the populus coffee & food co., neil road.

having just been back from melbourne, where cafés are on every street, i couldn't help but compare singapore's cafés. the populus café has been on my to-try list, because of generally positive reviews and an menu that managed to pique my interest.

decided on the pulled pork grain bowl ($18), which had an interesting mix of textures. what caught my attention was the grains that formed the base of the bowl- quinoa, barley and bulgur wheat. the bowl came with (mini) portions of other sides, like furikake baby corn, slaw, and mushrooms. light tasting, but yummy all mixed up together. reminded me of the bowls at grain traders, actually. would've liked the portions to be heartier- i was hungry way before dinner time. far cry from the generous portions in melbourne.






































my friends got the populus scramble ($17) and the lemon & white chocolate sundae waffle ($14, extra $5 for the waffle).

 

both dishes came as beautifully presented as the first.



i found the scramble decent, but normal. the waffle, however, was a different story. we waited for really long for the waffle to be served- we were almost done with our food by the time it was done, even though we'd requested for it to be served together. when asked, we were told that there'd been an issue with the first waffle and so they'd had to remake it. okay... i know there's no service charge, but they could've made the effort to come over to explain it to us, rather than having us go to the counter to ask about it not once, but twice. so, thankfully, the waffle's appearance more than made up for it.



a generous swirl of vanilla soft serve sat atop the buttermilk waffle, drizzled with white chocolate sauce. it also helped that the waffle itself was adorned with plenty of other differing textures, like the super sour lemon jelly cubes, meringue kisses, and crumble. the waffle itself was decent as well.

i liked how the items on their menu wasn't the usual café stuff- they'd put their own spin on things (which made it hard for me to choose). found the prices reasonable, though really, portions should be slightly more generous. might come back to try other stuff off their menu (i spied a ricotta and herb bread pudding).

the populus coffee & food co.
147 neil road
https://www.facebook.com/thepopuluscafe/