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Fans of the popular shio pan bakery Shio & Sato mourned its closure earlier this year, but founder Genevieve Lee is back on her feet with the opening of a brand-new bakery. Cloudmills, which just launched last week, has already been attracting snaking queues out the door, with curious folks lining up for a taste of its handcrafted bakes – 25 kinds, to be exact, ranging from sweet to savoury creations.
The vibe
If the name sounds familiar, it's because it's a sister concept of Cloudfields, the charming café located at Tan Boon Liat Building in Havelock. Cloudmills has a relatively central location in Orchard, but it is still slightly off the beaten path, requiring a short trek to the back of Orchard Towers. You'll find it occupying a corner unit opposite Claymore Connect and facing EtonHouse International School. The set-up is simple: a takeaway counter and a couple of camping chairs dotted outside next to the new Japanese restaurant Ao – also by the Cloud Restaurant Group.
The food
All the bakes at Cloudmills (from $2.20 to $7.20) are dreamt up by Chef Genevieve ('Gen') Lee, the name behind Shio & Sato as well as Sourbombe Bakery. The heart of the menu is five core types of bread: doughnut, sankaku (triangle) salt bread, cake (madeleines), laminated pastries and shokupan. These form the base for all sorts of toppings and fillings.
The star is the Unagi Moon ($7.20). It's the priciest item on the menu, but not without reason. This umami-bomb consists of thick unagi slices – freshly grilled on the bakery's binchotan grill till it's oily and fatty, with a subtle charred taste – fluffy tamagoyaki and soy-marinated egg yolk, encased in a seeded sankaku shio pan. The bread itself has real structure, with a crispy base. We like that it's sturdy enough to hold everything in without collapsing, and how the crunchy seeds contrast nicely with the soft fillings.
Similarly, the banh mi ($6.90) features binchotan-grilled pork slices, layered with crunchy pickled carrots and radish, fresh herbs and garlic mayo, stuffed in a plain sankaku shio pan. It's a pocket-sized take on the Vietnamese staple, which is usually served in baguettes and filling enough to be a meal on its own.
But it's the savoury doughnut creations at Cloudmills that steal the show, inspired by Chef Gen's love for tapas. Take the Pan con Tomate ($6.90), for instance, which sees a soft and airy long doughnut base topped with refreshing tomato-garlic paste and two slices of salty white anchovies. There's also the Charcuterie Board ($7.20), a delightful, sticky parcel dripping with maple glaze and fig jam, and finished with brie cubes and prosciutto. There's also a version crowned with nduja mussels and fennel ($6.90).
Shio & Sato made its name from its salt bread, so we couldn't help getting one of Cloudmills' plain sankaku shio pan ($2.50) to try. Appearance-wise, it sports a triangular shape, with a crispy base and some salt crystals on top. But don't expect an airy, chewy and buttery middle – the bread is hardy and slightly dense, with a mild and lightly salted flavour, evidently crafted as a reliable and neutral base for toppings and fillings, rather than a shio pan that you're meant to enjoy on its own.
On to the sweet bakes. Cloudmills has a decent variety, ranging from kinako powder-dusted doughnuts to anpan stuffed with matcha and strawberries, as well as a selection of fruity doughnut creations. We like the Blueberri Ever ($4.90). Its shockingly purple exterior might suggest intense sweetness, but the glaze is pleasantly light, and the best bite is when you hit the blueberry compote and mascarpone cream in the centre.
The Mango Mochi ($6.90) looks the part, with a nama doughnut wrapped in a thin sheet of mochi for a guaranteed mochi pull. Taste-wise, it lands a little flat. Since the mochi skin itself doesn't have much flavour, the bread could use a proper cream stuffing through the centre and more mangoes in general, instead of just two small cubes of mango on top.
Time Out tip
Be prepared to queue. The line starts forming as early as 10.45am, 15 minutes before opening, and bakes tend to sell out within the hour. There's a makeshift seating area outdoors, but heads up: it gets hot, so takeaway is definitely the move. The kitchen also doesn't have capacity to heat up your orders at the moment – something to note if you prefer enjoying your bakes fresh out of the oven. And if you're looking for something to quench your thirst, Cloudmills offers a drink menu featuring espresso-based coffee, speciality drinks like coconut cream lattes and tiramisu lattes, as well as house-made cold brew teas (from $5 to 10).
Time Out's rating: 4/5
Cloudmills stands out for its variety and interesting flavour combinations that you won't come across at most bakeries. Props go to the effort to haul in a binchotan grill as well, though we wish the smokiness came across more in the Unagi Moon and banh mi, and that more bakes would feature binchotan-grilled fillings in the future. Pricing is another plus – craft bakes like these can creep up to $9 and beyond, but nothing here goes above $8, with plenty priced below $5. Safe to say, we're already planning a second visit, with items like the mentaiko mochi bread, kinako doughnuts, anpan and nduja mussels doughnut all on our list to try.
Cloudmills is open daily from 11am till sold out, at #01-01, 1 Claymore Drive, Singapore 229594.
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