Favourite Brekkie Joint

I have a new favourite place for Breakfast/Brunch in Singapore (I’m not talking about a Sunday champagne brunch, that’s a different topic altogether). Until recently my favourite weekend brekkie hangout was probably Graze at Rochester Park, but following a few recent visits to Privé at the Marina at Keppel Bay, my allegiances have firmly swung to the latter.

Privé is divided into three areas – a rather fancy indoor fine-dining restaurant, a rather fabulous outdoor bar, and a more casual bakery/café that also shares the bar’s outdoor decking. It is here in the bakery/café that they dish up a fine breakfast.

So what’s so good about it? Well, first there is the location – sitting out on the decking in the sunshine with the sea breeze on your face, and surrounded by expensive-looking yachts, you could be forgiven for thinking you had just landed in lottery-winner heaven. Chill-out tunes, bubbling water features and an abundance of leafy green plants complete the picture.

Then of course there is the food – hand on heart, I can tell you that they serve up the best Eggs Benedict and Pancakes I have yet had in Singapore. The Eggs Benedict are served on proper English muffins with good quality ham, the hollandaise sauce’s flavour, consistency and seasoning are all just right.

The pancakes are served in a generous portion, with slices of banana and strawberries nestling in the layers, and topped with maple syrup, honeycomb and cream.

The fresh orange juice is really freshly squeezed orange juice (unlike recently when we asked at P.S Café at Palais Renaissance if there ‘fresh’ orange juice was freshly squeezed, we received the reply “Freshly squeezed out of the bottle”) and is a generous serving, chilled over ice. They also have a range of coffees, teas and milkshakes, including a thick creamy coffee milkshake.

I’ll be honest, there is one small downside to this place and that is that the service can be somewhat erratic. They are normally pretty good, until you try to settle the bill. For some reason printing up the bill and dealing with payments seems to have been skipped from their customer service training regime…. My advice is to order the bill at least fifteen minutes before you are ready to leave… twenty-five if you plan on paying by credit card…

Privé, Marina at Keppel Bay - http://www.prive.com.sg/

Relaxing Brunch

We’ve been meaning to try Graze for a while for dinner, but we’re never organized to book ahead and consequently can never get a table. Instead, we headed up to Rochester Park to meet some friends for brunch on a Sunday. I’ve been here for drinks in an evening when the candlelit tables, water features and big-screen old movies make for a relaxing and chilled atmosphere, and during the day it is equally as pleasant, with the white awnings providing a bright and cheerful setting.

Their menu is equally as impressive, with something for everyone – with dishes as varied as Fruit and Muesli, Eggs Benedict, Pancakes, Full fry-up or, for the hungry carnivore, a full Barbecue Menu. Amongst the four of us we managed to sample a fairly wide variety of what was on offer, and happily they were all fantastic.

Fruit with Yoghurt – an enormous bowl of fresh fruit, slathered in lashings of yoghurt:

Eggs Benedict – fantastic, probably the best I’ve had in Singapore so far (although it would be a tough toss-up between here and Whitebait & Kale… these being more traditional).

Avocado and Tomato – served on Wholegrain Toast with olive oil, salt and pepper

And what do you know, Mr Greedy Glutton just couldn’t resist the burger… it was pretty good, although the consensus was that we still can’t beat the Wine Garage burger…

As it was Easter weekend, we also indulged in some Hot Cross Buns:

I think this might be my new favourite place for brunch, although it has such a lovely atmosphere that you just don’t want to leave… I could well imagine adjourning to the lounging area for some post-brunch refreshments… which, when you consider their cocktail menu, could be rather dangerous…

Graze - http://www.graze.sg/

A Decadent Breakfast

Such decadence, brunch with friends two days in a row. This time we headed up to Whitebait and Kale... Only in Singapore would you find such a great restaurant tucked away in a Medical Centre.

I once again opted for the Eggs Benedict - I know, I know 'how boring', but I'm kind of on a mission now to find the best Eggs Benedict I can in Singapore. So far this is up there, although I'm sure I can still find better... although perhaps my judgement was impaired by the fact that it felt just a teensy bit samey from the day before. These had the unconventional addition of a mustard and dill sauce which was surprisingly good and really helped set them apart from the norm.


Mr Greedy Glutton went for the Smoked Salmon and Scrambled Egg and Cream Cheese on Rye Toast which I (of course) tasted and have to admit to being a tiny bit jealous of. None of us could resist the Mini Pancakes with Caramalised Bananas and Berries, which we shared as a dessert, and were truly scrumptious, but due to the sweetness of the dish, definitely better as a dessert rather than a breakfast. I was so excited about their arrival that I clean forgot to take a photo, but trust me, they were delicious.

I mean, really, dessert for breakfast... did you ever hear of anything so decadent....?

Whitebait and Kale - http://www.whitebaitandkale.com/

Brunch with friends

Saturday morning and we met up with a group of friends to chew the fat and chow some brunch at Epicurious at Robertson Quay. I'd not been here before but it has a great location by the river and has a nice laid-back vibe going on.


We had a table indoors - there are only three and as we were quite a large group we took over most of the room. This, coupled with the familiar little touches like the box of cutlery in the middle of the table to help yourself to, made it feel like we had all met up at a friends place for breakfast. I liked all the quirky little touches too - the elegant china that the tea is served in, a fine contrast to the beer mugs in which they serve the lattes, and the miniature jugs that the (freshly squeezed and delicious) fruit juices come in.


They had several different menus - a lunch menu, breakfast menu, snacks (?) menu and blackboard specials, but we mostly settled on the breakfast menu, with me opting for the Eggs Benedict


and Mr Greedy Glutton being true to his name and ordering up the Full Monty, a full fry-up with no less than 3 fried eggs!



Unfortunately I think we rather threw the chefs, putting in such a large order at once, as it took a long time for the food to come (not that this is so much of a problem when you're in good company) and then once it did, it sat on the serving station for so long that half of it was cold (and I have to say I wasn't really sure about the greasy little fried potatoes that came with the Eggs Benedict either). They did offer to replace any cold dishes, but we were too hungry by this stage to be waiting any longer!


I'd go back to Epicurious for brunch for sure... it just has that nice homely feeling to it... but perhaps next time we'll stagger our order... or go in a smaller group....


Epicurious - http://www.epicurious.com.sg/

A Short-lived Affair

I'm afraid it's over - I'm not coming back to the Corduroy Cafe for brunch again. This was our third attempt at brunch here, and the third time I'd left disappointed. The food always looks good, but just never quite pulls it off.

This time I ordered their version of Eggs Benedict, with two poached eggs, ham, spinach and hollandaise sauce on a muffin. It looked good, but the eggs were a bit cold and the hollandaise sauce just tasteless. My other complaints from this time, and previous visits are that the 'Fresh' Orange Juice comes out of a packet, their smoothies use syrups over fresh fruits and their Iced coffee is just too sweet by far.

So that's it, it's over. Which is a shame, as I like the atmosphere here, with its loungy armchairs and magazines, and actually their coffee is good, and their cakes look great - so perhaps I'll have the odd dalliance with a coffee and a cake... but that's it... brunch is over...

Corduroy Cafe - http://corduroylifestyle.com/c&f_cafe/cafe_home.htm