Caffe Beviamo

One of the world's best gastro-invention other than icecream, is the sandwich. The former heightens indulgence whilst the latter eases convenience. Both are indispensable in my regular diet. A Sunday noon i was figuring where to for my daily bread fix, when Beviamo randomly came to mind.

Loose-leaf Green Tea in pot

Its quite a surprise how long they've been here yet i have never set my mind to visit. Perhaps the PS-soupspoon-COVA distractors posed too strong a competition for this unobstrusive cafe to be noticed. They are nestled right up, outside the now defunct Sushi Tei, with a small open kitchen detached from the dining area. You'll need a second look to confirm: YES this IS a cafe.

Smoked salmon will always be my first choice for fillings but when unavailable, chicken does just as fine. Beviamo's Chicken Sandwich ($14)- poached chicken breast, cheese, basil pesto, zucchini- was a good take. Brownbread grilled panini-style, non soggy on the insides, with zucchini and pieces of fresh chicken. Not your usual frozen and mircrowaved junk. My cheese-to-avocado switch was inhesistently fulfilled; flexibility appreciated.

Dad had his Ham Sandwich ($14)- leg ham, tomato, red onion, spinach, cheese- on ciabatta bread. The colourful innards of shaved ham, baby spinach and melted swiss cheese looked appetisingly good from every angle.

Banana-carrot cake

Beviamo didn't offer much of a variety for desserts and a few looked untrustably rickety. My first instinct was to go for the Carrot Cake ($3.50) which 2 out of 3 tables around me were having. Crowd-following effect = not always right. I should have sniffed an amiss from its conventional buttercake shape- cause besides the cheese frosting & measly carrot shreds in the cake, there was nothing more carrot cake about it. The crucial prick of cinnamon was inexistent and most disturbingly of all, blocks of BANANAS were dominating the taste.

This banana cake-in-carrot cake-skin (apply wolf in sheep's skin) needs urgent relabelling.

Not your usual strawberry shortcake. Their Strawberry Shortcake ($3.50): American Edition adapted a local smell too. In short, strawberries+cream and Kueh Bulu sandwich.

While i can acknowledge their stance in bringing old-fashioned American sweets, and am in no position to condemn their local incorporations...their desserts (& poor service) just didn't do for me.

But the sandwiches and loose-leaf teas at $3.50 a pot, did.

Caffe Beviamo

290 Orchard Road

#05-K3/K4 The Paragon

6836 2535