DOLCE VITA.

“We are Red Dot Juanderers. And this is our Singapore story.”

“There are only two moments in life when you feel most alive: when you’re happy and when you’re sad. People tend to eat cakes in either moment,” says 31-year-old Pulse Patiserie owner/co-founder Ernie Lim. 

With a penchant for anything stylish, luxurious, and delicious, Ernie’s background is primarily rooted in two passion pillars: culinary and fashion. After completing his university degree in Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management (Culinary Arts Major) at the De La Salle–College of St. Benilde in Manila, he then made his way as a cook into the fine dining scene of Singapore and the United States of America.

After two years in the culinary industry, Ernie eventually decided to jump ship to explore his other personal interest — men’s fashion. Working for five years in bespoke menswear brand Clothesmith (which eventually got rebranded to PIMABS), Ernie’s unique role in the business was a myriad of things. He dabbled in tailoring, sales & marketing, styling, lifestyle management, and even public relations and contributing stories to fashion publications such as HisStyleDiary.com.

“When clients come to me to ask what kind of shoes they should buy to go with their outfits, I ask them to show me first what they have. Then I will be ready to build a shoe wardrobe for them,” he quips.

And as the saying goes “first love never dies,” Ernie eventually returned to cooking once again with a desire to create his own patisserie brand. With the help of his two other chef friends, Pulse Patisserie came about. Now on its third year, Pulse has slowly owned their niche in the market for premium and stylish cakes targeting mainly women of class and substance.

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“Cakes are reflections of women. I think women are very complex. They have a lot of layers and colors as human beings. We want to have an ‘affair with women’ with our cakes,” he says. Pulse offers whole cakes, croquembouches, cookies, cream puffs, and other customized cakes/pastries.

We chatted with Ernie to learn more about him:

What’s Your Favorite Cake At Pulse?

Naomi Fudge Cake. It’s the very first cake we’ve ever created. Inspired by supermodel Naomi Campbell, it is dark, luscious, and rich.

Favorite Hangout Places In Singapore?

For cocktails, I go to Tippling Club and Maison Ikkoku. For coffee, I love The Affogato Bar at Cluny Court. For regular dining, I like going to PizzaExpress.

Favorite Local Food?

Soon kueh (dumpling-like kueh filled with shredded bamboo shoots, turnip, and dried shrimps) and kueh ambon (version of madeleines for Peranakans)

How Do You Relax?

I like traveling to Hong Kong and I go there often.

If You’re Going To Create A Cake For The Characters In The Crazy Rich Asians Film:

  • Rachel Chu (played by Constance Wu): She comes from humble beginnings so I’ll choose something fruity and citrusy such as passion fruit and I’ll combine it with hazelnut chocolate. Colors will be bright red with touches of gold to make it look Asian still.
  • Nicholas Young (played by Henry Goulding): Since he’s very rich, I’ll create something unusual. I will combine Kyoho ice wine grapes, a bit of gin, and some mango flavors. The colors will be grey and silver to make it look masculine but not too flashy.
  • Eleanor Young (played by Michelle Yeoh): Colors will be white with some greens. The flavors will contain ginger flower (very Malaysian/Peranakan) combined with lulo (an exotic Amazonian fruit which is close to lime). I want her cake to be strong and elegant.
  • Princess Intan (played by Kris Aquino): It will be a cheesecake that will be ultimately yellow, but with all kinds of red fruits on top/in the middle (such as strawberries, blackcurrants, and raspberries).
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About the Red Dot Juanderer:

We are constantly on the lookout for inspiring, aspirational, and relatable stories from our fellow Juans living and working in the Little Red Dot. If you know any Filipino in Singapore that should be our next Red Dot Juanderer, email us at randomrepublika@gmail.com // Interviews and photos by Paolo Avis.

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About Author

RandomRepublika.com: Paolo Avis

Living abroad for more than half a decade now, Paolo works in Singapore as a sales and marketing manager for a luxury travel publication. His creative urges can’t always be contained, hence photography, video documentaries, and blogging are his go-to forms of artistic release. Since he didn’t get to pursue TV production after getting a degree in Communication, Paolo now turns to Random Republika as an outlet to keep himself updated and to share his thoughts on what’s happening in showbiz and beyond. Follow his other stories via Instagram (@bigbluefish).

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