to be honest, we never planned to go to group therapy for brunch- we'd initially headed over to botanist, but it was way too crowded and we had no patience for waiting. was then intending to go to perhaps grain traders, but i realised that group therapy was just around the corner. we made our way over, but had a little difficulty finding its actual location- no obvious signboard, and we didn't realise initially that it wasn't on the ground floor. i was initially afraid that they'd closed down, but thankfully we found the staircase leading to the shopfront.
the place was not crowded, and we got seats easily. i zeroed in on the pumpkin pancake ($19) immediately. i have a soft spot for savoury pancakes, because i love pancakes but they're usually accompanied by sweet stuff and that's not really my thing. so the savoury one which came with poached eggs, smoked salmon and tobiko roe was right up my alley. L, who'd eaten something else before meeting me, opted to just get the maple butter waffle ($9).
i was expecting a wait for our food (as with most cafés) but our food came really quickly, probably within fifteen minutes or so. my first bite was of the pumpkin pancake. it surprised me with how pumpkin-y it tasted, in a really good way. plus, it was light and fluffy. i'd requested for the accompanying hollandaise sauce to be served separately. it turned out to be a good move, as it allowed the pumpkin taste to shine through. combined with the perfectly poached eggs and smoked salmon, it made for a delicious eat. portions were generous as well- i stayed full all the way till dinnertime.
i tried a bit of L's buttermilk waffle, and quite liked it as well. though L was saying she was expecting something more exciting than just a buttermilk waffle with maple syrup and butter served separately- she'd expected the maple and butter to be integrated into the waffle, what with it being named maple butter waffle.
situated at duxton, where there are too many cafés to name, i guess there's a reason why group therapy lasted this long. the food was simple, but i enjoyed it, and would actually return for the pumpkin pancake. of course, the fact that there's no gst and service charge is a bonus as well.
49 duxton road
#02-01
http://www.gtcoffee.com
i've heard so much about fatcat ice cream bar and have wanted to try it for so long. glad that the opportunity finally presented itself.
we were there on a weeknight. i was somehow expecting it to be crowded, but thankfully it wasn't. seating was limited, but we managed to get a table for four. spent a while paging through their menu- i wanted to try one of their plated desserts at first, but none caught my attention, so we ended up getting two waffles to share.
of course we had to have their signature charcoal waffles (even though i know the charcoal doesn't actually add any flavour), adding $1 for the salted egg sauce. the other waffle we got was the original brown butter one. we spent a while faffing about trying to decide what ice-cream flavour to get. my mum isn't the most adventurous person, so my sister and i were wary about getting the more out-there flavours for fear that she wouldn't eat it. i tried the butter beer because it sounded interesting, but it wasn't something that i would want to keep eating. so we stuck to the safer choices- strawberry cheesecake and blackforest (which was really more chocolate).
the waffles were served a while later. sadly the brown butter one came with chocolate sauce drizzled all over- one of my pet peeves, so i only ate a bit of that. the waffle's texture wasn't the kind i'm fond of- a bit too airy and crisp.
the charcoal one suffered the same fate. the salted egg yolk sauce saved the day, though. i found myself dunking bites of the waffle into the salted egg yolk sauce, which was more savoury than sweet.
not sure if i'll make a special trip back for their waffles. perhaps for their plated desserts, though.
fatcat ice cream bar
block 416 bedok north avenue 2
#01-25
http://fatcat.sg
i'd bought a groupon, intending to use it for their weekend brunch, but seemed that it wasn't to be (mostly thanks to my procrastination). so seeing that the voucher was about to expire, i decided to just go with their weekday menu. i went with X for lunch on a sunny thursday afternoon. it was about ten minutes' walk from serangoon mrt, and under the blazing sun, we were complaining about the walk nonstop.
i was initially already set on the duck confit ($19) but a peek at the neighbouring table distracted me into considering the wagyu burger ($22) as well. it looked really good (fried egg!) but i don't eat fries, so i still ended up with the duck. X was indecisive (as usual), but eventually decided on the salmon ($22) (which i predicted she would get, anyway).
my duck came slightly before X's salmon. being kechap manis glazed, the sauce was slightly on the sweet side. the duck confit was perfectly cooked though, and it was quite meaty as well. it also came with crispy baby potatoes, haricot fine beans, a side salad and some roasted cherry tomatoes. i appreciated the sides- they went really well with the duck, and made the dish more substantial.
X quite liked her miso marinated salmon as well. it came in a pool of creamy sauce (lemon butter, according to the menu), which i found to be quite off-putting.
portions are on the small side for mains, so we figured that we could probably share a waffle between us. it was really cheap anyway- $7 for an waffle, which came with a single scoop of ice-cream. X chose earl grey for the ice-cream. i wasn't expecting much, but the waffle turned out to be one of the best waffles i've eaten so far. it wasn't the crispy, airy type i hate. instead it was more substantial, and had the fragrance of buttermilk. my only complaint was that it was just too unevenly cooked- some parts were blonde, while some parts were a browned crisp. i much preferred the blonder bits.
i'd come back, actually, for the waffle. the mains were alright, but not something that i'd return for. i should probably make it a point to come back for their weekend brunch menu, given how much i liked the waffle.
sunday market
22 lim tua tow road
http://www.sundaymarket.sg
wanted needed some dessert after dinner in the city hall area, and after googling i found twenty grammes, which suited our purposes nicely. made our way over, found the place to be quite filled (it was saturday night, after all) but we managed to snag a table. we got one of the small round tables- i mean it when i say small- it was a squeeze even to put all the things we ordered. thankfully there were only three of us.
we got the belgian waffle with a single scoop of salted caramel ice-cream ($9.50) and a charcoal waffle with egg yolk sauce ($8.50) to share. as expected the charcoal waffle was really more for show than flavour, but interestingly enough there was actually a difference between the regular waffle and the charcoal one. i found the charcoal one just slightly more crisp, but it lacked the fragrance of the regular one. for some reason, though, the charcoal one went better with the salted egg yolk sauce- the regular one was just a little too sweet to be matched with the sauce. also would've wished the salted egg sauce to have more salted egg flavour, but it wasn't too bad. still, though, i would much prefer the regular waffle (it's not a belgian waffle, but it's okay since i don't like belgian waffle anyway).
i also got a flat white ($5) to go along with the waffles, but it wasn't the type i like- not enough body and way too milky.
not a bad place overall to get desserts, but it got a bit crowded and loud as the night wore on. still, for waffles, my favourite remains as creamier.
twenty grammes
753 north bridge road
#01-01
https://www.facebook.com/twentygrammes/
coyote's brunch menu (tex mex!) intrigued me enough to want to give it a try, so i snagged a $30 chope voucher and headed down on a sunny sunday afternoon for brunch with X. i've never actually been to phoenix park, so i didn't realise how far away from civilisation it was until i google-mapped it. happily enough there was a bus from somerset which cut down the walking (i'm really lazy about walking nowadays, because of the insane heat).
we reached at two-plus, and on approaching the restaurant, we were scared to see that there was al fresco dining (i believe in al fresco dining, but not in singapore). but thankfully they did have indoor seating as well (i quite literally heaved a sigh of relief upon seeing the indoor seating area). happily enough it was quiet when we reached; only a couple of other tables were occupied. we got a table by the window, and while the air conditioning wasn't strong, it at least beat sitting al fresco.
i'd already decided what i wanted, so i barely had to glance at the menu. as usual X was torn between a few choices, but eventually settled on a pulled chicken torta ($20). i got the huevos carnitas benedictinos ($19), which was basically a fancy way of saying eggs ben.
i was starving- i'd had an early breakfast, had hit the gym, and really needed my fuel; so it was awesome that the food came pretty quickly, and at the same time, too. i was impressed by the generosity of the pulled pork and chicken on our respective plates- particularly X's, because it was presented open face, so the pulled chicken appeared as... well, a big lump (in a good way).
i ended up quite liking my food. i was slightly dubious about the presence of hollandaise at first, because the pulled pork, which was cooked in bbq sauce, appeared sufficiently sauced. it turned out that the hollandaise actually matched pretty well with the pulled pork, tying everything together. X wasn't a fan of the corn waffle- i found it slightly limp but alright. enough to finish it, anyway. i just didn't like the poached egg. it was way overdone, so part of the yolk had already congealed.
tried a bit of X's pulled chicken, but i preferred the pulled pork. it was cooked in a different sauce from the pork- kind of a spicy, tomato-y sauce. i was surprised that X, who has a bird-like stomach not unlike C's, managed to finish the entire plate, given the generosity of the portion. i was startled by how full i was, too.
food was not spectacular, but not too bad. it was a nice, quiet place for a leisurely sunday brunch, though it's really a bit too out of the way.
coyote by spruce
320 tanglin road
http://www.coyote.com.sg
i love cedele, and podi is by cedele. but... i've held off visiting podi, because of mostly negative reviews online. that, however, was a couple of years back, so i suppose it's time to give them a try, especially when their menu looks so tempting. they had quite a few items that caught my eye. i figured that it was also a place that X would want to try, so we met for dinner there on a weeknight. i'd made a reservation, but it wasn't necessary. still, we got an awesome table right by the fountain, so i guess it was worth the effort.
the first thing i noticed upon receiving the menu was that it was different from what i'd seen online. the new menu was a pared down version of the old one, with several items that had interested me taken out. meh. still, i was hoping that with a more focused menu means better execution. their menu has a lot of pulled meat items, which is right up X's alley. we spent quite a while poring over the menu and deciding. i wanted the pulled beef flat wrap ($19), but it came with sweet potato fries and salad. i didn't want sweet potato fries, but the kitchen was quite rigid about not letting me change it to anything else but more salad. the waitress was really helpful about it though- i'd already decided to just not have the pulled beef wrap, but she came back and asked what i wanted to change to, and then went back to the kitchen to ask!
in the end i got the ginger plum chicken ($20), while X went for the ginger plum pulled duck flat wrap ($19), topping up $2 for truffle fries. the food came fairly quickly, which was good because... i was starving.
so glad i got the chicken, because it was really good. the chicken was undeniably the star. two generous slabs of chicken thigh, complete with light, crackly chicken skin- yum! i could hardly taste the ginger plum on the chicken, though, but the chicken was so well-cooked i didn't mind.
the ginger plum sauce seemed to be more apparent on the wild rice. the wild rice wasn't quite what i expected- i was expecting brown grains, i suppose, but these were purplish. kind of like black glutinous rice, actually- in terms of texture as well. i did like its slight nutty flavour though, especially combined with the mushrooms, beans, broccoli and roasted cherry tomatoes. i cleaned up the entire plate easily. (X was convinced that portions would be tiny and i would be able to eat two mains easily, but no. it was actually a good sized portion.)
X's ginger plum pulled duck wrap looked impressive, but she was complaining about how it was lacking the ginger plum sauce (and even suspected that the chef'd left it out) and that there was very little pulled duck. still, she said that it was a light and refreshing eat.
X was craving waffles, so she got the waffle with a scoop of earl grey fig ice-cream ($8). i stole a bite and quite liked it. it was not the crisp, airy type (that i don't like)- instead it was more cakey.
i quite liked the food, and so did X. whatever negative reviews that they'd had previously, they seem to have taken into consideration and fixed. this place definitely warrants a return with X.
PODI
raffles city
#b1-45
https://www.facebook.com/podisg/
