s too cold, but I actually prefer it this way because it melts in your mouth when you nom on it. It’s sweet, but not overly so. They use pure MSW in this dish, so you really can taste the pungent-ness of the durian. As you eat it, you feel like you’re eating layers of durian – right down to the sponge cake at the bottom. The chocolate shell for this Mousse Cake was pretty thin, so the chocolate didn’t disrupt the taste of durian at all.
Milly: “Got the durian taste, lorh.”
For the final dish, we had the Burnt Basque Durian Cheesecake. And our reactions to this dish were pretty the same. All our brows immediately furrowed, trying to make sense of it. It bamboozled us, in the best way possible, because while it doesn’t exactly taste like pure cheesecake, but doesn’t taste like pure durian either. It was a beautiful paradox that left us pandering for more.
There’s this mystical draw to it that makes you wanna fork it over and over again just to get the taste of it. I would say that it’s sufficiently strong for durian lovers, but also a good choice for people who don’t like durian, because the cheesecake provides a great distraction to the taste of durian. I wasn’t even bothered much by the pungent-ness and just kept forking more into my mouth.
Milly: “Doesn’t taste like durian… but it does… Doesn’t taste like cheesecake… but it does…”
We also had a Durian Choux Au Craquelin. Choux Au Craquelins are essentially crispy puffs with a biscuit shell over it. DurianBB’s version had durian puree inside, rather than cream. I was honestly extremely impressed, because I know just how difficult it is to make Choux Au Craquelin, and I wasn’t expecting to see it here at a homely café like this. And done so well, at that too. The crust was super thin.
The pastry is super good, with a sweet crunchy top that melts in your mouth when you bite into it. The durian puree is a good accompaniment to the sweet shell – the durian isn’t sweet and provides for good mouthfeel. Milly mentioned that she would like it if they used something other than puree – she would’ve loved for the puree to be less watery and more solid, because when we cut into it, the durian puree just flowed out everywhere.
I mentioned that it was a pity that they didn’t use cream, because I would have loved to see the Choux Au Craquelin stuffed full to the brim with durian cream. But then… someone pointed out that durian lovers would probably complain about how they’re paying so much for a dish that doesn’t taste like durian.
I’m probably going to go off on a tangent here for awhile. Durian, honestly, is a subjective topic, especially in Singapore, where people are super picky about what they eat. Durian lovers in Singapore believe that they know where the best durian is, and would rather not eat from anywhere that they’ve never tried before.
As someone who doesn’t like durian, I’m going to say that DurianBB is honestly a good introduction to the world of durian. There’re dishes here to suit the palates’ of everybody, from hardcore staunch shove-it-in-my-mouth durian lovers (they have durian tasting platters) to people like me, who just want to try try but don’t like durian.
Everything here is pretty unique – DurianBB catches on to hot trends, such as the Basque Burnt Cheesecake (never could understand the rabid love for it, to be honest), but also stay true to their Singaporean roots with local dishes like the Onde Onde and Kuih Koci. It’s an interesting concept, and I honestly would actually come back. I’m going to drag my brothers and some friends to come and try this, because they love durian.
As someone who dislikes durian, I would give DurianBB a 4 out of 5. All three of us did, actually. Rate DurianBB 4 out of 5, that is. The durian lovers mentioned that there’s room for improvement, such as the skin of the Onde Onde, and the wateriness of the durian puree, which is why they gave 4. I’m acceding this to them, because I dislike durian (my 1 star was lost because of that).
Overall, DurianBB’s a pretty good place to go to. But like I said, taste, especially when it comes to durians – is subjective so… take my word for it or don’t, just go visit and try them for yourself.
Till next time, lovelies.
DurianBB
Address: 462 Crawford Lane, #01-65, Singapore 190562
Opening Hours: 12pm to 10pm (Tue to Sun)
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