The Coffee Bean Reigns Supreme!

Date: 05/01/10


Venue: The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf
Le Thanh Ton, Dist.1

The first Cheesecake Tuesday of the new decade certainly turned out to be a great start to the year.

The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf is a newcomer to Vietnam and is certainly offering stiff competition for the likes of longstanding Vietnamese favourite 'Highlands Coffee'. The company was founded in California in 1963 and, according to their website, it is affectionately nicknamed 'The Bean' by its regulars.

Prominently standing on the corner of Le Thanh Ton and Thai Van Lung (Q1) - a space so long occupied by Korean burger chain 'Lotteria', The Bean is easily accessible for residents of Q.1, Q.2 and Q.Binh Thanh (where the current CT members are from!) but with new branches springing up all over town (Dong Khoi, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai) there is sure to be a number of outlets in every district before long.

Comfy chairs create a cosy ambience and unlike other coffee establishments around noisy Saigon, the music level is set at a comfortable level and the A/C not set to arctic conditions (let's face it, we all left our home countries to enjoy the warmth!). The perfect setting for cheesecake...

Service was a little slow and there was some confusion between hot coffee and iced coffee but we'll put that down to it being early days.

Members of CT tasted two types: Chocolate Swirl (top picture) and Cappucino (bottom picture) - although the decision was a difficult one to make as all the cakes looked mouthwateringly delicious (must go back to check out the chocolate fudge cake).

Consistency: Light & creamy.

Base: The thin pastry base was a hit with the testers, made a nice change from the usual biscuit base.

Presentation: Chocolate swirls through the cheesecake looked very inviting. Cappucino Swirl's dusted cocoa powder diamonds gave it a professional look.

Taste: Cappucino Cheesecake was well appreciated. Chocolate Swirl was a nice cheesecake but didn't quite deliver the chocolate promise. It would work well if marketed as a plain cheesecake.

Verdict: Watch out Highlands
an impressive 7/10