Baristart Coffee – Famous Hokkaido Cafe Opens in Singapore

Baristart Coffee first started out as a simple coffee stand in Sapporo where one can hear all about the milk produced in Hokkaido and its relation to the coffee scene in Japan. Today, it has evolved into a lifestyle café serving up a full menu. And they are now here on our sunny island, along one of the most well-known streets in town, Tras St.

Every cup of coffee here is made using Biei Jersey milk. This good quality dairy product comes from brown Jersey cows, which only make up barely 1% of the cow population in Hokkaido. It is rich and creamy, with a tinge of sweetness. You can taste the difference that the milk makes after one sip. My cup of cappuccino was velvety smooth!

The owner, Yuuki Takechi, is here in Singapore till April to make your coffee. He is a two-time champion of ‘UCC Coffee Masters Latte Art Section in Hokkaido Region’, so your coffee is guaranteed to be delicious and beautiful.

It doesn’t just stop at coffee! Their specially imported Hokkaido milk is also used in the creation of their decadent desserts and mouthwatering dishes!

The Hokkaido Carbonara ($17.80) and Obihiro Butadon ($18.80) are the most popular dishes at Baristart. We heard that they use their signature BIEI Jersey Milk for the carbonara, so I was really excited to try it. Sadly, both were sold out as I visited after lunch hours. Hence, we ordered Tonkatsu Sando ($16.80) and Spaghetti Seafood Shiso Pesto ($17.80) instead.

The Tonkatsu Sando ($16.80) features crispy pork cutlet and coleslaw, sandwiched between 2 slices of fluffy bread. I enjoyed it because the thick cutlet was moist and juicy. The sando comes with a side of fries, making this treat a complete meal. To be honest, I was already full after having the sandwich. There were mixed reviews of the Spaghetti Seafood Shiso Pesto. It was interesting to add finely chopped shiso leaves into the pasta, giving it a refreshing taste. However, the pesto sauce was lighter than expected.

A must-try at Baristart Coffee is the Cream Puff ($4.50/one, $12/three). This is seriously good. Each puff is loaded with luscious Hokkaido BIEI Jersey Milk custard cream. It’s rich and creamy, and goes exceptionally well with the buttery puff. The bear shaped Shaved Ice – Shiro Kuma ($9.80) is drizzled with Hokkaido BIEI Jersey Milk and comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It comes with your choice of flavoured homemade syrup — coffee, strawberry, mango or green tea. Apart from being instagram-worthy, the dessert left much to be desired as the shaved ice was too coarse and I couldn’t really taste the jersey milk in this dessert.

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