Mary Grace Cafe Singapore Review: Filipino Ensaymada, Cheese Rolls and Warm Hospitality
Mary Grace Café
52 Tras Street, #01-01
Singapore 078991
Mary Grace Cafe Singapore is worth visiting as a warm, polished introduction to the Philipino everyday pleasures: buttery breads, rich breakfasts, familiar savoury flavours and hospitality that feels genuinely warm. We came for a simple café meal and left thinking that its greatest strength is how generously it makes first-time visitors feel included.
Why We Came
There are restaurants that tell you what a country’s cuisine can become at its most ambitious, and then there are places that show you what people actually crave when they want comfort. We do not know very much about Filipino food but we were told that Mary Grace is a place where you get hearty high quality cafe styled food.
Known especially for its cheese rolls and ensaymadas, Mary Grace has built its reputation around baked goods that sit in between Filipino nostalgia and accessible café indulgence. The menu is broad: pastries, cakes, pasta, sandwiches, salads and all-day breakfast, including Filipino favourites such as longganisa and inasal alongside more familiar Western café choices. The official menu describes the cooking as freshly made, while its breakfast selection deliberately combines Filipino dishes with French-inspired café staples.
We wanted to understand whether the hype around its famous breads was deserved, and whether the café could offer a visitor an enjoyable introduction to Filipino flavours without requiring a specialist’s knowledge of the cuisine. In short: was Mary Grace merely a pleasant mall café with good branding, or somewhere we would genuinely recommend to a friend passing through Manila?
Our visit became a small lesson in the appeal of Filipino hospitality. Before the food had fully settled on the table, the team had already created an easy, welcoming rhythm, checking in without hovering, bringing snack-sized treats and making the meal feel more generous than the order alone suggested. That warmth matters at Mary Grace because the food itself is designed around familiarity. Even where the ingredients or names may be new to visitors, nothing feels confrontational. It is a café that translates Filipino comfort food into a format that is approachable, shareable and immediately rewarding.
The manager captured that spirit especially well. While speaking to the next table about the café’s butter cookies, she noticed us looking over and immediately offered us a sample. It was a small gesture, but exactly the kind that makes hospitality memorable: observant, spontaneous and unforced. The cookie was delightfully buttery, and it was followed by little tastes of brownie and calamansi bake - tiny reminders that Mary Grace wants guests to linger, not simply finish and leave.
The Meal
The two breads were the reason to come. We tried the Mary Grace cheese roll and ensaymada for the first time. The cheese roll was soft, creamy and exceptionally easy to eat: a light, pillowy bun with a velvety cheese centre. The ensaymada was the stronger of the two. This Filipino sweet bread is rich with butter and eggs, topped with Edam cheese, but it was not overly sweet or heavy. Instead, the slight savouriness of the cheese gave it balance and made it especially suitable as a snack rather than a dessert. If ordering only one pastry, we would choose the ensaymada without hesitation.
The little cup of Mary Grace’s signature hot chocolate served alongside the breads was a thoughtful pairing. It added warmth and indulgence wand was the perfect kind of snack we could imagine returning for in the afternoon: one ensaymada to share, a side of hot chocolate and perhaps a ube drink.
For mains, the toasted longganisa was the great expression of Filipino flavour. Longganisa, a Filipino sausage is intensely rich, and Mary Grace did not try to soften that character. The sausage had a properly crisp exterior and a deeply savoury, sweet-salty richness that made the dish satisfying. It is a good order for someone wanting a hearty breakfast or lunch, but less ideal if you are looking for a delicate café plate. Toasted Vigan longganisa is one of the café’s established breakfast signatures and definitely a must order for someone who is trying Philipino food for the first time.
The grilled chicken inasal focaccia was more familiar in flavour and therefore less distinctive, although still enjoyable. The lemongrass-led profile had a gentle Thai-like quality - fragrant and grilled with the focaccia making it feel like a café sandwich rather than a traditional Filipino dish. It would be a safe choice for a cautious eater, but we would steer a first-time visitor toward the longganisa if the goal is to taste something more specifically Filipino.
Finally, we tried the ube matcha because no visit to a Filipino café can be complete without ube. It was light, frothy and delicious, avoiding the cloying sweetness that can make purple yam drinks feel more novelty than pleasure. Here, it was refreshing and definitely certainly we would have again. There are plenty of other ube options on the menu that is worth exploring.
What stands out at Mary Grace is the service. The staff were gracious with their time, generous with samples and alert to the room. The hospitality was simply kind and that is a major reason we would return. Plenty of cafés can produce a good pastry. Far fewer make a brief snack feel like a personal welcome.
The Trade-Off
The trade-off is clear. Mary Grace offers comfort, consistency and accessibility rather than any form of culinary discovery. The menu is extensive, which means some dishes naturally feel more memorable than others. The breads are the stars; the mains are satisfying but more uneven depending on what you order. Overall, you gain a genuinely welcoming, low-pressure introduction to Filipino café food but give up some of the specificity and intensity that a more specialised local restaurant might deliver.
Is It Worth It?
Yes - particularly if you order strategically. Come for the ensaymada, cheese roll and hot chocolate; add the toasted longganisa if you want a proper meal. The inasal focaccia is pleasant, but not the reason to make the trip. For travellers, Mary Grace is not a typical stop that a Singaporean would recommend, but it is certainly friendly, reliably comforting and rooted in Filipino tastes without being difficult to navigate. For locals, it is easy to see why the café remains a favourite for snacks and relaxed catch-ups.
Final Verdict
If a friend asked whether they should go, we would say: yes, but do not overcomplicate it. Order the ensaymada with its Edam cheese, share a cheese roll, accept the hot chocolate and let the staff’s warmth do the rest.
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