Review: Mimmo Bakery at Asia Square is an east-meets-west CBD bakery worth a detour

The CBD isn’t short of bake shops, and it’s one of the main reasons why I enjoy working there so much. 

Every other tower lobby along Shenton Way and Robinson Road seems to have at least one of these in some form: Grab-and-go counters selling croissants, sandwiches, brownies, and decent-enough coffee to the morning office rush. 

Most of them are fine, but probably not something I’d be thinking about past lunchtime.

Mimmo Bakery, which opened recently at Asia Square Tower 1, is trying to be something more deliberate than that, and after two visits there, consider me (mostly) impressed.

The backstory

Mimmo’s concept is built around blending French and Italian pastry traditions with the beloved comforting flavours of Hong Kong that many of us in Singapore are no strangers to.

Behind the bakery is chef Domenico Giammarella, a Montreal-born pastry chef of French and Italian descent. He first brought his east-meets-west pastry-making approach to a pop-up at Hong Kong’s Quarry Bay last October. 

While the Hong Kong pop-up has since closed (with plans to move to a bigger location eventually), chef Domenico seems to have set his sights on regional growth, opting to set up this flagship store in Singapore. The outlet, located at Asia Square, had a soft-launch earlier this month. 

Mimmo Bakery’s Singapore space was easy enough to find — I could see the sleek glass frontage and eye-catching storefront with a spacious al fresco area the moment I walked into Asia Square. 

The space inside is cosy and relaxing, with globe pendant lights, cushioned benches with small marble top tables, and a communal table sitting alongside a display of bakes and cakes up front. 

You can order through a QR code at your table or directly at the cashier for takeaways.

At first glance, the east-meets-west proclamation is evident in creation such as the pistachio bolo bao, egg tart, and sausage buns (a classic you’ll find in most Hong Kong bakeries). 

The rest of the bakes, which start from a very affordable S$2, are more standard European viennoiserie fare — think madeleines, croissants, and some fruit pastries.

With its location in one of the busiest parts of the CBD, it’s also unsurprising that Mimmo has a lunch menu on weekdays, from 11.30am to 2.30pm, offering sandwiches (from S$15), salads (from S$18), and a build-your-own pasta bowl with housemade pasta and base sauce (S$12), a protein (from S$2), and veggie toppings (from S$2). 

Our verdict

Many of Mimmo Singapore’s pastries look fairly ordinary at first glance, which makes it all the more surprising when they taste nothing like boring old bakes. 

Most of what I tried are excellent and offer real value — you’d probably need to pay more than twice for something of similar quality elsewhere.

That said, the lunch items I tried — the build-your-own-pasta and Italian club sandwich — could use some work. For now, there are better options for lunch elsewhere in the CBD. 

As long as you stick to what Mimmo does best — its bakes — and you’ll find this to be a very worthwhile stop.

Pro tip: The staff tells us that they don’t restock the signature pistachio bolo bao once they sell out for the day, so you’ll probably want to come for a late breakfast or early lunch break rather than at the height of lunch, if that’s the item you’re after. 

What it’s good for

The pistachio bolo bao (S$6) is the best seller here, and probably the one item that best represents Mimmo’s Hong Kong-meets-European direction.

It’s somewhat paler than Hong Kong’s golden-crusted classic, and is studded with chopped pistachio and a dusting of icing sugar. Inside, the cream filling is thick, sweet, and nutty with a notable pistachio flavour. 

The bun itself is pillowly-soft with a slightly chewy milk bread interior. Head down early to get this as there doesn’t seem to be any ordering limits for now, so we can imagine it’ll sell out quickly!  

Besides the bolo bun, it would be remiss of Mimmo to call itself a Hong Kong bakery if it doesn’t serve up a good egg tart (S$4). Thankfully Mimmo’s Singapore outlet delivers, in all its glossy gloriousness. 

The version here uses a flaky French puff pastry shell rather than a crumbly shortcrust, with its crispy layers giving way to a soft custard centre. 

The filling is creamy rather than the jiggly, wobbly style you might expect, and leans more sweet than eggy in flavour, which veers more European than traditional Cantonese, but it’s very nice still. 

With the eastern-style bakes showing promise, it’d be nice to see Mimmo expand this of the menu further — the egg tart and bolo bao are currently the only items under Mimmo’s “Hong Kong signatures” category.

I’m a simple guy — when I see pain au chocolat (S$5) on the menu, I always order it.

To me, this pastry is the clearest indicator of whether any French-leaning bakery is any good, and at Mimmo it’s solid. 

The laminated pastry is warm and buttery, with a reasonable amount of dark chocolate batons inside. Not the most exciting thing here, but still dependable. 

Heavyweights aside, the tigre (S$2) is actually my favourite item here, and at S$2, I think it’s easily one of the best-value bakes in the entire CBD. (Trust me, I’ve done my rounds in the four years working here.)

If you’ve never had one, it’s a small French almond cake with chopped chocolate folded throughout. 

It leans a bit sweet — particularly with the thin semi-sweet chocolate disc on top and caramel ganache in the centre, which adds real depth — but that just means it makes it a great pairing for tea or coffee.

The seasonal Contessa (S$5) comes with blackberries sitting on top of an elegant-looking — which might explain its name, which is Italian for “countess” — laminated pastry with a soft texture somewhere in between a bread bun and croissant.

There’s a generous amount of vanilla pastry cream underneath the fruits. It’s a simple but delicious pastry that relies on the quality of the fruit. When I visited, it came with blackberries, but I imagine they’d taste good with other tart fruits such as raspberry and strawberries as well.

The citrus madeleines, at S$3 for two pieces, are quite the steal, especially with their size, texture and taste. 

The sponge cake is airy and delicate with a fruity, lemon quality to it with a hint of vanilla. I’ve had much worse madeleines than these shell-shaped beauties.

Besides the bakes, I had to try the pasta, of course, knowing that it had lunch options available.

Of the three pasta options available during my visit, I went with strozzapreti (the others were spaghetti and tagliatelle), opting for a rose sauce (S$12) with pork sausage (S$4.50), mixed mushrooms (a mix of shimeji, shiitake, and button, S$4), and grilled asparagus (S$3), totalling S$23.50.

The ingredients themselves are decent (particularly the coarse-cut spicy Italian sausage), but the handrolled pasta tastes a touch doughy rather than chewy with a firm bite — likely rolled slightly too thick or cooked just a tad too short. 

That said, the strozzapreti is a great choice of pasta as its shape catches the nicely tangy and creamy tomato-based sauce, well. 

At this price point, it doesn’t feel overpriced for the CBD, though there are stronger pasta options elsewhere in the area.

If you love cakes or bake quite a bit at home, you might have come across the pistachio raspberry dream cake online — a green, red, and white layered cake — in various interpretations. 

Mimmo’s matcha raspberry cake (S$7 for a slice) looks a lot like that, except that it swaps out pistachio for matcha, alternating matcha sponge, cream, and raspberry gelee, with thickened cream and a fresh raspberry on top. 

Matcha purists looking for deep earthy matcha flavour might want to look elsewhere, but otherwise it’s a balanced, pretty dessert that’s equal parts tart, creamy, and grassy. 

While some other cakes like mango charlotte, tiramisu, and opera cake are available as a slice (from S$6), there are several other cakes that are only available whole, such as a red velvet (S$30) and Paris-brest cake (S$30).

For drinks, there are plenty to choose from, from espresso-based drinks and teas to soft drinks and canned San Pellegrino Italian sparkling juices.

The iced white coffee (S$6) here is nutty, milky, well-balanced, and a good pairing for the sweeter pastries on the menu. Nothing to shout about, but reliable if you’re in need of a caffeine fix. 

What it could improve on

The Italian club sandwich (S$18) was pretty much the one disappointment of the visit.

Instead of being assembled fresh on order, it tasted and looked like it was pre-assembled and then reheated. 

The inner side of the bread had absorbed moisture from the alfalfa sprouts, tomato slices (both of which were no longer crunchy), and cold cuts to the point of being soggy. 

It’s a shame, because the ingredients — parma ham, mortadella, pesto, provolone, and citrus aioli — are actually quite decent, if only it came freshly prepared. 

You might have better luck with its other sandwich options such as the Farmer’s sandwich (beetroot, sweet potato, mozzarella, avocado, and pistachio pesto, S$15) or the classic turkey ham and cheese (S$18), or you could just focus on the pastry shelves, where Mimmo has certainly proved itself more than capable.

Our quick takes

Is it conducive to conversation? There are ample seats inside and outside, but expect Mimmo to be packed on weekdays around lunch time.

Is a reservation necessary? Walk-ins only.

How to get there? Mimmo Singapore is at Asia Square Tower 1, right next to the escalators leading up to the Food Garden. 

HungryGoWhere paid for its meal at this restaurant for this review.

For more eats around the CBD, check out Les Canons at IOI Central Boulevard Towers for affordable French fare, or Sip Sip which is now open on Saturdays!