Car Born Cafe Review: Car-Themed Cafe With Cute Animal Lava Choux Puffs In JB

As much as we love the Hello Kitty, Pompompurin and Gudetama cafes that are taking over Singapore, dining at these theme cafes takes a toll on our wallet. But if you can’t stop yourself from nomming on kawaii food, then Car Born Cafe across the border makes a good solution. Food at Car Born Cafe Like kids at a magic show, we eyed every move the waiter took from setting our Matcha Bingsu Volcano (RM19.90/~S$6.55) down to pouring liquid nitrogen into a test tube filled with dry ice to create this smokin’ spectacle.

Even so, the flavour of the ice-cream tasted more like milk than matcha, and made me feel a tad cheated. The watery syrup in the syringe, which was frozen and could not be pushed out at first, was equally disappointing.

This set of Lava Choux Puffs (RM18.90/~S$6.20) was generously filled with flavours of salted egg yolk, Nutella, matcha and salted caramel. Unlike the bingsu , the green matcha puff had a strong bittersweet matcha flavour that I was looking for.

The other two puffs didn’t work for me as the salted caramel one was too sweet, and the salted egg yolk puff didn’t go well with the rest of the sweet puffs. There’s been a trend going on in JB that includes hanging cotton candy sticks over a cup of coffee, but Car Born decided to create their version in reverse with Cotton Candy Affogato (RM16.90/~S$5.60) .

You’ll be given a shot of espresso to pour over this large ball of cotton candy. While the cotton candy didn’t make much of difference in taste, the mix remained quite enjoyable as the strawberries, grapes and raisins weren’t sour, but fresh and sweet.

The espresso gave a warm touch to the creamy ice-cream, and it felt as if I was having my breakfast cereal, morning coffee and dessert all in one. Coffee at Car Born Cafe A highlight here is their baristas’ ability to create 3D latte art.

Titled Speciality of 3D (RM16.90/~S$5.60) on the menu, you get to choose a cartoon character for your hot or cold latte, mocha or chocolate. We requested for Spongebob to go with our Iced Salted Caramel Latte before heading behind the scenes to check out how it was done.

Though their menu already showcases previous works ranging from Jigglypuff to Gudetama and Big Hero 6, I was still surprised by how well the baristas hand-painted the character. The coffee itself wasn’t overly strong or acidic, with a salted caramel syrup that tasted like honey with a hint of bitterness.

Ambience at Car Born Cafe Even though the decor here is centred around cars, don’t expect to walk into a mechanic’s workshop. Our food was served promptly and the servers were both friendly and patient in meeting our requests, from topping up the dry ice in our bingsu to allowing us to step behind the counter to snap photos of them creating latte art.

The verdict The world is split into two: those who avoid gimmicky stuff and those who, despite how the food actually tastes, would be willing to fork out cash for the money shots. Car Born Cafe is considered a gimmicky cafe for sure, but they offer menu items you can’t get anywhere else.