Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier.

Tiong Bahru Bakery by Gontran Cherrier from the Food Collective by the Spa Esprit Group (quite a mouthful isn’t it?!) has been all the rage in Singapore of late, with positive reviews from Lifestyle on the Sunday Times and very recently, on the website of the Wall Street Journal SEA website.

I thought I would approach this Bakery from the angle of branding instead.  Indeed, this is quite an interesting example because of how eclectic the brand identity is.

Logo

We have a logo that is deeply Asian, with Chinese characters forming the word Tiong Bahru.  The shape of the logo brings to mind a baguette, informing the customer of its proposition.

Wordmark

The simple wordmark “Tiong Bahru Bakery” uses a clean san-serif type which I believe to be League Gothic (correct me if I’m wrong!).  The choice of the name Tiong Bahru evokes an exotic Asian chic to the visitng foreigner in search for the gourmet bread, and yet is instantly familiar to the local Singaporean foodie in search of the next indie cafe with a distinctive feel.

Add on the stamp of Gontran Cherrier in a casual yet classy font bestows an authenticity and credibility to the brand through the famous French boulanger, and you have it: A winner before one even takes a bite off the bread.

Brand Experience

A well executed brandmark aside, the breads in the establishment is to die for.  I had the fortune to visit last week and the butter croissant was one of the best I have had ever.  For a croissant lover who went hunting for them in France, this was no mean feat.  Most croissants are either too hard when stale or get too soft.  This was just right even though I was there pretty late at night when the baking has stopped.

Have you had a chance to visit?  Share your experiences with me at the comments!