Tvoila is a cafe that I went to the other day on the basement floor of Orchard Central shopping centre near Somerset MRT. It’s been there since last May but I never noticed it before as it’s slightly hidden and you have to walk through the Tokyu Hands shop to get to it. Because of it’s location it’s very quiet and is a good place to escape the crowds around Orchard Road and catch up with friends or to work / study as they provide free WiFi.
Tvoila has a good amount of seating choice as well as a children’s play room with quite a big selection of toys and a TV with a DVD playing Dora the Explorer to keep the kids entertained.
They have quite a big selection of sandwiches on their menu as well as cakes, waffles, tea flavoured ice-cream, juices, coffee and a huge range of organic tea from the Numi Organic Tea brand. They even sell boxes of the tea in the cafe and they also have a shop area which sells organic cosmetics, supplements and children’s clothes.
They do a cake set which includes a pot of tea and a slice of cake which can be chosen from their daily specials and they also have a sandwich set which includes a pot of tea and the sandwich of the day. As it was mid-afternoon when I went, I got the cake set which cost $9.90 and I had the choice of either a slice of carrot cake, oreo cheesecake or strawberry cheesecake. All the cakes looked pretty tempting but I went for the carrot cake and chose a pot of white tea with rose. You’re allowed to choose from the majority of teas on the menu but only the teabags and not the loose leaf teas.
The carrot cake was divine, not too sweet, the cream cheese icing was yummy and the cake was moist and had a lot of walnuts as well as candied ones on the side and on top. The slice that was given was very generous and I didn’t manage to finish it all even though I hadn’t had lunch!
Service at the cafe was quick but definitely not the politest. When we were looking at the menu to try and decide which tea to get, the woman at the till was tapping impatiently (or maybe she was bored considering there were no other customers). Also when I asked if I could choose any tea from the menu as part of the set, I was told that I could and then later I was told that I could choose any tea apart from a certain section. After I decided on a tea, I was told that I couldn’t select that one as she had pointed at the wrong section that was excluded from the set and after selecting for the second time I was told that I couldn’t select loose leaf teas. Not the most professional way to deal with customers and a little apology wouldn’t have gone amiss. It’s a good thing that there weren’t any other customers waiting to order! Some polite communication with a smile would have been nice too.
Anyway apart from that I would probably go back again just for the carrot cake and maybe to try some of the ice-cream since you only have to deal with the staff when you order at the till. It’s also a nice quiet place to enjoy some tea and my friend’s son had a great time playing for hours in the play room so if you have kids or have friends with kids then it’s a good place to go. I’m not sure how long it’ll survive there though?
Tvoila
Address: Basement 1 #15-19, 181 Orchard Rd, Singapore 238896
Tel: 6966 6626
Opening hours: 11am – 10pm daily
Hope you’ve enjoyed my review, please feel free to leave a comment below with your own review of Tvoila or if you have any questions!
