We decided to hunt down a brunch place near Outram, partly as a form of rewarding Bear's (increasingly regular) blood donation. After prior Googling, we settled on checking out this un-cafe-sounding place at Tanjong Pagar.It is located up the stairs just next to Etna - you might miss the entrance if you blink!
Located in the mysterious Duxton Road / Hill, housing other interesting eats like Buyan as well!
This place was bustling when we reached around 1pm, but managed to get a seat quite quickly. While waiting for a table, I took a quick glance through the interesting menu on a rocking chair. I like how they didn't name it "Eggs Royale" because using thick toast would warrant yet another name change!
Tables were packed close to each other, I guess this is 'cozy' in a way? Although, as we found out, this means having to listen to conversations of other diners at your elbow. Tables were indeed packed a little too close for my liking, but it's ok as long as you don't stretch your arms out too far you won't hit the next table :)
Flat white was okay, wished it packed more punch though. Roasted almond latte was a little sweet and mild on the coffee taste - think so far my favouritest coffee is still at Jimmy Monkey! I'd stick to a regular black coffee for a good post-lunch drink.
{ Flat White ($5.50) and Roasted Almond Latte ($6.50) }
As we were eyeing dessert, we opted to share a ham and cheese panini.
{ Grilled Ham and Cheese Panini ($16) }
Swiss button mushrooms, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese
Boy were we glad we were sharing mains! This was a mother of a sandwich and even came with a generous side of crisps and a small couscous salad. Holy smokeadoodle! Fairly generous portion at just $16, a rather voluminous sandwich containing thick thick slices of (proper) ham and generous portions of melty cheese. Good spread of chips too (though they taste ... familiar) and the couscous salad was nice - not drenched in dressing.
Perfect for sharing as there were two halves and plenty of sides to go around (I didn't finish my crisps). Was fairly impressed with the flavourful panini, since ham and cheese is usually right there at the bottom of my sandwich wish list (because of the amount of 'ham' and 'cheese' crap I've been served before). My only gripe was that it was not grilled / pressed enough as the bread was still fairly thick - I like mine condensed which also makes it easier to fit in your mouth!
{ Extra eggs - poached, fried or scrambled - 2 for $3 }
For extra protein, we ordered additional poached eggs to go with our sandwich. I highly recommend doing this! It went superbly well together. And look at that runny yolk cascading down and pooling on the plate mmmm. A surprising combination, poached eggs ON a panini is actually, not good. It's awesome.
How can we resist carrot cake, let alone this 4-layer rendition?! Please note that the above fork is a regular man-sized fork, so that slice of cake is approximately the size of my face! While humongous, I was a bit disappointed with the texture of this. Taste-wise this was perfect, but the cake was just waaay too soft/moist. You could eat this without chewing and I do want to chew through because it tastes really gooood. I did actually exclaim "oh ok--holy crap" as the waitress placed the plate on my table. Can't say I was expecting a carrot cake of this magnitude in a place like this. Taste wise was great but texture was a little wrong for me. It's overly moist and mushy - personally a good mix between the dry crumbly cake bits and the sweet moist cream cheese is what makes a great carrot cake. It was a very memorable lunch and we left with extremely full tummies. If we do come back, we'll try the pies next!
Group Therapy Cafe
HGW Link (80% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Group_Therapy/
Main website : http://www.gtcoffee.com/
Rating (out of 4) :
