Bacchanalia, Coleman St

{ Bread with balsamic / olive oil and sundried tomato cream cheese }

{ Lentil & Burrata Salad }

Le puy lentils, burrata, aged balsamic

{ Cauliflower Gratin }

Deep fried cauliflower florets, white truffle essence & cheese foam, gremolata

{ Chicken & Corn }

Chicken breast, charred greens, chilli fluid gel, puffed rice cakes, corn sauce

{ 48 HR Pork Belly }

Crispy pork belly, braised red cabbage, granny smith apple, giant capers

{ Creme brulee }

Tahitian vanilla, grapefruit

{ White Chocolate Panna Cotta }

White chocolate & mint panna cotta, strawberry jam

Sushi Bar, Far East Plaza

Wimbly Lu, Jalan Riang

Following an ok brunch we decided to get dessert before the movie. Wimbly Lu was located smack dab in the middle of a private housing estate - very odd location I assure you (and hellish parking) but as you would know it it was packed when we got there.

 It was a bizzare layout with a glass roof, and tables and couches at odd placements. But the waft of chocolate and the stunning display of desserts at the entrance was remarkable.

 We weren't quite hungry but there was always room for dessert. We asked for recommendations and was suggested to try their hallmark root beer cake with vanilla ice cream.

{ Root beer cake w/vanilla ice cream ($6) }

 At $6 it was inexpensive but the serving size wasn't big - which suited us for the moment as couldn't eat more than that. Unlike some places that serve cakes the size of your face for $15 with no option to order half a slice!

On first bite - yum! The root beer taste was rather distinct, and the warm cake itself moist, fudgey and yet not too sweet. Perfect pair with a cold sweet vanilla ice cream. The root beer taste did wane after 2-3 bites but hey as a regular chocolate fudge cake it was still good.

{ Classic Hot Chocolate ($5) }

 We couldn't have left without a cup of classic hot chocolate. Was nice sipping this as it was a cold wet day - the chocolate was rich and just a teeny bit sweet.

Had we had more stomache that day we would've tried a lot more, as the shelf offered quite a stock of cakes, pies, tarts and other chocolate goodies. My only complain was of course, the location. If you don't drive (and it's good fun finding parking) it's a fair bit of walk inside the no-bus estate, or roughly 15 minutes from Serangoon MRT.

Wimbly Lu

Jalan Riang

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Main website : http://www.wimblylu.com/
HGW Link  (85% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Wimbly_lu/
Rating (out of 4) : 

Chock Full Of Beans, Changi VIllage

 How fast Sundays come around! On this particular one we had the car and were heading east anyway, so decided to do brunch to start our day. Chock Full of Beans is quite positively reviewed, and how can anyone not check out a place named like that? Never mind that it's in Changi Village - as we've been told, it only gets ultra dodgy at night, so we were ok in the light of day :)

 Changi Village is one of those places that you just, cannot get to without a car (unless you're willing to take a 40 minute bus ride from Tampines). First time here, ever, and have to say it wasn't what I expected!

 Was already pretty packed by the time we got there. Luckily we got a table without having to wait at all.

{ Flat White & Long Black ($4.50 & $3.50) }

 Our much needed coffee was nice - smooth, aromatic and robust enough. I'd read somewhere that they do really neat latte art, didn't occur to me then to order one.

{ Omelette w/Three Fillings ($12) }

Smoked Salmon / Swiss Cheese / Mushroom (choose from 6 ingredients). Serves with roasted tomatoes & bread slice

 I don't usually order omelette as it's one of those things I tend to shrug off and go 'why, I can make that myself'. However, without a kitchen of my own these days, this statement no longer applies :( also I just wanted good ole fashioned plate of eggs. And this was what I got exactly. No-nonsense, fluffy omelette with the goodness of cheese, salmon and mushroom (my choice of filling). The thick bread it came with was really good too - I have a weakness for the multi-grainy/seedy/wholemeal kind.

{ Eggs Benedict ($12) }

Poached Eggs / Ham / Hollandaise / Homemade Toast / Parsley

 I kinda missed the line where it said homemade toast instead of English muffin, and was millddllyyy disappointed when it came. After a while though - boy that homemade toast was KICK ASS. Rich in flavour and healthy tasting, supremely generous outer layer of roasted sesame seeds was sweeettt!!! Bread lapped up the lovely, perfectly poached eggs pretty well. Hollandaise done right too. All in all a great rendition, and it's in one of the lower eggs benedict price range as well. My only gripe is give me a bigger plate next time - I struggled a fair bit!

Great place for a simple brunch - if for whatever reason you don't mind driving to Changi Village! And yes, no GST and service charge, wootAaaA! 10 points.

Chock Full Of Beans

4 Changi Village, #01-2090 (Corner)

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Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/cfob.changi
HGW Link (100% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/Chock_Full_of_Beans/
Rating (out of 4) : 

Black Gold Cafe, Tanjong Pagar

 After repeated accosting by the kind waitress every time we walked past, we finally decided one Friday to pay this place a visit. Located just across Orchid Hotel (effectively 3 min walk from TJ Pagar station), its strange location below a HDB flat belies it's stranger concept.

 Can't say its the best layout I've seen - tiny tiny tables indoors are packed a little too tightly, and seats outside are just next to the letterboxes.

 Must say my first reaction to this place was: bewilderment. I understood it was some kind of coffee place (hence black gold), so the 'casual French' seemed like it was an afterthought. Concept aside, the seating space wasn't very enticing - unless you're about the size of a 8 year old child, you can't possibly eat without knocking something over the postage-stamp-sized tables.

 Is that "Kopi" I see on the menu? Well yes, they do indeed serve your local Kopi C Kao, Teh Kosong and all that alongside their country french cuisine.

They do 3-course dinner sets at $26.90, and 4-course sets at $36.90 with a different option of main course (of course you just get ala-carte). We opted for one 3-course set and an ala carte main all to share. Shortly after they served the bread, and while the butter was cold (pah!) the bread itself was surprisingly great. I mean, given the circumstance I was not expecting much, but the bread was really nice - generously multi grain, warm and a strong tinge of roasted sesame.

{ Mesclun salad with goat cheese, grilled croutons served with French raspberry dressing }

 Salad looks like a mess (is that paprika sprinkled all over?) but actually tasted really nice. I didn't quite identify the raspberry dressing, but I liked the sweetness it lent to the saltiness of the goat cheese. Now this was actually a sizeable portion of salad - some ( most) places tend to give you itsy bitsy portions or dubious quality as part of a set meal, but definitely not here!


 Generous portions of goat cheese, mesclun, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and a great mix of vinegar, oil and dressing (?), this salad was definitely unexpected, and a great start to the meal!

{ Poached salmon fillet served with crunchy vegetables and aioli ($16.90 ala carte) }

 Was considering the chicken leg, but since   was already having some form of another bird's leg I decided to get the fish instead. And no regrets! This was really pretty to look at, and tasted pretty damn good. I thought the aioli sauce was unusual in a good way - it went excellently with the salmon (cooked perfectly) and the (seemingly random) drizzles of pesto. And I can also attest to the crunchiness of the vegetables!

{ Duck confit ($26.90) }

 The duck confit parmentier available in the 4-course set was actually not available anymore - they've changed it to serve the whole leg instead (but conveniently forgot to mention the 50% increase in ala carte price until just before the dish was served - no matter!).

Smell was great and the crisp on the outer bits was just excellent! The sweet apple/plum? sauce actually gave the slightly-dry duck a nice balance, and the caramelized onions and potato base - yum! Very much satisfied.

{ Warm chocolate pudding with lavender sauce & vanilla ice cream }

 We immediately narrowed down our dessert choice to something chocolatey. This is actually a lava pudding which oozed a wonderful stream of dark-ish chocolate into the puddle of lavender sauce. By the way the lavender sauce is really interesting! Never had lavender in this form before and I was really impressed. Even the vanilla ice cream was nice - it has lil wee chunks of chocolate chips in it.

 We were a little concerned that the ice cream had started to melt D: before we realized it was actually sitting in a puddle of lavender sauce! Combination was quirky and good - sweet, chocolatey and perfumey.

{ Kopi C Kosong ($1.50) }

 We just had to end it off with a Kopi C Kosong - even had extra servings of that little gem biscuits by the side.

Looks can be deceiving! Not exactly the most appealing spot from the outside, but the quality of food and service was really good. Apparently the place started off as a coffee place, but branched out to French cuisine after a tie up with a French chef, so I would have it in good faith that their coffee would be awesome too. Would return.


Oh and did I mention NO GST AND SERVICE CHARGE :)

Black Gold Cafe 黑金

7 Tanjong Pagar, #01-104B

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HGW Link (91% recommended at time of posting) : http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/BlackGold_Cafe/
Rating (out of 4) :