LA VIE – Cosy Cafe in Jalan Besar with Watermelon Strawberry and Other Fruitilicious Cakes

It’s no secret that I’m super homesick for Australia and have been pining over the beaches, cafes and the famous strawberry watermelon cake from Black Star Pastry. When I heard that a new patisserie in Jalan Besar is serving their own version of strawberry watermelon cake, I jumped at the chance to drop by and see if it matches up to the OG version in Sydney. 

Jalan Besar might be home to quite a number of cafes but you can’t miss LA VIE with its tiffany-blue exterior. Once you step in, you’ll be met with a pristinely simplistic and casual interior of whites and greys. The seats plumped up with cushions was an especially inviting sight that had me making an immediate beeline for.

The walls were adorned with paintings by local artist Kelly Ser, doubling the cafe into a showroom that allows interested customers to purchase any works that catch their eye. 

Head towards the back of the cafe and you’ll see a small dark mirrored corridor illuminated by coloured fluorescent lights, making it a cosy area for a cute photo op. As for where it leads, it’s nowhere interesting, just the bathroom. 

The menu was pretty straightforward; we have the usual coffees, an array of artisanal teas and of course, the cakes. Most of them tend to lean towards fruity flavours, with the exception of the NY Cheesecake ($8) and Baileys Tiramisu ($8.50). The latter tempted me because it was one of those novel served-in-a-flowerpot types. They also offer up seasonal tarts so keep an eye out if that’s more to your taste. 

Recommended to me by the staff as one of the cafe’s most popular items, the Chloe ($8.50) painted quite the angelic picture — lychee mousse and rose sponge crowned with lychee popping boba. While the sponge cake came off as a bit dry to me, the bursts of flavour exploding from the lychee pearls was something I really liked.

As someone who loves mango, I was looking forward to the Kaiser ($9), a sleek-looking mango mousse cake with passionfruit sponge and mango bits, topped with mango popping boba this time (yay!). I anticipated my fork to be able to cut through the mousse smoothly but it was more gelatin-like instead so it was a bit odd to me. But just like the Chloe, the popping pearls were a delight. 

Then came the moment I’ve been waiting for; it was time to try the Watermelon Strawberry ($9.50). First off, I have to say that it looked really pretty and it had almost all the elements that the original one had. It was a little hard to cut through because of its round shape but I appreciated that they went in a bit of a different direction with that instead of simply making an exact carbon copy. 

The layer of almond dacquoise was sweet and complemented the rose chantilly cream, though the latter wasn’t as pronounced as I would have liked it to be. Apart from the watermelon and strawberries, there were also blueberries and grapes. Overall, I’d say this was a good attempt. 

While I would usually get coffee when I visit cafes (because to me, a cafe’s good reputation relies on the quality of the coffee they serve), I decided to get the Ultraviolet ($6) instead. The coloured layers of sparkling melon oolong tea and butterfly pea made for a surreal sight. Bust out your IG boomerangs as you stir to catch the swirl of layers reach a Ribena-like violet hue. This bubbly concoction had pleasant citrus notes – very refreshing. 

You know when a menu item is named after the cafe itself, it’s practically screaming “signature!”. And for LA VIE, it was the La Vie en Rose ($6). The warm, chocolatey beverage had a delicate sprinkling of dried rose petals, which didn’t really do much for me. It leaned more towards the bitter side of chocolate but I wish it was just a bit richer in terms of sweetness. The drink came with a buttery biscuit with a texture that’s almost like a meringue but not quite. 

I’d absolutely love to come back and cosy up with a good book along with a (hopefully improved) La Vie en Rose and Watermelon Strawberry cake as I count down the days to the commencement of the Australia travel bubble to get my fix from Black Star Pastry.

MissTamChiak.com made an anonymous visit and paid its own meal at the stall featured here.

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