the beast, jalan klapa.

it seems that i always return from a trip with a new (usually hard to find in singapore) food that i'm obsessed with. from the berlin trip, it was blinis, and this time, from perth, it's cornbread. thankfully cornbread doesn't seem that difficult to hunt down- i did a google search and promptly discovered that the beast was serving cornbread. i realise that i've walked past it several times without thinking about eating there. best of all, their brunch menu looked tempting (pulled pork! waffles!) and so i went for sunday brunch with my sister. brunch is only offered for weekends though, but happily enough it runs to 5pm, which makes it a brilliant plan for a late lunch.

we made reservations, which was good, because even though it wasn't packed, the indoor table seating seemed to be limited. the rest were all counter seats, or outdoor (not a good plan in this heat).



interestingly enough, the brunch menu had a DIY option- perfect for (picky) people like me. for $22 you get to pick and build your own plate. i was torn about which carbs to choose, and kept oscillating between cheesy grits, cornbread, and the cornbread waffle. we initially wanted to get a cornbread ($8) to share, since it came with cranberry sauce and whipped honey butter. upon asking the waiter, though, we realised that the cornbread was actually the same size as the one offered in the DIY plate, and the said cranberry sauce and maple butter was actually the same ones offered in the sauce section of the DIY plate. kind of confusing, and we wouldn't have known without asking, because the DIY menu stated bourbon maple butter sauce while the cornbread was described as being served with whipped honey butter . the waiter who took our orders was really nice though! he told us frankly that picking the cornbread as part of the DIY plate was more bang for our buck, and even offered to give us both sauces, free of charge. we didn't need it in the end, since we each got one, but it was nice of him to offer.



so after much deliberation, i got the cornbread paired with pulled pork & bacon, two poached eggs, pickled watermelon and the balsamic cranberry sauce.



the food was served really quickly, and we were both startled by the generous portions. my plate came with a generous mound of pulled pork, topped with a slice of bacon. the cornbread was different from what i'd expected- i'd expected a more savoury version, like the one i had in perth, but the beast's one was sweet. the sauce provided was sweet as well, so i found myself not needing the sauce. i couldn't help but compare it with what i had in perth, and of course, that version won out, being a sweet-savoury combination, but this version wasn't too bad as well. the rest of the plate was quite delicious as well, especially the pickled watermelon, which added some freshness to the plate.



my sister liked her plate as well. i tried a bit of her ribeye, and was pleasantly surprised by how tender and well cooked it was.

i'll come back to try their dinner items sometime. the food was pretty good, with generous portions. i left feeling stuffed all the way to dinnertime. service was excellent as well. still, the cornbread wasn't quite what i was looking for- i'll have to look elsewhere then, it seems.


the beast
17 jalan klapa
http://www.thebeast.sg