Cafe Fest 2014, the first cafe hopping event ended last weekend. It was meant to bring cafe lovers together to enjoy good food, coffee and company by having 12 cafes under one roof but somehow it ended driving more grievances and frustration among the partygoers. I guess it’s the lack of manpower, lack of communication between the organizers and the attendees and also the failure to come into an agreement between the vendors that resulted in this downfall.

The event kickstarted on Saturday and it was way too crowded, so much that most of the food was sold out way earlier than expected and what’s left was probably coffee, coffee and more coffee

The 12 cafes

If you realised, there’s a festival price and regular price. Well, it was not meant to be like that in the first place. I think there was some major miscommunication here. But then you cannot really blame the vendors for wanting to earn more money, it’s just that by allowing them to do so, it became unfair to the pass holders

Cinnamon Swirl (Oz Specialty Coffee)

The cinnamon swirl was pretty good, or maybe we were just too hungry

Caramel Cream Cheese (Oz Specialty Coffee), Beef Stew (Toby’s Estate) and Cold Brew (Oz Specialty Coffee)

Not forgetting BLT Burger and Chocolate Milkshake (Toby’s Estate)

The BLT burger was nothing fantastic, the caramel cream cheese was bad, the beef stew was the only savoury food we had, the cold brew was too acidic and the chocolate milkshake was welcoming.

Macarons (Hatter Street)

It was way too sweet. I guess they are just good for pictures

Ice Espresso (Necessary Provision) and Spicy Pork Sausage (Tiong Bahru Bakery)

It was supposed to be an espresso cube, that melted too fast, too furious. And the milk content was a little too much as compared to the coffee. The pork sausage was decent, just a relief to the hungry stomach

Red Velvet Cake (I Am)

I didn’t like the cream cheese, but the sponge cake was decent. Though I’m pretty sure I can have better red velvet elsewhere.

Ice Latte (Maison Ikkoku)

I thought the coffee from Maison Ikkoku was good. The coffee was thick and flavourful

If the weather on Saturday was bad, the weather on Sunday was worse

Listening to 53A performing. They were awesome

Ended the first day of cafe fest!

Second day was a different story. I think the whole world complained, so things changed. The crowd was visibly lesser probably due to disappointing turnout on first day, and they tried to keep the public out (though I hear some vendors complaining haha) but the weather was too overwhelming

The VIP area. It was a joke. I think the area was a little tiny, with no fans or whatsoever. It was just too small for too many people

But still glad that we were under the shade

Milk Coffee (Common Man Coffee Roasters), Ice Latte (Jimmy Monkey) and Chilli Hotdog (Cake Love)

Coffee at Common Man was the best. Though we ordered a hot one under the extremely hot weather, but it beats all other places. Ice Latte was normal and I find it amusing a cake place was the one that sold savoury food as compared to the rest of the cafes

Just cos we needed something that wasn’t caffeine

Pat & Stick’s Vanilla Lace (The Providore)

I think we had too much coffee in 2 days, it was a case of caffeine overdose. They did not have your usual big breakfast, pancakes or egg bens cos of licensing issues which was very disappointing since it felt more like a coffee fest now. It was an event that opened with so much hype, but I think they probably generated much more negative publicity cos of it.  The concept of a cafe fest was good but this was a lesson that needed better planning, communication and execution. And to think things are ending with organizers having to compensate pass holders, I really can’t tell if this event was a success or failure.