botanist, neil road.

pacamara being one of my go-to cafés, i was understandably excited to hear that they'd opened botanist over at neil road, which is much more accessible for me. i made a trip over with J, who loves pacamara as much as i do. the first time we were there, it was a rainy weekday afternoon. we were initially seated indoors, but it got too cold, so we requested to be seated outdoors instead, under the canopy.

the first thing that caught my eye was the corned beef hash ($19), so naturally i went with that. J is equally predictable, so of course she chose the salmon & egg ($23).



our food came really prettily presented- the flowers added a pop of colour to the plates. i guess it kind of links back to their name. the taste, however, fell a bit flat. i was expecting my shredded corned beef to be juicy, but it leant towards the dry side. the poached egg and hollandaise did make it better; in fact it was not bad when combined together, but coming with high expectations, i expected more, i suppose. still, portions were generous and i was full.



J quite liked her salmon, but commented that she still likes the food at pacamara more.

we came back in a big group sometime later, and this time, it was really hot out! it was a weekend, so the place was packed, and we didn't manage to get indoor seating. there were fans, but we were basically sweltering in the heat. alfresco dining really doesn't work in singapore.



this time i decided to try the slow cooked beef cheek ($24). it was nice, but didn't leave too much of an impression.



i got slight food envy when i saw J's chicken & quinoa salad ($17), especially after she added two poached eggs to it. my food envy subsided after J commented that the chicken breast was dry- i took a bite, and had to agree.

still, no gst and service charge makes botanist a good place to head to for well priced café food. they do a mean coffee, too! J doesn't seem enamoured with botanist, but i wouldn't mind coming back to try their other stuff, given that their all-day brunch offerings are not the usual ones.


botanist
74 neil road
https://www.botanist.sg